Box ONE is an ever-evolving game of trivia, codes, puzzles, and discovery - only from the mind of Neil Patrick Harris.
There’s tons of great party games — but unlike the rest, Box ONE is designed to challenge just ONE person: YOU! And you alone.
Prepare to set out on an exciting adventure like no other as you discover, decode, and unlock the secrets of Box ONE.
Look closely, though, as with all things - there’s more than meets the eye...
Box ONE is the perfect gift for anyone into puzzles, codes, and escape rooms. The game represents years of thought and careful planning by Neil Patrick Harris. Everything you need to decode each challenge is inside the box. Can you decode it? Can you solve it? The clock is ticking...
Please note that an internet connected device is required to complete this game.
- Array
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- The map is amazing. You are essentially going into this town to find out why people are being killed.
- Box One is very good, though.
- The Venice Conspiracy, if you like exit games, is very good.
- Dark Tower. Epic game of Dark Tower. That was fun.
- We love Tapestry.
References (from this video)
- Array
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- The map is amazing. You are essentially going into this town to find out why people are being killed.
- Box One is very good, though.
- The Venice Conspiracy, if you like exit games, is very good.
- Dark Tower. Epic game of Dark Tower. That was fun.
- We love Tapestry.
References (from this video)
- Biggest surprise of the year
- Great gameplay
- Super solid
- Very surprising
- Super fun
- One of the better light games
- Ticket to Ride
- Far Away
- Mirum
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Drafting — Draft cards, specifically two adjacent cards.
- Route Building — Players build camps around the board, with goals dictating placement. Competes with other players for specific locations.
- Set Collection — Goals guide placement of camps; cards can be tucked under the player board to fulfill goals.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- We have 11 new games for you today. So if you haven't seen these episodes before, it's a mini review and also we decide whether to keep or call it out of the collection.
- It's basically a ticket to ride eachish game where you will draft cards, but this time you have to draft two cards adjacent to each other or you will play cards to be able to build these little camps around the board.
- The spatial puzzle in itself I didn't find very interesting.
- It's a solid good game. I just don't need to to own it.
- It was 40 minutes, four players and a lot of great gameplay. there.
- And all in all, I would say that this is one of the better light games I played in a very long time.
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- This friendship is costing me money, but that's okay.
- I'm going to say more chocolate.
- I have to finally see Jamie in person. Uh, this is, you know, this longist I'll say publicly, I don't know this long distance thing is working for me anymore, Jamie. I have to see you in person.
- I was horrible bird that couldn't fly. What was it? I ended up being that one bird that couldn't fly.
- If I weren't such a classy professional, I'd run into the garage and look, but um
- The voice tends not to age as quickly as the rest of us.
- This might be a year where I just acknowledge that in the video because I love all of our games when we publish them, but I I I really love these games and I love them in different circumstances, too.
- When we turn 60, we'll do another one.
- this is just so much fun to do and I think having the the live interaction with people, having these questions, being able to, you know, the people that listen or watch the show, ask us questions. It's just it's special and it's fun and I really appreciate it.
References (from this video)
- Having a blast with it
- Great for multitasking
- Fun to think through
- Satisfying when things work out
- Sturdy, thick wooden board
- Random assortment each play creates a nice experience
- Quick and nice time
- Takes a little while to set up
- Can get tangled
- Can be difficult to solve, leading to not winning
- Untangling rectangles of similar colors
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- pattern matching — Lining up rectangles of similar colors and removing them from the board.
- Peg Board — Uses a pegboard variety with wooden pegs.
- Spatial Puzzle — Untangling rectangles and clearing them from the board to solve the puzzle.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- But, just upfront to say I have been having a blast with this.
- This is a nice way to kind of spend that time and actually think through something as I'm sitting there trying to pay attention to something else.
- It's very satisfying to be able to pull out pairs like this.
- And sometimes you go really fast and other times everything slows down to a crawl and then you realize, oh no, what have I done?
- A really fun, puzzly sort of solo game that I really have been having a great time with.
References (from this video)
- Very simple to learn and play, with satisfying depth in scoring
- Clear tie between action choices and long-term objective through story tiles
- Artwork and production look appealing; potential for nice presentation in retail
- On BGA, Day One lacks scenario content; scoping and expansion are unclear
- Two-player balance and turn economy could feel predictable if not optimized
- Production details (physical components) are not finalized in publicly available previews
- Icon accumulation and area-based tile fulfillment
- Abstract dashboard-driven game with story tiles and icon-based scoring
- Story tiles drive progress; cards/tokens unlock scoring via icons
- Far Away
- Splendor
- Castle Combo
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area placement / camp placement — Place camps to connect from existing camps to empty spaces, fulfilling card/icon requirements.
- Card Drafting — On a turn, players take two cards from a display to enable actions.
- story tile fulfillment and scoring — Complete story tiles to score and to unlock more tiles; scoring can be optimized by timing actions.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's the perfect style of game that you'd want to play on BGA
- these are the kind of games that appeal to me
- it's very simple to play
- you could get some really satisfying combos where you're like, I take the moons now
- it's not often that you see games hitting the hotness and they're not even necessarily out yet
- join our Discord
References (from this video)
- Well-designed puzzle progression with a strong sense of pacing
- Time-based mechanics feel clever and novel for a non-campaign, non-dedicated-tile game
- Replayable through different orders or interpretations of cards
- Time pressure can be stressful for some players
- May require careful setup and attention to rule nuances to avoid missing steps
- mystery, time-based puzzle solving
- Escape-room style puzzle contained in a boxed package
- puzzle-forward, time-based progression
- Slay the Spire (board game)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Layer Building — The structure builds complexity as you advance, creating anticipation and a geometric build of surprises.
- Sequential card reveals — Players progress through a puzzle by drawing/solving one card at a time, revealing the next stage.
- Time-oriented layering — The structure builds complexity as you advance, creating anticipation and a geometric build of surprises.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Metal Gear Solid, without getting into spoilers, those who have played the original Metal Gear Solid on PlayStation 1 back in the '9s may be asking, how did they adapt that particular boss encounter from the video game to a tabletop experience? Isn't that impossible?
- I wear a huge grin on my face every time I think of that encounter.
- Meadow is a sweet game of set collection with a really interesting action selection system. The thing that really surprised me about it is the extra envelopes with additional cards to open at specific moments.
- There are lots of hidden clues on unexpected components in Unlock. I think escape room games in general do surprises really, really well in a non-campaign format.
- Jar says, 'When you purchase or play Jar Binks, you may spend two resources to gain one force and place him in your opponent's discard pile.'