A puzzle is a
game
A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...
,
problem, or
toy
A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...
that tests a person's ingenuity or
knowledge
Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is distinc ...
. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together (
or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzle. There are different genres of puzzles, such as crossword puzzles, word-search puzzles, number puzzles, relational puzzles, and logic puzzles. The academic study of puzzles is called
enigmatology
A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzle ...
.
Puzzles are often created to be a form of entertainment but they can also arise from serious
mathematical
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
or
logical
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...
problems. In such cases, their solution may be a significant contribution to mathematical research.
Etymology
The ''
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
'' dates the word ''puzzle'' (as a
verb
A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...
) to the end of the 16th century. Its earliest use documented in the ''OED'' was in a book titled ''The Voyage of
Robert Dudley...to the West Indies, 1594–95, narrated by Capt. Wyatt, by himself, and by Abram Kendall, master'' (published circa 1595). The word later came to be used as a
noun
A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for:
* Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...
, first as an
abstract noun
A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for:
* Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...
meaning 'the state or condition of being puzzled', and later developing the meaning of 'a perplexing problem'. The ''OED''s earliest clear citation in the sense of 'a toy that tests the player's ingenuity' is from Sir
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...
's 1814 novel ''
Waverley Waverley may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Waverley'' (novel), by Sir Walter Scott
** ''Waverley'' Overture, a work by Hector Berlioz inspired by Scott's novel
* Waverley Harrison, a character in the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Stree ...
'', referring to a toy known as a "reel in a bottle".
The etymology of the verb ''puzzle'' is described by ''OED'' as "unknown"; unproven hypotheses regarding its origin include an Old English verb ''puslian'' meaning 'pick out', and a derivation of the verb ''pose''.
Genres
![Raetselkreuz](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Raetselkreuz.jpg)
Puzzles can be categorized as:
*
Lateral thinking puzzle
Situation puzzles are often referred to as minute mysteries, lateral thinking puzzles or "yes/no" puzzles.
Situation puzzles are usually played in a group, with one person hosting the puzzle and the others asking questions which can only be ans ...
s, also called "situation puzzles"
*
Mathematical puzzle
Mathematical puzzles make up an integral part of recreational mathematics. They have specific rules, but they do not usually involve competition between two or more players. Instead, to solve such a puzzle, the solver must find a solution that sati ...
s include the
missing square puzzle
The missing square puzzle is an optical illusion used in mathematics classes to help students reason about geometrical figures; or rather to teach them not to reason using figures, but to use only textual descriptions and the axioms of geometry. ...
and many impossible puzzles — puzzles which have no solution, such as the
Seven Bridges of Königsberg
The Seven Bridges of Königsberg is a historically notable problem in mathematics. Its negative resolution by Leonhard Euler in 1736 laid the foundations of graph theory and prefigured the idea of topology.
The city of Königsberg in Prussia (n ...
, the
three cups problem
The three cups problem, also known as the three cup challenge and other variants, is a mathematical puzzle that, in its most common form, cannot be solved.
In the beginning position of the problem, one cup is upside-down and the other two are rig ...
, and
three utilities problem
The classical mathematical puzzle known as the three utilities problem or sometimes water, gas and electricity asks for non-crossing connections to be drawn between three houses and three utility companies in the plane. When posing it in the ea ...
**
Sangaku
Sangaku or San Gaku ( ja, 算額, lit=calculation tablet) are Japanese geometrical problems or theorems on wooden tablets which were placed as offerings at Shinto shrines or Buddhist temples during the Edo period by members of all social classes ...
(Japanese temple tablets with geometry puzzles)
*A
chess problem
A chess problem, also called a chess composition, is a puzzle set by the composer using chess pieces on a chess board, which presents the solver with a particular task. For instance, a position may be given with the instruction that White is to ...
is a puzzle that uses chess pieces on a chess board. Examples are the
knight's tour
A knight's tour is a sequence of moves of a knight on a chessboard such that the knight visits every square exactly once. If the knight ends on a square that is one knight's move from the beginning square (so that it could tour the board again im ...
and the
eight queens puzzle
The eight queens puzzle is the problem of placing eight chess queens on an 8×8 chessboard so that no two queens threaten each other; thus, a solution requires that no two queens share the same row, column, or diagonal. There are 92 solutions. ...
