Puzzling until your head smokes Two Germans have fulfilled a dream in Palma’s city centre:

Their own shop for puzzles and brainteasers. Gülcin Baeck had to rack her brains for her engagement ring. “My husband gave me a Pentagon box,” she says, holding up a pentagonal wooden box with more boxes inside. “And I could then watch in front of the assembled team how I got the ring out of it.” Sven Baeck’s passion is games of patience, skill and laying. For ten years, the 40-year-old, who had enough of his hometown Essen in the mid-90s and emigrated, sold his “head crackers” at Mallorca’s weekly markets. In April, his wife and he fulfilled a dream and opened their game shop “Puzzles Bonaire” in the middle of Palma. The small boutique in Calle Aragones has over 250 puzzles. Playing games is in the Baecks’ blood. “My family had the biggest toy shop in the Ruhr area for over a hundred years,” Sven Baeck reports. “In my childhood and youth, I spent every Sunday in the shop and tried out around 60,000 games.” Via many first revolutionary, then quickly outdated products – he still fondly remembers the Atari computer games – Baeck found his way to classic patience games. Here, too, the family helped: Baeck’s brother-in-law Constantin has been developing puzzle games for 30 years. Other games at “Puzzles Bonaire” have been around for centuries. Among the perennial favourites are the puzzle rings, which have been known since the 15th century. They consist of four curved individual pieces that are extremely difficult to put together to form a larger ring. As Gülcin Baeck, who was born in Turkey and grew up in Mönchengladbach, reports, it was the custom in Turkey for a soldier to give his fiancée a puzzle ring before he went to war. If she no longer wore it when he returned, the connection was broken. Even older is the Chinese Tangram, which was played from the 4th century BC at the latest, and whose parts, five triangles, a square and a rhombus, can be laid to form an infinite number of figures. For some regular customers, the small shop on the edge of the old town is already irresistible. You often see highly concentrated children fiddling around in front of the shop window. Teachers also find it hard to pass by “Puzzles Bonaire”. They buy geometric games for their lessons. “And the other day, a mathematics professor came in and took a whole bunch of them with him for a congress,” says Gülcin Baeck. In the near future, she and her husband would like to visit old people’s homes from time to time. Because patience games train thinking skills and fine motor skills. By the way, speaking of thinking skills. To get her engagement ring, the teacher, who has since been infected with games fever, developed extraordinary powers. “At first it didn’t work. Then the whole family tried. Then it was me again. And suddenly the box was opened in about an hour.” And that’s despite the fact that it usually takes over two hours to open the pentagon box.

At Puzzles Bonaire (C/. Aragones, 3A) not only children’s heads start to smoke. Sven and Gülcin Baeck offer over 300 patience games in their shop. Even three-year-olds fiddle over colour cubes and form animals and letters here. “There’s nothing here that doesn’t require thinking,” says Sven Baeck. The patience games for adults are correspondingly tricky. “Especially at Christmas, trick boxes are a big hit,” says the man from Essen, who has lived on Mallorca for eleven years. Small gifts fit into the decorated boxes. But you can only get them out of the boxes again by puzzling and trying. Some of the games at Puzzles Bonaire are developed in-house, some are centuries old and come from all over the world, including hand-forged trick locks from India. “Another highlight is an eight-kilogram globe made of stainless steel, whose 164 puzzle pieces are magnetically attached to the sphere,” the owner tells us. There are only 250 of this unusual and 500-euro puzzle globe in the world. For the smaller version with less than 100 pieces, Sven Baeck himself needed more than two and a half hours … to put it together. “After that you have the world map in your mind!

“I just had to pay and set up the shop in a matter of days”. This German entrepreneur set up his new business five months ago. It is a shop selling self-made jigsaw puzzles. He has been doing markets all over Mallorca for eleven years and decided to set up a business. To do so, he has drawn on his savings, although he says he has not invested much. “The idea of a new business in the market” Sven Baeck counts on novelty in his business, one of the prerequisites for success.

“Classic games help to think in an active way”. E.CARRANZA. Palma
Sven Baeck, who belongs to a legend of German toymakers, has been running the Puzzles Bonaire shop for three months now.
-How long have you been involved in this world?
-My family has been inventing and producing toys for 130 years.I have been in Mallorca since 1997, selling in the markets of various villages. -What kind of games do you sell?
-We have about 250 items, including brain teasers, puzzles, educational, mathematical and skill games, among others.
-Why did you decide to set up a specialised shop?
-Our idea was not just to make a business, but to provide a space for workshops for both children and adults.
-What do these games have that the current ones don’t have?
-They help develop active thinking and work with time, not stress. They are the opposite of video game consoles.
-Who are your customers?
-Many parents come worried about their children’s lack of concentration or difficulties in maths.

