Hey my name is Josh and I love cubing but how many puzzles are enough? I'm going on 25 puzzles now and I feel that I need more lol! How many people feel like this?

Haha, I've got about 100 now, and there are still so many mass-produced ones that I don't have yet. I'd say, the amount of puzzles you can afford to buy is enough.

There is no right or wrong answer here. I used to get every puzzle when it came out, but now I've gotten a lot more casual. So, I usually just get puzzles when they're cheap and used at competitions and garage sales.

Really, your collection's bounds are where YOU set them. Set goals, like getting all of the nxn cubes (2x2 - 7x7), or collecting dodecahedra (I happen to have a full set of face-turning dodecahedron, the only interesting thing about my collection since I'm one of the only people with a collection like this). Personally, I like puzzles with symmetrical geometries the best, so I collect a lot of the standard puzzles.

Find a niche and flesh out your collection with puzzles like the ones you're interested in. You could have lots of mass produced puzzles or a few hand made puzzles, or a mix of both. Stop collecting whenever you feel like it. Start it up again when you're comfortable. Again, there's no right or wrong here, I'm just giving tips.

Good luck!

in extension to Kapusta's post I want to say that its nice to have a guide line in what you are looking for.
in my case, (as Kapusta) I go for the *classic* look of a puzzle. It also has to be black plastic with unique colours for every side.
So dont just go for anything. Go for what you find attractive in puzzles. Or even go for difficult puzzles.
I have over 100 puzzles in my collection and I dont think I am half way there yet..

But again there is not right answer here. One might be happy with his single 3x3x3.

Recently I have tried to take a good look at my collection and see if I wanted to trim it in any way.

Some puzzles are finding new homes. Either because I dont think they fit in with my collection or I have a dublicate (which wont be used for a mod after all), or I have simply had my fun with the puzzle and I pass it on to someone who will enjoy it more.

Like Kapusta, I feel that there isn't really a right answer. It depends largely on whether you want them for their "intended purpose" (to entertain yourself when bored and give your mind a challenge) or to collect and look at. A good basis is to get ones that are different and interesting, without much repetition of mechanisms (only get the most interesting of shapemods, especially for the 3x3x3). This should bring you to around 200 (the 200-300 range seems to be common). At the moment, this seems to allow for a wide range of shapes and mechanisms, without having much repetition (I say "at the moment" because there are always new puzzles being produced). This, mind you, is assuming you like only Twisty Puzzles. I don't have enough experience to say what is or isn't "enough" for other types of puzzle (although there is no such thing as "not enough puzzles"; any amount of puzzles is really good, and certainly better than none ). Equally, you can never have too many...

Great question!

When I joined TP I had about 10, the basics. 333, 444, 555, 666, 777 and 2 or 3 others. After seeing what was actually out there, I bought a lot more. Now I have around 65. To many people here, that's almost nothing, but to me (and most of the people who see them!) it's a lot.

I tried to buy different puzzles so I could get an idea of what type I like. I discovered that I really like all the "crazy" puzzles, but things like the square 1 didn't grab me. Kapusta said this: which I think is great advice.
Now, I'm basically at the stage of waiting till new puzzles come out. If I think I'll like them, I'll buy them. If not, no.

Hmmm. Your question? No limit. Just don't buy them for the sake of being able to say "I own 5 million twisty puzzles".

Funny that question. My husband has asked me the same thing time and again. My answer is always something along the lines of "I only really want..." (usually a rare puzzle I don't have yet) but then I have a weekend...or I go to SmaZ's...or I go browsing on the internet...or I look at Rob's, or Pandas, or Georges page...and it starts all over again.

Enough? Is there such a thing? When I die or go senile and can no longer play, it will be enough! (or when I run out of house!)

I would like to second Kapusta's (and others subsequently) thoughts. You can go insane if you're trying to get them all, but if you keep more strict guidelines on what you want, you'll make expanding your collection much more manageable. I personally go for the 'standards'. 3x3x3, Megaminx, Pyraminx, Helicopter, Square-One, etc. After that, I finish the set. 2-7. Flower-Teraminx. Pyraminx and co.

But, then there are different kinds of sets. Crazy cubes/minxes are a fad right now. But, I also went for the older bead puzzles of the Orb-It, Tower of Babylon, Hungarian Rings, etc. Crystal assembly. Cubedron set. Gears. Skewbs (though this category I found too repetitive so I stopped at 2). Another interesting set is the speedcubes I like to call the "League of Speedcubes" if you know what I mean- the puzzle isn't new but the mechanism makes it much nicer. Jades are a nice set, and I believe Meffert promised more varieties of Jade puzzles in the future? (But let's not rush him on that one, please?)

That's a bit like asking how much KFC is enough.

Tony, I love the comparison of cubes to good food (I assume you are talking about the fast food chain?). You get a taste, and you think "hmm, this is really good", then the taste wears off and you get hungry again. Then you go back (in that comparison, to your shelf) and ask whether or not you want the same thing again, or if you want to try something new. You can always refresh your love of puzzles by getting more, and trying new things to remind yourself.

So basically you should buy puzzles until you explode in a giant greasy fireball?

That's when *I* decided that it was enough.

I heard of a puzzle collector ran out of his room in his house so what he did he added on to his house. Thats what I want to do.

