Does ayone know of a good forum like this one about other types of geometrical puzzles, like put-together, stacking, hidden/3D-mazes or other types?

I got inspired by http://www.puzzleworld.org/DesignCompetition/2008/, and made me think I shouldn't restrict my collection to just twistypuzzles, I want a couple of shelves full of beautiful wooden puzzles too!
But first I want to find out which ones are really hard/beautiful(/not too expensive).
And I want inspiration to make a couple myself. I really like to work with wood, and I think some of these puzzles are not too hard to make.

So if anyone knows a good one.... please

PS no, I am not quitting twisty puzzling, just widening my view a little bit

Nice idea! This tread might come up with hundreds of websites though. I give you two

Mazes
http://www.clickmazes.com/index.htm

Polyshapes
http://www.recmath.com/PolyPages/

EDIT: sorry, just realized you're looking for forums . Let me come back on that....

My thoughts exactly.

A good one-piece mathematical puzzle does not necessarily have to be
a 3x3x3 and its variations. There are many more excellent designs that
simply cannot be ignored.

Your post goes even further, as there are interlocking, string, metal, and
many types of puzzles which are more geometrical than algebraic.
And some are just dexterity!

All puzzles are nice in their own way, but diversity is a good thing.
And being stuck at a specific type of puzzles also affects creativity.

So... open up the boundaries of the mind and excellent things can happen!




Pantazis

Hi Sjoerd,

You might wish to explore my website, which encompasses many different types of puzzles besides twisty puzzles. For many puzzles, I give some explanation, history, and sources.
http://robspuzzlepage.com

The Links page, under "Enthusiast Sites" has links to several forums and blogs devoted to various types of puzzles:
http://robspuzzlepage.com/puzzlelinks.htm#enth

One good place to see nice wooden puzzles for sale is Bernard Schweitzer's Puzzlewood.de site:
http://www.puzzlewood.de/gallery/

Burrs:

http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~rh5k-isn/Puzzle/

That's what I did back in 2008 when I started my collection. I got so fascinated by all these types of puzzles that right from the start my collection has been very eclectic. I always try not to focus too much on one type of puzzle, although I have more assembly puzzles than any other, maybe because they're cheaper and more widening available.

Many thanks Rob for being responsible for my great puzzle collection

And my lack of space! I can't go on to his page anymore. It makes me want more and more and more......
But I love it for that same reason.

It's not a forum, but I recommend MathPuzzle.com if you want to broaden your horizons.

I've learned about lots of puzzles, puzzle theories, building techniques, and even new materials.

Thanks everyone, these are exactly the type of websites I need!
I was wrong asking for just forums, regular websites are OK too! Please keep more coming!

So far I have only Bernard Schweitzer's website thoroughly, and noticed he also comes to the DCD every year (as do I). I wasn't all that interested in the past years. I was so obsessed with twistypuzzles I just walked past his table and just glanced at those beautiful (but not interesting to me at that time) puzzles. How stupid I was!
I do believe seeing some terrible pricetags on them, which is understandable of course, so next october I might buy a few of his less expensive and less beautiful(non-shiny) puzzles, or one big beautiful one.

Keep more coming!

I quite like Simon Tatham's puzzle collection (a set of very small logic puzzle programs).

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/puzzles/

There are soooo many beautiful puzzles other than twisty. More than you can explore in a lifetime. A few sites I visit everey now and then:

http://www.mechanicalpuzzles.net/index.html
http://www.johnrausch.com/
http://home.comcast.net/~stegmann/home.htm
http://chrono.org/puzzles.html
http://www.recmath.com/PolyPages/
http://www.clickmazes.com/index.htm
http://www.gamesandpuzzles.co.uk/
http://www.puzzelmuseum.nl/
http://www.jimloy.com/
http://www.hlavolamy-puzzles.cz/index1.html
http://mathpuzzle.com/
http://www.research.ibm.com/BurrPuzzles/

Happy browsing!

Thanks for posting this - there's a few new games there since I last downloaded it.

One of the best parts about this is that the Slitherlink program (Loopy) can generate puzzles on non-square grids.