.
*
Mechanical puzzle
A mechanical puzzle is a puzzle presented as a set of mechanically interlinked pieces in which the solution is to manipulate the whole object or parts of it. While puzzles of this type have been in use by humanity as early as the 3rd century BC ...
s or dexterity puzzles such as the
Rubik's Cube
The Rubik's Cube is a Three-dimensional space, 3-D combination puzzle originally invented in 1974 by Hungarians, Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. Originally called the Magic Cube, the puzzle was licensed by Rubik t ...
and
Soma cube
The Soma cube is a solid dissection puzzle invented by Danish polymath Piet Hein in 1933 during a lecture on quantum mechanics conducted by Werner Heisenberg.
Seven pieces made out of unit cubes must be assembled into a 3×3×3 cube. The pie ...
can be stimulating toys for children or recreational activities for adults.
**
combination puzzle
A combination puzzle, also known as a sequential move puzzle, is a puzzle which consists of a set of pieces which can be manipulated into different combinations by a group of operations. Many such puzzles are mechanical puzzles of polyhedral s ...
s like
Peg solitaire
Peg solitaire, Solo Noble or simply Solitaire is a board game for one player involving movement of pegs on a board with holes. Some sets use marbles in a board with indentations. The game is known as solitaire in Britain and as peg solitaire in ...
**
construction puzzle
In a construction puzzle you have to build (assemble) a technical contraption. This may be a static object (such as a bridge) or a mechanical object (like a machine).
In a wider sense a construction puzzle is any puzzle where you have to assemb ...
s such as
stick puzzle
Stick puzzles are a type of combination puzzle that uses multiple sticks or 'polysticks' (which can be one-dimensional objects) to assemble two- or three-dimensional configurations.
Polysticks are configurations of joined or unjoined thin (ideall ...
s
**
disentanglement puzzle
Disentanglement puzzles (also called entanglement puzzles, tanglement puzzles, tavern puzzles or topological puzzles) are a type or group of mechanical puzzle that involves disentangling one piece or set of pieces from another piece or set of piec ...
s,
**
folding puzzles
**
jigsaw puzzle
A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often irregularly shaped interlocking and mosaiced pieces, each of which typically has a portion of a picture. When assembled, the puzzle pieces produce a complete picture.
In th ...
s.
Puzz 3D
''Puzz 3D'' is the brand name of three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles, manufactured by Hasbro and formerly by Wrebbit, Inc. Unlike traditional puzzles which are composed of series of flat pieces that when put together, create a single unified image, ...
is a three-dimensional variant of this type.
**
lock puzzle
A puzzle lock or puzzle padlock is a type of mechanical puzzle. It consists of a lock with unusual or hidden mechanics. Puzzle locks are reconfigurable mechanisms where the topological structure changes during the operation. Such locks are someti ...
s
**A
puzzle box
A puzzle box (also called a secret box or trick box) is a box that can be opened only by solving a puzzle. Some require only a simple move and others a series of discoveries.
Modern puzzle boxes developed from furniture and jewelry boxes with ...
can be used to hide something —
jewelry
Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a western ...
, for instance.
**
sliding puzzle
A sliding puzzle, sliding block puzzle, or sliding tile puzzle is a combination puzzle that challenges a player to slide (frequently flat) pieces along certain routes (usually on a board) to establish a certain end-configuration. The pieces to ...
s (also called sliding tile puzzles) such as the
15 Puzzle
The 15 puzzle (also called Gem Puzzle, Boss Puzzle, Game of Fifteen, Mystic Square and many others) is a sliding puzzle having 15 square tiles numbered 1–15 in a frame that is 4 tiles high and 4 tiles wide, leaving one unoccupied tile position ...
and
Sokoban
is a puzzle video game in which the player pushes boxes around in a warehouse, trying to get them to storage locations. The game was designed in 1981 by Hiroyuki Imabayashi, and first published in December 1982.
Gameplay
The game is played on a ...
**
tiling puzzle
Tiling puzzles are puzzles involving two-dimensional packing problems in which a number of flat shapes have to be assembled into a larger given shape without overlaps (and often without gaps). Some tiling puzzles ask you to dissect a given ...
s like
Tangram
The tangram () is a dissection puzzle consisting of seven flat polygons, called ''tans'', which are put together to form shapes. The objective is to replicate a pattern (given only an outline) generally found in a puzzle book using all seven pie ...
