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Cast Enigma
- Object
- Disassemble and Reassemble the Puzzle
- Difficulty
- Level 10 - Mind Boggling
- Brand
- Hanayama
- Dimensions
- 5 1/2 in x 2 in x 1 1/2 in/ 13.9 cm x 5 cm x 3.7 cm
- Packaging
- Cardboard and Plastic Box
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Note: Our level rating system is different than Hanayama's. Hanayama's level 1 is equivalent to our level 5.... level 6 is equivalent to our level 10.
Patented in America in 1975, the somewhat swirled pieces of this puzzle by Eldon Vaughn must be taken apart and then put back together. I once found a smaller version of this puzzle about twenty years ago in America, but considered it impossible to solve at the time. We have made a new version maintaining the difficulty of the original and licensed it for the cast Cast Puzzle series. This is without a doubt among the most difficult of all puzzles. The key word is 'Twist'. Don't use too much force...the pieces should just slide apart.
-NOB 2001-
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★★★★★
4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5 stars
Disclaimer: These reviews are written by our customers. Puzzle Master makes every attempt to keep these posts informative and relevant. If you find a post objectionable or inappropriate, please let us know by sending an email to [email protected]
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This is without a doubt the hardest puzzle I have ever tried and I love it. It has a beautiful design and a great solution. The best tip I can give you is to make sure you put the pieces on the same way you took them off.★★★★★Tuesday May 18th Ian wrote,
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This puzzle is a masterpiece and I’ll admit I cheated a little to solve it. However, I was SO SO close to figuring it out on my own. I’ll give it a go again maybe a year or two from now. This puzzle is notoriously difficult as many of the reviews mention already. I have yet to solve Cast Hourglass,Vortex, or Equa and would say these three are in the same bracket of difficulty among the hardest of the series.★★★★★Friday January 22nd JG wrote,
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Took about 45 minutes to disassemble. And another 30 minutes to realise snd mesmerise how to disassemble/assemble last two parts without force. Yes, there is no force needed at all so dont be fooled by comments, but its so tempting to pry it for 1mm and not be frustrated for another 10-60 min with noforce solution. Overall for me this puzzle was some kind of journey into strange shapes world, great piece of puzzling art. Amazing that the hardest part of it is to diassemble last two parts without applying force so its tricky till the end.★★★★★Monday June 1st Andrew wrote,
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Unbelievable puzzle. How does one come up with this? It's so intricate and designed so well. It took me dozens of hours to figure it out. It's a piece of art.★★★★★Thursday October 31st I M A G N E S wrote,
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How tf do people do this impossible!★★★★★Sunday August 11th Joe Freedman wrote,
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Extremely well made puzzle by Hanayama from a masterpiece design by Eldon Vaughn. Very difficult, but the solution is equally very satisfying and eloquent. I have disassembled and reassembled it many times, however I'm still not sure exactly how it really works, and I frequently make errors. Some reviewers commented that a bit of force is required. This is incorrect, as all three pieces will slide apart effortlessly if you do the correct moves. The swirled pieces make it hard to memorise which move you did 5 seconds earlier. One "move within a move" in the middle is especially elusive. Highly recommended.★★★★★Saturday July 27th Vegard wrote,
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I loved this puzzle. A friend got this for me for my birthday and everyone in the office had a good time with it. The challenge is tough but fair. I had a rough time taking it apart, but putting it back together is something else. It's a really good challenge and I would highly recommend this for anyone who really likes puzzles★★★★★Monday November 12th Josh wrote,
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The claim that the separating the final two pieces requires a slight forcing move is INCORRECT. The people making this claim simply have not yet solved the puzzle! The puzzle has a minor flaw in that there is a simple way to separate the final two pieces using a little bit of force. But there is a tricky surprisingly difficult way to separate the final two pieces where the pieces come apart easily using ABSOLUTELY NO FORCE. Despite this minor flaw, the puzzle is definitely deserving of a 5 star rating. I have been doing puzzles for decades and the Enigma is definitely one of the hardest puzzles I have ever seen and is the hardest of all the Hanayama cast puzzles [note: I have yet to do the new cast Trinity puzzle so there is a chance that it even harder]. The only harder puzzle I have seen is the wire “Yak” puzzle. I generally only get the hardest puzzles because otherwise they are too easy for me. I am hard to buy puzzles for because I frequently solve them in a few minutes. But not so with this one! After working on this puzzle for three straight hours without success, my father – knowing my penchant for solving puzzles quickly – asks the stupid question “Is that a hard one?” Oh no. It is so trivial that after three hours, I have no idea of whether I am any closer to the solution or not. :-) I lost track of how many hours it took me to solve the puzzle. The tolerances of the puzzle are so tight that some of the moves needed to solve the puzzle require the pieces to be in rather precise positions. In summation,if you are looking for a difficult puzzle that will keep you occupied for a long time, I would highly recommend this one.★★★★★Monday September 10th Glenn C. Rhoads wrote,
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While very beautiful and challenging, just a bit too frustrating for a perfect score. Other Hanayama puzzles are a bit more fun, and just as pretty.★★★★Monday January 1st Jared Petersen wrote,
