Puzzle Book

Abstract

A linked sequence of mechanically encoded puzzle pages is disclosed. Each page is comprised of multiple planar layers interconnected to implement the puzzle design of the page. The puzzle of each page must be solved to disengage a latching mechanism enabling the player to turn the page and begin solving the puzzle in the next page. Similarly for the next page, and each succeeding page until the last page, solution to the puzzle by the player will disengage a latching mechanism. The latching mechanism holds the active page being solved by the player to the next page. In the implementation of the invention described in this disclosure the latching mechanism comprises a hooking piece protruding in a perpendicular direction from the planar front surface of the next page, where the hooking piece fits into an opening on the planar back surface of the active page and a blocking piece on the active page is aligned between the hook portion and the exit to the opening, thereby preventing the hooking piece on the next page from disengaging from the active page.

Description

[0001]This patent application is a continuation of, and claims priority from, pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16 / 260,074 of the same title filed on Jan. 28, 2019, which is in turn a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15 / 620,140 of the same title filed on Jun. 12, 2017, from which priority is also claimed, which in turn claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62 / 348,140 filed on Jun. 10, 2016, priority from which is thereby also claimedBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONField of the Invention[0002]The present invention generally relates to games, and in particular to mechanically encoded puzzles.Background Description[0003]There are a variety of puzzle games in the prior art. Those of relevance to the present invention will be described briefly here.[0004]The Maze of Games (Paper Puzzle Book)[0005]The Maze of Games is a paper page book that features a different puzzle on every page (mostly in the form of word puzzles). It is suggested to follo...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0013]The present invention is a linked sequence of mechanically encoded puzzle pages, each page is comprised of multiple planar layers interconnected to implement the puzzle design of the page. The puzzle of each page must be solved to disengage a latching mechanism enabling the player to turn the page and begin solving the puzzle in the next page. Similarly for the next page, and each succeeding page until the last page, solution to the puzzle by the player will disengage a latching mechanism. The latching mechanism holds the active page being solved by the player to the next page. In the implementation of the invention described in this disclosure the latching mechanism comprises a hooking piece protruding in a perpendicular direction from the planar front surface of the next page, where the hooking piece fits into an opening on the planar back surface of the active page and a blocking piece on the active page is aligned between the hook portion and the exit to the opening, thereby preventing the hooking piece on the next page from disengaging from the active page. In the implementation described in the present disclosure the hook portion is an extension of the hooking piece at right angles to the hooking piece, and therefore in a direction parallel to the planar surface of the active page. Correspondingly, the blocking piece is a flat bolt

[0014]The implementation of the invention described in the present disclosure is completely made from wood but the invention can also be implemented in metal, plastic, acrylic and various other materials that can be cut on a laser cutter that is built to handle said materials. The puzzle book is constructed by using a three-dimensional (3D) modeling program while maintaining a two-dimensional (2D) layer by layer construction. This means that every layer used in the construction of the puzzle book is no thicker than a quarter of an inch (0.25″). while its length and width vary, this does not include the wooden dowels which can vary in length up to 1″ and have varying diameters from ⅛″ to ½″. Once all the pieces are fully designed out on the 3D program, each piece is then placed on a laser cutting template sheet, laid flat so only the length and width can be seen for each piece. The pieces are arranged on the template to use as much of the given space as possible to reduce waste and time when cutting. Once the pieces for each page are laid out, the template is sent to the laser cutter which then proceeds to cut along the length and width edges of each piece, the thickness of each piece is determined by the board / wood / material thickness that is placed in the laser cutter. Once the laser cutter has finished cutting out each piece, the cut pieces are removed from the laser cutter and excess material is thrown out or used for scrap. After all of this, the pieces are then sanded, varnished (if needed), and finally assembled together to form each one of the five puzzle pages that make up the Codex.

Problems solved by technology

However, nothing actually prevents the puzzler from skipping critical story elements to solve a puzzle out of turn.

Consequently, actual play of the paper puzzle book lacks consistency and the guiding design element is thus useless.

Furthermore, this paper puzzle book lacks a physical, mechanical interactive quality.

More importantly, these puzzles generally have only one solution or way of solving a puzzling problem.

Once this solution is discovered, the puzzle loses its intrigue.

They are produced in such limited volume (25-100 total) and at such high cost ($500) that they are rarely available to the general public.

While they demonstrate craftsmanship, design, workability, and uniqueness, they fail to capture any significant part of the general public puzzling market, leaving profits to mass produced products such as Rubik's cube and small, simple wooden puzzles.

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