I got the puzzle box today.  HOLY @#$%&!!!     That's definitely the most serious puzzle box I've ever seen!  I didn't get a real sense of how big and heavy it is from the postings in the gallery.  Definitely very intimidating.  I'm almost afraid to try and solve it for fear of damaging it or having it fall apart!  Almost....

-Jeff

I got the puzzle today.

-Jeff

Does anyone know anything about them coming back up?

www.bitsandpieces.com was down for a while, but here's the message you get when you visit there now:

Bits And Pieces will be back soon! We are currently under new ownership and we are working diligently to get back up and running.

We appreciate your patience and understanding. Please try this site again later.

I would be interested in borrowing this.

-Jeff

Robert, I shipped this box back to you this morning 6/4/08.

-Jeff

I got the box today 6/2/08.  Thanks!

-Jeff

I would also like to be on this list if possible.

-Jeff

Mr. Yarger,

I am interested in borrowing this puzzle box.

-Jeff

By the way, I was very Mr. Schweitzer's comment about collectors not even trying to buy an item at list price.  It seems like it's much more difficult to find your way to the Ergatoudis auction site than to Schweitzer's Puzzlewood site, since Schweitzer routinely advertises his site in the Puzzle World forum.  It's surprising that anyone would know about collectible puzzles and not know where to find out if they are still available at retail.

-Jeff

Mr. Fuller and Mr. Yarger: thanks for your replies.  You guys are such celebrities in this field that it's a treat to get a direct response.

I wonder if Heartwood Creations does some outsourcing, or they just have a large staff.  I imagine that their quantities are higher than your.  Would it be worthwhile to see if you could outsource to them?

I also wonder how the economics of the Karakuri Creation Group do compared with Cubic Dissection.  While some of their boxes disappear in at Cubic Dissection speed (like Akio Kamei's recent "Hot Miso Soup"), a lot of their boxes have sat around for sale for quite a while.  In the end, it is a better or worse business model?

I like the "Netflix" idea that was mentioned earlier.  That would be the dream.  I guess the closest I can get to that is to buy an item, play with it, and then sell it.    I suppose that you guys could do that by having a huge deposit (2x or more the cost of an item) and charging the consumer for both shipping and repairs.  Once the value of the item exceeds the deposit, someone just won't return the item, and its deposit value will either increase or the item won't be circulated.

Another idea I had was to see some video of you guys explaining your items and solving them.  The reason I thought of this is that there are so many cool items that you guys have made that are sold out.  If you're not Jim Strayer or someone like that who not only became aware of your product early enough and has the money to buy it all, you're out of luck!

Thank you guys for working so hard to make such wonderful puzzles.

-Jeff

Hi, I thought I'd jump in with a few thoughts as a consumer.  I have a budget of around $50-$100 month for puzzle boxes, which puts me at the lower spending range for your customers.  Since my interest is in puzzle boxes, my comments are directed primarily toward Mr. Yarger and Mr. Fuller.

First, why are the limited runs are so limited?  For example, as pointed out in the CarveWright article, the Stickman boxes sell out in 5-10 hours.  A major goal is to put the puzzles in the hands of enthusiasts who appreciate it.  But how about those enthusiasts who didn't check your website in that 5-10 hour window?  They may have gotten the notification email but forgot to check, or just not checked their email in that time, etc.

Mr. Fuller stated that he could raise prices 20% without any drop in sales.  I would say that Mr. Yarger and Mr. Fuller could increase the number of copies in a limited run by 50-100% and still sell out.  It probably wouldn't happen in 5 hours, but definitely within a few months.  It wouldn't be the "blink and you miss it" situation that it is now.

The advantage for you, the producers, is that it's more time and cost effective to crank out a few copies of an existing design than make a whole new one.  The advantage for the consumers is that more of us get an opportunity to purchase it.  More copies will help keep prices reasonable.  Plus, it gives guys like me a chance to save up money to afford the puzzle.

Speaking of cost effective for the producers, I'm surprised that you gentlemen can make a living doing this full time.  I just calculated the gross for Mr. Yarger in 2007, based on number of copies, release date and cost:
Stickman box #13: Chopstick box (24 copies at $125 each) $3000 total
Stickman box #14: Chess box (26 copies at $1085 each) $28,210 total
Stickman box #15: Tile box (20 copies at $380 each) $7600 total
2007 TOTAL: $38,810
This also seems like a particularly high grossing year due to the cost of the Chess Box.  Plus, overhead must be pretty high given all your tools and equipment.

This reminds me of another field that I'm interested in (again as a consumer): magic.  I was talking to a guy that arranged lectures for one of the local clubs.  A magic lecture is typically 3 hours and costs the club around $200.  That's a very low fee compared to what you'd have to pay a "normal" lecturer.  For example, the guy that arranged lectures was a computer programmer, and he said it would cost a lot more to hire him (the programmer) to lecture on computer stuff.

Obviously, you guys are getting paid a very low rate for your very unique and high level skills and talents.

Getting back to keeping prices reasonable while still making money for you producers:  would you gentlemen consider having some of your items as unlimited editions?  Or having some of your items made into reproductions like Akio Kamei did with Bits and Pieces?

-Jeff