Tag Archives: puzzle

Move over LEGO… These human-shaped bricks plug in together to showcase the power of unity

Posted on by

The idea of LEGO sparked from bricks, the concept of Minecraft sparked from pixels – but the Souper Connect has a much stronger metaphorical background. You see, each individual Souper brick is shaped like a human with a hole in them, and a single human brick can’t stand on its own. However, fill that hole with another human brick and the two can stand together. Build on this concept and you create a self-standing self-sustaining community, reflecting the power of human connectivity and the indomitable spirit of a healthy family or society. The cleverly designed bricks aren’t just great to play with, they’re also an overall lesson that we’re stronger together than we are alone. Quite a brilliant metaphor for what’s essentially just a set of building blocks, right?!

Designer: Peter Minsoub Sim

Click Here to Buy Now: $25 $42 (40% off). Hurry, only 8/35 left!

Created by visionary designer Peter Minsoub Sim, Souper Connect brings a new dimension to building blocks. The bricks are both the characters as well as the individual blocks, making them an incredibly creative toy for children as well as for adults. They’re a great way to stay entertained, learn valuable social and moral lessons, and the fact that all the Souper Connects are different colors just teaches an incredibly powerful aspect of human society – that people are different but they can still come together to build and grow.

Let your mind wander

Find focus at work

Have fun with the family

Take it with you wherever you go!

“These blocks offer a minimal and identifiable form that inspires imaginative play, collaboration, and with enough pieces can bring out the building engineer in any of us,” says Sim, who co-founded Souper Studio – the company behind the Souper Connect blocks. Each block is shaped like an abstract human, with two arms, two legs, a slight stub for a head, and a hole running through the chest. Two ‘humans’ can be connected simply by plugging an arm into the chest hole, bringing them closer together, but also giving you the ability to make complex shapes and forms. The overall gist is no different from LEGO, and you can use Souper humans to make a variety of shapes from towers and bridges to crowns. However, there’s also a unique fidget quality to the human bricks too, and they make rather decorative pendants for necklaces or bracelets.

Each Souper Connect is 1.9 inches tall, 2.4 inches wide, and 0.8 inches thick, making them incredibly safe around younger children too. The human bricks are molded from polypropylene plastic, making them incredibly durable and long-lasting, although there’s the ability to get them in aluminum too, sort of as a more premium toy for collectors. The bricks come in either a single unit as a keychain (or double if you choose the aluminum variant), or in playable sets of 12, 36, and 72, featuring an entire colorful bunch of Souper humans that you can bring together to create the utopia of your dreams! The Souper Connect is available at a special early bird discount on Kickstarter using the link below.

Click Here to Buy Now: $25 $42 (40% off). Hurry, only 8/35 left!

The post Move over LEGO… These human-shaped bricks plug in together to showcase the power of unity first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Tetris-like Analog Game Keeps Your Kids Entertained and Their Minds Active

Posted on by

In the digital age, it is refreshing to see a game that not only captures the nostalgia of classic 80s-90s gaming but also incorporates cutting-edge technology to create an engaging and educational experience. Super Slide, developed by Giiker, reminds me of the good old ‘Nintendo Game Boy’ but with a screen for varied use. It is a game that combines the charm of retro design with the convenience of modern interactivity. This innovative sliding puzzle game is taking the world of edutainment by storm, offering a range of benefits for both kids and adults.

Designer: FS GiiKER Technology Co., Ltd

Super Slide is not just a game; it’s a complete puzzle experience. This innovative game breaks the limitations of traditional question cards by gathering a whopping 500+ challenges into one compact console. These challenges are displayed on an LED screen, eliminating the need for physical cards and making the game more environmentally friendly.

To enhance the replay value and boost confidence, Super Slide expands its repertoire of questions and organizes them into levels ranging from easy to hard. This approach ensures that players of all ages and skill levels can enjoy the game, from beginners to seasoned puzzle enthusiasts.

The game not only reduces screen time but also instills competitiveness among players, encouraging them to strive for improvement. Additionally, the learning mode helps users build momentum and gain a better understanding of the game, effectively training their minds while having fun.

One of the standout features of Super Slide is its attention to detail. The game board and tiles are equipped with magnets, providing a satisfying sense of touch as players rearrange the pieces. This tactile feedback enhances spatial rearrangement skills and concentration, making Super Slide a valuable tool for cognitive development.

