Reverse Geocache Puzzle

Where it all began ...

The First Box

The earliest predecessor of the modern Quest Box™ was a simple wedding gift built by one old college roommate for another on the occasion of his moving to France.

The First Reverse Geocache Puzzle

The box was set to open on a beautiful French Island in the English Channel.

Ostentatiously named the “Reverse Geocache Puzzle™,” it was a primitive, non-configurable variant of the boxes you’ll find on this site. The container was a hacked-up World Market import fitted with simple Arduino-based electronics. Inside, wire bunches were hot-glued everywhere. One early critic disdainfully suggested that the builder must have “used an axe” to cut its holes.

Wild Popularity

But despite its blemishes, this affectionately assembled little box won hearts around the world.  The tale of the ten-month journey the newlyweds took to discover its secret contents, and the wild publicity surrounding that journey has been read by millions:

• The Original Reverse Geocache™ story, part I
• Part II
• Part III
• Part IV

Flash Forward

Since the story’s publication, people everywhere have been inspired to buy or build boxes of their own, and many great quest tales have been shared. Hundreds of articles have been written. In 2010, the World Geocaching organization made a short feature on the Reverse Geocache phenomenon.

Quest Boxes Today

Our puzzle box design continues to improve, and the beautiful patent-pending Quest Boxes you can buy in our store today are a far cry from the original. Modern boxes are handmade by a master woodcrafter (no axe!) and are fully customizable using our Quest Designer software. A modern Quest Box may be reconfigured for a new quest as soon as the previous one is complete.