Games Books

I am surprised that no one has mentioned that the very first move in the very first game in this book, which was made by no less than a young Siegbert Tarrasch himself as white (vs a Herr Mendelsohn) is...a3!

I have to disagree with another reviewer who praised the high qualify of this Hays Publishing edition. The printing and diagrams are nice -- not those old, faded ones you see from Dover -- but the binding is glued, and the Walbrodt match pages have fallen out in my copy.

Substance wise, this is very good. The annotations aren't move-by-move for beginners, but are precise and word-oriented. The openings are often dated, but a club player can still play them, and it's really the middle and end games that count. Not all of the games are memorable, of course, which is nice, because you get a taste of all kinds of games the way chess is actually played.

The English Language Edition of this book does not cost 120.00. It costs 19.95 and is available from ChessCentral. I mention this only because it's easy to assume Amazon has some sort of sophisticated computer database offering accurate price reports on merchandise. It doesn't.

First of all, about the quality of the work itself enough has been said already. It is simply outstanding. This review is merely intended to warn potential buyers of the English edition that they are going to miss something compared to the German original. Up to now I can only judge from the excerpts available at Amazon.com, but these sadly show the autobiographical sections being heavily truncated which is all the more disturbing as they are the passages which show Tarrasch's great, often self-ironic style at its best.
My recommendation for all English-speaking readers: if you have any knowledge of German, go for the original edition! By the way, the same applies for Nimzovich's My System. This is, if you are interested in the prose sections at all. If you want this book merely for the games and annotations, the English edition will do, but don't say I didn't warn you!

Out of my 500+ chess books, I would say I use this one the most. Tarrasch's annotations are great, succinct, and to the point, they are designed to teach and not confuse, and also shows you the development of his early career. You see many games against sub-GM opposition, and I always feel such games are invaluable to the developing player. (I also love, for this point, the two Euwe books, Chess Master Meets... etc.). Another main reason I consult this book often is that Tarrasch played such good, common sense openings. This book has tons of French Defences, from both sides, Queen's Gambits, Ruy Lopezes, and other things you don't see very often, like the Scotch Four Knights, The Goring Gambit, etc. The book has a nice opening index. It is an incredible book. My only complaint is that my book is getting used soc much that the binding is separating near the front. So, the binding could have been better made. Essential.

This is one of the most fun RPGs I've had the pleasure of GM'ing. It's dark, fun, sometimes humorous, and overall a blast to play.

Unknown Armies is the game that brought me back as a RPG enthuisiast. When the first edition of this game came along I had grown tired of the overly popular games such as Dungeons and Dragons and all the World of Darkness games. I read an online review of Unknown Armies and its intrigued me so much that I got the game. I read it over and instantly was drawn in. Unknown Armies seemlessly blends its setting and its system. Its truly a character driven game where the beliefs (obsessions and passions) of the characters can affect the outcome of the game and the success of dice roles. The modified percentile system that the game uses works great and stays in the background, not intruding the roleplaying and plot development. Tynes and Stolze created a unique cosmology that sets UA a head above the rest of the modern occult, horror, and conspiracy games that are out there. The 2nd Edition of the game corrects a couple of bumps in the system such as spending experience points. More importantly the 2nd Edition sets the framework for very exciting and interesting UA campaigns. This is the best modern setting RPG out there and I am serious in saying that it has the potential for being the best paper-and-pencil RPG. I hate to use the words "instant classic", since that is such an oxymoron, but this definitely will be a classic of RPGs.

This game is well worth it, and that's putting it mildly.

The game's mechanics are simple whether you play street, global, or cosmic, and the fact that you're not limited by JUST what's in the book as far at character types makes it take your creativity to a whole new level; the only limits here are those of your imagination, and what your GM will allow. Over all, the game strikes me as a combo of Mage; the Ascension, Call of Cthulu, with a healthy dose Jung,(the man, not the game:) thrown in.

The trick here is that the simple game mechanics may not work for game players who come from "traditional" statistic laden systems that simply require a dice roll to solve most problems; players must think originally, creativly, and the game indulges you to go places that some folks may fear to tread, so it may not be for everyone. It'll be a grand and enjoyable challenge for both GM's as well as players.

Myself, I like it a lot, as it challenges more than just a few traditional ideas about life, the universe and everything; be prepared to be changed by this game, if ye dare!!!