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This was a very difficult puzzle. It took me a week to take it apart, but SOOO long to put it back together. Over all, a great puzzle. If there's one thing to complain about, you have to use force once. It's the last step, so don't push too hard right away.★★★★★Wednesday November 22nd AJ wrote,
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On a scale of five stars, this gets a seven! Truly a masterwork, the best I've seen and I've been doing mechanical puzzles for nearly fifty years. To illustrate how complex and subtle the solution is, I've disassembled/reassembled it four or five times, and I *still* don't really know the answer. I have the start and endgame sorted out, but there's a bridge in the middle that I stumble through each time without quite getting a handle on it. Highly recommended.★★★★★Thursday April 14th luxige wrote,
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A challenge but still too easy★★★Sunday October 25th TheHammer wrote,
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Dear god. After years of thinking it impossible and setting it aside. I pick it up again with a different frame of mind and finally figure it out after a few hours...★★★★★Monday August 11th John varner wrote,
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Elegant and challenging. I would recommend it to any puzzle-lover. Getting the last two pieces apart required a minimal amount of force, but it did not take away from the puzzle's value.★★★★★Wednesday June 18th Stephen wrote,
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Great puzzle took me two part days over Christmas loved it and solved it Simple when you can★★★★★Wednesday January 1st Andrew Preece wrote,
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Awesome! took my dad about 1 hour★★★★★Friday March 29th Briant Kim wrote,
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I just disassembled it. It took me more than an hour to do so. This is truly one of the hardest puzzles! You can rotate and rotate and rotate the pieces and wonder is there an end to it. I will surely need several times to disassemble and assemble it in order to understand each step correctly.★★★★★Monday September 17th Shaggy wrote,
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Once I mastered the given configuration, I found it interesting to assemble the mirror image. Of course, I had to use the directions for the original solution, and even then it was difficult. A lot of metal puzzles will not permit mirror image solutions, such as the Antler type. But Enigma is still one of my favorites.★★★★★Thursday May 31st Glynn Edward Breuer wrote,
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This puzzle is great! Beautiful looks, Elegant movements and Supreme difficulty all make this one of the best of the Hanayamas. Well talking about the difficulty I, being twelve and had this as my 16th Hanayama, disassembled this in 20 minutes. Another 20 minutes to put it back. The part that confuse me the most is when you got the other two pieces all on the piece with the fatter curved piece, and you need to FILTERED to get to the next step, took me another 20 minutes to understand fully how to do that step. So an estimated 1 hr took a 12 year old to solve this fully... I would rate this as the fourth hardest in the Hanayamas, the first being the Quartet, then the Equa, following that being the Vortex. So I recommend this puzzle to everyone. Must-have, if you have some experience with puzzles and not ready to have mastermind-leveled puzzles yet, buy this! This is a Terrific piece of work, would really like to meet the designer... and see if he's a human. :D★★★★★Monday April 2nd Will wrote,
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Regarding the question of force I've found that the main issue is a small cast flax residue on the side of the pieces, as the sliding is quite precise, even a minimal ridge chages the force needed from slight to consistent Just check carefully if there is any burr and if there try to file it down delicately.★★★★★Thursday December 22nd Bahamuttone wrote,
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I didn't find this puzzle that hard as the other reviewers. The solution is lengthy, however I felt that the steps follow each other in a fairly straightforward way. Anyhow, the solution is very satisfying, so I recommend Enigma to everybody.★★★★★Saturday September 24th vvigh wrote,
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Alex's warning about the slight force move is wrong. Once you get the first piece off, disassembling the other two is still remarkably difficult. You can do it relatively straightforwardly by applying some force, but there's another, tricky, way which takes no force at all. Remarkable puzzle - it's one of my favorites.★★★★★Wednesday August 17th Peter S. wrote,
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I took apart every Hayanama level 10 in less than 2 hrs (Quartet took forever to re-assemble). I eventually solved Enigma, about a year ago. Found it while moving, and cant do it again. Its really frustrating. There are many misleading paths. Many precise moves needed. And as I recall, some force required to pry last 2 pieces apart. This is an excellent puzzle - but will probably a bad choice for a party: will either get bent/broken or most people will give up saying its hopeless.★★★★★Saturday July 9th Deimos wrote,
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Really nice. Warning: there is a slight "force" move once you get one piece off. The original classic still manages to befuddle even after solving after a few times. A must for the collector of Hanayama cast puzzles.★★★★★Wednesday May 11th Alex wrote,
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Rien à dire, une vraie bête qui cache bien son secret. La manipulation des trois bestioles procure un plaisir sans fin. Nothing to say, a real beast that hides his secret. The handling of the three critters provides endless fun.★★★★★Monday May 9th ghalmi wrote,
