A puzzle box (also called a secret, or trick box) is a box that can only be opened through some obscure or complicated series of manipulations. Some puzzle boxes may require only a simple squeeze in the right spot, whereas others may require the subtle movement of several small parts, to open the box. Some puzzle boxes are comparable to burr puzzles.
The puzzle box originated in the Hakone region of Japan at the turn of the 19th century as the Himitsu-Bako, or Personal Secret Box. If opened, a puzzle box usually contains a sort of good luck charm. These boxes were made in various complexities, and consist of moves with a variety of twists to trick the person trying to open the box, but the real trick is finding the correct series of movements that can range from two to 1500+ moves.
Famous quotes containing the words puzzle and/or box:
“Waiting for the race to become official, he began to feel as if he had as much effect on the final outcome of the operation as a single piece of a jumbo jigsaw puzzle has to its predetermined final design. Only the addition of the missing fragments of the puzzle would reveal if the picture was as he guessed it would be.”
—Stanley Kubrick (b. 1928)
“I walked on the banks of the tincan banana dock and sat down under the huge shade of a Southern Pacific locomotive to look at the sunset over the box house hills and cry.”
—Allen Ginsberg (b. 1926)