It isn't often that I can read an role-playing game cover to cover and find that the game is playable and it reads well. Unknown Armies, UA, is a fantastic game with ten gaming ideas for every paragraph.

The system is a simple percentile system but the system is elegant, letting the player characters flip numbers under certain role-playing situations. It plays dramatic and fast.

The combat chapter begins with ways to avoid a fight. Then it launches into the way combat works. Beautiful.

Magick is brutal and extracts a price.

The world is fun and has a captivating cosmology while still allowing the DM and the players to make some choices about how the world really works and the headlines of the paper are fine adventure fodder.

I cannot stress enough how well written and fun this game is. I have both played and run it. Please pick it up and find out for yourself.

The works of Tim Powers are where many of the metaphysical ideas of the game come from. Check out his novels if the game appeals to you.

If you're a roleplayer, and you're tired of the same-old stuff, give this a look. The first edition of Unknown Armies was good, but the 2nd edition is much improved--the elegant rules are somewhat simplified and easier to grasp now (and thereby more elegant). The book is organized more logically, and the writers provide much better information on how to run a campaign, giving this book a lot more direction.

It's a very setting-specific game: It seems that the world we know is full of secrets, and when you start to learn of some of them, everything changes for you. That in itself isn't original, but the details often are. The "feel" of the game is that choices have consequences.

The rules focus properly on role-playing over rolling dice. Character generation is fast and simple, with only 4 characteristics, and no definitive skill list (players can make up their own skills, subject to GM approval). Combat requires only two rolls per round: initiative and a single attack/damage roll--whether you hit and how much damage you do is resolved in the same roll. There are three different and fascinating systems of magic, all easy to use, believable within the context, and highly flexible. The "sanity" rules are an improvement over the already-good Call of Cthulhu rules.

A comparison to Call of Cthulhu is apt--both Tynes and Stolze have written quite a lot of Call of Cthulhu material in the past, and it seems almost a cliche now that so many people who read this book immediately start to think of how to incorporate Call of Cthulhu into it. But while there are many correspondances, at their hearts, Unknown Armies and Call of Cthulhu are opposites, and merging them is a difficult (but worthy) task. CoC is about a nihilistic spiral into madness and death; Unkown Armies is about desire, hope, and what you'll do to get them--and the consequences of your actions. As dark as it can be, Unknown Armies is set in a human-centered world; CoC is set in an alien-centered world, in which human hopes are utterly irrelevant. Both are wonderful games.

Happy with the music and book. Really nice to have all the "oldies" to teach our new granddaughter.

About 7 years ago, when my dd was a baby, someone gave me the set with the book, CD and cassette. This was our absolute favourite - she loved it so much that it was pretty much on all the time, and it didn't irritate the living daylights out of me to hear it all the time (which most mommies will likely agree is a rare thing indeed!) We did get other Wee Sing titles, but this one is the best, in my opinion. Only one problem with it, though - you may find yourself with one or more of the songs stuck in your head all day long.....I remember walking around with "Three Blue Pigeons" stuck in my head, for days ..... (only for it to be replaced with the song about elephants jumping on a spider's web) lol!

There are a lot of things about this set that endeared it to me. For starters, the music is well done, but not overdone or overly flowery. The children's voices are tuneful and lovely (but not overly perfect, either). The overall effect of this is that you feel encouraged to sing along, rather than just listen (no matter how well -or badly- you sing). Another lovely thing is that the instrument voices, and sound effects chosen for the songs really enhance them - for example, the song about elephants jumping on a spiderweb has a wonderful deep bouncy drum tone. Wonderfully illustrative!

We lost the CD at a friend's house, and the cassette is, of course, quite dead now, but I still remember a lot of the songs (we still have the book), and still use the little lullabye medley to sing my ds (now 17 months) to sleep, and I sing the "Good Morning" song when he gets up in the morning. Big smiles every time :)

Now that I've found it again, I will definitely be buying another copy. This one's a definite keeper - enjoy!

i was given this cd by an aunt, and my first daughter was only 5 months old when I started playing it in the car. It was the only thing that kept her quiet in the car seat. She would holler until I put the cd on. By the time she was 18 months old, she knew all the songs and sang them! Now my daughter is 4 and my other daughter is 2 and a half. The poor cd wore out and I bought another one off amazon in the meantime, and that one is starting to skip too now. They need to make cd's for kids more durable since these cd's are going to be played over and over and over again! This cd was the best thing that happened to us other than the children

I bought this when my daughter was around 18 months she just loved following along with the fingerplays. Hours and Hours of entertainment.