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This puzzle is elegantly crafted, smooth, and yet devilishly tricky. This puzzle, along with the Cast Quartet and Cast Vortex, is probably one of the hardest puzzles ever. When the rating is ten, they mean what they say. This puzzle requires thought and just a little dexterity at some parts. You might not want to challenge a friend to try and solve it, because you might be waiting for months. Overall, a mysterious and beautiful puzzle. Highly recommended for a person looking for a good puzzle.★★★★★Friday April 1st puzzler wrote,
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I like this one a lot. It's fairly challenging but I didn't think it was all that hard. Cool shape. Recommended.★★★★Tuesday February 8th Thomas wrote,
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1 and half hr. nice★★★★Monday January 24th piroh wrote,
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Délicieusement diabolique.★★★★★Monday August 2nd Robert wrote,
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Very difficult. Not a good one to share with friends, because you know for sure that there is no chance for them to solve it quickly★★★★★Friday December 25th denis_k wrote,
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I spent a few hours on it, handed it to a friend at work who took it apart within 5 minutes but now i can't get it back together!!! He is currently stumped on the Cast Elk puzzle which I was able to figure out. Just goes to show that peoples brains work differently.★★★★Thursday December 24th Scott S. wrote,
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This is truly Hanayama's hardest puzzle. It took me a week and a few quick looks at the solution to complete it, but it was very worthy. Even after removing the first piece, the remaining two would still make a decent 2-star puzzle (on Hanayama-scale). It looks quite average compared to the usually well-decorated Hanayamas, but the challenge it offers is unparalelled. The solution is so long, that it did not fit on one page (like any other Hanayama I know of), so it's quite difficult to learn. All in all, it's a must-have for any serious puzzler.★★★★★Monday November 30th Z wrote,
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I never got the puzzle apart on my own, but my daughter disassembled it in 40 minutes. Nonetheless, it looks almost as though it had been designed by an alien intelligence. It is sleek, slick and mesmerizing with an interior logic all its own. It refuses to come apart easily...you must do it the right way.★★★★★Tuesday August 18th Doug wrote,
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Awesome puzzle!! A lot of fun to solve! Took me just over two hours to solve it and a about an hour to solve it back. This was my first hanayama puzzle. I was afraid that it would be too hard and maybe i should start with a lesser difficulty puzzle. But i was wrong. Didn't really take me that long to solve. So i would say that it should be around 8-9 level. All in all, quite a fun puzzle!!★★★★★Wednesday July 29th Saurabh wrote,
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It took me 5 minutes to take it apart and a little more to bring it back again. Vortex and Aqua are way more "Boggling" than this. It is a great puzzle compared to others, but the difficulty it's overrated, that's why i give this rating. (if you get the solutions first, you should be ashamed of yourself, and you shouldn't waste you'r precious time! )★★Saturday July 25th EasyOne wrote,
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This puzzle is just too much of a mess. Sure, it's hard and rewarding, but it's just not that fun. It seems like a complete cluster.★★Friday July 10th Rob wrote,
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Great puzzle! I was a bit afraid of it after reading that it was by far the hardest of the Hanayamas, but I think it is of comparable difficulty to Equa, Vortex, News and Quartet, at least for me. I like it because the available moves seem fairly straightforward, but you gradually discover additional things that will progress you further than before, until you finally solve it. Quite satisfying.★★★★★Thursday February 26th Brian wrote,
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Very nice puzzle. Took over 3 hours to disjoin and about an hour to assemble back. Perfect for killing time :)★★★★★Saturday February 14th Leshij wrote,
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I got my husband 3 level 10 puzzles for Christmas. He solved the 2 wire metal puzzles instantly, so those were a let down, but this one took him about 2 hours (two 1hr periods about 8hrs apart, although he says he was thinking about it a lot in that 8hrs). He has a gift for solving puzzles so it's quite hard to find ones that challenge him enough. I think this one had him stumped for the longest amount of time I have seen so far. I wish there were more difficult cast puzzles though, he really liked it but I would like to stump him for longer.★★★★★Monday January 5th Shelagh wrote,
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This is a very challanging puzzle and took me two days to get apart and back together. None of my friends can even come close to the solution. I really had to think about this one and keep track of my steps. It still amazes me that a person crafted this puzzle.★★★★★Sunday January 4th Bob wrote,
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I love this puzzle. It took me many weeks to solve it. I needed a hint to solve this.★★★★★Saturday December 27th SamG wrote,
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Absolutely the best ( read : most difficult) of cast puzzles. I love this. As well i like Quartet, Elk, Chain, Radix and Baroq. I just got Vortex in my hands about 1 hour ago........★★★★★Thursday October 23rd Pentti wrote,
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davvero difficile complimenti★★★★★Tuesday August 26th Red Skull 92 wrote,
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This puzzle was AMAZING!!! It was hard to figure out, and even after figuring this one out I still love playing with it... I guess I am easily distracted...★★★★★Saturday August 2nd JohnnyZ wrote,