![]() Hercules - B&P Nice quality and poses just the right amount of challenge. |
Crazy L A very nice little packing challenge, from the Puzzle and Craft Factory. |
Four T's - Binary Arts/Thinkfun |
![]() Houses and Factories Designed by Richard Hess - distributed by B & P |
![]() Lucky 7 - Melissa & Doug |
Blockade - B&P Blockade is like Lucky 7 - both use 3 small and 4 large L shaped pieces, but Blockade also has pins on the board and corresponding holes in the pieces. Lucky 7 is trivial to solve - Blockade adds a little (but not much) challenge. |
![]() Butterfly - Nature's Spaces Fit nine identical penta-hexes into a triangular frame. Only one arrangement will work. |
![]() Frog Pond - Nature's Spaces Fit nine identical tetra-hexes into a triangular frame. |
![]() 3 Ls Fit the 3 L-shaped pieces into the tray. |
![]() Snake Pool Eleven cubes are loosely strung along an elastic to form a cube snake. Fit the snake flat in the tray - the "pool." There are at least four different solutions. The cubes are 3/4", the tray opening is 3.25" square. The snake configuration is: 3+2+2+2+1+1 (where a + denotes a right-angled bend that can swivel). Erich Friedman shows various square-in-square packings on his Packing Center site, but I don't think the solution shown for 11 squares works with this particular cube snake configuration. |
![]() Packing Quarters - B&P |
![]() Kinato Kinato is a very nicely packaged puzzle from Ravensburger. Sixteen triangles are threaded via clever swivel connections. Arrange them into a large triangle with the proper pattern. I found it at jigsawjungle.com. |
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The following tray-packing puzzles were all designed by
Edi Nagata.
Edi sells versions in 2-sided trays, made from MDF. A couple were offered by Bits and Pieces with wooden 2-sided trays and aluminum pieces, other single-sided versions in CD cases by Embrain via Torito. |
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![]() Pencil Case |
![]() Shirt Case Purchase the 2-sided MDF version from Edi, or the single-sided CD-case versions "Shikoku" and "Australia" from Torito. |
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![]() Arrow Case aka Packing Arrows - B&P |
![]() Cat Case aka Cats in a Cradle - B&P |
![]() Cup Case |
![]() Baby Ducks Case |
![]() Mimi packing puzzles: A, F, H |
Pack the Tray (8 triangles + 1 rectangle) - Saul Bobroff |
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![]() Nine Squared - Tom Lensch All nine pieces have identical thickness but each has a different combination of length and width selected from discrete increments within a narrow range. When arranged correctly into the tray they simply drop in and out with no binding. Several incorrect packings seem like they should fit, if only you press down a little... wrong! |
![]() Apothecary's Cabinet - Constantin (purchased at GPP) Each "drawer" has a combination of side tabs and portions of the row separators, and is equivalent to a rectangle with each side having either a tab or a notch. There are 2^4=16 possible arrangements including rotations and reflections. The knobs on the drawers require the reflections. The fact that the side tabs/notches are off-center requires the rotations. This puzzle is a nice realization of a 4x4 heads/tails edgematching puzzle, but includes a cabinet/tray/frame which constrains the solution, since it has all notches along the left and top, and all tabs along the right and bottom. If you assign a 4-bit binary ID to each drawer using 0 for a notch and 1 for a tab, the low bit for the top and high for the left side, then one solution is:
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![]() Digits - Constantin Fit the 10 digits into the tray. |
![]() Partridge Puzzle by Robert Wainwright obtained from Robert at the 2007 NYPP Kadon offers some of Erich Friedman's "Partridge" puzzles. In an "anti-Partridge" puzzle, there is one largest piece, and the count goes up as the pieces shrink. |
![]() Karin's Star Cluster An entry in the IPP24 Design Competition. |
![]() Tessellating Galaxies - JVK |
![]() Sun Dance - JVK |
![]() The City 2001 Binary Arts (Thinkfun) Pack six heptominoes (3 distinct pieces and their mirror images) in the 6x7 tray. Nice metal pieces with 3D abstract buildings on them which prevent the pieces from being flipped and exclude most of the otherwise possible 80 assemblies. |
![]() Geometrex Set - Ormazd, Nabucho, and Quirinus In each case the pieces can be rearranged within the tray to fit in an extra square. |