Giiker, the technology company behind Super Slide, is dedicated to the development of smart and connected edutainment products. Their mission is to provide children and adults with engaging, educational, and interactive experiences that promote problem-solving skills, logical thinking, and hand-eye coordination.

While Super Slide is designed with kids in mind, it has proven to be a hit with adults as well. Its blend of nostalgia and innovation makes it an enjoyable pastime for the whole family. In a world dominated by digital distractions, Super Slide encourages families to come together and spend quality time in an interactive and educational way.

Super Slide is designed to be as portable as your smartphone. Its small and lightweight form factor means it can easily fit in your bag, making it an ideal companion for travel or keeping kids entertained at gatherings. Whether you’re on a long road trip or attending a boring party, Super Slide can turn downtime into a fun and engaging learning experience.

Super Slide by Giiker is a shining example of how technology and classic gameplay can be seamlessly combined to create an edutainment product that offers numerous benefits. It fosters problem-solving skills, reduces screen time, promotes competitiveness, and brings families closer together. With its nostalgic design and innovative features, Super Slide is not just a game; it’s a learning tool that encourages spatial reasoning, concentration, logical thinking, planning skills, and hand-eye coordination. So, it’s no wonder that this game has earned the green light from both kids and adults alike.

The post This Tetris-like Analog Game Keeps Your Kids Entertained and Their Minds Active first appeared on Yanko Design.

Meta.Zen playset lets adults calmly build their own miniature tranquil garden

Posted on by

There are different objects and places that have been associated with feelings of peace and calmness, but one of the most iconic ones that span cultures and nations is the carefully designed minimalist Zen garden. Just seeing one, even in a picture, is enough to trigger mental images of peaceful meditation, whether by simply sitting on a spot or raking around sand. Of course, not everyone has space for a real Zen garden at home, and miniature kits can get problematic to maintain because of their use of real sand and, sometimes, real plants. If you’re fine with just the symbolic representations of the principles of Zen, then this sustainable playset for grownups not only gives you the creative freedom to design the Zen garden of your dreams, it even becomes a meditative practice in itself.

Designer: ILSA Yumeng Li and Zongheng Sun (PEAR & MULBERRY)

Puzzle toys and playsets have existed for decades, even centuries, and while the majority of these are designed for younger audiences, there are a few that require a more experienced mind to enjoy. Sometimes a puzzle could be too complicated, or a set might have intricate parts. Some kids might still have a bit of fun with this innovative playset, but it will be adults that will benefit from it the most because it evokes emotions and thoughts that only a stressed adult would be able to appreciate.

Meta.Zen, in a nutshell, lets you put together a Zen garden of your own design. You can make it as simple or as complicated as it can be, limited only by the number of pieces you have at hand. The hexagonal base pieces magnetically attach to one another, making them simple to use even for those with physical handicaps. The magnets are strong enough so that you can even stick the finished garden to a wall to serve as a calming piece of decoration. And since there’s no sand or plants involved, there’s no mess either.

It’s more than just a simple playset, though, and each and every piece is carefully designed with the same meticulous attention to detail that Zen gardeners use. The almost random ridges and valleys of the base tiles can be combined and connected in multiple ways, creating millions of Zen patterns that you can change as your heart desires. The pebbles, stone lamps, and structures that you can place on top also magnetically attach to the intersection of tiles, making it effortless to create any arrangement you could think of. More than just the final result, the process of putting together this playset can become a calming and meditative activity of its own.

And, of course, Meta.Zen also gives peace of mind that your serenity doesn’t come at the cost of the planet’s life. The parts are used using biodegradable PLA based on walnut wood, while only natural fibers like algae and bamboo are used to give the pieces their earthy colors. Each piece is designed to let you see and feel elements of nature on a smaller scale, giving you the freedom to take not only the playset but also your Zen bubble with you wherever you go.

The post Meta.Zen playset lets adults calmly build their own miniature tranquil garden first appeared on Yanko Design.

This tiny Japanese Sakura puzzle provides a difficult challenge with its 0.004mm precision design

Posted on by

There are different kinds of puzzles for different purposes. Some exercise the mind by challenging our mental faculties, while others are meant to help while away the time in a relaxing manner. There are also puzzles that reward their players with interesting art pieces that they can exhibit with pride on walls or on shelves. Of course, a puzzle can be all of those, providing good exercise for the brain while promising a beautiful display in the end. This hit puzzle from Japan does that and more because not only is the final result a stunning piece of art, each puzzle piece itself is a beautiful testament to creative design and quality craftsmanship.

