Scion of the Tesseract

I recently received a mysterious package. The return label identified the sender as “The Source”. I suspect it may have come from the CIA, as the address listed Arlington, Virginia. It was also not addressed to me, but rather one “WSW”, whom I gather may very well be the one and only Willie Wonka. Inside the package awaited a cryptic letter, a few warnings, and a shimmering cube …. Despite the admonitions, I set out to discover what lay hiding deep inside.

The story began on May 12, 2024. Entrepreneur Kristopher Antibus has done many things in his life and is always able to reinvent himself when needed. What started as a career in business intelligence and sales, with plans to become a television producer, included stints in radio and voice over work (for which he won a regional Emmy award). Setbacks from the writer’s strike of 2007-09 led him to recognize the possibilities with the newly launched You Tube, and he quickly determined that magic videos would be a good business model. The only problem was, he didn’t know any magic.

Kris locked himself in a room with a set of videos, learned all the tricks, and made 27 videos for his new channel. He was quickly garnering 50 thousand views. He was embraced by the online magic community and worked the night club circuit in Vegas. As “Lokl Kross” he made his own magic DVDs for sale, was an invited convention performer, and worked with the likes of David Blaine. It was a freak heart attack that faded the magic, and he adjusted his lifestyle, working in the corporate world for the next few years. But magicians and mechanical puzzle aficionados are a similar breed, and his mind kept puzzling away.

P.H. “Brian” Lin is an “architect and product designer working in New York” who first got interested in mechanical puzzles in 2019 when a friend in Shanghai bought a six piece interlocking burr. Brian, who is also a master at CAD design, and Kris developed a friendship and helped each other out with various projects. At first these were not puzzle related, but there was always that spark of interest waiting for the right moment. For his part, Kris had an impressive track record for designing puzzles already. “My first design was a 2D packer called "Packed Dynamite" that had hints and clues in the printed pieces that directed the solve as it was assembled. Then Alchemist Cubes a 4x4x4 cube set with logic puzzle incorporated. 2LIT. 8 EYES. Carl Sagans Galactic Orgy. Escher's Badlands, which is a WADA inspired puzzle, and finally Scion of the Tesseract. My first publicly released SD puzzle.” Kris’s 2LIT is a masterpiece of 3D packing puzzle design which had the distinction of being crafted by the former Cubic Dissection team.

Scion began life as an idea to reproduce Juno’s SDCB puzzle, an idea which became an homage and a unique puzzle instead. Brian had the CAD skills, and Kris had the 3D printer. “I was amazed watching him work. I would describe something and it would just appear within seconds on the screen. I brought up designing a puzzle but was easily brushed off. Brian would much rather solve a puzzle than design one, as that is just one more puzzle he doesn’t get to solve. I can relate, I think we all can. Not to be deterred, I asked Brian again, what if we just made our own SD cube?” Kris challenged Brian to “start something” that would be inspired by the first move in Juno’s SDCB, but perhaps in reverse. Brian had designs ready the next morning for the opening sequence of what would become “Tessy”.

What followed was a whirlwind of creativity and collaboration, as the two communicated virtually in a pressure cooker back and forth design frenzy of computing and print testing. Brian relates “It was either the completion of scion or one of us kills each other. But we both really thrive under this type of intense work environment. We’ve butted heads several times to say the least, to the point of dropping the project, but it always ended up in a better solve for Scion. The whole process was about 3 weeks from start to a working prototype, and we had a quite unusual workflow. Kris and I have never met in person. All the coordination was done through video calls and me in the digital space and him in the physical space. We essentially had to learn each others language so that we understood what we meant when providing feedback. Overall it was an intense back and forth process of refining and testing.”

As noted on the product description webpage, Scion combines a number of design styles and references, including a puzzle box finale which Kris literally invented on the spot at one of the final design meetings. Kris explains “it is like a puzzle box to start, I would say he was inspired by KCG, but really that is [Brian’s] own magic he included, based on my remarks about puzzle philosophy. Then there is the Juno take apart SD style. And finally, there is a box. It was there from the beginning and I wanted to make it an SD inside of an SD, using the tools you gathered. He challenged me to use them all in a "heart surgery" style way, and I made up the final box in 5 minutes on the spot, it just screamed to exist in my mind. It's very inspired by Whale SD and Lunsford SDs where you have a bunch of moves and functionality in a small space. And finally, my favorite designer Jerry McFarland inspired the reassembly.” Jerry is known for the many magnets in his puzzles that effect the solve and reassembly. Scion includes 40 magnets which serve to hold things together nicely, and assist with function, flow and a few “magic moves”.

Speaking of magic, and mysteries, there is some subtle production value here you may or may not notice. I mentioned the packaging earlier, which in this case is themed along this special “Wonkavision” version. But each Scion comes with a more standard mysterious backstory, and following the threads may help “illuminate” the reality of this strange object. Kris has planted over 20 “easter eggs” which may lead you on a conspiracy down the rabbit hole, unless you choose to remain blissfully ignorant and simply focus on the puzzle. It’s just another example, however, of the passion that went into this production.

The endgame has an intricate, complex, challenging and surprising mechanism and is a perfect finale. It’s hard to believe the whole project took just three weeks from conception to completion. Brain reflects, “I hope everyone will enjoy scion as we poured our heart and soul into it. To fit 75 parts into a 3” cube is unheard of, and while it isn’t perfect we’re both really proud of scion.” Kris adds, “Hopefully, if the flow of this puzzle is welcomed by puzzlers, the 4 stage process and different vibes, well that is on me I guess lol. I was very adamant about how the puzzle should feel and flow during the solve. Maybe its from making magic and having to predict how people will react to things, but it was important to me, and I feel we nailed a great flow.”

The characters from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory lend themselves to creative cocktail creations thanks to their individual stories as they tour Willie Wonka’s factory. I could have chosen any number of options to pursue. There is Augustus Gloop, a glutton who gets sucked away in the chocolate river. Crème de Cacao is a delicious ingredient in a cocktail, no doubt. Mike Teavee, who gets shrunk down to the size of a chocolate bar, could also be a chocolate cocktail muse, or perhaps a “tea” infused one. That would pair nicely with this “Wonkavision” puzzle, since Wonkavision is how Mike meets his fate, after all. For Veruca Salt, the demanding diva who wants it “NOW!”, something salty and premade in a bottle might do the trick.

Let’s not forget Charlie Bucket, our hero, who nonetheless sneaks a little ‘Fizzy Lifting Drink” along the tour and almost floats away. A nice gin fizz would have been perfect. But in the end I chose Violet Beauregarde, who holds a world record for chewing gum. She nabs a prototype piece of gum that tastes like a three-course meal: first tomato soup, then roast beef with baked potato, and finally blueberry pie with ice cream. Unfortunately she then turns into a blueberry. Which is lucky for us, because it gave me the chance to make this blueberry Negroni, which I adapted from a recipe created for Empress Gin by Eva Flores. Oompa Loompa!

Violet Noregarde adapted from Eva Flores

1 ½ oz gin

1 ½ oz Bitter Bianco

1 oz blanc vermouth

½ oz blueberry concentrate

Stir with ice and strain into a favorite glass. Dust an ice ball with edible glitter.

Blueberry concentrate: Bring 1 cup blueberries, 1 tbs orange zest, 2 tbs sugar, ½ cup water to a boil and simmer on low 10 minutes. Cool and strain (mash berries to extract more juice).

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