![]() Fit To A Tee - Thinkfun A nice metal tray-packing puzzle from Thinkfun. Pack the 9 pieces representing golf holes complete with tees, sand traps, and pins, into the base. The base presents a challenge on each side (the front and back nines), with different arrangements of fixed water hazards to work around. Oh, and just as on a real course, abut each flag with the tee of the next hole! |
![]() Fantastic Island |
![]() The "845 Combinations" puzzle is almost like pentominos... here is a solution to the 845 puzzle. |
![]() Adam's Cube |
![]() One Way |
![]() Boxed In - Milton Bradley |
![]() Circle Challenge - Melissa & Doug A good one for kids - work on it from the inside out. The pictures on the pieces are merely decorative. |
![]() Magic Block (MCS promo) |
![]() Figa Block |
![]() IQ Block |
![]() Double Cross - Mag Nif There are four pink plastic pieces and the tray. The objective is to form a cross (plus sign) in the tray. |
![]() Sleazier - Pavel Curtis based on Stewart Coffin's Four Sleazy Pieces (#169A) Fit the 4 polyominoes into the tray. IPP25 |
![]() Stewart Coffin's Sunrise / Sunset (#181) Fit the 5 polyominoes into each side of the tray, making a symmetric pattern in each case. Gift from Bernhard Schweitzer (thanks!). IPP22 |
![]() Stewart Coffin's Drop In (#153B) aka The Trap Fit the four pieces into the box through a small slot. They must be arranged so all fit within the inside perimeter of the box walls. Saul Bobroff IPP23 |
![]() Stewart Coffin's Few Tile (#133) Made by John Devost A beautiful Padauk frame about 5.75" squared, with corner splines, and Birch plywood pieces. A gift - Thanks, John! |
![]() Stewart Coffin's Four Fit (#217) Made by Tom Lensch. Purchased from Tom at the Dartmouth College Mechanical Puzzle Day in Feb. 2008. |
![]() Stewart Coffin's Cruiser (#167) Made by Walter Hoppe. |
![]() Mind the Gap - Chris Morgan |
![]() Think Square - Pressman There are 4 small right triangles, 4 large right triangles, 4 stair-case shaped pieces, and 5 small squares. The pieces can be fit snugly into the tray with and without one of the five small squares. |
![]() Triadenspass - Logika |
![]() Pack It In - Great American Puzzle Factory 1996 Pack a set of 16 items into a suitcase frame. Flat cardboard pieces. |
![]() The Trapped Man - Tom Jolly Laser cut by Walter Hoppe. Five unusually convoluted pieces, including the little "man." The first challenge is to fit them into the tray so that none can slide or rotate. Next, try it with only four of the five pieces, then with only three! Several other puzzle goals accompany the Trapped Man puzzle. |
![]() Pac-Man - Milton Bradley First create 4 Pac-men with open mouths. Then use the same pieces to create 3 Pac-men with closed mouths. There are eye stickers on some pieces, which must be positioned correctly. The pieces can be flipped. |
![]() The Jayne Fishing Puzzle - A 1916 advertisement of Jayne's Tonic Vermifuge (yuck!). Discussed in Slocum and Botermans' "The Book of Ingenious and Diabolical Puzzles" on page 15. You were to cut out the fish and the ring and then pack the fish inside the ring. The fish names are (left to right, top down): Codfish, Shad, Red Grouper, Cowtrunk Fish, Flying Fish, Bluefish, Mackerel, Tarpon, Sheepshead, Moonfish, Striped Bass, and Weakfish. Also see No Fishing by Bepuzzled. |
![]() No Fishing - Bepuzzled 1998 Remove the water then fit all twelve fish into the bowl. AreYouGame has it. This is a nice wooden laser-cut, colorful, and faithful copy of the Jayne Fishing Puzzle of 1916. |
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![]() In the Raging Rapids puzzle from Thinkfun (Binary Arts), you have to fit all the men into the raft, facing the right way. The figures' bases have various patterns of tabs and indents. |
![]() In the Mayan Calendar puzzle from William Waite, you have to fit all the glyphs into the tray, facing the right way. The glyphs have various patterns of tabs and indents. (Similar to Raging Rapids.) |
Alex Randolph's Moebies - Springbok 1973 There are 8 sockets at various positions in the orange board. Six pieces and six pegs are included - the object is to find a way to peg the six pieces to the board so that all fit within the edges. |
![]() Springbok Fitting & Proper |
Here is a nice set of small, pocketsized tray packings designed by William Waite, purchased from his
PuzzleMist website:
From left to right, they are: Triangle Quorn, Square Quorn, Hex Quorn, Diamond Teaser, and Mix Teaser 2.