We bought many children's song for my son, and this is his favorite. He loves to buzzz when he hears the bee comes, and claps his hand when he hears "clap you your hand as slowly as you can ...". He didn't talk too much before, but this tape really makes him much more vocal then before. The music is so soothing and he listens to it every day before he goes to bed.

The Warhammer Book of Corruption is easily one of the best RPG books I've ever read. I would compare it to Monte Cook's Book of Vile Darkness, or either of D&D's fiendish codices in terms of horrific, otherworldly weirdness, but the Book of Corruption seems to go beyond even those volumes. The author is unafraid to list, hint at, or describe in detail when necessary, the sort of strange and disturbing things, cults, items, mutations, and monsters present in the Old World; which goes far to portray the setting as the frightening place that it is, so that the reader can see why and how the peasantry have the unsettling superstitious customs that they do (which are also talked about throughout the book). It also does the task of revealing clearly WHY any otherwise normal person might be tempted or coerced into joining a cult, and provides numerous adventure hooks for how an adventuring team would encounter one. All of these aspects seem to flow together perfectly - without spending too many pages on any one facet - to provide a very realistic, believable, and dark setting.
With all of the information on mutations (176 results on the primary table), and on the nature of chaos, corruption, and evil itself, this book certainly has philosophical and literary value suitable for other roleplaying games as well; and it can easily be used as a sourcebook for D&D, Ravenloft, Dark*Matter, World of Darkness, or any other RPG that has darkness, evil or fear at its core.
As a collector my opinion is that this is simply one of the best books out there. To portray realistic, alienistic horror is often a difficult thing, and the Tome of Corruption does the job flawlessly.

This vile tome is packed with foul goodness. The massive list of mutations alone is worth the price of the book. All kinds of foul things for the fiendish GM to throw at their players! Be warned though as just a brief glimpse at the pages of this thrice damned work will cause you the loss of your sanity!!!!

This book provides so much info on things gamemasters need to know to to write a cool Chaos adventure. Norsca, daemons, beastmen, more nasties, and mutations and cults. So much fun. Great to read and slightly disturbing. Highly recommended.

I have read most if not ALL the books about Chaos in Warhammer Fantasy. I read the two tomes of Realms of Chaos. I also read Complete Liber Chaotica, WHFB Beast of Chaos and WHFB Hordes of Chaos. This one is by far the most complete on the topic and the most pleasant and interesting to read followed closely by Complete Liber Chaotica. I cannot recommand you this book enough for every fan of Warhammer Fantasy (RPG players or NOT). Even the readers interested by Fantastic universe could find this reading interesting.

Tome of Corruption add also a lot of new content concerning Chaos that have never been written so far in other Warhammer books. It push the topic much more further and embrace it widely. It cover in detail many old and new aspects.

You will find in this book the following chapters:

A first Part: The Enemy Within

1- Chaos in the Old World

2- The lost and the damned

3- Catalogue of Change (MORE than 150 mutations. A general random table and 4 random tables adapted for each Chaos Gods.)

4- Cults of Chaos (It feature also cultist career for each four Chaos Gods)

5- Objects of Chaos


A second Part: Shadows of Chaos

6- The Places between: Life in the wilderness

7- Beasts of Chaos (and the template to play one as PC...)

8- Menagerie of the Strange

9- Defenders of the Empire (Some words about the Witch Hunters and the other enemies of Chaos)


Part III: The Chaos Wastes

10- The Chaos Wastes (The Landscape of Chaos)

11- Norsca (The Norsca region and his folks and their culture are explain in details. Template are given to play a norse and specific career related to norse people are also offered.)

12- Hordes of Chaos (A distinction is made between the Norsemen and the other people who follow more directly and specificaly the Chaos Gods. Template are presented to play a men of the Hordes of Chaos such as the Kurgan)

13- Slaves to Darkness (This chapter have the following section that every Chaos worshiper is looking for: Champion of Chaos, Chaos Sorcerers, Rewards of Chaos, Retinues. Basicly, this section explain the path followed by those who worship the Chaos Gods. It give the career associated to this path and the advantages and dangers it represent.)

