The title explains all and i would like to know the whole process because I have tons of puzzle files that I made and am trying to get them mass-produced. Any help is greatly appreciated by me



- Chris

I'd say your best bet is to get them printed, or build a prototype, then the producers will come to you if they are interested.

Alternately, if you have a lot more expertise, you can design the molds yourself and spend thousands of dollars to get them tooled and produced.

Use shapeways or some other 3d printing service to make some prototypes. If you're the only person that knows about the puzzle, not a lot of people are going to want it

I've never mass produced a puzzle so take my advice with a grain of salt.

Edt: Garrrett beat me.

Second Edt: You would need A LOT of money to produce a puzzle yourself. The molds for just simple plastic spoons cost thousands and thousands of dollars each.

If it's a sensation and everyone wants it, KO companies might want to try it. That's the "easy" way, but you get no credit or profit.

As others have mentioned, you can go with releasing it on Shapeways and/or other popular available methods, raising a lot of interest for the puzzle, then going to producers like Meffert to see where your concept can go. Oskar and Tony Fisher have done this before.

Alternatively you can go with mass-producing on your own. I recommend asking Kastellorizo or Kelvin Scott how this process works.

You don't get profit, but you sure would have the credit kinda.

If a puzzle was sold on Shapeways and a couple years later a ko was made, in a court of law would the ko be illegal? If so, Shapeways in my opinion would be a great place to start if you think a ko company might make the puzzle.

You could print masters and set up a casting factory in your house It wouldn't be that mass produced but you could make the puzzles cheaper.

You don't receive much credit outside the forum. There are plenty of people I've met on Speedsolving and YouTube who just don't get what a KO company is. Ignorance goes as far as giving these companies credit for inventing the puzzles. If you personally don't want credit outside this forum (and here we only recognize you by your username, not even the true name of the true inventor) then you won't be upset if your idea isn't stolen.

I do not believe a puzzle that has been on ShapeWays for a few years will cause a problem in court. You're basically selling the masters for the KO companies to make the molds from.

Then v cubes are also selling masters Shapeways has a bunch of legal stuff when you join and upload models and a ko company selling the puzzle would violate all of it. if you want to continue talking about this, I suggest a new thread.

First you need to get a couple of each printed and tested. Then (as mentioned earlier) contact Uwe Meffert and show him photos and videos of the puzzles. Then wait.

There are many ways really, and some have been explained above.

Now if you really believe that your design is groundbreaking, and you
are able to invest on it for longterm, then I suggest to first protect it
(patent, copyright, trademark etc), and then show it to others.

The investment does not have to be your money. It could be people that
you know for years and (preferably) that you trust. But you need to
convince them that your puzzle/toy will be successful. If you do not
want to manufacture yourself, there are more than one companies
who could be willing to get a license.

Always make sure you sign proper agreements without loopholes.
I am not a lawyer (far from it actually), but I have been told those
many times.

But as I said, you need financial aid, patience, the correct people,
and... patience!!! (yes, there is a reason I said "patience" twice)




Pantazis

The best people on the forum to talk about this, without a doubt, are Kelvin and Pantazis.

From the perspective of bringing puzzles to market many on the forum have done this but there seem to be a few methods:
1.) Prototype your design and pitch it to companies that mass produce puzzles. Bram and Oskar have done this with success but will probably tell you it isn't easy.
2.) Build your puzzle and if someone likes it, they will come to you. A few of us have done this with Meffert as the main player.
3.) Work with Japanese producers/distributors. Two of our members (Okamoto-san and Hidetoshi) have done this with great success but it probably isn't available to most.
4.) Work directly with Chinese manufacturers. So far this seems to be limited to some of our Chinese members like Daqing Bao and Witeden.
5.) Produce it yourself. This involves a very large amount of time and money. As theVDude has noted Kelvin and Pantazis have done this and don't forget Jason Smith with the Helicopter (designed by Adam Cowan).

If you don't have contacts, experience and an understanding of the larger toy/puzzle market #1 is probably not for you. #3 and #4 are probably likewise not available to you. #5 requires resources most don't have.

Given your age and without any history of built puzzles it is likely that #2 is your best bet: Design and demonstrate some nice puzzles and build a reputation for yourself and that is the best way to get noticed. Note that our hobby is expanding with cheap 3D printing and better 3D tools which means competition to be noticed has become quite crowded. Note the length of the "puzzle of the month" lists compared to just a year or two ago.

Dave

Thank you all for the responses! I've almost completed my Heli-dino like I mentioned in a thread but I don't recall which one it was in

Anyway I am trying to make this as cheap as possible but really high quality. I think I'll use Dave's #2 suggestion