Monkey Pod Games Blog

Hi Everyone,

So summer is around the corner. This means the kids will be home and running all over the place. Pool, camp, water, ice cream, freedom, and vacation! All the great times are about to come. I mean who doesn’t love summer?

However, our brains can get a little too chilled out during summer. Sit by the beach to long and you may become a beach bum! So why not have a great little game to keep your mind sharp for the long summer ahead.

In spirit of that hot sun that may give us a nice tan and good times, why not play the GIANT STAR PUZZLE! This is the ultimate brain teaser.

Built after the famous Star Puzzle, this GIANT STAR PUZZLE is very tough but very fun. You will have to use all corners of your brain to solve this one. But once finished, the reward is big! If you can solve it before the end of summer, than you are one smart cookie! If you haven’t already clicked the links to the puzzle check it here!

www.monkeypodgames.com

Hi Everyone,

Here at Monkey Pod Games we love to bring attention important social issues. That is why we want to talk about the amazing charity “Love Without Boundaries”. This organization works hard to help and improve the lives of orphans in China. There are an untold amount of hungry and cold orphans who need our help. Love Without Boundaries has taken the lead in helping these orphans live easier lives. They have made a strong attempt to get people from all over the world to donate to their cause and they have been successful so far. However they still need our help!

Love Without Boundaries helps these children in four major ways:

1. MEDICAL: Love Without Boundaries has sent many teams of doctors to China to perform life saving operations and other necessary treatments to save and improve the lives of young orphans. They still have a serious waiting list which is why they need more help.

FOSTER CARE: Love Without Boundaries has given more than 300 children homes while making sure they are in proper foster homes where they are treated properly.

EDUCATION: Over 200 children are enrolled in educational programs run by Love Without Boundaries. This organization has many programs such as “Believe In Me” aimed at improving the education of these orphans. From pre-school all the way to college, Love Without Boundaries has been there to assist and improve the learning skills and abilities of so many orphans.

NUTRITION: Last but not least, Love Without Boundaries has been sending tons of necessary nutrition and food to different cities and provinces all over China. This is such a crucial aid as the key to smart and independent children are ones that are fed properly.

Love Without Boundaries have had so many success stories. Below is one that is truly touching from their website:

“Julia is one year old, and prior to surgery, suffered from a heart defect called a VSD. Julia suffered many setbacks due to pneumonia that was very difficult to treat. After 66 days in two different hospitals, Julia finally had surgery in December 2009 and is doing really well. We know Julia is feeling better because she likes to make silly faces now! Julia will continue to recover at our Heartbridge Pediatric Healing Unit. We hope 2010 brings another year full of blessings to the children in China and to all of you!! On behalf of all the children in our medical program-thank you!”

As you can see Love Without Boundaries is truly a magnificent charity. That is why we want to do our best to help them and we have decided to give a donation to their charity. But Love Without Boundaries needs alot of help and that can only come from the charitable. We urge you to give any donation you can.

Their website can be visited here at www.lovewithoutboundaries.com or if you need to do some shopping at Amazon, proceed there through this link and Love Without Boundaries will get 4% proceeds off whatever you buy!

The motto of Love Without Boundaries is that “Every child count”. The same goes for every dollar we can give to this amazing charity.

Love,

Monkey Pod Games

www.monkeypodgames.com

Hi Everyone,

This blog post is dedicated to our raffle we are holding! We at Monkey Pod Games feel that sometimes wooden brain teasers are misunderstood. Sometimes people think they are boring and cannot hold up to electronic toys and entertainment.

Well Monkey Pod Games is ready to prove this assumption false! That is why we are holding a raffle to give a free puzzle to one lucky winner. And the puzzle we have chosen to dispel the myths of brain teasers is the SOMA CUBE.

So, lets cut to the important part which is how to get involved! Our raffle is being held through our facebook fan page. All you have to do is go there, become a fan, and then attend the event. It is not enough to just attend the event, you must be a fan aswell. However this whole raffle is free! No monetary costs and no needing to give up any information or pricacy. We have been saying for along time that this social community is for you, the consumers. Hence this raffle is for you all

So we truly hope you will join in the fun and good luck to all!

