Tortoise Protocol, 34th Auction Results

We will release our new sequential discovery puzzle, Tortoise Protocol, in one week. If you have already received our newsletter, you’ve probably had a chance to see what the puzzle looks like.

Since we can only produce a limited number, it may not reach everyone who wants one. However, we sincerely hope it will find its way into the hands of those who truly wanted it.

Our 34th auction received many bids. All four Tortoise Protocol puzzles listed as second grade sold for more than twice the regular product price. Combined with the four burr puzzles auctioned at the same time, the total winning bids amounted to AUD $12,330.

As always, half of the proceeds were donated to charity. This time, as with the same period last year, the donation was made to Backpack Bed for Homeless Australia. It is currently winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and this year has been colder than usual. We hope the donation will help those facing harsh conditions. We also want to thank the bidders who understood the purpose of our auction and generously placed their bids.

Happy Puzzling!

Gentle Interlock burr puzzle

We have released our new burr puzzle, Gentle Interlock. The name was chosen because it is relatively approachable even for beginners who are not yet familiar with burr puzzles.

When we manufacture a puzzle, we are usually left with offcuts of timber in various sizes. While the leftover pieces from making just one type of puzzle may be minimal, continuously producing many different puzzles leads to a significant accumulation of leftover timber, which begins to take up valuable workshop space. From time to time, Juno looks at these offcuts and wonders if there might be a puzzle he could design using them. Gentle Interlock was born from that very motivation, and it successfully made use of a large portion of the accumulated American Rock Maple stock.

Alongside the production of this puzzle, we have also been continuing work on an SD puzzle. It has been nearly two years since our last SD puzzle release, so thank you for your patience. We expect to be able to announce the release of a new SD puzzle in the not-too-distant future. If you subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of the page, you'll be among the first to receive updates on upcoming releases.

Happy puzzling!

We have released a put together puzzle and a science toy today.

Linearsaw Puzzle

The "Linearsaw Puzzle" we've released this time is truly unique. Juno had never seen this type of puzzle before! The objective is simple: fit all the pieces into the frame. 

However, there's a twist - both the pieces and the frame contain strong magnets, which repel each other and make it challenging to fit everything in place. I've tried several times, but I still haven't solved it yet!  

The materials were carefully selected for their natural coloring.

The Helix Tree

Alongside the "Linearsaw Puzzle", we're also releasing a miniature marble run "The Helix Tree" with a 3D printer. I had been wanting to create something using a 3D printer, and now that dream has finally come true! After many rounds of trial and error, I finalized the design last month. The biggest challenge was ensuring the print didn't require supports. In order to reduce printing time, I had to redesign the green spiral branch - and Juno was a huge help in this process. Thank you, Juno!  

If you've ever used a 3D printer, you'll know how frustrating and time-consuming it is to remove supports - especially from like spiral shapes. Plus, using supports increases both printing time and filament consumption.  

Thanks to this new design, the printing time has been significantly reduced. The green branch alone still takes nearly five hours to print, but before this improvement, the estimated print time was close to eight hours! That's a huge difference.  

At the center of the tree is a spiral-shaped trunk that lifts the balls from the yellowish dish at the bottom to the top. The balls then roll down along the green branches and return to the dish. The design also features three gears: one beneath the yellowish dish and two shaped like snowflakes. The star topper is a small stellated dodecahedron.  

This set includes 30 stainless steel balls, but if you'd like more, you can use 10mm stainless steel or iron balls. At first, I thought marbles would be a great option since they come in various colors and look beautiful. However, after testing some, I realized that marbles aren't as precisely sized as metal balls, which can prevent them from being lifted properly by the spiral. So, in the end, I decided not to use them. 

I hope you enjoy this little marble run - whether it's Christmas or not!  

Yukari