What is a Puzzle Box?

A puzzle box also called a trick box, secret puzzle box, or wooden puzzle box, is an interesting product for kids and adults.

Puzzle boxes are usually made of wood. However, there are some plastic boxes on the market, as well. Puzzle boxes are very different from regular boxes, especially when it comes to opening them.

The box can be opened only in a certain way, including one or more moves like lifting, sliding, unlocking, or pushing, usually in a complicated way. Some boxes take one or two of these moves to open, while others require over 100.

After many trials and errors, you often get to a point where you find a key to unlock some inner mechanisms of the box so that you can continue or complete the process. In this article, you will also learn about the puzzle box history, working system, and uses.

How Does a Puzzle Box Work?

Puzzle boxes are typically complex wooden boxes. You cannot open a puzzle box easily due to its highly complicated design. There are some basic moves like sliding, lifting, pressing, pulling, etc. You generally need to do more than one of these moves in a certain pattern.

For example, you might need to slide one side to the right, press the other side twice, pull three sides to the left, etc. Sometimes, after a series of correct moves, you find a key to unlock the next step, or it might be the end. When you finally open the box, you may find some little gifts or some nice words.

History of Puzzle Boxes

Puzzle boxes were first created by Mr. Takajiro Ohkawa, Mr. Tatsunosuke Okiyama, and Mr. Kikukawa in Hakone, Japan, in the 1800s. Workers used them to keep their tools safe in those years.

To keep their belongings safe, they used boxes that were hard to open. This hardness didn't need more muscles but required a set of turns or twists. In those years, the boxes were purely functional.

Still, as tourists and other people visited the region, the boxes were added more decorative details, and they gained more aesthetic views, making them popular souvenirs. Today, many people give puzzle boxes to each other as a gift all around the world.

What to Put in Puzzle Box?

Puzzle boxes were first used for keeping small things safe. This primary use of the puzzle boxes still exists. For example, you can keep your needles in a puzzle box so that the kids cannot reach them. Aside from the dangerous things, you can also put your jewelry in it. Therefore, the boxes are also called puzzle jewelry boxes by some people.

Some people put challenge coins in puzzle boxes that are special to them. They may be the coins they have kept as a souvenir from a different country or someone special to them. Also, there are money puzzle boxes that are particularly designed for keeping some money inside.

Basically, you put the money from the top of a cube-like box, and then the kids try to open the box to take the money by solving the puzzle. Similar other designs can be found as a gift puzzle box or puzzle gift box.

Especially, adults use these kinds of puzzle boxes to give a ring or other small gifts to each other. Finally, you can give a puzzle box with nothing inside as the box itself is already a popular gift among people.

Where To Buy Puzzle Boxes?

The boxes are popular among millions of kids and adults around the world. Thus, they always want to have a puzzle box even if they already have a few of them.

Many people buy puzzle boxes during their trip to Japan. Especially the Hakone region is very popular with colorful and decorative puzzle boxes. You can also buy a puzzle box on the internet on many websites online.