“Urge for order”

The Rubik’s Cube is making a comeback. Tinkerers are offering ever faster solutions to the puzzle game. Even fashion has taken to Rubik’s Cube A small cube caused worldwide enthusiasm and became a cult. The “Rubik’s Cube”, which is called a Rubik’s Cube in Germany, was invented by the Hungarian architecture professor Erno Rubik (1944, Budapest) and patented in 1975. Actually, Rubik wanted to make spatial thinking easier for his students. So he constructed a cube, the original of which consists of 26 pieces that are to be turned so that the six sides of the cube each show a uniform colour. The original cube has 43 trillion possible colour combinations. Soon after, the Rubik’s Cube began its triumphal march around the world. And millions of people fingered it at every possible opportunity. The typical click-clack could be heard everywhere. In 1980, the Rubik’s Cube was “Game of the Year” in Germany. Now it is celebrating a fierce revival, after its demise was predicted in the early 1980s. The then new computer games were to blame, it was said in a kind of obituary. Now, however, the “solutions” offered in web sites by tinkerers are to blame for today’s kids getting Rubik’s Cube into the right position from any twisted starting position in times under 15 seconds. There are national and world championships; the current world record is 3.4 7 seconds. So Rubik’s Cube is everywhere again lately. It can be seen in shop windows, on TV on Stefan Raab; the designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac has used the typical colours and shapes for clothes and toys; Chanel has designed a corresponding shoe; there are loudspeakers, lamps, alarm clocks and much more in Rubik’s design. The Rubik’s Cube is also back in Palma, at “Puzzles” by Sven and Gülcin Baeck, who run a shop for Rubik’s Cube and other patience games at Carrer Sant Nicolau 16 in Palma. The Baeck family has had toy shops in Essen for 130 years and has now also specialised in patience games for many years, many of which are designed and manufactured in the company itself. At the Baecks’, besides the original Rubik’s Cube of 3 x 3 cubes, there are also other versions of 2 x 2 cubes, or Greek productions of the same basic scheme that go up to 11 x 11 pieces. And there are even and odd versions. “The odd ones are easier to handle” says Sven Baeck, “because there is always a square in the middle whose colour determines that side.With the even ones, you don’t know which colour has to be on which side.” Why is the Rubik’s Cube suddenly “in” again? “I had it when I was a child.Now I have children of my own to whom I show what once excited me,” says Sven Baeck. What makes the Rubik’s Cube so fascinating? “Every game is different”, “You always have to think several steps ahead. In the beginning, the solution was 255 steps. The latest solution is 23 steps. ” And then he gets philosophical: “Maybe it’s the human urge for order. And in the end, you always get rewarded.” And we all like rewards, after all.

Mallorca Puzzles

I had been regretting for some time that there are no special shops for puzzles in Germany. The most interesting objects can usually only be obtained via the internet. Moreover, a personal contact with competent advice and possible support in solving the puzzle would be helpful. Last but not least, it wouldn’t hurt to be able to try out the objects, which are often not very cheap, before buying them. To my surprise, I recently found out that there is a shop specialising in puzzle games in the southernmost German state of Mallorca. This was doubly pleasing for me, as I spend one or two weeks on the island every year. I usually stay in Paguera, which is about half an hour’s drive from the capital Palma. And that’s where Mallorca Puzzles is located, in the middle of the picturesque old town, just a few minutes’ walk from the cathedral. The small shop makes a good, almost distinguished impression from the outside, and everything inside looks clean and tidy. It is run by Sven and Gülcin Baeck, a couple from Essen. I was served by the friendly and helpful Gülcin, who proved to be extremely knowledgeable. I learned that

most of the puzzles are sourced directly from the developers, with whom they are in constant contact. There were single copies of each of the well-known high-priced series, such as ISIS, Revomaze, Popplock. And of course there was also a large selection of wire, nail and cast puzzles, as well as numerous puzzles made of wood or plastic, including several variants of Rubik’s Cube. Remarkably, the latest Hanayama creation – Cast U&U – was also in stock, which is not yet available anywhere in Germany. I finally bought a high-quality looking object by the well-known developer Wil Strijbos as well as a few simple wire puzzles. Reviews of these will follow in the coming weeks. For sure I will visit Mallorca Puzzles again next year. There is still a lot to discover.

