Prismbox
Fire beams of light to find the hidden atoms.👆
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Play to set a score, then submit it to the board.
About Prismbox
Prismbox is a deduction puzzle in the tradition of the old board game Black Box: atoms are hidden somewhere inside a square grid, and the only way to learn anything is to fire beams of light in from the edge and watch what comes out. A beam that runs into an atom head-on is absorbed, and that hit is how you claim the atom. An atom sitting diagonally ahead bends the beam ninety degrees away from it; two atoms flanking a beam's path send it straight back out the port it came in; and a beam that meets nothing crosses cleanly, proving a whole lane empty. The puzzle lives in reading those outcomes together. A refraction that exits on an unexpected side tells you an atom lies just beside the turning point, and a second beam fired across that spot can confirm it before you spend a shot trying to hit it. It helps to know that atoms never sit on the outer ring of cells and never touch each other, even diagonally. The boards run from three atoms on 7×7 to five on 9×9, with a par of four beams per atom, so careless shooting quickly eats your bonus. Daily mode serves everyone the same four-atom 8×8 board and tracks your streak.
How to play
- Hidden atoms sit somewhere on the grid — you cannot see them directly.
- Fire a beam of light from any edge port and watch how it exits: a direct hit, a straight pass-through, a reflection back the way it came, or a bent refraction.
- Use the pattern of hits, refractions, and reflections across multiple beams to work out exactly where each atom is hiding.
- An atom counts as found when a beam hits it head-on — find every atom to win. Fewer beams used earns a bigger bonus.
Strategy & tips
- A beam that passes straight through tells you an entire lane is clear — use that to rule out large parts of the grid fast.
- A reflection means the beam came back out of its own port — somewhere along its route it was flanked by atoms on both sides — but a reflection alone gives no coordinates.
- Refracted beams bend around atoms without hitting them — the atom sits next to the bend point, not on the beam path itself.
- Fire beams from ports on different sides early to build overlapping clues before committing to a guess.
FAQ
How do you play Prismbox?
Fire a beam of light from any edge port (click, tap, or arrow keys + Enter) and use how it exits — hit, pass-through, reflection, or refraction — to deduce where the hidden atoms are.
What is this game based on?
Prismbox is inspired by the classic deduction game Black Box, reimagined with a light-beam theme and daily seeded puzzles.
What does a refracted beam mean?
A refraction means your beam bent around an atom without directly hitting it — the atom sits next to the bend point, not on the straight path.