For every amazing Kickstarter campaign, there are probably a thousand absolutely garbage ones, but that’s not something to worry about at the moment, because this one is a bona fide wonder; so great, in fact, that it completely met its fundraising goal in just six hours.
You know the way puzzle books usually work: Open the book, see a crossword or sudoku or what-have-you on the page, complete that brain-bender, then flip the page and move onto the next one. The Codex Silenda, on the other hand, has a mere five pages, but it’ll take you more than a couple minutes to get through it. The pages don’t contain the puzzles: The physical pages themselves are the puzzles.
The book only has five pages, like we said before, but don’t expect to blow through it, because until you solve the puzzle of the page you’re currently on, it’s physically impossible to move onto the next one. The book features “five puzzles in one, an intriguing story that ties everything together and a hidden storage compartment,” according to its Kickstarter page, and they are the Mechanical Iris, the Rotating Maze, Geneva Gears, Paradox Sliders, and the Cryptex Lock.
It seems like a real fun doozy, and the puzzles should be mechanically tight and structurally sound, as each element is laser cut to perfect precision. In fact, one of the main reasons for the Kickstarter, which demolished its $30,000 goal on the way to $210,000, was so the crew could purchase a laser cutter and make this fun piece of engineering happen.
Due to extremely popular demand, you can’t actually claim a Codex Silenda for yourself just yet, but you can sign up for the waiting list and hopefully get your hands on one before too long. It might too late to expect one before the holidays, but fun is for the entire year, so treat yourself!
Featured image: Brady Whitney