**
Tower of Hanoi
The Tower of Hanoi (also called The problem of Benares Temple or Tower of Brahma or Lucas' Tower and sometimes pluralized as Towers, or simply pyramid puzzle) is a mathematical game or puzzle consisting of three rods and a number of disks of va ...
*
Metapuzzle
A metapuzzle, also known as a meta-puzzle or meta, is a puzzle that uses the solutions to a set of puzzles to create or provide data for a final puzzle.
Overview
Game designer Cliff Johnson defines a meta-puzzle as "a collection of puzzles that, ...
s are puzzles which unite elements of other puzzles.
*
Paper-and-pencil puzzles such as ''
Uncle Art's Funland
''Uncle Art's Funland'' (also known as ''Funland'' and as ''Uncle Nugent's Funland'') is a long-running syndicated weekly puzzle and entertainment feature originated by Art Nugent (1891–1975). Featuring jokes, riddles, and paper-and-pencil wor ...
'',
connect the dots
Connect the dots (also known as connect-the-dots, dot to dot, or join the dots) is a form of puzzle containing a sequence of numbered dots. When a line is drawn connecting the dots the outline of an object is revealed. The puzzles frequently c ...
, and
nonogram
Nonograms, also known as Hanjie, Paint by Numbers, Picross, Griddlers, and Pic-a-Pix, and by various other names, are picture logic puzzles in which cells in a grid must be colored or left blank according to numbers at the side of the grid to r ...
s
**Also the
logic puzzle
A logic puzzle is a puzzle deriving from the mathematics, mathematical field of deductive reasoning, deduction.
History
The logic puzzle was first produced by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who is better known under his pen name Lewis Carroll, the au ...
s published by
Nikoli:
Sudoku
Sudoku (; ja, 数独, sūdoku, digit-single; originally called Number Place) is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. In classic Sudoku, the objective is to fill a 9 × 9 grid with digits so that each column, each row ...
,
Slitherlink
Slitherlink (also known as Fences, Takegaki, Loop the Loop, Loopy, Ouroboros, Suriza and Dotty Dilemma) is a logic puzzle developed by publisher Nikoli.
Rules
Slitherlink is played on a rectangular lattice of dots. Some of the squares formed by ...
,
Kakuro
Kakuro or Kakkuro or Kakoro ( ja, カックロ) is a kind of logic puzzle that is often referred to as a mathematical transliteration of the crossword. Kakuro puzzles are regular features in many math-and-logic puzzle publications across the worl ...
,
Fillomino
Fillomino (フィルオミノ) is a type of logic puzzle published by many publishers. Other published titles for the puzzle include ''Allied Occupation''.
Rules
''Fillomino'' is played on a rectangular grid with no standard size; the internal ...
,
Hashiwokakero
''Hashiwokakero'' (橋をかけろ ''Hashi o kakero''; lit. "build bridges!") is a type of logic puzzle published by Nikoli. It has also been published in English under the name ''Bridges'' or ''Chopsticks'' (based on a mistranslation: the ''ha ...
,
Heyawake
Heyawake (Japanese: へやわけ, "divided rooms") is a binary-determination logic puzzle published by Nikoli. As of 2013, five books consisting entirely of ''Heyawake'' puzzles have been published by Nikoli. It first appeared in ''Puzzle Communic ...
,
Hitori
Hitori (Japanese: "Alone" or "one person"; ''Hitori ni shite kure''; literally "leave me alone") is a type of logic puzzle published by Nikoli.
Hitori is NP complete.{{citation, title=Games, Puzzles, and Computation, title-link=Games, Puzzles, ...
,
Light Up,
Masyu
is a type of logic puzzle designed and published by Nikoli (publisher), Nikoli. The purpose of its creation was to present a puzzle that uses no numbers or letters and yet retains depth and aesthetics.
Rules
''Masyu'' is played on a rectangular ...
,
Number Link
Numberlink is a type of logic puzzle involving finding paths to connect numbers in a grid.
Rules
The player has to pair up all the matching numbers on the grid with single continuous lines (or paths). The lines cannot branch off or cross over ea ...