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![]() JVK Tessellating Hexagons |
![]() Galaxies & Stars - JVK |
![]() "Tripple 7" - 3-piece packing (prototype) - JvK |
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![]() Wetten Dass... Also known as FACT Purchased in Berlin. The tray has a moving bar, pivoted at one corner. When the bar is aligned along the top edge, the five pieces are easy to pack into the tray. When the bar is aligned along the side edge, it's more difficult. |
Two vintage 1969 packing puzzles from Lakeside - Cars and Trucks, and Fish and Birds. |
Aha Rectangle - Thinkfun |
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The problem of Mrs. Perkins' Quilt (or Mrs. Perkins's Quilt) appeared as no. 173 in
Henry Ernest Dudeney's 1917 book Amusements in Mathematics.
You can find the book and the problem online in a few places, including
at
www.gutenberg.org, and at
www.scribd.com.
The problem: given a large square quilt made of 13x13 small squares (169 small squares total),
find the smallest possible number of square portions of which the quilt could be composed -
i.e. a dissection of the large square into a number of smaller squares that don't all have to be different.
However, only prime dissections are allowed -
the side lengths of the component squares cannot all have a common factor - they must be relatively prime.
There can be no sub-square which is itself divided - such a solution is termed "primitive" -
primitive quilts are quilts without sub-quilts.
Martin Gardner devotes chapter 11 in his 1977 book Mathematical Carnival
to Mrs Perkins' Quilt and Other Square-Packing Problems.
Ed Pegg discussed the problem on his
Math Games site.
The problem is also discussed at
mathworld.wolfram.com.
The solution comprises 11 squares and is shown at
gutenberg.org.
It contains the following number of squares of given sizes:
1x72,
2x62,
1x42,
2x32,
3x22, and
2x12.
The smallest numbers of squares needed to create relatively prime dissections of
an n×n quilt for n=1, 2, ... are 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10, 11, 11, 11, 11, 12, ...
(Sloane's A005670).
Karl Scherer discusses additional variations at
his website.
Karl defines a nowhere neat tiling - in which no two tiles have a full side in common,
and a no touch tiling - where tiles of same size cannot touch,
noting that no-touch are always nowhere-neat.
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The problem of Mrs. Perkins' Quilt leads to other questions.
In general, how might it be possible to dissect various rectangles or squares into smaller squares?
Such puzzles are known as Squared Rectangles and Squared Squares.
If a dissection results in pieces all of different sizes, the dissection is called perfect, otherwise it
is imperfect.
If the dissection does not contain any smaller square or rectangle that is itself further divided, it is
called simple (or primitive), otherwise it is compound.
The order is the number of tiles used.
When describing solutions, it is convenient to use a notation called Bouwkamp code.
One lists the side lengths of the tiles as they appear in the solution, in left to right order, top to bottom,
bracketing groups with flush tops.