Warmly,

Monkey Pod Games

So as most of you know, April 15th is when everyone’s taxes are due.  This can be a stressful time but also a time of insecurity because you have to give up alot of your hard earned money. But for the treasures you do get to keep, may we suggest the MAGIC BOX! It is not really a magic box but it is just as cool. Basically, you put your valuables or whatever you want inside the magic box and then the only way to open it is by doing a secret trick! Only skilled handiwork will get the magic box open.

Now, we at Monkey Pod Games are very responsible when it comes to giving advice. We are in the business of making WOODEN PUZZLES and  not safes. So we dont really recommend putting your true valuables inside the magic box. But it is neat for those items of yours that you want to protect from pesty little fingers that belong to curious children.

Or it makes for a great gift idea if you want to put a gift within a gift! Tell the person that they need to open the Monkey Pod Games Magic Box before they get the gift inside.

The Magic Box is beautifully constructed from 18 wood pieces. This Magic Box makes for a great wooden puzzle or wooden game.

Check out the Monkey Pod Games Magic Box here or go to our website at www.monkeypodgames.com

And please dont forget to join our facebook fan page called Monkey Pod Games. When you join, you get 10% off your next purchase! Once more: good luck on those taxes!

WARNING! BELOW IS A PUZZLE SPOILER! BELOW WE HAVE EXPLAINED HOW TO SOLVE THE STAR PUZZLE. IF YOU ARE  STILL TRYING TO SOLVE IT OR WOULD LOVE TO BUY THIS FUN AND TRICKY BRAIN TEASER, DO NOT READ BELOW!

Hi Everyone,

So we have decided to be merciful and show you all how to solve the Monkey Pod Games Star Puzzle. This is one of our most popular puzzles and was even on the hit show Criminal Minds! It is a tough puzzle but alot of fun trying to solve. However, sometimes we just have to get on with our lives and therefore we need a little help. Thats ok, no one is perfect!

So lets delve into it. We will explain in a step by step process how to solve this puzzle.

1. First you need to take apart the puzzle and lay out all the pieces like you see in the picture at the start of this blog

2. The second step is to take two pieces and hold them in the position as shown in the next picture. All the pieces will interlock into each other in the exact same way. Knowing how the pieces interlock is halfway there to solving the Star Puzzle.  Once you have these two pieces, you need to place one piece horizontally into the top niche of the other piece which needs to be held vertically. This can be seen in the picture to your left.

3. Once this is done and you get the feel for how the pieces should lock together you need to add the third piece which fits a bit diagonally/vertically into either one of the empty slots that were created by putting the first two pieces together.

4. Now, this is the trick/spoiler to the rest of the puzzle, so only read ahead if you really want to solve it quick. Most people try and solve the Monkey Pod Games Star Puzzle by putting it together piece by piece until completed. But this is a mistake! Doing it this way, you will close off the final spot for the final piece. Theway to do it is by creating the three piece figure shown above with the other three pieces and then sliding them together. The best trick is to hold the first three piece figure in your first two fingers and thumb and with your other two fingers and free hand, create the same figure. This picture shows how to do it.

5. All you have to do now is to twist the two 3-piece figures together and voila, you have completed the Monkey Pod Games Star Puzzle! This part can be a little tricky so do not get frustrated if it takes a few times to feel it and then slide them in. Sometimes you will be able to slide them together quick and sometimes you have to jiggle with it a bit. Here are two pictures showing how to do it.

Well we hoped this helped for those of you struggling with the Monkey Pod Games Star Puzzle. If you love this type of puzzle, then we really suggest checking out the many more puzzles like this one that we have on our website at www.monkeypodgames.com

For the puppy lover or for the one who does not want the real thing!

Every parent with a young child deals with this quote at some point during their lives: Mom I want a puppy! Pleaaaassssseeee mom can i have one? I promise to take care of it and love it all the time. Everyone loves kids. And everyone loves puppies. But let’s be honest. Your little six year old kid isnt going to be walking it at 6 a.m. when it is sub zero outside with ice rain coming down. Most likely it will be you. We love puppies here at Monkey Pod Games and we believe in giving as many animals a loving home as possible. But sometimes the timing is not right. And we all know how important is to be able to take care of a dog properly. There are alot of responsibilities. So sometimes when your child is looking up with those big beautiful eyes and begging for a puppy you just have to say no. We personally believe however that waiting is sometimes a good thing!

