Karakuri Kit

You all know the beautiful Mecanigma and Architecto Kit by NKD puzzles and you all know the nice puzzles by Karakuri Group, right?

Now let me intriduce you the Karakuri Kits. Well these are not new, but almost (if never) never reviewed anywhere, while they really deserve it !

I will focus on the Karakuri Work Kit - Kolorin
 

The goal of this kit is to build a wooden box with a drawer that can only be opened if you manage to solve the puzzle.

 

The assembly

The kit is composed of 26 pieces: 23 wooden pieces to assemble and glue with wood glue (not included), 1 transparent plexi plate, 1 metal ball, and a spring. All the elements are of very good quality.

The assembly instructions are entirely in Japanese but the illustrations are clear enough not to need the text. The diagrams in the instructions are precise and the use of color makes it easy to see which parts to use and where to use the glue.

The assembly itself is very satisfying. The wooden pieces seem to be a kind of improved plywood. There are 5 different layers (probably glued at very high pressure to get a good final quality), 3 inner layers for strength (a kind of medium glued in opposite directions) and 2 outer layers of veneer for visual appearance.

The pieces are cut (no laser cut so no blackened side) with extreme precision. Everything fits together perfectly. Nothing protrudes. It is impressive !!

 The assembly is relatively fast, 30 minutes should be enough. Once finished, the box is solid and inspires confidence. There is no fear of breaking it or damaging the mechanism.

The fact that you assemble the mechanism yourself allows you to understand both how it works and the technical details so that it can be assembled easily. It is ingenious.

 

The puzzling aspect 

Here you have to use a ball to operate a mechanism visible through a plexi plate. When manipulating it, the sound of the ball against the wooden plates is very pleasant.
 
I find the box pretty and intriguing because the mechanism is visible from the outside. We can see immediately that we are dealing with a secret box! And one is irresistibly tempted to manipulate it to try it. Although the resolution is not surprising, it remains very satisfactory. This is due to the quality of the material (everything slides smoothly), to the sound of the ball hitting the wood, to the simplicity of the mechanism that makes you want to understand it right away, etc.

I left it at home on the table and all my friends wanted to try it, and even when they had found the way to open it, they wanted to do it again, and again.

The puzzle is extremely simple. It's more of a marble game than a puzzle. It might disappoint, but I don't think this kit is intended to be too complex. The interest, for me, is to build and perceive the difficulties and ingenuity necessary to create a puzzle. The goal is also to have an object that you made yourself and that has a particular value to the one who made it. It is also possible to personalize it (paint it, stick pictures, stick small objects in the mechanism area, make it more or less complex by adding obstacles, etc ...).

 Who is it for?

For those who like to understand the mechanisms of a puzzle. For those who like to build lego and furniture kits. For those who want to have or offer an original and personalized object. The box can also be the box that contains the 'real' gift in its drawer.

This kit could also be very well suited to a parent-child activity (perhaps from 10 years old?), there is indeed no particular difficulty in the assembly or solving the puzzle.

 
 

Conclusion

The construction of this kit is very satisfactory. This is particularly related to the quality of the parts and the precision of the cutting which allows a perfect assembly! 

The object is pretty and intriguing. We immediately want to take it and try it. The handling is satisfying and makes you want to do it again and again.The puzzle itself is not surprising, it is more of a game than a challenge and that is the goal.

Many other kits are available. You can find some pictures below.

 

Dice puzzle box

I don't review that many Karakuri puzzle boxes so a quick review to change that :)

Ok so it's about the Dice puzzle box designed and made by Kamei

The six sides of the cube have the digit 1 to 6 like on a normal dice. Should you roll it like a dice to open it? I let you figure out if you have it :)

The design is super great and as you expect from Karakuri works, the craftmanship is top to none!

To be honest it did not take me long time to solve it (well, most Karakuri are pretty easy puzzles anyway!) but the solution is very satisfaying! A bit frustrating at the same time as you cannot see the internals nor the mecanism and I would have loved to see it :-(

The puzzle works reliably and you need to make the complete reverse steps to really close it.
Basically I closed it and performed some steps and I was surprised it closed the puzzle. Great but....it could be opened by performing another move. So make sure to completely close it before handling to someone else to try it. You don't want to spoil the puzzle at all I am sure.