Designer: Iwai Press

Click Here to Buy Now: $269 $299 ($30 off at checkout). Hurry, deal ends Oct 27th.

There are many things that people will immediately associate with Japan and its culture, a long list that includes sushi, manga and anime, giant robots, samurai, and ninjas. There are, however, also things in nature that call to mind the Japanese spirit, like the smooth slopes of Mt. Fuji or the gentle curves of flowers like cherry and plum blossoms. The latter, especially sakura or cherry blossoms, have become almost representative of Japan, and now you can keep such a beautiful flower on your desk without worrying about it ever wilting away.

ZIREL is a new kind of puzzle hailing from Japan that will really test your patience but reward your tenacity. Unlike a typical puzzle where each piece is visually unique and has clear marks on what it’s connected to, many pieces of this puzzle look almost so identical that you might presume you can simply interchange them. You might be shocked or even frustrated to learn that each part actually has minute differences and has its own specific place, and the discovery of its position might almost feel like reaching enlightenment.

Some people say good things come to those who wait, and that’s definitely the case for this puzzle. Presuming, of course, you’re actually solving it rather than expecting it to magically solve itself after staring at it for hours. Once all the metal pieces slide into place, you are left with a beautiful Sakura (cherry blossom) or Ume (plum blossom) cast in stainless steel with a mirror finish. Thanks to extremely small gaps of 0.004mm, you won’t even see lines that will mar the beauty of these floral art pieces. Feel free to place them on your desk as a gorgeous paperweight or make them stand proudly atop a table or shelf. After hours of hard work, you definitely deserve the gloat.

Beyond the charm of the finished puzzle, each piece is designed with Japanese ingenuity and craftsmanship. Despite their hard metal surfaces, the pieces effortlessly slide into each other when you have discovered their correct place. Acute attention to detail and disciplined quality control ensures that each piece has the highest quality, resulting in a whole that is just as great as the sum of its parts. Challenging, satisfying, and rewarding, this all-metal puzzle can help keep your mind sharp while also providing a feast for the eyes on your desk or shelf.

Click Here to Buy Now: $269 $299 ($30 off at checkout). Hurry, deal ends Oct 27th.

The post This tiny Japanese Sakura puzzle provides a difficult challenge with its 0.004mm precision design first appeared on Yanko Design.

TWINS-MDF is a chair set that fit into each other like a Matryoshka puzzle

Posted on by

Whenever we build something physical, there will almost always be some resulting waste. For example, there are trimmings and cutoffs that are left on the production floor, and these are often thrown out because they can no longer be used. There has been some pushback recently in the attempt to reduce material waste, often by recycling or reusing these materials for other unrelated or orthogonal products. Pieces of fabric can be used for other textile-related designs, and even plastics can be recycled for some other plastic parts of other products. Of course, it would probably be better if there were no wasted materials at all and that every solid piece could become part of the product or a set of products. That’s the kind of resource efficiency that this chair set tries to aim for, resulting in a quirky design that looks like it was made from puzzle mats.

Designer: Yuji Tanabe Architects

Unless you’re designing something with very basic shapes or something that can be folded like origami, chances are you’ll always need to cut off pieces of a whole. In most cases, these pieces get left unused, especially if they’re made from non-recyclable materials, but there are also times when they can serve a different purpose. With some creative design thinking, however, it might be possible to use every last inch of a single piece of material. In fact, it might even be possible to create several products from it.

The TWINS-MDF is a modern twist on the first TWINS chair set by the designer launched 18 years ago. The original was a pair of metal and wooden chairs that fit into each other like a glove. This new version uses Medium Density Fiberboard instead (hence “MDF”) and expands the family into a set of four chairs. Technically, only two are really usable by humans, but the other two chairs are perfect for a kid’s imaginary tea party for plushies.

The idea is to cut MDF boards into square pieces with interlocking edges similar to those that you’d see on puzzle mats. The process yields two chairs in one, the “Frame” and the “Surface.”. The Surface chair is created using the “solid” central part of the puzzle pieces, while the Frame is made from the resulting “outline.” In addition to the alternating colors, the two chairs create complementing forms of mass and void as well.

The same design is applied to a smaller scale, creating a pair of chairs that are more decorative than functional. In addition to being able to fit into each other, the puzzle-like design also has another advantage. It is possible to connect two or more Surfaces together to form a bench, same with the Frames. That even scales down to the smaller version, thanks to the uneven tops of the chairs’ back plates.

