Puzzle Book is a set of six one-screen puzzles by Sara Kay in the style of Japanese nazotoki (riddle-solving) booklets, written around objects from her desk. Each puzzle turns on one physical trick: a hole-punched stencil you lay over a letter grid, a fold-in strip, a shelf you walk around to read from behind, a red study sheet that hides red ink, a station clock, and a keyboard. It is built in vanilla HTML, CSS and JavaScript with no framework and no server. Every puzzle can be solved by keyboard as well as by dragging, progress is saved only in the visitor's own browser, and answers are checked against SHA-256 hashes so the solutions are not in the page source.
The six puzzles
- Off the laser cutter (hole-punch stencil)
- The word search (fold-in)
- The plush shelf (walk around the shelf)
- Study notes (red study sheet)
- Three trains (station clock)
- Typed without looking (keyboard)
The playable booklet is part of the site's gremlin mode. It is one of the cabinets in the arcade.
puzzle 01 · stencil
off the laser cutter
Sara cut a pink acrylic stencil and left it next to a sheet of letters. What was she making? Drag the stencil onto the letters.
keyboard: focus the stencil, arrows move it, T turns it
puzzle 02 · fold
the word search
Sara did a word search on the train and circled a word. That isn't what she actually wants, though. What does she want?
puzzle 03 · shelf
the plush shelf
Someone knocked over Sara's plush shelf and put everyone back in the wrong order. Tap two to swap them. What does the shelf have to say?
front of the shelf
puzzle 04 · red sheet
study notes
Students in Japan study with a red plastic sheet that makes red ink disappear. Sara left hers on top of this page of notes. What is she studying?
puzzle 05 · clock
three trains
Sara is taking three trains across Japan to get to a café. The station clock is a little unusual. What is she going to order?
出発 departures
puzzle 06 · keyboard
typed without looking
Sara texted from a bumpy train without looking. All that came through was VJOVLRM MIHHRYD. Her keyboard is right here, so go ahead and try it. What was she craving?
booklet complete ✦
You've basically been to my apartment.