Blimey, how does that work?

This is a sentence that you probably hear more often than not in the Mallorca Puzzles shop in Palma, although you shouldn’t think that there are only puzzles where you have to put together umpteen pieces to form a picture. No, puzzles is the general term for games of patience. And the operators Sven Baeck and his ex-wife Gülcin Baeck have plenty of them. “There are maybe 350 different games or even more,” says Sven. “We are always adding to and swapping the assortment.” Celebrity customers from Queen to Pop Queen Ex-Queen Sophia of Spain bought around 20 games for her grandchildren: “She visited us as a sympathetic grandma, not as a high-ranking member of the royal family.” Other celebrity customers include or have included English actor and sometime Mallorca resident Joseph Fiennes, Tom Hanks, the Ochsenknecht family, Simone Thomalla and Helene Fischer. Sven Baeck has already provided the German national team with an enjoyable afternoon’s play twice – once on Mallorca and once in Essen: “The first time Miro Klose was the fastest, the second time Mats Hummels. Lukas Podolski bought the most at that time,” the 53-year-old says. Cuby is also a big fan One of her regular customers is Cuby (YouTube and Facebook influencer: Cuby, Instagram CubyLife). The game maniac with around 4 million followers, who – as his name suggests – is mainly interested in everything to do with the Rubik’s cube, but also in other patience games, publishes videos on YouTube that show him trying out and playing. In the process, he also often experiments with products from Mallorca Puzzles and links their shop. “This has brought us a lot of customers.” Most recently, for example, this was the “8-Deluxe” game. The two also remember countless funny experiences with their “normal” customers, because almost everyone lingers longer and tries out one game or another. That’s where you get into conversation. “We also have a lot of schoolchildren who stop by on their way home and just play. They don’t buy anything, but they have fun,” the Baecks say, “that’s still the most important thing. And maybe one day the parents will buy something after all. From the cradle to the brother-in-law In 2007, the two started their business in a small alley near Jaime III, a year later they moved to Calle Sant Nicolau next to the church of San Nicolas, where they still reside today. Before that, and in the beginning at the same time, they sold their products at the most important weekly markets on the island – this also helped them to become well known. And of course they can also inspire their customers: “With heart and soul and a lot of enthusiasm”, as they say. “I just think it’s nice when people play and children also put their mobile phones away for that.” Sven in particular was born with a love of games. His family ran the largest toy shop in the Ruhr region for over 130 years, and little Sven grew up with it. In addition, his sister married a renowned and often award-winning game inventor and later game producer, Jean-Claude Constantin. His portfolio includes hundreds of different trick boxes, mazes, trick castles, rope and metal puzzles and much more in a wide variety of difficulty levels. The puzzles, mostly handmade in Germany from wood or metal, are characterised by their high quality and creativity. It is mainly his creations that can be found in the shop. Meanwhile, his son Jules has also been infected with the game virus and creates his own games. Everything is tested in detail Constantin was almost their only game source in the beginning, but now they source products from about 70 different game creators and producers. “Sometimes, though, it’s just a game that we get from one or the other,” Gülcin explains. “There is nothing more clever that one can do in this beautiful world than to play.” This was already written by the playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906). Play develops the mind, strategic and logical thinking, stamina and imagination. It sharpens, develops, promotes and challenges the child’s and also the adult brain. Of course, it is also important to sell the right games: “First we buy a new game and test it. If everything fits, we include it in the assortment.” This was certainly the case with the trick box in which Sven once hid her engagement ring when she proposed. “Trick boxes are ideal for smaller gifts,” Sven says with a smile. Mallorca as a puzzle and Rubik’s cube Sven has also “invented” games, which he then discusses with his brother-in-law, who in turn constructs Sven’s ideas. This was the case, for example, with the wooden Majorca puzzle – also a wonderful gift idea, by the way! Here, the island communities are the puzzle pieces that have to be placed in the wooden frame in the shape of Mallorca. Like all the others, the game is of course also available for purchase online, which is sure to please Mallorca fans who don’t live here: “This way we can’t make a visit to the island possible, but we can bring the island to the customer’s home! Perhaps that is a small consolation for one or the other!

” It’s a similar story with the Rubik’s cube with Mallorca motifs. Those who want classics such as chess and backgammon games or laying puzzles will of course also find what they are looking for here.

Just let yourself be carried away and infected by the desire to play. It’s fun!

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