Here are the stages:

1. You see some nice puzzles (start collecting).
2. You realise how cool puzzles are (you start over-collecting).
3. You attend big puzzle events to expose yourself to as many puzzles as possible.
4. You cannot get enough puzzles (your house has rivers of puzzles overflowing).
5. You want more puzzles that do not exist yet, so you design your own puzzles
(you create a mess around the house).
6. You want to make puzzles never seen before (now you have your own lab and 3D printer!).
7. You create a company related to puzzles to generate and help you make even more puzzles!
8. You become member of SETI and donate with millions of dollars the extra terrestrial program
to help you find aliens who will (possibly) have advanced technology, and hence new puzzle mechanisms!
9. You become a member of mystical organisations who claim to have access to paranormal
creatures and objects in hope to find something "aetheric" which could be applied to puzzles.
10. Madhouse.

I still have a long way to go...!




Pantazis

You must be talking about Laurie

It's hard to build on to the 28th floor of a building Maybe I can just buy a bigger house.

Unlike Georges, I'm still to young and there are still too many puzzles to play with...

I have visited Laurie's house, and I can say that it won't be too much longer until he'll have to build another extension!

That is one impressive collection. I looked up the Corner Block puzzle he talks about (see here and here) and it does look very difficult. Has Laurie ever had a connection with this site?

I have one simple answer for this question:
There is no limit!
(or: No limit for number of puzzles are enough)

Just the Hyperminx

One puzzle to rule them all

The average of the number of puzzles you want and the number you can afford. Minus 1.

When you have so many puzzles that you're trying to prove to the SCA that cubing should be an event.

Thats It!!! God I hope I'm like him!!!!



For me Dr. Panda its like this below.

1. Buy everything that you come across.
2. Get a better paycheck.
3. Find out what I really like and go after.

There are no limits. Except my credit card limit

In order to find the exact number of how many puzzles are enough, one must first ask, "how many puzzles are there"?

The answer to this also happens to be how many are enough.

Fixed that for you.

Very interesting topic, as my family and friends are asking the same question as they see my collection grow ever larger.

It starts simple, you solve the 3x3 and are filled with pride.
You then expand into the higher order NxNxN cubes and discover the concept of parity. You then delve into dodecahedron territory and finding that the strategy is not too different, and expand those layers.
You then find yourself hitting the circle and crazy versions.
You then climb into the cubic and cuboids.
Once getting exposed to shapeshifting, you can't help but plow into the square one series.
The pyramids start to beacon, then the shapeshifting master pyramorphix.
Suddenly you find yourself gazing longingly into the wee hours of the night salivating over the creations of Tom Z, Garrett, Oskar, Traiphum, Timur and Fisher.
And then you're hooked. The dopamine centers in your brain light up like a christmas tree every time you receive and then solve a puzzle. The addiction is then auto catalytic, and you are no longer in control.
You start loading on skewbs, dino's, gems, octahedrons, you can't leave your house without having a puzzle with you, calculating which puzzles you will take on vacation!
You have some at work to steal away and play with when no one is looking! And yet, whenever any non twisty person sees your collection they all say the same thing: COOOL! (followed by a recommendation to to seek help)

What is it that makes this more then a mere hobby? Is there some evolved need to capture, solve, and share experiences with these puzzles? Somewhere back in the paleolithic period of human evolution, when much of our social and cognitive development happened, we became evolved problem solvers, which is right on the heals of a brain with a knack for 3d orientation, a trait we carried over from our tree swinging primate ancestors.

This, combined with the human urge for constant discovery renders the issue of limiting the number of puzzles to be against human nature!

Sounds like me. Help! Now, where can I find a few thousand dollars to fund myself for Oskar puzzles...

Nice description! I didn't know that you know me, Doctor

Maybe we should start a support group! SA, or Solvers Anonymous.

haha count me in!

I feel this way, too. I also have 25 cubes and I don't think I NEARLY have enough.

Just one more.

At 40 some I thought I was done. Then the Crazy Tetrahedrons came along. Then I was done. Then the Curvy Copter was mass produced. And I realized that maybe I did indeed need a Rubik's Tower. Now at 52, I'm happy. So for now, 52 is enough. Besides, I haven't solved them all yet. I still need to figure out the Latch Cube and the Mars and Saturn Crazy Tetrahedrons. And as I work on posting my solutions online, I keep discovering new things about old puzzles.

But the Gear Shift Black sure looks cool.

Just one more.

Just until you are sick to the stomach of them.

The day when yellow and blue mixed will not give green anymore you will have bought enough puzzles, assumed that you buy one or more per month (or just assumed: you do keep buying.)

Yellow and blue mixed give me a nice checkerboard pattern normally.

I'd say 500. After that you aren't buying puzzles, the puzzles are buying you

With so many awesome puzzles, it's difficult to stop buying. I mean, all of Hanayama's Cast puzzles are different in some way, and that's just one type! And for twisty puzzles, there are so many that I don't even want to count them (deal-extreme, search "cube", and that's maybe 1/10th of mass-produced puzzles). Then there are custom twisty puzzles, and the sky's the limit (until you have a pile of puzzles so big, it reaches into space)!

Never!!

However, I did go on hiatus from collecting after nearly passing out when I reviewed the spreadsheet where I keep track of costs and saw how much my collection cost me cumulatively. Just looking at the shipping costs I incurred alone from importing puzzles from all over the world was nearly enough to make me sick

Every time I look at websites/topics by the prominent collectors here, it makes me want to run out and buy a few dozen puzzles. So I forced myself to stop After visiting here I have the itch to catch up with what I've been missing on these past two months.

I started out collecting puzzles so I would have something to show off if someone visited my room. Now I'm embarrassed to even let people in my room! DON'T GIVE IN TO THE URGE TO STOP COLLECTING!

Ben

Na, you've got to celebrate your eccentricities. They are what separates you from the herd and makes you unique! Just, uh, put them away if you bring a date back, may be too much eccentricity at one time...

You do know the solution to that is to just delete the spreadsheet don't you?