Junichi is credited with designing some of the most interesting and complex, and therefore the most difficult, puzzles to solve ever created. In 2007 he received an honourable mention at the International Design Competition awards for his Tornado Burr.
With that burr and others he's also given Brian some of his biggest headaches by designing some of the most difficult puzzles Brian's ever had to make!
Left: Puzzle friends. Brian Young, Dirk Weber and Junichi Yananose at IPP29 in San Francisco.
Edward Hordern IPP Puzzle Exchange - Prague, Czech Republic, August 2008 Presented by Grant Smith. Made by Brian Young @ Mr Puzzle Australia. Designed by Junichi Yananose.
The object of the puzzle is to assemble the 6 piece interlocking burr. After he designed this level 5-4-2-2 burr Junichi described it as a mediocre level of difficulty; that translates to difficult for most other puzzlers.
Edward Hordern IPP Puzzle Exchange - Berlin, Germany August, 2011 Presented by Grant Smith. Made by Brian Young @ Mr Puzzle Australia. Designed by Junichi Yananose.
Pack the P's and L's in the frame so that only "IPP31" is visible when completed. The puzzle comes unsolved to give you the full packing challenge.
Edward Hordern IPP Puzzle Exchange - Berlin, Germany August, 2011 Presented by Karst Nauta. Made by Brian Young @ Mr Puzzle Australia. Designed by Junichi Yananose.
Status: 30th March 2013. Only 7 left. Once sold we won't make this puzzle again.
The Burrliner Kruse is a 12 piece plated burr based on the Altekruse type burrs.
The puzzle is a completely new design by Junichi Yananose, who took his inspiration from the original and well-known Altekruse Puzzle. It was a 'by-product' of the analysis he did to create the Windmill Burr that we made in the 2010 Limited Edition series.
You can choose to have the burr sent assembled or apart. It's challenging to take apart (Level 4-2-3) but receiving it in pieces really makes it more tricky. If you're comfortable doing burrs this is still difficult but doable (and it comes with a very detailed printed solution if you get really stuck).
Junichi originally name it New Altekruse Type 04 but Karst named the puzzle as a reference to the historical inventor William Altekruse and to the International Puzzle Party in Berlin.
The puzzle is made from Australian Rose Alder. Size: 100mm x 100mm x 100mm
LIMITED EDITION of 30 puzzles released December 2012
A completely new design in 2011; one of the first puzzles designed by Junichi since moving downunder!With a unique 14-3-2-2-2 solution this is certainly one very difficult puzzle.
When he brought this design to work here at Mr Puzzle Brian immediately recognised it as a very special design and wanted to make it for Limited Edition.This puzzle leant itself very well to the large format of Limited Edition; the shape of the pieces would be fragile if made smaller.
That was the start of the idea for this series, and what started as 1 ended up 5 very special burrs.
There are 6 pieces in the puzzle.Each piece consists of two ‘S’ shaped pieces joined at the ends.Not all the ‘S’ shapes are the same and not all of them run in the same direction.
With check-outs (notches) on different sides, all 6 pieces need to be interwoven together at the same time to assemble the puzzle.It is by no measure interlocked like a standard burr.
The final shape is symmetrical, but each piece is slightly offset to the opposing piece which makes it harder to focus on and visualise the final shape.
Wood: Queensland Blackbutt with Queensland Blackbean inserts. Size: 155mm x 155mm x 155mm Weight: 1 kg including packaging
LIMITED EDITION of 30 puzzles released December 2012
The goal is to disassemble and reassemble the 12 H shaped pieces into an interlocked box.All 12 pieces are slightly different to each other which makes the unique level 3-1-1-1-2-2 solution even more interesting to assemble.
Junichi conceived the original design in 1991 and Brian has always wanted to make the H burr as a Limited Edition puzzle but when making a prototype he discovered the original had a number of solutions, some easier than the one intended.
With Junichi working here over the past year it was a good opportunity to encourage him to rework the design. As a result the box burr was born by creating this unique solution H Burr.The Jarrah (red wood) pieces were added to reduce the solutions to one only.This then also makes the inside of the assembled shape a void, making it a box, effectively a puzzle box that can be completely disassembled.
Wood: Queensland Silver Ash (white wood) with Western Australian Jarrah inserts (red wood). Size: 140mm x 140mm x 140mm Weight: 1.5
LIMITED EDITION of 30 puzzles released December 2012
Junichi thinks the L Burr is one of his best designs ever; in his words “one of the most diabolical”.Considering how many puzzles he’s designed over the years (and we’re sure a few of those remain unsolved around the world) this is a big statement!
It’s only 4 moves to remove the first piece, but that’s when the fun starts. This puzzle has more twists and turns than you can imagine.
Back in 1990 he pioneered the first versions of his 6 piece board burr. In 1991 he then considered that he could divide the 2 x 4 rectangular shape on the end of each completed puzzle into two L shapes to create a very interesting puzzle.He remembers thinking this was so interesting that if he didn’t design something like this soon, someone else would.
Completely designed in his head it took about one full week to design this L burr.He was concentrating so much on the puzzle in that week he says he even dreamed about it.Some people tried to make the puzzle and all reported back to Junichi that in theory the puzzle could not be assembled.This is incorrect, although the BurrTools software (a fantastic tool for analysing burrs created by Andreas Rover) still won’t be able to help you solve this one.
Mathematical theory suggests that the puzzle has a unique solution but in practice when made from wood we know there is a slightly sneaky second and unexpected one which Brian found during prototyping (much to Junichi’s displeasure!).After that they worked together to change and improve the original design and it now has more twists and turns than ever before.
