Puzzle Boxes
Just open the box. A secret, a mystery, a riddle, an enigma. An invitation, a challenge. All wrapped up in a beautiful package. Explore the most recent boxes featured on the blog here. Many more are to be found on the individual artist’s pages linked on the main Boxes page, and by searching the archives.
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.
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.
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.
Tortoise is another beautifully crafted and charming production from Juno, the master of pleasing SD puzzles in wood.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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 very special piece of cake, which is nothing of the sort in more ways than one.
One of the most iconic scenes from Roman Holiday involves the “Bocca della Verita” (Mouth of Truth), an ancient marble mask likely depicting the god of the ocean.
I don’t know why it has taken so long for someone in the Karakuri Creation Group to make a robot, because it seems like a fantastic idea for a puzzle box simply waiting to happen.
Benno Baatsen, who began designing puzzle boxes when he was around ten years old, has kept his dreams, and his limitless ideas, alive.
Dee Dixon continues to challenge us with novel ideas in his puzzle boxes and adventures.
Doog Menzies is at it again. Or it may be more appropriate in this case to say he is at it again again. Like the best puzzle designers, his mind sees things the rest of us may not.
Valentine’s Day has been a productive holiday theme for Boxes and Booze over the years, inspiring many apropos pairings. There is certainly no shortage of charming puzzle boxes that are overtly or more subtly associated with love.
I’m thrilled to welcome another designer to these pages, Phil Wigfield. He has recently dipped his toes into the world of trick boxes, with a phenomenal debut he promises is just the first of many.
Goodbye Year of the Dragon, hello Year of the Snake! It’s an opportune time to celebrate the uniquely puzzling and creative mind of master puzzle maker Kelly Snache.
Artificial Intelligence can be harnessed to create incredibly fantastical images that look eye catching but also look unreal, or at least, unrealistic. Then again, sometimes it falls to the individual to decide what is out of reach, and what can actually be realized.
Luke Waier, a mechanical engineer from Houston, Texas, is the master storyteller behind the sensational new creation Fafnir’s Fortress.
Austrian puzzle maker Stephan Baumegger is having a blast. His complex interlocking puzzle designs are celebrated by enthusiasts the world over.
“A puzzlebox is a complex container that challenges the mind, redirects perceptions, and whose solution eludes those seeking to discover its secret chamber.” – Robert Yarger

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.