Brain Teaser Puzzles

Buy brain teaser puzzles: Hanayama cast metal puzzles from level 1 to 6, Professor Puzzle, Vinco wooden puzzles and QiYi Kong Ming lock.

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Buy brain teaser puzzles: metal and wooden puzzles

You will not find cardboard jigsaws here: this category brings together brain teaser puzzles, also called mechanical puzzles, which are solved by manipulating pieces. There are Hanayama metal puzzles from the Huzzle Cast series, wire and string puzzles from Professor Puzzle, handmade wooden puzzles by Vinco and Kong Ming lock Chinese puzzle locks from QiYi. Everything shown as available is in our Madrid warehouse and ships from there.

If you want to buy puzzles of this kind and are not sure where to start, below they are organised by difficulty and by type, with specific models. On this page we give no hints on how to solve them.

Hanayama Professor Puzzle Vinco QiYi

Hanayama cast puzzles by difficulty level

Hanayama, a Japanese toy maker, started its line of cast metal puzzles in 1983. The pieces are made of zinc alloy and each model carries an official level from 1 to 6 on the box: 1 Fun, 2 Easy, 3 Normal, 4 Hard, 5 Expert and 6 Grand Master. All of them are designed to be solved without forcing or bending anything. Many designs come from well-known names in the puzzle world, such as Oskar van Deventer, Vesa Timonen, Akio Yamamoto or Nob Yoshigahara.

Levels 1 and 2: a first puzzle

The Hanayama Cast ABC (level 1) is based on an English puzzle from 1911: you have to free the letter C. At level 2 there is the Cast Hook, two identical hooks linked together, and the Cast Horse, made of horseshoes.

Levels 3 and 4: the middle ground

The Cast G&G is level 3. At level 4 there is the Hanayama UFO, shaped like a flying saucer, the Cast Keyhole, the Cast Mobius, the Cast Hexagon and the Cast Heart.

Level 5: for those who have solved a few

The Cast Devil is Nob Yoshigahara's version of a classic from 1905. Also at level 5 are the Cast Amour, the Cast H&H and the Cast Ring II, five hoops that form a ring puzzle.

Level 6: Grand Master

The Hanayama Cast Chain, by Oskar van Deventer, sits at the top of the scale: three pieces that behave like chain links. It is a gift for someone who already enjoys levels 4 and 5, not for a beginner.

The levels are only useful for comparing puzzles from the same brand. Vinco, for example, uses its own scale, so a Vinco 4 is not the same as a Hanayama 4.

Types of mechanical puzzles: metal, wood, Kong Ming and boxes

Wire and string metal puzzles

These are disentanglement puzzles: you have to separate a ring, a cord or a piece from another and then put them back together. Besides Hanayama, the Puzzle & Perplex Set of 10 by Professor Puzzle contains ten solid steel brain teasers, and the Matchbox series puts each challenge in a matchbox-style box, such as The Horseshoe, the classic horseshoe puzzle.

Burr puzzles and Kong Ming lock

A burr is a puzzle of notched sticks that interlock without glue. The six-piece burr is the best known, and in China it is called the Luban lock or Kong Ming lock. From QiYi there is the classic six-piece burr, the Hero Lock with only three pieces, the Ball in the Cage, a cage with a ball inside, and models with many more pieces such as the 18 Arhats or the Twenty-four Locks. They are made of plastic, and there is a series in translucent plastic. In wood, the Matchbox The Cross by Professor Puzzle is a small three-piece burr.

Wooden assembly puzzles

They come apart in a moment and the challenge is to rebuild the shape. Vinco puzzles are handmade by Václav Obšivač in the Czech Republic: the Vinco Diagra asks you to build a cube from eight pieces and then other shapes, the Four Marbles encloses four balls and the Zigzag is four interlocking pieces. From Professor Puzzle there is the Dragon's Tail, twenty-seven pieces in a chain that you have to fold into a cube, and the pocket Colour Block puzzles, with six to twelve pieces depending on the colour, such as the pink Colour Block.

