Artificial Intelligence is all around us. Like it or not, AI is going to expand rapidly and exponentially based on how quickly technology in general advances in the current era. We might as well embrace it, like many artists are currently doing. Tamas Vanyo, a software engineer from Hungary, is also known for his fascinating interlocking puzzle designs, of which he has invented hundreds. His creations can be perused on his website, and he offers his design schematics there for free.

Tamas has been dabbling with AI design for his puzzles lately, and is actually able to translate the fantastical generated images into reality. He recently combined an old idea of his with new AI generated aesthetics to create a very cool puzzle box, something he typically steers clear of making.

“The box is a very old idea, but it was never implemented. I’m more at home in movable and assembly [type] puzzles, planning and making them, so I just admired the tricky boxes, but I didn’t design or make them. Then I came up with the idea to combine the two things, and this is how the box was born, the inside of which, the lock structure, is a classic moving arrangement. It takes 13 steps to remove the top of the box. I designed the internal lock structure with the BurrTools program and published it on https://www.vanyotamas.hu/

Of course, the inspiration came from the gimmicky boxes and cigar boxes seen on the Internet. Although there are only a few of them in my collection, I have seen many of them, and sometimes even vaguely the internal structure: springs, pins, magnets. Unfortunately, my design skills don’t allow for these things, so I used movable interior elements instead. I think that the world of burr puzzles is quite wide, there are experienced designers who specialize in one area or another. I’ve gained some practice in the field of movable and assembly puzzles. Regardless, it was a great experience to try myself with such a boxed puzzle.”

Tamas has a big imagination and has always been fascinated by surrealistic and fantasy architecture. Many of his assembly puzzle designs reference artists like Escher, Miyazaki, or movies like Inception. His assembly maze puzzles based on Lord of the Rings castles are a particular favorite of mine. It’s no wonder he was drawn to the world of AI generated images. “I have always been a visual person, I liked to draw, I liked other people’s drawings, especially fantasy. When I was a child in Hungary, it was quite difficult to get hold of such things, sometimes the paintings of Boris Vallejo and Frank Frazetta appeared on the cover of a magazine. I copied these and even tried to create new ones myself. When the different albums became available, I ordered more and enjoy looking at them. It was this visuality that led me to try the Ai image maker. I have tried in 3 main areas so far:

1. fantasy pictures

2. wooden puzzle designs

3. wooden sculptures

I experimented a lot with the AI prompt until I managed to generate attractive images:

courtesy of Tamas Vanyo

There is a lot of controversy surrounding AI-generated images. They lack human creativity, fearing that it will take away the work of artists. Many people dislike it and even forbid its use. I simply like the pictures, and they start my imagination, they give me a starting point for combining things I never thought of. I learned 2 things from it:

1. You can become addicted to using it

2. Creates pictures of detailed wooden puzzle designs that could not be made physically or with a lot of work.

The Escher effect can be seen in several places, which can really only be represented in pictures, not in physical reality. I’ve worked on many things as a computer programmer, but I can’t even imagine how they created such a drawing program. I was surprised that it could combine seemingly very different things. As a prompt example: trees, heaps, maze, paths, stones, fairy tale house, detailed sculpture, moveable parts, made from cardboard.”

The Computer Box is the first puzzle box Tamas has designed. He acknowledges that “trick opening” boxes are not his forte, but lately he sees a way to combine his puzzle design skills with a physical box. He is also excited to be using AI as a design tool for the external appearance. For this project he wanted the outside of the box to reference typical components of a computer, even elements normally found on the inside. The box looks futuristic and retro at the same time and presents a tricky sequence of necessary moves to release the latch. The inside is also full of extremely cool AI design features and contains a cryptic encoded message. Tamas mentions that the box “was influenced by AI in two ways:

1. The idea to combine a computer with a box. Of course, it wasn’t so far-fetched, but

2. The external appearance definitely is.

I would have liked all the classic components to be recognizable, but not in the usual layout. The content of the monitor should reflect the cavalcade of thoughts that a person has during work. The keyboard is unusual, but still recognizable. The chips and buses should be visible, not inside, but outside the computer case. I like the wired and drilled decorations, but I would like to make it with more detail. Even with as much detail as you can see in AI-generated images. I would like to make more boxes like this. I have ideas with a different type of locking mechanism, with a different external appearance. It has already occurred to me what it would be like if my staircase and tower puzzles appeared on such a box. Maybe a Lord of The Rings box?”

Like the Computer Box I’m toasting, this cocktail is also a very old idea, from pre prohibition New York City, where it can be found in the vintage pages of the original Waldorf Astoria bar book. The cocktail is a whiskey sour, that most delicious of guilty pleasures, made unique by the addition of chocolate liqueur and a little grenadine. The cocktail historian David Wondrich once commented that such sweet and or fruity cocktails were de rigueur in well-heeled drinking establishments and social clubs of the era.

There are actually two classic “Commodore” cocktails, but not, alas, 64. I’ve chosen No 2 to feature here, although I’m sure No 1, which is similar but made with rum and raspberry, is equally tasty. I’m appropriating the cocktail for my own purposes, but from the source, it was “Named, according to Solon, after a man who was ranking officer either of the New York Yacht Club or the Larchmont Yacht Club. Anyhow, as there were two Commodore cocktails, there were enough to go around.” Old Waldorf Bar Days, Albert Stevens Crockett, 1931. Cheers!

Commodore

1 ½ oz bourbon

1 oz crème de cacao

1 oz lemon

1 dash grenadine

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a coupe glass.

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