Thankfully in the meantime there are other things you can get your child. Out of the million of toys you could get your child, only one really comes to mind which is a MONKEY POD GAMES PUPPY PUZZLE!

“Alright Monkey Pod Games. Give us the facts. We won’t just believe you hands down. We wan’t the facts!” say’s the critic. Fair enough. Every statement deserves backing. So here are the facts:

1. It is made of course from our beautiful monkeypod wood. The puppy puzzle is made up of ten hand crafted sturdy pieces.

2. It is crafted in the KUMIKI STYLE! This is a centuries old Japanese style that has lasted since the Meiji period in Japan. It is a simple yet sturdy style of building puzzles in different shapes such as airplanes, cars, or even puppies! There has been many “Kumiki” puzzle masters who have kept the tradition and artistry alive.

3. This is a great puzzle for parents to do with their kids. They more or less get a puppy and a cool puzzle for their room. Or for the puppy enthusiast who already has dogs, this can also make an amazing gift for the house or office.

4. It never needs to be fed or walked! No 6 a.m. dashes to the field before something stinky ends up on the kitchen floor.

Well fans and skeptics, these are our facts! Or reasons to buy the puppy puzzle, which I must add is being sold at a great price. Check out the puppy puzzle here!

“Freedom is a word I rarely use without thinking.” This is one of my favorite quotes which was song by the legendary singer Donovan in his hit song “Colors”. The term freedom has been at the center of almost every political movement and uprising since the dawn of man. Freedom from tyranny, freedom from persecution, freedom from religion, freedom from secularism. Freedom Freedom Freedom! It has been used so many times and is adopted by almost every movement that the word has lost its meaning. It has lost its soul. That is why I love this quote. “Freedom is a word I rarely use without thinking.” Donovan hits the nail on the head when he speaks about the need to think before we speak and to make sure when we say freedom we really mean it. It may be the year 2010 but a great portion of the world is still under the dark veil of tyranny without political or civil freedoms. Unfortunately the mechanisms to advance these peoples freedoms have not been created. They stay trapped. However, we here, from the free world stand with them in support and hope that one day they too will taste what freedom means.

 That is why we are dedicating our disentanglement puzzles to the oppressed peoples of the world. For these puzzles you have to THINK and you have to FREE the trapped mouse or peg.

 So although you may not be able to start a freedom movement, why not play our disentanglement puzzles instead! Their fun and after reading this, they will get you consciously thinking about freedom.

Start your freedom disentanglement puzzles here!

 Today we are dedicating our blog to the wonderful tale of Peter Pan! Most of us know the story written by J.M. Barrie whereby a young boy named Peter Pan is whisked away from his home in London to a magical land called Neverland. There he leads a group of young boys called “The Lost Boys” and lives with his best friend, the responsible girl named Wendy. Peter Pan has many skills but his most impressive is his ability to never grow old. He is the boy who never grows up, the boy who is the youth in all of us, no matter how hidden. He creates magic with his infectious smiles, draws hope by flying through the skies, and defends his clan against the evil Captain Hook.

 The story of Peter Pan was originally presented to adults even though it has now become a legend as a children’s story after Disney’s adaptation. Peter Pan is not just about magic and fighting pirates. It is a story about bravery, being free from the fear of death, about being able to love. It is about finding love and friendship with those you would least expect, when the ones you did expect abandoned you. Most of all it is about finding the innocence and child that will always exist within us if we take the time to find that youth and let it fly free.

 There have been many stories revolving the legend of Peter Pan. Whether it was him as a one week old boy in Kensington Garden playing the pan pipes for the fairies or flying to Neverland with his Wendy and Lost Boys, Peter Pan will always be a figure for us to dream of, a leader of our imaginations and adventures.

Let us be children sometimes and forget all the things we have to deal with. Here we present you with different puzzles that we believe invoke the spirit of Peter Pan and will bring out the youth in you!

