Secret Box Box

Last weekend I had a great time at the Rochester Puzzle Picnic hanging out at Jeff Aurand's house with a bunch of other puzzlers. In the next few posts I'll be talking about some puzzles I enjoyed from this gathering!

The first is one that folks directed to me right away: Secret Box Box by Hideaki Kawashima. As you can see from the photo, it is quite a nice looking puzzle, and from people's comments it sounded like it would be quite tricky as well!

There are two very cool things about this box: First, it is reasonably easy to find the first six (!) compartments, but finding the seventh compartment is a lot tougher! This is where Kawashima has hidden his hanko (signature stamp); you know you're done when you find it.  Second, closing the box is significantly harder than opening it! You'll be able to get very, very close to closing it, but you can't quite get there unless you put some thought into it.

This was a popular one to pass around at RPP, for the reasons I noted. Unfortunately the box is sold out from the Karakuri Creation Group, but Jim Strayer happened to check on Izumiya (a reseller) and saw that two copies were available. Of course, when I heard this I surreptitiously went for my phone to grab a copy as a few others did the same. Luckily, I managed to get the order in in time and Peter Wiltshire got the other copy. At the time this was written, it looks like it is still available from Puzzle Box World, though the price is a bit steeper. Coincidentally, while I was typing up this review, my copy arrived! Pretty quick shipping from Japan considering I ordered on Saturday. It arrived in a Secret Box Box box box.

Check out Allard's review of this puzzle as well!