,
Nurikabe
The ''nurikabe'' (塗り壁 or 塗壁) is a ''yōkai'', or spirit, from Japanese folklore. Its name translates to "plaster wall", and it is said to manifest as an invisible wall that impedes or misdirects travelers walking at night. Sometimes re ...
,
Ripple Effect
A ripple effect occurs when an initial disturbance to a system propagates outward to disturb an increasingly larger portion of the system, like ripples expanding across the water when an object is dropped into it.
The ripple effect is often used ...
,
Shikaku, and
Kuromasu
, abbreviated or , is a binary-determination logic puzzle published by Nikoli (publisher), Nikoli. , one book consisting entirely of puzzles has been published by Nikoli.
Rules
is played on a rectangular grid. Some of these cells have number ...
.
*
Spot the difference
Tour puzzle
A tour puzzle is a puzzle in which the player travels around a board (usually but not necessarily two-dimensional) using a token which represents a character. Maze puzzles are often of this type.
Sometimes the player has more than one token with ...
s like a
maze
A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lea ...
*
Word puzzles
A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consen ...
, including
anagram
An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...
s,
cipher
In cryptography, a cipher (or cypher) is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption—a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is ''encipherment''. To encipher or encode i ...
s,
crossword puzzles
A crossword is a word puzzle that usually takes the form of a square or a rectangular grid of white- and black-shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the ans ...
,
Hangman (game)
Hangman is a guessing game for two or more players. One player thinks of a word, phrase or sentence and the other(s) tries to guess it by suggesting letters within a certain number of guesses. Originally a Paper-and-pencil game, there are now el ...
, and
word search puzzles. Tabletop and digital word puzzles include
Bananagrams
''Bananagrams'' is a word game invented by Abraham Nathanson and Rena Nathanson of Cranston, Rhode Island, wherein lettered tiles are used to spell words.
Nathanson conceived and developed the idea for the game with the help of his family. Th ...
,
Boggle
''Boggle'' is a word game invented by Allan Turoff and originally distributed by Parker Brothers. The game is played using a plastic grid of lettered dice, in which players look for words in sequences of adjacent letters.
Rules
One player begi ...
,
Bonza
Bonza Aviation Pty Ltd, operating as Bonza, is an Australian low-cost airline, headquartered on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Sunshine Coast. Bonza commenced operations on 31 January 2023.
History Background
Bonza was founded in October 2021 ...
,
Dabble
''Dabble'' is an anagram word game designed by George Weiss, who was 84 years old at the time, and published by INI, LLC in 2011.
An app version was Kotaku
''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as p ...
,
Letterpress (video game)
''Letterpress'' is an iOS game developed by American studio atebits and released on October 24, 2012. It was released on 20 July 2016 to the Mac App Store
The App Store (also known as the Mac App Store) is a digital distribution platform fo ...
,
Perquackey
''Perquackey'' is a word game played with dice, produced by Cardinal Industries, Inc. of Long Island City, New York. It was previously produced by Lakeside Toys, a division of Lakeside Industries, Inc. of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and originally by ...
, Puzzlage,
Quiddler
''Quiddler'' is a card game and word game created by Set Enterprises. Players compete by spelling English words from cards in hands of increasing size, each card worth various points. The game combines aspects of ''Scrabble'' and gin rummy. Th ...
,
Ruzzle
''Ruzzle'' is a mobile game developed by Swedish gaming company MAG Interactive and was first published in the Apple Store in March 2012. ,
Scrabble
''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left t ...
,
Upwords
''Upwords'' (at one time branded as ''Scrabble Upwords'' in the United States and Canada; and '' Topwords'' ''Crucimaster'', ''Betutorony'', ''Palabras Arriba'' or ''Stapelwoord'' in other countries) is a board game invented by Elliot Rudell a ...
,
WordSpot
''WordSpot'' is a fast-paced word search game designed by Russell Ginns and
published by Front Porch Classics.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002AXUI16
Gameplay
Players use transparent tokens to highlight words found on a board of wooden letter t ...
, and
Words with Friends
''Words with Friends'' is a multiplayer word game developed by Zynga with Friends, Newtoy. Players take turns building words crossword-puzzle style in a manner similar to the classic board game ''Scrabble''. The rules of the two games are simila ...
.