Box puzzles

Here it helps to make a distinction. A packing puzzle means fitting all the pieces inside a box that seems too small; that is the challenge of the Vinco Cuboval, the Three Wedges (presented at the 2006 IPP in Boston) or the eleven-piece Two and Half. Vinco's Special Box pieces are wooden boxes with marquetry that hold one of these puzzles. A secret box is something else: a box with a hidden mechanism to open it. We do not currently have secret boxes in stock.

Wooden logic challenges

Professor Puzzle's Einstein collection includes deduction challenges such as the House Riddle, with fifteen clues to work out who owns the fish, and the Einstein Lock Puzzle, a wooden padlock with a metal key that you have to open by moving its inner pieces.

Brain teaser puzzle brands

Hanayama

Japanese. Its Huzzle Cast series are cast metal puzzles with an official level from 1 to 6 on every box, and its catalogue includes reissues of antique puzzles and new designs by inventors from all over the world.

Professor Puzzle

British. It started selling metal puzzles at London markets and now has several collections: Great Minds (sets of 3, 5 and 8 puzzles dedicated to historical figures), Einstein, Matchbox and Puzzle & Perplex.

Vinco

The Czech workshop of Václav Obšivač, in Frenštát pod Radhoštěm. Handmade wooden puzzles, mostly assembly and packing puzzles, in woods of several shades.

QiYi

The same Chinese brand behind QiYi Rubik's-type cubes. Its Kong Ming Lock series are plastic Luban locks, from three pieces up to twenty-four, plus a translucent series such as the Small Nine Links or the Sealed Lock.

Brain teaser puzzles as gifts

To get it right, think about how much that person enjoys being stuck. For someone who has never tried one, a Hanayama from level 1 to 3 or a Matchbox; for someone who already has a few, a level 5 or 6, a Vinco or a Kong Ming lock with many pieces. Professor Puzzle sets, such as the Great Minds Set of 5, are good for sharing among several people. There are ideas by age and profile in brain teaser gifts and in the gift guide. If you are after a different kind of challenge, take a look at the unusual shape cubes or the pocket logic games. And if what you wanted was a jigsaw puzzle with a picture, there is the puzzle guide.

Brain teaser puzzles: frequently asked questions

Which Hanayama level should I buy to start?

A level 1 or 2 if it is your first metal puzzle, and a 3 if you have already solved a brain teaser before. Levels 5 and 6 are challenging puzzles for adults who already enjoy the earlier levels.

Do you need to use force to solve them?

No. Hanayama puzzles are designed to be solved without forcing or bending pieces, and the same goes for wire puzzles: if something will not pass, that is not the way. Forcing only scratches or bends the puzzle.

Do they come with the solution?

It depends on the brand and model. For several Professor Puzzle puzzles the solution is on the maker's website. We recommend not looking it up until you have tried for a few days: the fun is in getting there on your own.

Can they be put back together?

Yes. They are all designed to be taken apart and reassembled, and returning them to how they came is part of the challenge.

What is the difference between a brain teaser and a regular puzzle?

A jigsaw puzzle is assembled by following a picture. A brain teaser is a mechanical problem: separating, fitting or packing pieces with no picture to guide you.

What age are they for?

The recommended age is on the product page and on the box of each model. Bear in mind that many have small parts, and that for a child the lower levels or logic games with progressive challenges usually work better.

What is a Kong Ming lock?

It is the Chinese name for the interlocking stick puzzles known in English as burr puzzles. They are also known as the Luban lock. The ones we have range from three to twenty-four pieces.

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US Size0-02-44-68-1012-1416-1820-22
Bust (in)30-3232-3434-3636-3838-4040-42.542.5-45.5
Under Bust (in)25-2627-2828-2930-31.532-33.534-3636-38
Waist (in)23.5-24.525-26.527-28.529-30.531-33.534-36.537-40
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