Blog Index
Log on to Jesse Born’s newest innovative, interactive puzzle box experience set in the world of retro computer games.
Junichi and Yukari Yananose recently invited me into their new home, and gave me a tour.
Sound transmission has come a long way since Edison first achieved it, but this Hi-Fi speaker goes to eleven.
A good puzzle box is not just something to solve; it is something to handle, inspect, distrust, and eventually understand. - Peter Freese
Here at Boxes and Booze, there is always something interesting going on. Life is never boring, and we are never bored. In fact, we have never been bored, or board, shall we say, until now!
Adventure awaits, but dead men tell no tales, so you’d best be quick about it because they definitely do not say that fortune favors the old when there’s treasure to be had!
Robert Yarger is kicking it old school in one of his incredibly special Stickman puzzle boxes, but don’t let the name fool you. This is still a Stickman box.
Happy Tolkien Reading Day! The Tolkien Society, “an educational charity, literary society, and international fan club, devoted to promoting the life and works of J.R.R. Tolkien”, was founded in 1969 with J..R.R. Tolkien himself serving as its president.
The puzzle stork has made a new delivery, flying from the Netherlands, via Helsinki, passing through China and even making a fateful stop in Japan. The journey began long ago, and has been gestating for twenty years, until now.
Tetraodontidae, so named for their four beak-like teeth, are much more well known for their inflated personalities.
Matt Magee has been thinking about puzzles his whole life. Which is what led him, a few years ago, to create The Box of the Celts, an incredibly complicated and intricate puzzle literally packed with problems.
A sequel to Robert Yarger’s Gordian Knot was certainly most welcome, and eagerly awaited. The new puzzle takes its name directly from the Greek mythology, in which King Gordias of Phrygia ties his Ox Cart in the town square with the famous knot.
The Sanct Grael first appears in an epic romance featuring the Arthurian Knight Perceval by French poet Chrétien de Troyes from 1190.
The stage is set for this year’s holiday themed puzzle by Kyle Chester, a part time puzzle maker from the UK who, along with his grandfather Stephen, craft clever wooden puzzle boxes in their home workshop.
From the creative mind of Akhil Sudeep and his holiday workshop in Kerala, India comes a festive puzzle follow up to his breakout hit “Malabar Safe” that follows the trail of these nine feisty reindeer.
Jesse Born doesn’t like to be constrained by convention and definitely thinks outside the box. He has just introduced the “Infinity Cube” concept – a series with different themes that goes on and on, and offers something to look forward to year after year.
A problem that started out in Houston could take a long time to reach Tokyo, depending on the mode of transportation. In this case, it took a year.
The No Way Box is the brainchild of Dr. Peter Hajek, a British psychologist who understands both the secrets to a very good puzzle and the joys of experiencing such items.
Matt Williams, a mechanical engineer and die cast machinist from England, has been creating a unique trilogy of nostalgic gaming puzzles that incorporate thematic mechanisms into the puzzle solutions.
Fans of Alex Owens’ fantastically complicated interlocking puzzles, such as the Heart Box and the award winning Piano, know he is a master of engineering intricate puzzling experiences. How forcefully you fall for his newest oldest puzzle will theoretically depend on your individual mass.
In Japan, there are “passenger pushers”, known as oshiya, who help push people onto the overcrowded trains to keep things moving on time. Although they are not as prevalent as they once were, you can now practice the skill on yourself with this charming packing puzzle by Jordi Gallen.
I recently found myself in possession of an incongruous mixture of rare colorful wood, reminiscent of a tiny, beautiful Rubik’s like object, fashioned together into a motley cube.
German Jesuit Renaissance scholar and polymath Athanasius Kircher was a prolific academic thought leader of his era, like Leonardo DaVinci. He was known as the “Master of a Hundred Arts”, and his personal wunderkammer (cabinet of curiosities) became what is thought to be the first museum in history.
Marc Duran, a French business consultant and IT specialist with an interest in “history, architecture, cryptology, brain teasers and puzzles”, decided to embark on a new passion project a few years ago: creating his own perfect puzzle boxes that embody all of his interest.
The Spyglass, an immersive adventure story that unfolds and expands with puzzles wrapped in a mystery, rekindles delightful nostalgia and wonder in a uniquely modern meets vintage presentation.
In the spirit of transparency, this offering is really just an excuse to tell a few stories about one of the original members of the mechanical puzzle community, a mentor and friend to so many.
Book themed puzzle boxes are always intriguing to me. I suppose they embody the ultimate symbolism of how a good puzzle box tells a story, of adventure, secrets and reward. It’s a pleasure to get lost in a good book, and a book puzzle box offers that sentiment as a tangible experience.
Seafaring puzzle adventurers who were equally thrilled, befuddled and impressed by a tiny metal puzzle box that made its way across the world a few years ago have been patiently waiting for their next great “white whale” to surface.
Like the tick tick ticking of the intertwined gears on a mechanical wristwatch, it’s been a minute since we have seen a new puzzle from Christophe Laronde, the reclusive genius behind some truly brilliant puzzle box creations.