You’re unlike to fit the Surface and the Frame into each other, though, because of the work it would take to take them apart and put them back together again. From a materials perspective, however, this kind of design is critical in helping reduce not just material waste but also the overall energy footprint during production. It’s definitely a bonus that the chairs look distinctive, with an almost playful flair to an industrial motif.

The post TWINS-MDF is a chair set that fit into each other like a Matryoshka puzzle first appeared on Yanko Design.

A jigsaw puzzle table lets you take your food or work away with you

Posted on by

This table concept looks like a game, but it’s serious business that just happens to have a playful twist.

There is no shortage of ideas and designs for modular tables and desks, offering the ability to expand or cut back on their features as needed. In most cases, you actually lose a part of the table when you remove those modular parts, ending up with something like an incomplete puzzle. That’s definitely the case with this intriguing concept for a semi-modular table, one that is almost literally an oversized puzzle. But while most modular tables lose a bit of themselves in the process, this one actually lets you take a piece of it with you, hopefully, to bring it back some other time.

Designer: Siyu Lou

The Puzzle Table is both fascinating and admittedly a tad confusing. On the one hand, you can consider it to be a modular table because you can remove its parts without drastically changing the nature of the table. On the other hand, you probably wouldn’t want to use a table with an even surface left by missing jigsaw pieces either. At its most basic, this is a table that happens to have removable trays built into its surface, with each tray designed in the shape of a puzzle piece.

There’s a bit of frivolity and playfulness involved in this otherwise plain white minimalist tray. When you remove a piece of that puzzle, you leave a gaping hole that’s impossible to ignore. Why you would take out a piece, however, is part of the narrative of the table, and it revolves around the kind of life you have at home or even in the office.

You can, for example, assign a different theme or purpose to each piece. One can be where you put your mug on, while a different and larger piece is for your laptop. Not all pieces are interchangeable, and it might be easier to just move the items on top around rather than carrying each puzzle piece. At the same time, it might be fun to color-code each tile and mix them up on different days.

Those tiles can also serve as something like food trays, where you can bring or take your meal in a cafeteria where empty base tables are laid out. A puzzle piece can also be a part of a meeting room table, where each participant conveniently brings in their notes and tools on a tray and then just slot them into the table. In less formal meetings, it could even become a sort of game or icebreaker.

The Puzzle Table does have provisions for different table sizes, though those will have fixed sizes determined by the puzzle pieces available. It’s a rather lighthearted way of looking at the idea of modularity that may be sending an indirect and completely unintended message about remembering to have a bit of fun anywhere you can take. Sometimes, that “anywhere” just happens to be the very table you work at, and this concept tries to make the best out of that situation.

The post A jigsaw puzzle table lets you take your food or work away with you first appeared on Yanko Design.

Craighill Tetra is a fidget toy for your hands and your brain

Posted on by

Looking like the kind of fidget puzzle you’d find in Dr. Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum, the Tetra is a 4-part puzzle that comes together to form a tetrahedral mass. The goal? Separate the 4 metal pieces as fast as you can!

The Tetra is a uniquely appealing desk toy that activates your manual dexterity skills, problem-solving abilities, and spatial reasoning. The 4 identical stainless steel pieces are designed to lock in only when oriented in a pre-determined pattern. Similarly, they can be removed only a certain way, making the puzzle challenging the first couple of times, and then fun and fidget-worthy after. When you’re not playing with the Tetra, it makes for a pretty mysterious and eye-catching objet d’art that you can place on your desk.

Designer: Revision for Craighill

Click Here to Buy Now

Available in both brushed Stainless Steel and PVD-coated black variants, the Tetra is engaging to look at and even more addictive when you begin playing with it. “On first glance the Tetra Puzzle might seem fairly straightforward; in reality, it’s anything but intuitive”, say the folks at Craighill. Solving it requires focus, attention, and an exploratory mindset that’s innately gratifying. It pushes your boundaries — if only a little bit — and invites you to learn something new.

The Tetra is just one of the many tabletop fidget puzzles from Craighill. Their arsenal also includes cube and sphere-shaped variants, all of which are sure to add a certain Je ne sais quoi to your workspace. Beyond its allure as a meditative object, it’s incredible to watch friends discover the magic for themselves. Whether or not you provide hints is up to you!

Click Here to Buy Now

The post Craighill Tetra is a fidget toy for your hands and your brain first appeared on Yanko Design.