14- Chaos Armory


Part IV: Realm of Chaos

15- The Ruinous powers (The four Gods of Chaos)

16- Beyond the Wastes of Chaos (Walk toward the Eye like no other book have brought you before. Then enter into the Realms of Chaos themselves. Sanity is for the weaks!)

17- Chaos Sorcery (New spells, tables and background diging about magic)

18- Legion of Chaos (The stats blocks about the Major and Lesser Chaos Gods Daemons... Your player will be able to fight for the best and the worst the Bloodthirster, the Keepers of Secrets, the Horror of Tzeentch and all the other classic Daemons commonly associated to the Chaos Gods. This section also explain how to design your own new Daemons and give you the proper random table to build them)

19- Masters of Chaos

Tome of Corruption is all about flavor. The book is long on setting material and mercifully short on rules and even those still amount to flavor and setting material. Running a long-term game with many of the rules included would be difficult or downright impossible. The amount of raw power that is available to the players and GMs is huge. Some of the more powerful features, in an effort to reflect their abilities in the tabletop version of Warhammer, would slaughter an entire army of PCs. Many of the careers are also ridiculously powerful.
Gamemasters are going to want to be extremely careful in what they allow players to take from the book, but for anyone who wants to run a high-powered epic game the Tome of Corruption provides everything and more.

The Tome of Corruption is also a great read. For those who don?t like rules the mechanics are presented in such a manner as to be almost totally separated from the setting material. Unlike many supplements the point of the book is not just to create more rules but to add to the setting.

If you can't use it in a WFRP game then it is a great idea mine for other games or for pleasure reading.

Lots of fun at a friend's birthday party! Really took us back to our high school days!

I was one of those 1980s teenagers who watched MTV when it used to play music videos 24 hours daily, and this book has a lot of the music artists who performed on MTV, including the song titles in the book. It even has a picture of Ronald Reagan, the Rubik's Cube, and other 1980s nostalgia that I remember so well. Oh yeah, it also made me remember seeing Courtney Cox on that Bruce Springsteen music video doing that swinging dance on his stage when I read about Bruce in this book...also that old Madonna look complete with the Boy Toy belt and wedding dress. :) If you want to remember the great music artists of the 1980s, their songs, and the memories, get this book!

"Who Can It Be Now?," named after the Men at Work song, is just over 200 pages of music and pop culture trivia taken from the '80s. Most of the book is devoted to just one-liners (not the entire song), with the lyric on one side of the page and the song title, band/artist, and bits of trivia on the opposite side. Some of the sections in the book feature one-hit wonders (like Kajagoogoo {"Too Shy"} and Toni Basil {"Mickey"}), actors-turned-singers (like Patrick Swayze {"She's Like the Wind" in 'Dirty Dancing'} and Rick Springfield), as well as bits of movie, TV, and celebrity trivia, but only if it pertains to a certain '80s song. There are also lots of black-and-white photos (pretty much on every page) of singers/performers/actors, like Debbie (Deborah now) Gibson, Michael and Janet Jackson, Mr. T, Weird Al, and the Brat Pack, just to name a few.

Despite some of the catty remarks and photo alterations (see Mary Lou Retton and Lionel Richie), this book will certainly make you laugh and reminisce if you're a child of the '80s. It's hard to digest all of the info in this book in one sitting (flipping back and forth between the lyrics and answers does lose its appeal after awhile), but halfway into it, you'll be dusting off your old CDs/cassettes/vinyls and playing them while reading this book. The only gripe I have is that there's no index or table of contents to find certain pages quicker; other than that, "Who Can It Be Now?" is a fun and nostalgic trip back to the '80s. Worth reading if you're an '80s fanatic like I am.

This book brought back memories of some great times. I love the many references to "Proctor" from the Police Academy movies. I forgot what bumbling idiots those Police Academy characters were!!!

If my review title makes you scratch your head and say to yourself, "hmmm, where do I know that from?", you should really buy this book. (It's from Styx.) Anyway, this book is a little tongue in cheek, obviously, but it does more than just make fun of Tommy Tutone, Bananarama, The Human League, songs like 867-5309 Jenny, etc. It has dozens of little quizzes, where you see the lines from songs on one page, and then when you flip to the next page you find out the names of the groups that sang them. Interspersed throughout the book are tons of little articles (blurbs, really) about various groups, which tell you, in all likelihood, more than any human would ever want to know about, say, Spandau Ballet. But it's still a good book. I recommend the living daylights out of this one, it's hilarious, especially at parties.