There is a nice article in Martin Gardner's 1962 book More Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions, in
chapter 17: Squaring the Square - by William T. Tutte,
from Gardner's November 1958 column in Scientific American.
Stuart Anderson of New South Wales has a great website called
www.squaring.net
where he discusses this topic in depth, and gives lots of historical information.
Some of the diagrams below are adapted from Stuart's site.
The topic is also discussed at
mathworld.wolfram.com.
In 1925, Zbigniew Moroń (1904-1971), of Wraclow, Poland, published a paper, 'O Rozkladach Prostokatow Na Kwadraty' (On the Dissection of a Rectangle into Squares), in which he showed a simple perfect squared rectangle (SPSR) of order 9. Reichert and Toepkin (1940) proved that a rectangle cannot be dissected into fewer than nine different squares (see Steinhaus 1999, p. 297). I have the plastic Perfect Squares (Le Carre Parfait) puzzle by Dollarama (China). It's got 9 pieces to be packed into a tray. I measured the tray cavity and the piece dimensions, and allowing for measuring error, manufacturing tolerances, and gaps so the pieces can be easily manipulated, this is an example of the Moroń 1925 SPSR.
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Robert Wainwright presented the Partridge Puzzle at the second Gathering for Gardner, in 1996.
Partridge puzzles call for the dissection of a large square into a set of smaller squares, without voids,
such that one small square tile of size 12 is used, two of size 22 are used,
three of size 32 are used, up to n of size n2.
Kind of like the "Partridge in a Pear Tree" song, the number of square tiles of each size
increases by one at each step.
They're based on the following mathematical equivalence:
Erich Friedman also discusses Anti-Partridge tilings. In an Anti-Partridge Puzzle, one must dissect a square using n copies of a 1x1 square, (n-1) copies of a 2x2, (n-2) copies of a 3x3, etc., through 1 copy of an nxn. They're based on the mathematical equivalence:
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Another type of square-packing problem,
discussed by
Ed Pegg Jr.,
is to find the minimal side m of square m2
into which one can pack one of each square of sides 1, 2, 3, ..., n.
In this problem, there can be voids.
In fact, in this type of problem packing the large square without gaps is not possible.
The
only series of squares which sum to a square is for squares of sides 1 through 24,
which sum to 702 = 4900.
(This is also the only number that is both square and pyramidal - i.e. 4900 balls can make a square,
and also be stacked in a square-based pyramid with layers of 1,4,9,16, etc. -
proved by G. N. Watson in 1918.)
A proof that no perfect tiling of the 702 with squares 1-24 exists was done in 1974 using
exhaustive computer search by Edward M. Reingold (Gardner 1977).
The Sloane sequence
A005842
gives
a(n) = minimal integer m such that the m2 square contains all squares of sides 1, ..., n.
This problem has
practical applications, such as electronic circuit layout.
Minami Kawasaki gives a
catalogue of known solutions.
From Ed Pegg, here is a packing of 1-51 into a 214x214:
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The total area of the pieces is 3136, which is 562, so I figured I'd try to fit them into that square.
In January of 2009, I used Burr Tools to analyze this puzzle.
Burr Tools ran for 13.8 hours on my 2.8GHz P4, and found only one solution for a 56x56 square.
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Carlos Rivera, on his website
www.primepuzzles.net,
poses an interesting question about
"prime squares" -
Is there any SPSR or SPSS having only tiles with prime-number side lengths?
The answer is no. Arthur Stone proved that in a perfectly squared rectangle (or square),
with at least two square elements, at least two elements have even sides.
His proof is on pages 149-150 of
"Squared Squares: Who's Who & What's What" by Jasper Dale Skinner, II, published in 1993.
ISBN: 0963656902.
Here is another negative result...
While messing about with planar tilings, it's natural to think about extending the problem into 3 dimensions.
Can a cube be dissected into a finite set of distinct sub-cubes?
The answer is no.
