The Vess Mystery Puzzle is a 9-piece edge-matching puzzle, advertising Vess Billion Bubble Beverages, from the Whistle & Vess Beverages company in St. Louis Missouri.  The puzzle is pre-zip code, making it 60+ years old (and likely from the 1950's)!  As seen in the photo, the nine square cards are completely unseparated and in mint condition, and the envelopes are in excellent condition, as well.  THE WINNING BIDDER WILL RECEIVE TWO COPIES OF THE PUZZLE --- one to keep intact for collecting p...

4 never- or slightly-used Exchange Puzzles from the 17th and 19th International Puzzle Parites, held respectively in San Francisco in 1997 and London in 1999.  The puzzles are extremely varied in their classifications, but are all associated with prolific puzzle designers or collectors.  Brief descriptions follow, but I am DELIGHTED to answer more specific questions about any of the puzzles.  Note that all would be graded (A) CollectorNo cosmetic issues(1) Perfect functionPUZZLE DESCRIPTIONS...

Prolific Finnish puzzle designer Vesa Tomonen is known for his seemingly simple yet fiendishly difficult puzzles.  "SPIR ALA RIPS" is one such design used by sloyd.fi owner Tomas Lindén as his exchange puzzle at IPP37 held in Paris in 2017. ONLY TWO WOODEN PIECES which must be laid flat, in order to form a figure that can be bisected into two identical shapes.  Some SERIOUS out-of-the-box thinking and visualization are required to so...

Wooden Puzzles and Games is a 142 page book published in 1983.  It contains descriptions on how to make several mechanical puzzles in a home wood shop, including the Tower of Hanoi, sliding block puzzles, strategy games, etc.  The book is in near fine condition. This would be a good addition to a mechanical puzzle library.I will ship within the US via media mail for between $5.00 and $13.00 depending on postal code.  I am happy to ship internationally at cost — which I estimate to be ...

For you keychain puzzle collectors out there!  I'm offering three keychain puzzles — two different designs of trucks — for a very low bargain starting bid.  As you can see from the illustration, each puzzle is complete with its original box and original instruction paper.  Based on when (some 30+ years ago) and where (an antique store) I purchased these puzzles, I'd estimate them to be at least 40–50 years old, if not older.  Yet, they, their boxes, and their instruction papers, are i...

The "Remove the Key" puzzle dates from 1902  — as discerned from its given U.S. Patent number 695059 (See first photo) — thus making it 125 years old!  The card is in EXCELLENT condition; I would rate it as "museum quality."  The object is to remove the key from the card without damaging any of the three puzzle pieces.  The key could then be turned in as a down payment for a variety o...

"Variation On a Theme" was Simon Dickerson's exchange puzzle at IPP19 held in London in 1999.  It is a variation on the classic Tangram puzzle by the famous and incredibly prolific Stewart Coffin, Stewart's puzzle design #136.  It looks like a Tangram, except thatSome of the corners of the large triangles are cut off;The parallelogram piece is a bit elongated;The pieces don't all fit into the tray the way that regular Tangram pieces should!The goal, of course, is to figure out HOW to fit all o...

Hikimi "Star" is one of the classic puzzles from Puzzland Hikimi, a company started by the great Japanese puzzle designer and collector Nob Yoshigahara.  While this puzzle is around 25+ years old (as discerned from the ¥1500 price tag on it), it has remained in nearly mint condition.  "Star" is a variation on the famous "Eight Queens" puzzle.  The object is to arrange the nine pieces into a 3x3 array such that no two blue stars are on the same line vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.  ...

Designed by the prolific Andrew Crowell and manufactured by BurrTools author Andreas Röver, SwapTIC was used by Andreas as his exchange puzzle at IPP40 held in Jerusalem in 2023.  The puzzle requires seventeen moves to completely disassemble / assemble the four CRAZY pieces.  SwapTIC comes assembled with its description sheet in it's original plastic bag, as received at IPP40.  I will be happy to supply a copy of the solution to SwapTIC from the IPP40 book to the winning bidder.I will ship ...

Harmony is a multi-award-winning puzzle by Kirill Grebnev, having won BOTH the Jury 1st Prize AND the Puzzlers' Award in the Design Competition held at IPP30 in 2010 in Osaka and Hakone, Japan.  This is the original brass version of the puzzle, not the Hanayama CAST version of the same name.  (The mass-produced CAST version has a silver-colored musical note and a gold-colored treble clef.  The Original version is all solid brass.)  The goal of the puzzle is to remove the musica...

SixPack is a non-space-filling 4x4x4 packing puzzle designed by the late great Dr. Markus Götz of Germany, produced beautifully by Markus himself.  Markus used SixPack as his exchange puzzle in the IPP27 Edward Hordern Puzzle Exchange held in Gold Coast Australia in 2007, making this puzzle just about twenty years old.  Obviously, the goal of the puzzle is to PACK the SIX pieces (three sets of two mirror image pieces) so that they will fit into the box.  My copy of SixPack is ...

Twist Box is a beautiful trick opening box, similar in many ways to the trick boxes made by the Karakuri Creation Group.  (This is NOT a KCG box.)  It was purchased in person at the Hakone Maruyama Bussan shop in Hakone, Japan, in September 2025, and features two beautiful inlays, as seen in the photos.  This is not the typical "traditional" Japanese puzzle box, but opens via a number of steps similar to those one might experience with a KCG trick box.  My copy of Twist Box is complete with ...

HANAYAMA's CAST O'Gear, CAST Spiral, and CAST Diamond (Crux edition), as new.I believe that CAST O'Gear was designed by the great and prolific Oskar Vandeventer, as the original design, Sunflower (in plastic), was used by Tyler Barret as his exchange puzzle at IPP22 held in Antwerp in 2002; CAST Diamond (Crux edition) was Designed by Scott Elliott and is the special Hanayama 40th Anniversary edition finished in a matte faux gold.  Scott used this design (originally called "Diamond Engagement" ...

FunLock is a puzzle lock designed by Boaz Feldman, son of the renowned late Dan Feldman, inventor of the famous and iconic Danlock.  Boaz designed FunLock as an introductory puzzle lock, ideal to introduce beginners or non-puzzlers to the world of trick mechanism locks.  But even if you're not a beginner, FunLock is an excellent mechanical puzzle to share with visitors or friends.  Despite the mechanism being a classic in the puzzle lock world, Boaz rates the average solve time as 2 hours!  ...

Bill Cutler - Crooked Box I (1975) per Bill Cutler: 'This design is really equivalent to Stewart Coffin's Hectix/Hexsticks design. The inside of the box is a rhombic dodecahedron.' this is an old puzzle, and may or may not be a prototype. the cuts are precise and the pieces are sturdy, but the wood is a little rough.this will be sent disassembled for safety in shipping unless the buyer requests otherwise.  i will provide an assembly diagram. ♫:  ...

Benno Baatsen (Benno de Grote) - Windmill (2021) number 9 of an unknown number made from Benno's description: This is The Windmill puzzle box. The farmer has lost his flour stock! Can you help him find it? In order to do so you will have to navigate your way through multiple compartments in a sequential discovery way. Be warned! This box is a real challenge, but the people who tried this box loved every frustrating second of it. There are multiple reasons wh...