I enjoy a good puzzle (not the jigsaw kind) which is probably why I love games like The Legend of Zelda or The Room series on iOS. But as clever as I (mistakenly) believe I am, I don’t think I’d have any chance of discovering every last hidden panel, drawer, switch and secret mechanism on this beautiful but fiendishly complicated puzzle desk from Craig Thibodeau.
The Wisteria Puzzle Cabinet, named for the floral adornments on the outside and the mysteries that lie within, might actually be a better alternative than a safe when it comes to protecting your valuables and important documents.
Discovering its innermost secret compartment requires everything from a specific sequence of drawers and doors to be opened, to finding a smaller cabinet that raises like an elevator, to repeatedly adjusting the time on a stylish clock in order to release a key that unlocks additional compartments.
Even though this video demonstrating all of the cabinet’s hidden features is just three and half minutes long, it almost feels like there’s an infinite trail of puzzles to solve before the piece reveals all of its secrets. The man behind the cabinet’s actual puzzle designs, Robert Yarger, is known for his similarly complicated wooden boxes — which undoubtedly require far more patience than I can muster to solve.
At least with The Legend of Zelda I can just hit the reset button whenever I get too frustrated.