This book is one stop shopping for parents and coaches. In simple language with ample case studies, Whose Game Is It Anyways, covers everything, positive and negative, that adults need to know when working with youth in sports. Everything from child developmental psychology to difficult conversations with coaches and parents is covered in a no nonsense manner. I refer to this book often in a workshop I call "For the Love of the Game".

Disclosure: I'm personally acquainted with one of the authors.

For parents who have kids who aren't particularly athletic, this book can be an entertaining read, but it's not intended to show parents how to make athletes out of kids who have no aptitude or interest. I have no children at all, but I did enjoy reading the book for its anecdotes and insights.

The book's authors, clinical psychologists with plenty of hands-on experience coaching youth, give authority to common sense ideas that many well-read, psychologically sophisticated parents tend to honor more often in the breach than the observance. One hopes that this book will stimulate such parents -- who, no matter how intelligent, frequently fail to appreciate the intensity of the pressures besetting young people -- to more thoughtfully evaluate the actual influence of organized athletic activities on the development of their children.

The book is commendable for its relaxed, informal style and its refusal to prescribe bromides so typical of "self-help" books. There are no easy fixes for the myriad problems associated with growing up. But this book contains valuable advice to parents to assist them in helping their children who are involved in organized sports to (1) maximize the value of their positive experiences, and (2) acquire a healthy perspective towards the negative experiences that are an inevitable component of childhood.

I think this book is great. As the mother of two young girls, both of whom are participating in sports, I am grateful for the guidance it offers. Sports have played a hugely beneficial role in my own life and I want the same for my daughters. I intend to re-read it every year, and have ordered several for all my friends with kids!

This book is helping me and my son to conquer the obstacles that are set in his way. This book is helping him to follow his dreams and have fun playing the sports that he loves. It is helping me with my role as a parent of an athletic child. I am so glad for the publication of this book. I could have used it 5 years ago. At times things can get very difficult; that is why we need this book to help us through our problems. The book should be mandatory for every person involved in the development of an athletic child.

As a clinical psychologist, sports fan and father of 3 young children, I found this book to be an extraordinary resource for any parent who wants their children to get the most out of sports, at any age. It is an extremely well written and organized book by a leading expert in the field of sports psychology and child development. I highly recommend it.

My friend introduced me to Wizard a year ago. Since then I bought a set and play it with all my family and friends. They went out and bought their own sets. My wife is a card hater and she insists on playing it at family get-togethers. It is a great and easy game.

We were hooked the very first time we played and, subsequently, so has everyone to whom we have introduced it. It's difficult to explain in this review, but the directions that come with the cards are very clear. As with all card games, luck plays a part, but in Wizard you soon become aware of the strategies as well. Bidding and making your bid is the primary premise of the game. Our ten year old grandson grasped the concept about half way through the first time we played with him. He was hooked!

Great game. We played this game for hours. The learning curve is not too bad and the scoring is a little difficult but everyone really enjoyed this game. Our family's ages are 6 to 82. Highly entertaining and I really recommend this card game.

I got this game for Christmas, and love it! I am 18 and play it with my dad and grandparents. I like it, because I finally have a chance to beat my dad and grandpa, and my grandparents like it because it is more challenging and spontaneous than Bridge. It's small enough to play at home, on vacation and in airports during layovers! This game is highly reccomended!

Four years ago I was introduced to the game of Wizard by an ex-boyfriend and his family. That relationship didn't last, but my facination with the card game remains. It is a great game because of its flexible number of players, fast-paced and above all, entertaining. It is an easy game to teach new players because it is based on several popular card games including hearts, spades, and whist. Nearly everyone who I have played the game with enjoys it and rushes out to purchase their own deck.

Well, the editors of this reference book tried their best to make it colorful and interesting for "kids," and they did succeed to a certain extent.

I learned that less than 500,000 people live in the state of Wyoming; the Dodgers finished under .500 in 1999; most world currencies, except the British pound, are worth less than the U.S. dollar; and so forth.

One thing about dated reference works, like this one: they quickly become historical reference works.

Another good thing about it: you can thumb through this book quickly and only stop when your interest is really piqued, if ever. Otherwise, donate it someone else. That's what I did.

