Caesar's Codex Puzzle Box

An intriguing plywood puzzle box to challenge the mental cogs. Crack the code and slide the four bars to the correct positions to unlock the mysterious box. Each of the sliding bars is marked with symbols, with a grid pictured on the back and patterns on the box sides. Examine the symbols and crack the code to order the symbols. Once aligned correctly, slide the wooden catch and the box will open. Lock away your valuables or passwords, or challenge your friends and family to solve the code. The shape of the ‘codex’ puzzle is inspired by the Roman innovation which combined the papyrus of scrolls with the wooden-leaved format of the wax-filled ‘tabula’; creating an ancestor of the modern notebooks. The Roman historian Suetonius includes a reference suggesting the Emperor Julius Caesar may have used such a notebook-style codex in the 1st century BC.

Antique-stain plywood
16 x 14 x 4.5cm
16.5 x 15 x 5cm box
Box printed with instructions
Does not include solution
1 player, age 10+
Packed in a card box with plastic window – widely recycled