For both assembly and disassembly you will find that correct positioning is critical to be able to get the pieces in place without any force.
So as not to rely solely on glue Brian decided to add decorative splines to each glue joint (the blonde wood) for extra strength.We think the benefits and the final look of the puzzle has been well worth the extra time and effort.
Wood: The puzzle is made from Rose Alder with Queensland Silver Ash splines. Size: 130mm x 130mm x 130mm Weight: 0.80 kg including packaging
LIMITED EDITION of 30 puzzles released December 2012
There are many puzzle designs with co-ordinated motion but most of them have just one motion of assembly.Most are mathematically the same.Co-ordinated motion means a number of pieces move at the same time.This action is often described by puzzlers in Japan as an explosion type.
In 1995 Junichi developed a puzzle with more than one co-ordinated action or motion.It was introduced in the bulletin of the Academy of Recreational Mathematics in Japan in that same year and has been waiting for someone to make it ever since.Brian soon discovered there was good reason for this.He found getting exactly the correct tolerances so that it moves just right very challenging.
The puzzle has 15 pieces and the motion and movement of the pieces in this puzzle is truly extreme.It might appear that the puzzle is made a little loose, but be assured that it is intentional, because if it fitted firmly the puzzle would go together but getting it apart again with just 2 hands would be near impossible; that is until you get to the point of no return. Then it gets really scary!
Junichi called it Kamikaze because he considers this puzzle extreme.Although many puzzle solvers will know which pieces go where in the puzzle, finding the order to put them in and the motion to get it together is truly extreme.
Once you’ve played with this puzzle you will soon understand where Junichi got the concept for his award winning Tornado Burr.
All 5 puzzles this year are quite different and radical but there is no puzzle more different or radical than this one.
Wood: Queensland Silky Oak (known in some other countries as Lacewood). Click here to read more. Size: 150mm x 150mm x 150mm Weight: 1 kg with packaging
A sneak peak at the Kamikaze burr coming apart; this is when it gets scary!
A view of a couple of pieces of the Kamikaze burr.
This 12 piece burr has all the hallmarks of a Junichi Yananose design and a few surprises too. It looks straight forward but it's surprisingly difficult. The design is elegantly symmetrical. The visibility into the puzzle is amazing and yet once together it's very stable. It has a unique assembly and solution. It takes 20 moves to get the first pieces out. The puzzle has lots of pieces that move at the same time; some of these moves include up to 5 or 6 pieces moving at the same time, counted as a single move.
When you have a puzzle with so many parts moving at the same time it needs to be very accurately cut. By definition this (and the time involved to assemble the puzzle - although hopefully Brian will get better with practise at putting them together!) does not lend itself to mass production; hence a perfect design for a Limited Edition series.
During 2007 Junichi was researching some of the subspecies of the Alterkruse puzzle. The Windmill Burr is one of the variations that came from that project.
We have had overwhelming response to this puzzle and all 30 puzzles have already been sold.
NEWS: November 2011 one of these puzzles was resold on the Baxterweb Puzzle Auction site for USD340.00. (At the time this puzzle was released the original sale price AUD255.00 was equal to approx. USD 167.00.)
LIMITED EDITION of 30 puzzles released December 2008
An award winning 12 piece interlocking wooden burr designed by Junichi Yananose and made by Brian Young @ Mr Puzzle.
This ingenious burr was designed by Junichi in May 2007 with "head and hands; no computer". Junichi had the idea for a multiple rotational movement but did not get to finally apply it to a puzzle until he came up with the Tornado Burr.
The puzzle is to assemble/disassemble the 24 piece interlocking burr. This burr is extemely interlocking; it even interlocks around the ends of some of the pieces which is very unusual.
Junichi Yananose designed this burr in 1999 without the use of a computer and in his own words describes it as "a crazy difficult burr puzzle".
This puzzle has been so rarely made that even Junichi does not own a copy of this puzzle, although he has already reserved one from this Limited Edition releases.
Puzzler's Cage is presented in Queensland Maple (which like many native Australian timbers is not really from the maple family). Also known as Maple Silkwood this timber is from the Rutaceae family.
NOTE: Original selling price in USD was 123.00. One of them was resold within 24hour of being listed on eBay "Buy it Now" in March 2005 for USD275.00 In April 2008 one of these puzzles sold at Baxterweb Puzzle Auctions, Featuring the John Ergatoudis Collection Phase 12 for USD 300.00.
The puzzle is to assemble to 12 piece burr representing the letters T L & N on three sides.
Junichi Yananose created this puzzle in 1991 but to date it has not been commercially manufactured. Although it is a 4x4x4 burr the 4 pieces on each side are not symetrical, rather making four different shapes in the form of the letters T L and N. As well as being very difficult to assemble this puzzle can also be relatively difficult to disassemble if you are not holding the puzzle just right.
This puzzle is crafted from the very dense and heavy timber called Cooktown Ironwood which is grown only across the very north of Australia in a thin band from Cooktown to Darwin. Size: 150mm x 150mm x 150mm.
NOTE: Original selling price in USD was 78.30. In April 2008 one of these puzzles sold at Baxterweb Puzzle Auctions, Featuring the John Ergatoudis Collection Phase 12 for USD 160.00.
Mr Puzzle - We've got puzzles! 
Junichi is credited with designing some of the most interesting and complex, and therefore the most difficult, puzzles to solve ever created. In 2007 he received an honourable mention at the International Design Competition awards for his Tornado Burr.