Wheel of Fortune (U.S. game show)
''Wheel of Fortune'' (often known simply as ''Wheel'') is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show has aired continuously since January 1975. It features a competition in which contestants solve word puzzles, simila ...
is a game show centered on a word puzzle.
*
Puzzle video games
Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, sequence solving, spatial recognition, and word completion.
H ...
**
Tile-matching video game
A tile-matching video game is a type of puzzle video game where the player manipulates tiles in order to make them disappear according to a matching criterion. In many tile-matching games, that criterion is to place a given number of tiles of the ...
**
Puzzle-platformer
**
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...
**
Hidden object game
A hidden object game, also called hidden picture or hidden object puzzle adventure (HOPA), is a puzzle video game genre in which the player must find items from a list that are hidden within a scene. Hidden object games are a popular trend in casu ...
**
Minesweeper
A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping.
History
The earliest known usage of ...
Puzzle solving
Solutions of puzzles often require the recognition of
pattern
A pattern is a regularity in the world, in human-made design, or in abstract ideas. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner. A geometric pattern is a kind of pattern formed of geometric shapes and typically repeated l ...
s and the adherence to a particular kind of ordering. People with a high level of
inductive reasoning aptitude
Inductive reasoning aptitude (also called differentiation or inductive learning ability) measures how well a person can identify a pattern within a large amount of data. It involves applying the rules of logic when inferring general principles fr ...
may be better at solving such puzzles than others. But puzzles based upon
inquiry
An inquiry (also spelled as enquiry in British English) is any process that has the aim of augmenting knowledge, resolving doubt, or solving a problem. A theory of inquiry is an account of the various types of inquiry and a treatment of the ...
and
discovery
Discovery may refer to:
* Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown
* Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown
* Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence
Discovery, The Discovery ...
may be solved more easily by those with good
deduction skills. Deductive reasoning improves with practice. Mathematical puzzles often involve BODMAS.
BODMAS
In mathematics and computer programming, the order of operations (or operator precedence) is a collection of rules that reflect conventions about which procedures to perform first in order to evaluate a given mathematical expression.
For exampl ...
is an acronym and it stands for Bracket, Of, Division, Multiplication, Addition and Subtraction. In certain regions, PEMDAS (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition and Subtraction) is the synonym of BODMAS. It explains the order of operations to solve an expression. Some mathematical puzzles require Top to Bottom convention to avoid the
ambiguity
Ambiguity is the type of meaning in which a phrase, statement or resolution is not explicitly defined, making several interpretations plausible. A common aspect of ambiguity is uncertainty. It is thus an attribute of any idea or statement ...
in the order of operations. It is an elegantly simple idea that relies, as
sudoku
Sudoku (; ja, 数独, sūdoku, digit-single; originally called Number Place) is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. In classic Sudoku, the objective is to fill a 9 × 9 grid with digits so that each column, each row ...
does, on the requirement that numbers appear only once starting from top to bottom as coming along.
Puzzle makers
Puzzle makers are people who make puzzles. In general terms of occupation, a ''puzzler'' is someone who composes and/or solves puzzles.
Some notable creators of puzzles are:
*
Ernő Rubik
Ernő Rubik (; born 13 July 1944) commonly known by his nickname, "Little Man", is a Hungarian inventor, architect and professor of architecture. He is best known for the invention of mechanical puzzles including the Rubik's Cube (1974), Rubi ...
*
Sam Loyd
Samuel Loyd (January 30, 1841 – April 10, 1911), was an American chess player, chess composer, puzzle author, and recreational mathematics, recreational mathematician. Loyd was born in Philadelphia but raised in New York City.
As a chess com ...
*
Henry Dudeney
Henry Ernest Dudeney (10 April 1857 – 23 April 1930) was an English author and mathematician who specialised in logic puzzles and mathematical games. He is known as one of the country's foremost creators of mathematical puzzles.
Early life
...
*
Boris Kordemsky
Boris A. Kordemsky (russian: Борис Анастасьевич Кордемский; 23 May 1907 – 29 March 1999) was a Russian mathematician and educator. He is best known for his popular science books and mathematical puzzles. He is the ...
*
David J. Bodycombe
David J. Bodycombe (born 1973 in Darlington, County Durham) is an English puzzle author and games consultant. He is based in London, and his work is read by over 2 million people a day in the UK, and is syndicated to over 300 newspapers intern ...
