Imaginatorium Shop, version 2

Welcome to the new Imaginatorium site at imaginatorium.com. There is no "total reorganisation", so you should be able to find things easily, and eventually any bookmarks to the old shop will be redirected to the right page. The new checkout is working, which means that in simple cases you will be able to complete a purchase in the normal way.

Covid-19: Shop status

There are still many problems in the postal system, varying hugely from one country to another. More details on the front page, and at the checkout there will be more specific information about the destination country (sorry: not implemented for all countries yet!).

Chit-chat from Imaginatorium Shop

Can I come and see the puzzles?

Blog entry for August 2011

Location map We often get questions like "Do you have a store?" To which the simple answer is "No", since we are an online operation — but anyone intrepid enough to make their way here would be welcome to browse catalogs, and inspect stock. And we'd be delighted to provide a cup of tea. Intrepid? Well, we are in Sano, two or three hours from Tokyo by train.

So where else could I look at puzzles? Are there any specialist puzzle stores in Tokyo? I don't know of a specialist store in Tokyo, but the following two are both interesting, in an old-fashioned way — you can spend an hour there, buy nothing, and feel the time was well-spent.

Hahuhinkan Toy Park: in central Tokyo, near Shinbashi station, this is a wonderland of toys, games, and puzzles. Website Location on Google maps

Tokyu Hands: in Shibuya, with a huge range of craft materials and hobbies. Website Location on Google maps

If you are in Nagoya there is the delightfully named Jiyuukan (時遊館) — to a Japanese speaker this sounds like something to do with "freedom" (jiyuu), but is actually written as "Time-play-hall". Well, "hall" doesn't really have the right ring, but it's the same as the -kan which is the last character in our Japanese name: Souzoukan (想像館) or "Imaginatorium". Anyway, this is a jigsaw specialist shop: their website is Japanese only, and not particularly easy to navigate, but I am sure the store itself would be worth a visit. Here's the location: Google maps

Brian Chandler

"A kind of blog..." My sporadic comments, mostly topical, on shop matters. (Brian Chandler)