Diximus.

Rarely is a reference book a popular title in our elementary school library. This is currently our most requested book. It's visually appealing. It's filled with facts and information that kids need for reports, but it's also filled with the kind of things kids are always curious about. It's fun for browsing as well as research. Highly recommended!

I have been reading this book for over 1 year! I got this book for a Christmas present and I learned a lot from this book! This book has information on almost every topic. I can't wait until the book "The World Almanac for Kids 2003" will be published!

I may not have this book but I do have the 1999 edition of the Almanac for kids and it is great. Every chance I get I use it. If i liked the 1999 edition i know the 2001 is even better and I'm sure You'll like it too.

I have two daughters, ages 8 and 13, and they both love this book. It's packed with everything they want to know, and much more. The color pictures make it even more interesting, and they love the puzzles and quizzes. Every parent with kids should get this book!

Perfect pocket-size tarot deck when you're on the go and someone happens to need a reading!

This wonderful deck and book set from the winning team of Amy Zerner and Monte Farber can NOT be beat when it comes to being able to deliver tarot readings straight out of the box! The deck is gorgeous, a smaller (and comfortable to hold) version of Amy's gorgeous Enchanted Tarot, and the book is truly a gift in its own right! Monte's carefully worded, thoughtful interpretations ALWAYS pierce straight through to the heart of the matter and within a matter of minutes the reader is given an understanding of how the cards work that FEW other books have ever provided. Their vast knowledge of tarot, astrology, and personal enrichment shines through in every aspect of this work. You will never find a more positive, living example of how these things can be used to help shape and guide you in making changes and decisions in your life. The Zerner-Farber Tarot, the Enchanted Tarot, and anything else by this husband-and-wife team are always among my highest recommendations!

I really enjoyed this deck it is so beautiful!

I love this deck. very easy to work with and the artwork is breathtaking. I highly recommend!!!

I love this deck. very easy to work with and the artwork is breathtaking. I highly recommend!!!

This is a wonderful book. I bought a couple of how-to books awhile back and was disappointed that those books didn't offer more inspiration photographs. This book fits satisfies that need exceptionally well. Just page and after page of beautiful woodwork.

When I first got the book, I started reading it page-by-page. It took at least an hour to get through the first half. All of the boxes are wonderful to look at and contemplate.

There is no style depicted. It covers everything from the small trinket holder, to jewelry boxes to turned boxes to the "Well, I guess someone would like that".

All of the photos are in color and are captioned with the artist's name, dimensions of the object and types of wood used to create it. An index is in the back of the book that provides the city and state of each artist.

There is absolutely no discussion of technique.

Time to head back to the shop...I've got a couple of board feet of absolutely stunning bastogne walnut that needs my attention.

If you, like I, can make whatever you see, this is the book for you. It is approx 400 pages of photos. All of which are fantastic boxes (works of art). This book is a must for when you don't know what to make next. It oozes originality. One of the boxes was my inspiration for new kitchen cabinets!

Great collection to make you think and to inspire you to "build out of the box".

Very nice book, lots of great looking boxes. Great for new ideas (woodworker) or if you are looking for something special. Only downfall, is most do not offer a picture of the inside of box.

I have always been fascinated by boxes.An avid puzzle enthusiast,I am always on the lookout for what I call puzzle boxes.These are boxes that have a secret method required to open.They are designed with hidden panels,magnets,bars,bearings,and everything imaginable that keeps them from being opened until the "Puzzle" is figured out.Unfortunately, there are no boxes of this sort in the book;though there are many that could be adapted to include a locking device or mechanism.Design wise these boxes are beautiful artistic objects and a joy to behold.It would be an even greater thrill to be able to pick them up and open them.
All the other reviews are very good and warn that what you get with this book is a picture of the box ,its overall dimensions ,color,some info on the material;but no construction methods.Not that there is any suggestion that construction methods or details are provided,one might think they are.In other words;what you see is what you get.
Anyone who designs and makes interesting boxes should find this book a real gem,and a storehouse of design ideas.
To someone who is interested in buying boxes like these,but not really interested in making them,you might have some success in contacting the artists.In addition to that,I attend a lot of Art and Craft Shows and without fail there are always a few artists who are selling wooden boxes similar to these.Common are inlaids,stacking,burls,sectionals,jewellery,chess,games,and at times I come across "puzzle boxes".