This problem is discussed in Martin Gardner's article, and
also online in
an article by
Ross Honsberger.
Proof:
Assume a packing of a cube using a finite set of distinct sub-cubes can be done.
The bottom layer will contain a set of cubes, and one of them will be the smallest in that layer.
That smallest cube cannot be along an outside edge -
i.e. touching a side of the container (other than the bottom) -
because if it was, then there would have to be
an even smaller cube next to it.
Think about it - there are two cases: either it would be in a corner,
against an outside wall and with a larger sub-cube next to it,
or along an edge with a larger cube on
either side of it.
In either case, one side of the smallest cube is bordered by walls extending past it.
So, any cube that could fit against it must be smaller than it, which violates our premise that it is itself the
smallest in that layer.
That means it must be somewhere in the interior, bordered on four sides by a larger sub-cube.
That, in turn, means that its upper face must be completely walled in (again, think about it - every bordering
cube is larger than it is,
but they're all lying on the same plane as it, so the sides of all its neighbors rise above its
upper face).
That means that its upper face has to be covered by a set of even smaller cubes.
Now, if you think about this state of affairs, you'll see we can start all over again with the previous logic -
that covering set itself must contain a smallest member which cannot be on an outside edge...
This goes on indefinitely, requiring an ever-smaller set of sub-cubes,
and proving that the original assumption is false.
Now, this doesn't mean we can't have fun in 3 dimensions...
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Pack It In - Thinkfun This is "Conway's Curious Cube" which calls for three 1x1x1 cubes and six 1x2x2 blocks to be packed into a 3x3x3 box. There is only one solution - see this source. |
![]() Nine rhombic pieces fit in the tray. This is isomorphic to Conway's Curious Cube. |
![]() 17 piece packing cube Another John Conway design. 5 of 1x1x1, 6 of 3x2x2, 6 of 1x2x4. Fit into 5x5x5. The same pattern should show on all sides. Gemani calls this "Made to Measure." I've also seen it as "Shipper's Dilemma." |
![]() Conway Box Deluxe This is a nicer version of the 17-piece Conway cube. |
![]() The Meiji Caramel puzzle is a version of Anti-Slide designed by William Strijbos. Pack 15,14,13, or 12 of the 15 1x2x2 pieces into the 4x4x4 box such that none can slide in any direction. There are no solutions using less than 12 pieces. Using 12 pieces there are only three solutions, but using 13 pieces there is only one solution. This puzzle won 2nd place in the 1994 Hikimi Wooden Puzzle Competition. Purchased from Torito. |
![]() 36 piece Packing Puzzle |
![]() T Party - B&P |
![]() Loyd's Cube - Sam Loyd An IPP Puzzle from Jerry Slocum |
![]() L-Bert Hall Pack the nine identical pieces into a 3x3x3 cube seated in the box. Each piece is a concave tri-cube with holes and one dowel. This was designed by Ronald Kint-Bruynseels for IPP27, and made by Eric Fuller. The pieces are made from Cocobolo and the box is made from Lacewood. |
![]() Log Stacker - Elverson |
![]() Logs in a Box - B&P |
![]() Mmmm Pack the four M-shaped pieces into the box and close the lid. |
![]() Mine's Cube of Cubes Designed by Mineyuki Uyematsu in 2004. Exchanged at IPP24. 14 pieces pack into a 5x5x5 box. 2 solutions. |
![]() The ODD Puzzle - designed by Hirokazu Iwasawa (Iwahiro). Three pieces (two identical) to pack into the box. Winner of the "Puzzle of the Year" Award in the IPP28 Design Competition. |
