Juno - Meanders Box (348-step version) (2019)

⟬ Juno Fortnight ⟭——[ puzzles designed by Junichi Yananose ]——14. Meanders Box (348-step version) (2019)

from Juno's description:

This is Juno’s seventh secret puzzle box product. One day, he realized that he has never designed burr puzzles or puzzle boxes that require more than 100 steps to remove the first piece. OK, let’s do it, he thought, and started designing the puzzle box. Although he doesn’t know much about traditional Japanese puzzle boxes, he at least knows that the ends of some of the parts of these puzzle boxes have a stair shape. Combining the ideas of the stair shape to something else, designing a high level puzzle would not be difficult. He chose a pin and groove mechanism for the puzzle, like our former product A Mazing Burr.

There are two versions to the puzzle, maximum 172steps version and 348 steps version. The grooved lid can be set to the box four ways to have four different challenges. Two pairs of two solutions are very similar but when you flip the lid over to be set to the box, the challenge is completely different to the others.

[for the] 348 steps version, the lid can be set to have 260, 263, 337 and 348 steps to fully open the puzzle box.

This is a very high level puzzle and you may be stranded on the halfway of solving the puzzle. To reset this situation, you can disassemble the puzzle box removing the two screws on the bottom of the box with a PH2 screwdriver. When you tighten the screw again after setting all the puzzle pieces, please do it gently and carefully, so as not to poke the bottom surface of the box with the tip of the screwdriver. Please do NOT use an electric driver. Over-tightening is not recommended.

made from Burmese teak, rose alder, silver ash, and a pinch of metal.