To The Moon

There’s just something about the moon that’s hard to ignore. The pull is real – it effects the tides, but it also effects our psyche. The moon actually makes life on Earth more livable, by helping stabilize the Earth’s rotational wobble and climate. It’s the only other place in the Universe where man has stepped foot, thanks to that insatiable call for exploration ever since we gained self-awareness, the desire to go to the moon.

With Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos hot on his tail, little ol’ Leisure Luke B. from Minnesota has beaten them to it and gone off to the moon on his own. Luke, an aerospace and product planning engineer, has spent the last three years designing and prototyping his 3D printed epic space journey puzzle. “I’ve been interested in the skillset forever – I enjoy making art, electronics projects, woodworking projects, 3D design work, and fiddling with odd mechanisms. I only recently realized the stars could align with puzzle boxes. I became privy to the puzzle box scene in 2019 and began designing To The Moon in 2020. There were always 2 main goals for To The Moon. First, I wanted the solver experience to match what I personally appreciate most in a sequential puzzle box – that is a box driven by unique mechanisms, with no hidden elements, and clues for every single move. The second goal was to make a fun project for anyone! You can download this for free, print, and assemble this yourself, without special tools, materials, and easy settings. Like a print, build, and play toy set!”

To The Moon is a sequential discovery puzzle box with multiple challenges and stages, like a rocket ship blasting off into outer space, cycling through the launch, the initial ascent, the fuel tank release, the engine thrust to get the payload into orbit, and ultimately, the descent onto the surface. The goal is to explore the moon itself, and find what secrets and treasures it might hold inside. Along the way the intrepid astronaut will conquer four distinct sections that secure the lunar landmark, each having been designed as an independent mini puzzle by Luke which can be printed all on its own. Somehow the various puzzle themes merge well here to contribute to the overall story, and an incredible variety of unusual tools and objects are discovered along the way to help the journey. The puzzle is dynamic, too, and comes alive with playful actions and effects. “‘To The Moon’ is a great hype phrase. Can you go “To The Moon”?!?! Makes me smile every time I hear it. It’s also factually and technically the goal of the puzzle box.” It’s quite impressive that the entire experience has been 3D printed, right down to the springs and screws involved, and Luke got a LOT of crowd sourced help to get to this point, by making each part of the project free and accessible to anyone. The world response was overwhelming, beyond his wildest imaginings. He has clearly tapped into something people want! The meta-puzzle, if you will, of all the individual component boxes merged together and the added final moon puzzle, can also be printed for free and assembled at home, but Luke is releasing a limited run of 200 larger sized, assembled versions (the “Founders Edition”) for sale on his website (see link at the end).

“This project began as smaller individual puzzle boxes that merged into one. That was always the idea, and the central mechanism with 4 locking pins was the original plan. I didn’t expect the individual sides to get much attention, but something like 10k people have made each box. I got thousands of emails, messages, and comments about how to improve my mechanisms. I heard all the common problems and got great ideas from folks all over the world! This made rapid development a breeze, as I essentially had 10k beta testers :D I’d only 3D printed a few small things before embarking on the project, but got quick help from the 3D printing community! Somehow, I avoided needing to make major changes. The main puzzle box function and plan is true to the original design. The biggest change I made was adding rubber bands, which are all redundant and unnecessary, but they add longevity to the mechanisms. Several components have been through 50+ iterations over almost 3 years. This has basically been an educational experience for me, and I suspect I’ll learn a few more lessons before all 200 boxes are made.  Mostly it just inspires me to keep pushing my own limits and always be willing to learn.”

To The Moon is an incredibly enjoyable experience and has quite a few fun tricks up its sleeve that make it a nice challenge to solve. It’s fairly solid and can withstand plenty of exploration for a printed puzzle, and in case anything does break, Luke provides an iron clad “Certified Replacement Agreement for Parts” – i.e., “CRAP” – and will send new crap to you for an entire year as needed. Luke’s sense of humor is large (as you can tell) and on full display throughout the experience, from the accompanying informational material, additional content on his site, right down to the small funny details you may notice on, around, and hidden within the puzzle itself. If To The Moon is any insight, we have a lot of fun in store in the future from Leisure Luke. “I have more ideas about 3D printed puzzle boxes now than when I started. My next puzzle box will use new materials and have new objectives, and therefore I’m staying open to new ideas. I am planning another puzzle box / game primarily focused on the puzzler’s experience. There aren’t many details to share, but it will be made from different materials – metal, glass, wood, etc. From a design perspective, this will be a great joy!”

If you’d like to go To The Moon yourself, “You can print and build your own To The Moon Puzzle Box! The CAD files are free at Thingiverse.com and Printables.com. There is an assembly video, reset video, and tips and tricks! It’s a great project and you will still have fun solving it, even though you may know a few of the secrets. I am also selling 200 Founder’s Editions at LeisureLuke.com.” I asked Luke what drink he might recommend for his creation, and also what soundtrack would go well. “Mai Tai’s, Manhattans, Mojitos, Whiskey, Tequila, Gin. I’m polite, and never refuse a libation. In fact, I’m still trying to find anything I do not like 😊 I’m the same with music, anything goes. Qveen Herby is great and suits the mood for me. All of the Founder’s Editions have heard some of her music! 2 album selections for solving - Sgt. Pepper by the Beatles or High Voltage by AC/DC would both be great fits!” This might very well be the first edition of “Boxes, Booze and Beats”, but going to the moon … deserves a little tune.

I’m enjoying my trip to the moon with another excellent “moon shot” by Brooklyn’s own Claire Sprouse, a bartender who has been a true champion of sustainability in the spirits industry. She received national accolades for her Crown Heights bar program Hunky Dory, where attention was paid to every aspect of the waste process, including “water, electricity, carbon footprint, food, trash”. Her cocktails emphasize reduced waste in many ways, from using syrups and spirits made with low carbon ingredients and farming practices, to eschewing the typical practice of chilling a drink with ice that then gets thrown away.

“Shoot the Moon” is her take on a gin old fashioned and originally featured Ford’s gin, a product created by founder Simon Ford, a legendary cocktail pioneer, in collaboration with bartenders across the globe, to exemplify the perfect “cocktail gin”. Another one of Ford’s missions is to promote social justice and sustainability in the bar world. With that goal in mind they partnered with Sprouse, who created this delicious low waste cocktail which enhances the botanicals in the gin with pear, cinnamon and grapefruit. While the drink was originally created with Ford’s gin and a local New York state pear brandy, it works beautifully well with other brands too. Her drinks are “not-too-fussy” and allow all the listed ingredients to shine. You’ll be mooning over her “improved” gin old fashioned – cheers!

Shoot the Moon by Claire Sprouse

1 ½ oz gin (Ford’s)

½ oz pear brandy (Neversink)

¼ oz cinnamon syrup

2 dashes grapefruit bitters

Add ingredients to an ice filled glass, stir to dilute, and garnish with a dehydrated pear dusted with cinnamon

for more information and purchasing see Leisure Luke