Once the maze sequence is solved the box can be opened.

 

The Rune Cube

A magician's magician is someone so skilled at performing magic that even their peers cannot figure out how they do it. If a puzzle could be called a puzzle maker's puzzle this would be it.

The Rune Cube is the next version of the Rune Box and the Maze Burr. It is a puzzle box like the original Rune Box with fixed shifting sides and grants access to a interior compartment after the sides are shifted. It is also like the Maze Burr since the maze and peg mechanism can be seen.

After it is solved there is a hex key hidden inside that allows the ability to remove the sides and rearrange the box locking it to a new sequence. Like the Maze Burr the sides may also be flipped, which was not the case for the first Rune Boxes. The key allows back door access to the box for the owner, but unless someone else has the same size key, they must solve the problem to open and close it.

Over the years I have collaborated with John Rausch who coded a program to search for interesting problems based on specific 3x3 mazes I use for the Rune Box and Maze Burr. His contribution had really transformed this concept into a wonderful modeling puzzle where hundreds of possible problems exist in a similar way that you could sort through a stack of Tangram cards and attempt solving different pictures. The Rune Cube represents the purest form of this idea after 20 years of evolution and it is a design I am very proud of.

All 6 sides of the Rune Cube shift in two directions according each maze.

 

All the parts of this box may be rearranged and put on many different ways creating sequences as difficult as 115 moves or as few as 6 moves to unlock. The maze plates may be rotated and even flipped since both sides are finished. Instructions and 23 problems are included. A link to 112 problems is also provided.

Video of the Cocobolo Maze Burr here.

Video of solving a the first version of the Rune Box here.

 

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