February 2022 Update Preview

"Paradox Box" seems easy at first. Movement here, movement there. What you need to do is immediately apparent, but seems unachievable. Discovering this box's secrets requires the solver to think creatively and defeat a seemingly impossible paradox.

We previously produced Paradox Box in 2019. For this release it has been slightly redesigned to a larger format. The mechanism and solution remain identical to the previous edition.

Here is an excellent blog review of Paradox Box by "PuzzlePusher".

41 copies made for sale, each signed and dated. This release will be split between our February and March updates, with the remaining 100 copies to follow in March. 

Japanese Wood Joint Burr was designed by Frans de Vreugd for the London IPP in 1999. Originally crafted in very small quantities by Wayne Daniel, Frans considers it one of his nicest designs. This burr is uniquely difficult in both concept and operation.

We previously released a small batch last year, and decided to make more after a lot of positive customer feedback. This run was precisely crafted from Ash and Wenge. The fit and function are exact. Production turned out very well and is representative of our highest standards for interlocking puzzles.

Oskar's Matchboxes have always been one of my favorite designs. Very few puzzles come close in terms of originality, appearance, and overall appeal. The five pieces consist of an outer box and inner tray cleverly glued together. The goal is to assemble the pieces to contain every tray inside a box. With only two solutions, this is quite tricky!

Matchboxes is quite time-consuming puzzle to craft. Each piece is constructed using the same robust shoulder joinery we used to make the Tube It In puzzle. The result is a puzzle that looks small and fragile but is really quite strong. Fit and finish are sublime; each piece has minimal movement once joined with another.

Here is an excellent blog review of Matchboxes by Neil's Puzzle Building Blog.

47 total copies made for sale, each signed and dated. 20 Copies in Black Palm, 6 Copies in Canarywood, and 21 Copies in Leopardwood.

BonBon packing puzzle by Frederic Boucher is just a ton of fun. The set of five tetrominoes must be fully inserted in the rectangular box, and there is only one particular way to do it. The solution requires over a dozen correct moves and rotations, and must be found by careful analysis rather than random attempts.

Accommodating the unusual cutouts in the box was an exciting design challenge. The acrylic top is held in place with a tricky set of shoulders resulting in a tight fit while retaining a solid exterior presentation.

Our second release of Bonbon was constructed from the same Butternut we used previously. Butternut is usually a very soft wood, but we found an unusually dense billet with some nice figure and curl for this project. The pieces are made from Purpleheart, a dense hardwood. The fit and finish meet our accustomed accuracy, with parts sliding precisely and smoothly.

Here is an excellent blog review of BonBon by Zenpuzzler.

53 copies made for sale, each signed and dated.

Benno de Grote's "Glass Puzzle Box" is a unique concept crafted from laser-cut acrylic. It holds no secrets, the full functionality being plainly visible. Despite this, Glass Box is a tough challenge, with a layered, complex solving experience and much to discover.

The box is solved by maneuvering a stainless ball through the maze. This is, however, no ordinary maze: at each corner, the path is blocked by interlocking sliders. To progress, you must solve the slider puzzles at various choke points. Requiring over 120 moves to fully solve, Glass Box automatically resets itself once opened.

We have made two versions for this release. One is entirely transparent, allowing a full view of the box's contents. The other conceals the box's interior using mirrored acrylic, reflecting the maze back to the solver for a slight increase in difficulty.

Glass Box took a lot of effort to make. Each puzzle uses 38 precision-cut acrylic pieces, dense with holes and notches, creating a very time-consuming cut process. Once cut, the pieces are de-masked by hand before being painstakingly assembled and tested. The final product measures 3.5" x 5.35" x 8".

Nine Rivers Set is an excellent puzzling value. This 2D packing puzzle includes nine different sets of pieces, each named after another river in the Netherlands. The goal is to pack each set into the included tray.

Each challenge is very different from the other, with difficulties ranging from medium to quite tricky! No force is needed to solve any puzzle.

The piece sets were precision-cut from a different color of cast acrylic, demasked by hand, then packed in a matching bag for easy organization. Nine Rivers Set is delivered in a 4x4" box large enough to comfortably contain the tray and all components.

This listing is a pre-sale! All orders containing Piston will be held in their entirety until our shipment arrives. If you want to order other items and have them shipped immediately you must place a separate pre-order for this puzzle. Piston will be released by all sellers on the same day and we expect to receive our shipment in the next couple of weeks.

Piston is renowned puzzle designer Felix Ure's most recent creation. This unique, seven-stage, sequential discovery puzzle is rated 7/10 in difficulty. The goal is to find the brass ball locked inside.

Beautifully machined from solid brass and weighing in at a hefty 2.5 lbs, Piston has the fit, finish and feel that Felix is known for.

He is the god of mischief, mayhem, and disorder. Lord of trickery, master of locks and keys, champion of deceit. His name is Loki...

Designed to twist your mind, Loki is Boaz Feldman’s latest sequential discovery puzzle lock. Containing many new tricks to challenge you, Loki’s difficulty is on par with the legendary Danlock. A must-have for any serious puzzle collector or lock enthusiast!

Boxes and Booze did an excellent blog review of Loki.

"Barrel" is Ukrainian engineer Andriy Bruns' latest mechanical puzzle. According to him, Barrel has been sent back from the future! It must be solved to retrieve the Skynet data coin hidden inside. The survival of humanity could be at stake...

Andriy gives Barrel a level 10 difficulty rating. The mechanism is intricate, but the designer does a good job putting subtle clues and references to help your analysis.

Barrel stands apart from cheaper mass-produced work. Each copy is individually crafted to excellent tolerances. Quality and attention to detail are consistent with other small-batch, high-end mechanical metal puzzles.

Brass Monkey Five takes you deeper down the rabbit hole of Steve and Ali's devious minds! Somehow, they have managed to again up the ante while using the same format as BM 1 through 4. A single hole and a ring at the end of each piece differentiate it from previous Brass Monkey designs.

Despite the similar appearance, BM5 uses completely new tricks to hide its secrets. It is a puzzler's puzzle, perfect for fooling collectors who think they have seen it before. It looks like a standard interlocking Burr. It isn't!

Like previous Brass Monkey puzzles, BM5 weighs almost 1.1 lbs. Each piece is 2.75" with a .75" diameter. Please note that the hues of the pieces of this puzzle may differ slightly when you first receive it. This puzzle was manufactured over a somewhat longer timeframe than other puzzles, causing some parts to have naturally tarnished more than others. These differences will normalize with a bit of time.