![]() Wim Zwaan - Octahedron and Tetrahedron Fit the Wenge tetrahedron into the Baltic Birch plywood Octahedral box. Then get it out again. Since the opening and the tetrahedron are not quite regular, this is more difficult than it might at first seem. Purchased from Wim at IPP28 in Prague. |
![]() Crossroad - designed by Goh Pit Khiam and made by Walter Hoppe. Purchased from Walter at IPP28 in Prague. |
![]() Cherry Cocktail Pack six pieces - 3 each of 2 kinds - plus the "cherries" into the "glass." Purchased from Irina Novichkova at IPP28 in Prague. |
![]() Thin 'n' Thin No. 7 Purchased from Serhiy Grabarchuk at IPP28 in Prague. |
![]() Eight Pack - issued by Philos - designed by Tom Jolly Pack eight tetracubes (four tower-left and four tower-right) into a 4x4x4 cage. Purchased from a puzzle store in Prague. |
Nob's Never Ending Build a cube within the box, from 8 similar angled pieces. The one on the left is a rough handmade version - an auction win. I recognized this in a pic of Matti Linkola's exhibition, and found it on Trevor Wood's site. It is a copy of Nob's Neverending puzzle. Torito sells a version made by Himiki. |
![]() Make Room - variation of Stewart Coffin's #127, by Mr. Puzzle Australia Craftsman version in fine exotic woods - the box is a waxy wood called Yellow Leichardt. Four challenges:
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![]() This is Tube-It-In by William Strijbos. (Photo from John Rausch's site.) |
![]() The Morph A cube dissected into four clever pieces can morph into three different solids to fill the compartments in the case. According to Bernhard Schweitzer, who sells a copy, this was designed by Boris A. Kordemsky of Russia. I believe this was issued by Bits and Pieces quite some time ago, but I am not sure. I found my copy on auction. |
![]() HABA Trickpack See my solution below. |
![]() Conway Packing Puzzle A gift from Brett. Eq. to HABA Trick-Pack. |
![]() 3D Geometrex Rex Games Inc. San Francisco, copyright 2000 Sarcone & Waeber Gianni Sarcone described this puzzle in issue 52 June 2000 of the CFF newsletter, where he called it the Paradoxopiped. Start with nine pieces packed in the frame, then add the tenth. Gianni says "more than three solutions can be found." |
![]() 18-Piece Mini-Cube-Block Puzzle Set |
![]() Bunchgrass Packing Puzzle "13/14" A box with 5 pieces made of spheres - the pieces fit in the box with or without a single sphere piece. They also can form a square-based pyramid. It is called the 13-14 puzzle since with the single sphere there are 14 pieces and 13 without. |
![]() For Your Own Sake - Hikimi (Japan) This puzzle poses the additional challenge of embedding 3 marbles. |
![]() Dragon's Eggs - Pentangle Find a way to pack everything into the box so that the three "eggs" are all concealed. |
![]() Slot Machine - Stewart Coffin #185 obtained from Henry Strout Build a cube within the box, fitting the pieces in through a small slot in the acrylic cover. |
![]() Third Degree - Bits and Pieces Designed in 1995 by Bill Cutler, who calls it the "3-Piece Blockhead." Discontinued. |
![]() Stark Raving Cubes / Sneaky Squares I bought mine from ISHI. Designed in 1983 by and still available from Bill Cutler. Awarded the Grand Prize at the 1986 Hikimi Wooden Puzzle Competition. |
![]() Three Pins By Jean-Claude Constantin. Fit the six pieces in two layers into the tray, aligning holes so that the three pins can be inserted, each through two pieces. |
![]() Four Square Fit the four dual-layer pieces into the tray. |
![]() Pack 6 - Eric Fuller Entered in the IPP 2003 Design Competition. |
