BePuzzled | Spiral Hanayama Metal Brainteaser Puzzle Mensa Rated Level 5, for Ages 12 and Up

I have to wonder about the people buying a brain teaser puzzle and then complaining some of the parts jammed and they threw it away... maybe try using physics to your advantage and put it in the freezer for a bit...

Exceptional handfeel. Heavy, durable, clever, classic. Good for people who aren’t even into puzzles. Don’t mistake my brief review for lack of enthusiasm. Literally zero negatives.Ok, one negative: the package is not 100% recyclable. It’s mostly recyclable, but there’s some disposable plastic.Disregard the star rating. It’s not too challenging for a dumbdumb, and not too simple for a subgenius. The challenge wont impress a genius, but the elegance and quality make up for that.

Spiral is another fantastic puzzle by Hanayama. Its heavy, sturdy, and the pieces slide smoothly.I discovered the solution in about half an hour, broken up into 2 short sessions. Satisfying as always! As I've learned with these Hanayama puzzles, it's important to disassemble slowly so you understand how to reassemble. Knowing this, Spiral was pretty easy for me to put back together.In my opinion this is an easy level 5 puzzle. I struggled much longer on both my level 4 Hanayama puzzles (Cake and Marble). Spiral earned a 5 star rating however, because it's a lovely puzzle. The parts are fun to slide back and forth, and it looks great on my new puzzle shelf.

Gave the 'spiral' to my 10 y/0 grandson and he had it figured out in `15 minutes. Mensa rating seems a bit off. Nice puzzle though, well made.

This puzzle is fun just to fidget with. The way the pieces slide up and down is somehow soothing. At first it seemed there's no way of getting the pieces apart. Once you do, it's an "Ah hah!" moment. You can simply put it back together, but what's the fun in that. I dissembled the whole thing and mixed up the pieces. It was much more satisfying.Oddly, this is the only puzzle so far, by Hanayama, that doesn't have the name of the puzzle on it. It just says Hanayama.

Very nice and uniquely designed puzzle that feels good in your hands and is generally easy to manipulate. This is another seemingly impossible challenge until you find the answer or it suddenly falls apart in your hands. If you don't know how you got it apart you may struggle greatly during reassembly.

Hanayama makes a lot of these cast metal puzzles. Some of them are harder than others, and the difficulty levels are a rough approximation for how long it will take you to solve them.This one is ok to play with. It's not particularly hard, but the geometry is gorgeous. It's really more a nice piece of art than a puzzle. As some of these are, this one can be solved by accident, but then becomes very difficult to put back together if you weren't paying attention. I actually had this one come apart in my hands while I was attending to something else.I wouldn't recommend this as the first Hanayama puzzle to start with if you're looking for a good puzzle since it's not as much fun. It's elegant from a geometric perspective, but not from a puzzle perspective. I'd recommend Labyrinth, Elk, or Quartet first. Those are all more "classic" puzzles. This one is a bit more like Nutcase or News, more art than puzzle.

This Hanayama one is a favorite for me because it's challenging, but all the aspects of the puzzle are fully visible. There are no hidden mechanisms like in some of the Level 6 puzzles. It's just about looking carefully and reasoning through it.