Mystery Box _ The LAST MIMSY

[Cheops]

Has anyone in the puzzle world considered making the 'mysterious box' as viewed in the sci-fi movie "The Last Mimsy"?







"Puzzle solving is an art and a science which involves the organization of patience and perserverence, within the framewrok of simplistic logic influences, with a tab of intuitiveness and a slice of luck, for the purpose of effecting and augmenting creativity within an expressive matrix of imagination and three-dimensional spatial stimuli"

[Canuck]

Richard, have a look at Peter Wiltshire's 'Trillium Box' in this years IPP Comp:

http://www.puzzleworld.org/DesignCompetition/2009/

...mechanically it's very close to the 'Mysterious Box'

[Arc Light]

Hey Cool! I have never seen this movie or the mysterious box, I will add this to my list of movies to see over the holidays 

[Cheops]

Dear Mr. Canuck,

Have you seen the sci-fi movie "The Last Mimsy" ? 
The plot goes like this:

   The siblings Noah and Emma travel with their mother Jo from Seattle to the family cottage in Whidbey Island to spend a couple of days while their workaholic father David Wilder is working. They find a box of toys from the future in the water and bring it home, and Emma finds a stuffed rabbit called Mimzy, and stones and a weird object, but they hide their findings from their parents. Mimzy talks telepathically to Emma and the siblings develop special abilities, increasing their intelligences to the level of genius. Their father becomes very proud when Noah presents a magnificent design in the fair of science and technology, and his teacher Larry White and his mystic wife Naomi Schwartz become interested in the boy when he draws a mandala. When Noah accidentally assembles the objects and activates a powerful generator creating a blackout in the state, the FBI arrests the family trying to disclose the mystery. But Emma unravels the importance to send Mimzy back to the future .   

This is the box in question:

 

Unfortunately, the box you mention (Peter Wiltshire's 'Trillium Box') doesn't show how it opens.
However, if you watch the movie, you will see the intricacy of the mystery box's four openings (two of which are IRIS openings), not to mention the ornate outside design.

[Arc Light]

If you would like to see how my Trillium box opens visit this pdf link http://www.puzzleworld.org/DesignCompetition/2009/OfficialGuide4.pdf  You will have to scroll down the pdf to see the opening instructions for the box.

I haven't seen the movie so I can't compare it's mechanics to the movies "mysterious box"

[Cheops]

To ArcLight :

Are any of your Trillium Boxes for sale ?

[Arc Light]

Hello Cheops I originally made this design  just for the IPP competition.  Two copies were made, one resides in my collection and the other resides in Australia.  At this time I don't have plans for creating more, but may revisit it and make more in the future.

[Cheops]

Greetings ArcLight !

That box is AWESOME .
Looks difficult to make.
Is it?

I forgot to mention, way at the beginning . . . I'm sure the Mystery Box and its mechanism -- mentioned above -- was most likely computer-generated.

However, your box is real.






"Puzzle solving is an art and a science which involves the organization of patience and perserverence, within the framewrok of simplistic logic influences, with a tab of intuitiveness and a slice of luck, for the purpose of effecting and augmenting creativity within an expressive matrix of imagination and three-dimensional spatial stimuli"

[Arc Light]

Hello Cheops, thanks for the kind words.  This puzzle box design was the first I made on my brand new table saw.  Creating it was a puzzle in itself and there were several days of pondering how to get over stumbling blocks and figure out how to get the box and the locking mechanism to operate the way I wanted it to.  The whole process from design to two finished puzzle boxes took approximately 3 months, and was really exciting for me. Without the precision of the table saw and a lot of patience I don't think it would have been possible to create.  It also has given me a great respect for puzzle box craftsman, and I am now hooked on this new hobby.