Kamei is one of my favourite Karakuri craftmen and so, considering the design, solution, etc, I can only advise to buy it.

You can find it on Puzzle Master webshop

Confetto box 2

I have already reviewed the first Confetto box, so now it's time for this second Confetto box, which was designed by Iwahara for the 2014 X-mas presents.

As with Karakuri, you always know that the puzzles are well crafted and put in simple but nice box.

If you have already played with Confetto box 1 (I strongly advise so that you better know the principle of these confetto puzzles), you notice that this puzzle is a bit smaller (why??) but still have nice wooden panels.

The goal is to find a secret compartment (there is only one contrary to Confetto box 1) by moving the panels. The moves are a bit tricky but you will know pretty quickly what you have to do, because you cannot do anything if the previous steps are not done.
Perhaps a Confetto box 3 would have some kind of "dead ends". I mean you can move many panels and moving one panel may lead you to a dead end. That would be a bit more challenging. Because again, like Confetto box 1, you have to do the previous steps to do the next steps and there is only one way to do that.
So Confetto boxes remain pretty straight-forward puzzles.

However, this puzzle is very good and you will have fun whether you like trick opening boxes or Karakuri's puzzles.

I still prefer Confetto box 1 because I prefer the color of wood of Confetto box 1, because it's a bigger puzzle, because there are more secret compartments and finally because the moves are much easier to make with it (it slides smoother, but it's also due to the solving process of Confetto box 2).

Which one do you prefer? The 1st Confetto box or the second one? Why?

Confetto box

You may wonder why I put the box and not the picture of the puzzle as a first picture...Well it's because the box is beautiful: I like the contrast of the colors and when you look at the box, you know that there will be a great puzzle inside. And you're right to think so!

This confetto box was designed by Iwahara (a famous craftman who belongs to the Karakuri Group) and produced as a X-mas present in 2008 for the members of the Karakuri Group.
Becoming a member of the Karakuri group allows you to get a book with all the pictures of the puzzles made by the craftmen (only when you're a new member), to get reductions in prices for the puzzles that are on sales and finally to get one X-mas present. If you want more X-mas presents, you have to pay more. The first year it is more expensive, especially because you receive the book (you receive it about 1-2 weeks after you've paid for the membership). The next years are less expensive.
The shipping is free for the presents, but perhaps you may have to pay custom fees if they don't declare the puzzles as gifts (they don't like to do that...). Because of that, it happens that I get caught by the customs...and for sure the price of puzzles increased a lot... :-(
What you have to know about the X-mas presents is also the fact that you don't know what you will get. It's the surprise!! So you may very happy or perhaps a bit disapointed...And you pay almost one year before getting your puzzles. You will have to be patient...but you're used to that because you're a puzzler :-)

If you don't know which craftman to choose, Iwahara is always a good value, and his puzzles are usually very good. This one is no exception: the quality is superb, the finish is very good, the panels move smoothly, the wood has an handsome red color. Nothing bad to say about that.

There are 2 secret "chambers" to discover.
I put below 2 pictures of the inside the puzzle, but it does not give any hint on how to open the puzzle, so don't worry it's not a spoiler at all. It is just for you to see the quality of the internals. That's a great job!!

The symbols (star and moon) are useful to remember which panel goes to which compartment.
The first compartment is easy to find, the second one is much more difficult because you need to learn some new moves. Note that only 2 panels can be removed, the other 4 cannot.

I love this puzzle and if you find one, don't hesitate and buy it, you won't regret it. In my opinion, it's one of the best Iwahara's (even if I have not tried all his puzzles). Moreover, the difficulty is good: not too easy as (too) many Karakuri's puzzles and not too difficult, so that you enjoy solving it not only once, but many times.
Iwahara also designed a confetto box 2 that I will make a review of it later on. I think that it's better to have played before with confetto box 1 to better understand confetto box 2.

This puzzle is very sought (like many old Iwahara's), so the price may be pretty high, and at least much more expensive than the price of one X-mas present. So when you buy X-mas presents, you make good investments (even if you don't intend to sell them)!