The puzzles in this game weren't too hard until I came to the Russian box puzzle. (Players who have reached it know what I am talking about.) It is connected to a mechanical stairway, so it is obviously important. I pushed all the switches, turned all the knobs, carefully watching the patterns, and typed numbers into the keypad to watch what happens. I studied the Russian writing, looking for clues.

I finally found the solution, and it is genius: There is no puzzle. The box is just a counterweight to the stairway! I burst out laughing at how clever it is.

I put the Russian writing into Google Translate using my phone and got back "boondoggle" which, combined with the fact that there are just so many buttons and switches on the thing, tipped me off that it was a red herring. It definitely got a smile out of me, too. There is an achievement in the game related to the box, so it's not technically completely useless, at least.

There are actually two achievements! Also, after reading the subreddit post-completion, somebody else had translated the text as something like 'senseless endeavor,' which is equally hilarious.

As far as my playthrough: I just messed with it for a minute or two seeing what each knob/button did, noticed I could never get the 5 light to turn on, figured 'I probably need something from somewhere else so I'll just come back later,' and obviously never needed to come back before the end of the game.

@ajamafalous:That's what I thought too.

It is actually used though for some of the super-backers, to unlock very specific easter eggs, but you first have to make the machine fall off the lever, then input this code (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab8GtuPdrUQ), then guess one of around 65, 20-digit codes. If the lights turn green, you've entered a correct code. Return to Farley's house and turn on the projector to see the easter egg. The only code that's been made public is 34729-20764-58390-20234

These easter eggs seem more like a personal note rather than something anyone else could find cool, but theres a great Steam guides page that detailed this (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=752129037)