*
Will Shortz
William F. Shortz (born August 26, 1952) is an American puzzle creator and editor and crossword puzzle editor for ''The New York Times''.
Early life and education
Will Shortz was born and raised on an Arabian horse farm in Crawfordsville, Indi ...
*
Oskar van Deventer
Oskar van Deventer (born 1965) is a Dutch puzzle maker. He prototypes puzzles using 3D printing. His work combines mathematics, physics, and design, and he collaborates at academic institutions. Many of his combination puzzles are in mass produc ...
*
Lloyd King
*
Martin Gardner
Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lewis ...
*
Raymond Smullyan
Raymond Merrill Smullyan (; May 25, 1919 – February 6, 2017) was an American mathematician, magician, concert pianist, logician, Taoist, and philosopher.
Born in Far Rockaway, New York, his first career was stage magic. He earned a BSc from th ...
History of jigsaw and other puzzles
Jigsaw puzzle
A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often irregularly shaped interlocking and mosaiced pieces, each of which typically has a portion of a picture. When assembled, the puzzle pieces produce a complete picture.
In th ...
s are perhaps the most popular form of puzzle. Jigsaw puzzles were invented around 1760, when
John Spilsbury, a British engraver and
cartographer
Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...
, mounted a map on a sheet of wood, which he then sawed around the outline of each individual country on the map. He then used the resulting pieces as an aid for the teaching of geography.
After becoming popular among the public, this kind of teaching aid remained the primary use of jigsaw puzzles until about 1820.
The largest puzzle (40,320 pieces) is made by German game company
Ravensburger
Ravensburger AG is a German game and toy company, publishing house and market leader in the European jigsaw puzzle market.
History
The company was founded by Otto Robert Maier in Ravensburg, a town in Upper Swabia in southern Germany. He began ...
. The smallest puzzle ever made was created at LaserZentrum Hannover. It is only five square millimeters, the size of a sand grain.
The puzzles that were first documented are
riddles
A riddle is a statement, question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that requir ...
. In Europe, Greek mythology produced riddles like the
riddle of the Sphinx
A sphinx ( , grc, σφίγξ , Boeotian: , plural sphinxes or sphinges) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of a falcon.
In Greek tradition, the sphinx has the head of a woman, the haunches of ...
. Many riddles were produced during the Middle Ages, as well.
By the early 20th century, magazines and newspapers found that they could increase their readership by publishing
puzzle contest Puzzle contests are popular competitions in which the objective is to solve a puzzle within a given time limit, and to obtain the best possible score among all players.
History
One of the earliest puzzle contests was held about 1910. The publish ...
s, beginning with
crosswords
A crossword is a word puzzle that usually takes the form of a square or a rectangular grid of white- and black-shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the answ ...
and in modern days
sudoku
Sudoku (; ja, 数独, sūdoku, digit-single; originally called Number Place) is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. In classic Sudoku, the objective is to fill a 9 × 9 grid with digits so that each column, each row ...
.
Organizations and events
There are organizations and events that cater to puzzle enthusiasts, such as:
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Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition
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World Puzzle Championship The World Puzzle Championship (commonly abbreviated as WPC) is an annual international puzzle competition run by the World Puzzle Federation. All the puzzles in the competition are pure-logic problems based on simple principles, designed to be play ...
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National Puzzlers' League The National Puzzlers' League (NPL) is a nonprofit organization focused on puzzle, puzzling, primarily in the realm of word play and word games. Founded in 1883, it is the oldest puzzlers' organization in the world. It originally hosted semiannual c ...
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Puzzlehunt
A puzzle hunt (sometimes рuzzlehunt) is a puzzle game where teams compete to solve a series of puzzles. A puzzle hunt can happen at a particular location, in multiple locations, or via the Internet. In a puzzle hunt, a puzzle is usually not acc ...
s such as the
Maze of Games
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World Cube Association
The World Cube Association (WCA) is the worldwide non-profit organization that regulates and holds competitions for mechanical puzzles that are operated by twisting groups of pieces, commonly known as '' twisty puzzles'' (a subcategory of combina ...
See also
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References
Further reading
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External links
{{Authority control
Problem solving