The Sanct Grael first appears in an epic romance featuring the Arthurian Knight Perceval by French poet Chrétien de Troyes from 1190.

The stage is set for this year’s holiday themed puzzle by Kyle Chester, a part time puzzle maker from the UK who, along with his grandfather Stephen, craft clever wooden puzzle boxes in their home workshop.

From the creative mind of Akhil Sudeep and his holiday workshop in Kerala, India comes a festive puzzle follow up to his breakout hit “Malabar Safe” that follows the trail of these nine feisty reindeer.

Jesse Born doesn’t like to be constrained by convention and definitely thinks outside the box. He has just introduced the “Infinity Cube” concept – a series with different themes that goes on and on, and offers something to look forward to year after year.

A problem that started out in Houston could take a long time to reach Tokyo, depending on the mode of transportation. In this case, it took a year.

The No Way Box is the brainchild of Dr. Peter Hajek, a British psychologist who understands both the secrets to a very good puzzle and the joys of experiencing such items.

Fans of Alex Owens’ fantastically complicated interlocking puzzles, such as the Heart Box and the award winning Piano, know he is a master of engineering intricate puzzling experiences. How forcefully you fall for his newest oldest puzzle will theoretically depend on your individual mass.

I recently found myself in possession of an incongruous mixture of rare colorful wood, reminiscent of a tiny, beautiful Rubik’s like object, fashioned together into a motley cube.

German Jesuit Renaissance scholar and polymath Athanasius Kircher was a prolific academic thought leader of his era, like Leonardo DaVinci. He was known as the “Master of a Hundred Arts”, and his personal wunderkammer (cabinet of curiosities) became what is thought to be the first museum in history.

Marc Duran, a French business consultant and IT specialist with an interest in “history, architecture, cryptology, brain teasers and puzzles”, decided to embark on a new passion project a few years ago: creating his own perfect puzzle boxes that embody all of his interest.

The Spyglass, an immersive adventure story that unfolds and expands with puzzles wrapped in a mystery, rekindles delightful nostalgia and wonder in a uniquely modern meets vintage presentation.

Book themed puzzle boxes are always intriguing to me. I suppose they embody the ultimate symbolism of how a good puzzle box tells a story, of adventure, secrets and reward. It’s a pleasure to get lost in a good book, and a book puzzle box offers that sentiment as a tangible experience.

Seafaring puzzle adventurers who were equally thrilled, befuddled and impressed by a tiny metal puzzle box that made its way across the world a few years ago have been patiently waiting for their next great “white whale” to surface.

Tortoise is another beautifully crafted and charming production from Juno, the master of pleasing SD puzzles in wood.

Popular in the late nineteenth century, the “high wheel” bicycle is now better known as the Penny Farthing, a colloquial name derived from its one large and one small wheel, like the large British penny and small farthing coins of the time.

Greatest hits albums are like a mark of true success for a band, having produced enough chart toppers to justify such a compilation in the first place, then taking a victory lap by rereleasing those same songs on one amazing album.

”Cryptography” derives from the ancient Greek, meaning ”hidden writing”.

Johanne Sebastian Bach was one of the most prolific composers of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, during a period of musical evolution known as the Baroque.

To signify this momentous (A decade! More than 500 boxes! More than 500 cocktails!) occasion in a meaningful way, I’m marking the time with a beautiful piece from my friend Bill Sheckels. The piece was itself a long time coming.

Our man in Hungary, Tamas Vanyo, has of late been dabbling in both puzzle boxes (a relatively new area of exploration for him) and AI (something he has been fascinated with for a long time).

Mercury was the messenger between the gods and humans, the cleverest of them all, who ruled over commerce, wealth, fertility, good fortune and trickery. What excellent inspiration for a grand and puzzling adventure!

A very special piece of cake, which is nothing of the sort in more ways than one.

One of the most iconic scenes from Roman Holiday involves the “Bocca della Verita” (Mouth of Truth), an ancient marble mask likely depicting the god of the ocean.

Prophesy foretold of this, as prophesy tends to do.

I don’t know why it has taken so long for someone in the Karakuri Creation Group to make a robot, because it seems like a fantastic idea for a puzzle box simply waiting to happen.

Benno Baatsen, who began designing puzzle boxes when he was around ten years old, has kept his dreams, and his limitless ideas, alive.

Dee Dixon continues to challenge us with novel ideas in his puzzle boxes and adventures.

Doog Menzies is at it again. Or it may be more appropriate in this case to say he is at it again again. Like the best puzzle designers, his mind sees things the rest of us may not.

Valentine’s Day has been a productive holiday theme for Boxes and Booze over the years, inspiring many apropos pairings. There is certainly no shortage of charming puzzle boxes that are overtly or more subtly associated with love.

I’m thrilled to welcome another designer to these pages, Phil Wigfield. He has recently dipped his toes into the world of trick boxes, with a phenomenal debut he promises is just the first of many.