Ice Box

It’s getting hot here in Houston Texas, so let’s crank the AC and head to the local ice house for a few cold drinks. While we’re at it, why not bring along a perfect puzzle box for friends to enjoy that won’t frustrate them for too long, although that’s still a distinct possibility with this one. It certainly was for me!

The Ice Box is a 3D printed puzzle box by Jared Petersen, a computer science student from California with an art media and graphic design background. It was his first attempt at designing a traditional sequential discovery puzzle, which hides tools that can be discovered and then used to somehow advance the mechanisms and solve the puzzle. From Jared: “Ice Box was conceived of for the 2021 Puzzle Advent Calendar event on YouTube where a group of mostly twisty puzzle designers get together to produce 24 new puzzles during the month of December. … I chose the ice theme because it was tangentially winter / holiday related, and also because I had found the beautiful sparkling translucent light blue filament a few days earlier while browsing for exotic filaments.”

Lucky for us he discovered that filament! Jared spent a long time refining the mechanisms for Ice Box. He threw out one idea he had spent countless hours developing, because it took up too much “real estate” inside the puzzle while providing minimal gain. His experience with the 3D medium guided him to use mechanisms that would be simpler to print. It’s interesting to realize that 3D printing brings its own set of issues for puzzle design which are likely quite different from wood and metal work. “The final product you get today had a few dozen tiny revisions made, but nothing you would notice as a user. Minor printing stability improvements to keep large parts from failing due to complicated printing instructions were added over time. In the end I only cut one minor step from the puzzle I wish I could have kept … I definitely learned some things about sequential discovery puzzles in the process. Ice Box ended up a little easier than I intended, but it still manages to give some people a substantial amount of trouble. I learned that sometimes an easy but fun and satisfying puzzle is just as good as a more difficult one that's not as satisfying. I've watched multiple people get hung up on one or two steps on Ice Box, so sometimes the difficulty in solving a puzzle like this comes more from your own assumptions about how things could work inside, or when you've tried "everything" except that one move you overlooked.”

Jared’s insight into puzzle design is perfectly summarized. There are plenty of enthusiasts whose only measure of value is the difficulty of a puzzle. But for a designer, sometimes finding that perfect balance of not too easy but not too hard is half the fun. “If I was going to design a sequel of sorts, I'd definitely make it a bit harder, heavily themed, and still include a small compartment with some kind of treasure or reward. For my particular kind of sequential discovery puzzle, that seems to be the magic formula for producing something that is both fun to solve and fun to design.” Let’s encourage Jared to make that sequel – if this one is any indication, he knows how to find an ice balance.

My toast to the Ice Box is purely based on aesthetics in this case. Of course I could have premixed a bottle of martinis or another favorite cocktail that benefits from being icy cold, and thrown it in the freezer. There are a few great recipes out there for such “ice box martinis” that doing this really well, which involve pre-diluting your bottled cocktail with some water, so there’s no need to shake or stir it and you can just pour it straight from the freezer into your frosty glass. Give it a try, it’s a great trick for an easy summer drink.

But I made something a little more involved just for fun, using a cubed glass and a clear block of ice to fit inside. I think an even larger block of ice to fill the glass would have been that much better. I created grooves in the sides of the ice block too, to mimic the Ice Box pattern, but ice tends to melt while you’re having fun, and next time I’ll cut these grooves even deeper. Aside from the fun aesthetics, this makes a nice martini, and could be a great option to pre-bottle and throw in the freezer this summer. Doesn’t that sound ice? Cheers!

Ice Box Martini

1 oz vodka

1 oz gin

½ oz Cocchi Americano

¼ oz orange liqueur or triple sec

8-10 drops blue curacao (optional)

Stir ingredients well with ice to chill and serve in a chilled glass. Add about 30% more distilled water as well by volume if batching for a freezer bottle (about 1 oz of water more per drink)

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