Guide
How to play Kobako
A new wooden puzzle box every day. Its blocks slide only along their grain, and you open it by bringing the black key down to its brass lock. Inside is a keepsake for your shelf.
How to play
- Drag a block to slide it. Every block moves only along its grain: blocks with long grain slide sideways, blocks with vertical grain slide up and down. A block stops at whatever is in its way, and you can always see what that is.
- Bring the black key down to the brass lock. Slide the key all the way to the lock at the bottom and the lid unlocks and slides off. The keepsake rises out of the box.
- Turn the box to see its other sides. Drag (or swipe, on a phone) across the box to turn it. A swipe across a block’s grain turns the box too, rather than moving the block.
- The sides are connected. The corner columns belong to both neighbouring sides, so a block pushed into a corner shows its end grain on the next side and can free or block a block there. The block you need to move is often on another side.
- A block that can’t move gives a small knock when you grab it.
- Your first visit is a practice box that teaches all this in three moves. You can skip it.
Moves and gold leaf
- A move is one drag of one block, any distance. A long slide counts the same as a short one. A drag that ends where the block started doesn’t count.
- There is no undo. Sliding a block back is another move, so every slide is a decision.
- Start over sends every block back to where it began. The first tap shows the cost and the second does it. It costs one move for each block that has to go back, so it never makes a box easier.
- The fewest possible moves stays hidden while you play. It is the shortest way to open the box, worked out by a solver. When the box opens, the end card shows it next to your count.
- Three ranks. Master (名人) is up to about one and a half times the fewest, Craftsman (職人) is up to three times, and Apprentice (見習い) is anything more. The end card shows the exact numbers.
- Open the box in the fewest possible moves and the keepsake comes in gold leaf.
Hints
- The Hint button shows the next move of a shortest way to open the box from where your blocks are now. That block glows, leans the way it slides, and the box turns to show it.
- You get three hints a box, and each one costs a move. The button shows how many are left. Tap it again while a hint is showing and the box turns back to it, free.
- Hints stay used. Reloading the page or tapping Start over doesn’t give one back.
- Because every hint adds a move, a box opened with a hint can’t come in gold leaf.
- If you pause for a while, the Hint button slowly glows to remind you it is there.
The keepsake shelf
Every box holds a keepsake, a small Japanese object such as a spinning top, a daruma doll or a paper crane. Open the box and it is added to your shelf. The shelf is a display cabinet, with a cabinet for each month. Tap a keepsake to take a closer look: drag to turn it, and pinch or scroll to zoom. The close-up shows its box number, date, your moves, the fewest possible and your rank, and the ones you opened in the fewest moves are in gold leaf.
The end card also shows your streak, how many boxes you have opened and how many came in gold leaf, plus a countdown to the next box. Share copies your box number, your moves and your rank, without the fewest possible count, so nothing is given away.
Tips
- Work back from the key. Look at what sits between it and the lock, then at what is holding each of those. That tells you which block to free first.
- Turn the box before you give up on a block. One that is stuck on this side may be free from the next, and a block moved on one side can open up a path on another.
- Slide as far as you need in one go. A drag counts as one move whatever its length, so there is no reason to nudge a block a cell at a time. And since a drag that ends where it began is free, you can pick a block up to feel how far it will go.
Questions
- When does a new box come out? Every day at midnight, your local time. The end card counts down to the next one.
- Is it the same for everyone? Yes. Everyone gets the same box on the same day, so you can compare moves.
- Can I undo a move? No. Sliding a block back is another move. Start over sends every block home, at the cost of one move for each block that has to go back.
- Is it free? Yes. No accounts and no sign-ups. Your progress, your shelf and your streak are saved in your browser on this device.
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