First we have the “Glasses Marbles Solitaire”. This is dedicated to the most famous of the Lost Boys “Toodles” who loved his marbles more than anything. Be a Lost Boy and play this solitaire marble game. Just make sure you don’t lose them like Toodles did!

Play the Great Escape. Although based on another interesting fable, this time it can represent Peter Pan saving Wendy from Captain Hook.

Then there is the Diamond Puzzle. Fairies like Tinker Bell can be hard to figure out. But fairies are magical and will let us fly among them with the stars if we are lucky. Like little diamonds, fairies are the magic little beings that live in places like Kensington Gardens. Solve the Diamond Puzzle here!

These are just some examples of puzzles to bring out the child in us. But there are many many more waiting for you here!

Sometimes we get lucky and sometimes we stumble but either way we are always trying to understand what is going on. We take apart each date that we went on and each line we said. Learning from our past mistakes, we map the future carefully hopefully succeeding and finding the love of our life.

So while we are stressing about love and romance, why not relieve some of that tension with a love themed brain teaser.  Here are some of my favorite love puzzles:

 First there is the Heart Puzzle which is a modern version of the very famous tangram puzzle. Here, one has to make tangram shapes as in the original version but now one has to contend doing this with shapes that form a heart. There are over forty shapes to create! This one can be picked up here.

Then there is the super fun Love Test Puzzle! This puzzle is a lot more accurate and fun than pulling the petals off a flower. And you save the flowers too! This puzzle involves a wooden heart with a string going through its holes with a small ball trapped. If you can manage to release the ball, then the answer is: YES HE OR SHE TRULY LOVES YOU! Find your answers here.

Or there is the Star Puzzle. Despite this being the famous puzzle used on the hit CBS show Criminal Minds, it also makes a great love puzzle. There is a great little romantic fable behind it that can be read here. The romance story behind it makes it a great puzzle for the theme of love. Build it for your own satisfaction or present it to the love of your life.

There are tons of puzzles available to get us through those days where love is taking over our thoughts. Why not get through those days with a cool puzzle to relax your mind. Check them all here!   

Love can be stressful. Who here has not sat around thinking “Does she like me?” or “I wonder if he will call me back? Often we obsessively deconstruct our relationships trying to grasp our emotions. Our feelings are hard to understand and the emotion of love tends to preoccupy our mind at an amplified level. We go our whole lives looking for love. Whether on the internet, in bars and clubs, or even on a vacation, we are playing the game. 

A Prince's gift to the love of his life

Our famous Star Puzzle has once again made headlines when it was used on the hit CBS show Criminal Minds. Criminal Minds follows the Behavioral Analysis Unit, a branch of the FBI, based in Quantico, Virginia. In each episode, the characters track down some of the most dangerous criminals. What makes this show so interesting is that it focuses on the criminal instead of the crime.

In the episode Risky Business, Special Agent Pristine, at the end of the episode is playing with the Star Puzzle. The other character named Dr. Spencer Reid, who plays a genius doctor aiding the FBI team, asks Pristine what she is doing. She explains that she is trying to solve this difficult 3D puzzle which has a very romantic story to it. She tells Reid the fable where a prince who was madly in love tries to win over the heart of the prettiest maiden by catching a falling star for her. He climbs to the highest tower in the kingdom and manages to catch it but in all his excitement he drops the star and it smashes on the floor. In a frantic rush and without accepting failure as an option, the prince puts the pieces of the star back together. The Maiden loves the gift and they live happily ever after.

However the genius Dr. Reid does not understand the concept of fiction well and protests that the story could not be true because any star that would fall down towards us would burn up in the atmosphere. Special Agent Pristine tries to explain to Reid that it is just a fable but the scientist minded Reid declares again that it cannot even be considered a fable because it has no moral to it. Pristine responds by saying that at the very least it is a cute romantic story. She goes on to say that the puzzle is almost impossible to solve and just to annoy her more, Dr. Reid solves the puzzle in a matter of seconds.

The Star Puzzle is a fun game to have, tough to solve, but is a admirable accomplishment and looks great sitting on a desk or shelf. Order your own Star Puzzle

For all you know, you might complete it quicker than Dr. Reid. Or if you really want a challenge, we also offer the giant version of the puzzle which can be found in our Extra Large 3D puzzle section.