![]() Sandwich - Vaclav Obsivac |
![]() HCP1 - Vaclav Obsivac |
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![]() Brunnenspiel, by Markus Goetz |
![]() Malaga Box - Philos By Markus Goetz. |
![]() Mosaic - IQ Puzzles (Family Games) |
![]() Stack the disks to form a cob. This seems to be a copy of the Toyo Glass puzzle "A-Maize-Ing." |
![]() Something Fishy |
![]() Booze Crate |
![]() A nice little packing puzzle handmade in the Ukraine. Purchased off eBay. I'm not sure, but I think this is the same puzzle as shown on www.golovolomki.ru in the Wooden Puzzles section, called "Disobedient Particles" by I.A. Nowitschkowa. |
6-piece packing (Krasnoukov?) - from Rick Eason |
![]() Dice Box - Sticks |
![]() Dice Box - Prisms |
![]() Trevor Wood's Cube the Square - unknown craftsman The 8 pieces form a 4x4x4 or an 8x8x1. |
![]() Nob's LL Puzzle - unknown craftsman Each of the 8 pieces is made from two L tricubes. They pack a 3x4x4 box, made from purpleheart. |
![]() Boxed LUV Stewart Coffin #189 a cheap Asian copy, but functional |
![]() Circelei - Hendrik Haak IPP26 Fit three hinged 3-layer polyominoes into three stacked trays. |
![]() Russian 3-piece packing Obtained from Rick Eason at NYPP 2008. The label is in Cyrillic and I cannot read it! I'm not sure, but I think this is the same puzzle as shown on www.golovolomki.ru in the Wooden Puzzles section, called "Pythagorean Trousers 2" by I.A. Nowitschkowa. |
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![]() Oskar van Deventer's Two-Piece Packing From Bernhard Schweitzer at NYPP 2008 |
![]() Quadron by Naef (1987) Designed by Jost Hanny |
![]() Fragmented Cube - Oskar van Deventer Pack eight pieces into the box. They can be packed such that faces appear with and without "holes." Purchased from Oskar at IPP28 in Prague. |
![]() Magellan - Philos Designed by Georg Pfaffinger 12 pieces pack into the 4x4x4 box and leave a 2x2x2 hole in the center. Includes other challenges. Purchased at a puzzle store in Prague. |
![]() This is Packman by Gary Foshee. Get all of the elements into the cube so that all of its surfaces are flush. (Photo from John Rausch's site.) |
Meiji Apollo Fit the plastic candy replicas into the box in two layers. Purchased from Torito |
Back in the Box A dissection of a cube into various tetrahedra. |
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![]() Packed in Tokyo I got this in Japan. |
![]() Java Tea [A] |
![]() Packing Peanuts [B] |
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Shot You |
![]() On the Rocks [A] |
![]() Pack the Asparagus Designed by Nob Yoshigahara Related to Tridiamonds |
![]() Pack the Beans [B] |
![]() Pineapple Delight [A] [B] Related to Pentominoes |
![]() Pack the Pudding (or Custard) [B] |
![]() Pack the Beer [B] |
![]() Pack the Plums [A] [B] |
![]() Pack the Peanuts [B] |
![]() A-Maize-Ing [A] [B] I have the Professor Brain's version shown above. |
![]() Pack the Rice Crackers [A] [B] |
![]() Pack the Orange [A] |
![]() Home Alone Husband |
![]() Bin Cross [A] |
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Enumerating Polyforms
Sloan's sequences given for: # free . # 1-sided (holes allowed) Wolfram links at top show initial pieces; links in table to Wolfram, Ishino's site, etc. show all pieces |
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| n, prefix | -iamonds #A000577 .#A006534 Wolfram |
-ominoes #A000105 .#A000988 Wolfram |
-hexes #A000228 .#A006535 Wolfram Wikipedia |
-aboloes (-tans) #A006074 Wolfram Esser |
-cubes #A038119 .#A000162 Wolfram |
Comments |
| 2 d[i]- |
1.1
|
1.1 | 1.1 | 3 | 1.1 |
Dick Hess designed
a puzzle using nine
planar tridiamonds.