This wooden puzzle lets you build a two-way optical illusion that you can hang as wall art!

Posted on by



As engaging as a jigsaw puzzle, as decorative as wall art, and as visually interactive as an optical illusion, the WoodfloW is an incredibly fun toy that turns hours of engagement into something you can adorn your house with. The WoodfloW consists of multiple strips of wood that you arrange in a linear fashion to create an image… but given the 3D nature of the wooden strips, the image changes depending on where you view it from, effectively creating two artworks in one frame.

Designer: Teslyar

Click Here to Buy Now: $49 $69 ($20 off). Hurry, only 15/350 left!

On a philosophical level, WoodfloW is all about highlighting how the world changes depending on your point of view. The puzzle teaches you to look at the world from different angles, both figuratively as well as literally. The way this happens is by using long square strips of wood, which have different segments of images printed on its different flat faces. Creating a zigzag canvas instead of a traditionally flat one, the WoodfloW effectively gives you two different artworks that exist on the two zigzag surfaces. To view each of the artworks/images, you need to observe your WoodfloW from either the left or the right. When you look at it from the front, you get a chaotic mish-mash of both the images, doubling up as an abstract art piece.

Each WoodfloW comes disassembled, and needs to be put together like a puzzle. Quite similar to matching and joining shredded paper documents, all you need to do is find the wood strips with corresponding artworks and arrange them together, mounting them on a special stand that holds the strips in place. All puzzle pieces can be attached to the stand using the special glue that is included in the set.

A special stand that helps you to keep the puzzle fitted all the time.

Given that the fully-completed WoodfloW can be hung up as wall art, the creators at Teslyar offer three distinct art styles to choose from. You can either choose a Pop-Art WoodfloW, an Impressionist Van Gogh WoodfloW, or a Renaissance Da Vinci WoodfloW. Each WoodfloW is made of high-quality natural hardwoods, such as alder and bleached oak, giving the puzzle durability over time.

Each individual puzzle piece is individually hand-sanded and then comes with the artwork UV printed directly onto the wood, guaranteeing quality not just of the print itself, but even over time. The UV printed artwork offers better, brighter, fade-resistant colors that last much longer than traditional printing techniques, ensuring your wall-hung WoodfloW looks great no matter where it is, be it the office, the living room, or even right at the entrance of your house, so people notice the changing art as they walk past it!

Click Here to Buy Now: $49 $69 ($20 off). Hurry, only 15/350 left!

The post This wooden puzzle lets you build a two-way optical illusion that you can hang as wall art! first appeared on Yanko Design.

3D Blowfish Sashimi Puzzle: Don’t Eat the Poisonous Pieces

Posted on by

Want to learn how to properly clean poisonous fugu (pufferfish) without serving an internal organ that might kill someone? Why not begin with this 3D Fugu Japanese Blowfish Dissection Puzzle available from the Japan Trend Shop. The $36 puzzle comes with 34 pieces and a fugu chef certificate you can proudly display to let people know that you’re capable of properly dissecting the fish. Fingers crossed my wife is so proud of me she hangs it on the fridge.

The set includes a sushi knife for separating all of the pieces and placing them on the included sashimi platter. Nine of the internal organs are marked with a skull to let you know those are the poisonous bits, and should not be eaten. Of course in reality none of the pieces should be eaten because this is a plastic puzzle and not an actual fish.

So, have you tried fugu? And if not, would you? I’m not sure I could bring myself to do it. I mean why risk it? Is it really that good? I just feel like dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets are probably more my speed.

LEGO Rainbow Bricks Is a Colorful 1,000-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle

Posted on by

Want to assemble LEGO bricks even when you aren’t assembling actual LEGO bricks? Well, you’re in luck, thanks to this 1,000-piece Rainbow Bricks jigsaw puzzle from LEGO and Chronicle Books. The 25″ x 20″ puzzle costs $18 on Amazon (affiliate link) and features a gradient of classic 2 x 4 LEGO bricks. Will my dogs jump up on the table and eat some pieces before I finish the puzzle? They never haven’t.

Obviously, if you have to step on a LEGO piece, these are the sort you’d hope for and not the real plastic ones. My toes curl in pain just thinking about it. I’d rather walk on hot coals.

My record for completing a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle solo is a single day. I recently started one of a 50’s diner scene at lunch on a Thursday and was finished by dinner Friday. I’m not trying to brag, I’m just insisting you should all address me the Puzzle King from now on.

[via Brickfanatics]