Boxes and Booze 11/29/25 Boxes and Booze 11/29/25

You Shall Not Pass

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.

Boxes and Booze 11/8/25 Boxes and Booze 11/8/25

Ready Player One

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.

Boxes and Booze 10/31/25 Boxes and Booze 10/31/25

Defying Gravity

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.

Boxes and Booze 10/11/25 Boxes and Booze 10/11/25

All Aboard!

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.

Boxes and Booze 9/20/25 Boxes and Booze 9/20/25

Looks That Kill

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.

Boxes and Booze 9/13/25 Boxes and Booze 9/13/25

Lost City

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.

Boxes and Booze 9/6/25 Boxes and Booze 9/6/25

The Royal Game

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.

Boxes and Booze 8/30/25 Boxes and Booze 8/30/25

I Spy

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.

Boxes and Booze 8/9/25 Boxes and Booze 8/9/25

A Tribute to Gary Foshee

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.

Boxes and Booze 7/31/25 Boxes and Booze 7/31/25

Back in Black

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.

Boxes and Booze 7/26/25 Boxes and Booze 7/26/25

Hunger Games

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.

Boxes and Booze 7/19/25 Boxes and Booze 7/19/25

It’s Slow Time!

Tortoise is another beautifully crafted and charming production from Juno, the master of pleasing SD puzzles in wood.

Boxes and Booze 7/12/25 Boxes and Booze 7/12/25

Making Cents

Popular in the late nineteenth century, the “high wheel” bicycle is now better known as the Penny Farthing, a colloquial name derived from its one large and one small wheel, like the large British penny and small farthing coins of the time.

Boxes and Booze 6/28/25 Boxes and Booze 6/28/25

Season’s Greetings

I’m not sure what the Peugot brothers would think about the “Pepper Mill” from Mark van Elteren, an invention of an entirely different sort.

Boxes and Booze 6/21/25 Boxes and Booze 6/21/25

Don’t Stop Me Now

Greatest hits albums are like a mark of true success for a band, having produced enough chart toppers to justify such a compilation in the first place, then taking a victory lap by rereleasing those same songs on one amazing album.

Boxes and Booze 6/14/25 Boxes and Booze 6/14/25

Code Switching

”Cryptography” derives from the ancient Greek, meaning ”hidden writing”.

Boxes and Booze 6/7/25 Boxes and Booze 6/7/25

The Well Tempered Clavier

Johanne Sebastian Bach was one of the most prolific composers of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, during a period of musical evolution known as the Baroque.

Boxes and Booze 5/3/25 Boxes and Booze 5/3/25

Decade

To signify this momentous (A decade! More than 500 boxes! More than 500 cocktails!) occasion in a meaningful way, I’m marking the time with a beautiful piece from my friend Bill Sheckels. The piece was itself a long time coming.

Boxes and Booze 4/26/25 Boxes and Booze 4/26/25

Time Passages

Our man in Hungary, Tamas Vanyo, has of late been dabbling in both puzzle boxes (a relatively new area of exploration for him) and AI (something he has been fascinated with for a long time).

Boxes and Booze 4/19/25 Boxes and Booze 4/19/25

Taking Flight

Mercury was the messenger between the gods and humans, the cleverest of them all, who ruled over commerce, wealth, fertility, good fortune and trickery. What excellent inspiration for a grand and puzzling adventure!

A spirited journey through the world of collectible artisan puzzles