The Naef Favus puzzle pieces are a set of planar and non-planar solid tri-diamond prisms. (Labeled dominoes are discussed in the Pattern section.) |
| 3 tr[i]- |
1.1 | 2.2 | 3.3 | 4 | 2.2 | The two triominoes consist of one three-in-a-row and one "L" - the L is non-convex. |
| 4 tetr[a]- |
3.4 | 5.7
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7.10
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14.22
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7.8
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Tetromino sets: Tenyo BtC #783
See my diagram of polyhexagons up to tetrahexes. Naef's Hexagon puzzle uses the set of 7 free tetrahexes, made from metal nuts. The Snowflake puzzle by Stewart Coffin uses the set of three trihexes and seven tetrahexes. Michael Keller shows some figures and solutions made with the set of tetratans. The Eternity Delta puzzle is a commercial set of 14 tetratans. Kadon's Tan Tricks I includes 2 monotans, 3 ditans, and the 14 tetratans. Jurgen Koeller discusses tetracubes. The eight tetracubes are named: I O L T N, tower-right, tower-left, and tripod. They can make two boxes: 2x4x4 (1390 solutions) and 2x2x8. A set called Wit's End was produced by Lowe in 1967. Piet Hein's famous Soma cube uses the six non-convex tetracubes plus the single non-convex tricube. |
| 5 pent[a]- |
4.6
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12.18
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22.33
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30.56 | 23.29 12 planar 17 non-p |
Ishino's page on pentiamonds.
Peri Spiele (Austria) makes a set of 19 n-iamond pieces packed into a Star-of-David tray. The set includes two tetriamonds, seven pentiamonds (all 4 possible + dups), six hexiamonds, three heptiamonds, and one octiamond. The planar pentomino pieces are named by convention after the letters they resemble: F I L N P T U V W X Y Z. There are too many commercial pentomino sets to mention. Ishino's page on pentahexes. Commercial sets of pentahexes: Tenyo BtC #22, Hi-Q Fusion, Hi-Q Confusion Kadon's Tan Tricks II includes the set of 30 pentatans. Stewart Coffin on solid pentominoes; Stewart Coffin's Unhappy Childhood puzzle Kadon's page naming the planar pentacubes; Kadon's page naming the non-planar pentacubes |
| 6 hex[a]- |
12.19
|
35.60
|
82.147 | 107 | 112.166 |
Ishino's page on hexiamonds.
Hexiamond sets: Tenyo BtC #6 Hexomino sets: Tenyo BtC #600, Spear's Multipuzzle George Miller sells a set of 82 hexahexes. Kadon's Tan Tricks III includes the set of 107 hextans. Kadon sells a set of 166 hexacubes. Livio Zucca's Sexehexes |
| 7 hept[a]- sept[a]- |
24.43
|
108.196 | 333.620 | 318 | 607.1023 |
Ishino's page on heptiamonds.
Heptiamond sets: Tenyo BtC #24 Kadon sells a set of 108 heptominoes. Peter Esser's page of the 108 heptominoes. |
| 8 oct[a]- |
66.120 | 369.704 | 1448.2821 | 1116 | 3811.6922 |
Kadon sells a set of 66 octiamonds.
Ed Pegg Jr.'s page on octiamonds. Kadon sells a set of 369 octominoes. |
| 9 non[a]- enne[a]- |
160.307 | 1285 .2500 |
6572 .12942 |
3743 | 25413 .48311 |
George Miller sells a set of 160 noniamonds. |
| 10 dec[a]- |
448.866 | 4655 .9189 |
30490 .60639 |
13240 | 178083 .346543 |
|
| 11 endec[a]- |
1186 .2336 |
17073 .33896 |
143552 .286190 |
46476 | 1,279,537 .2,522,522 |
|
| 12 dodec[a]- |
3334 .6588 |
63600 .126759 |
683101 .1364621 |
9,371,094 .18,598,427 |
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![]() Concept 5 |
![]() Yasumi |
![]() University Games Pentomino Set |
![]() Logika |
Kohner Hexed (thick and thin versions, and alternate cover) |
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Pentomino sets made into games: |
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![]() ZahlenLabyrinth - Logika |
![]() Camelot (castle pieces on top of flat pentominos - arrange the pieces to build the castle) |
![]() Springbok Pentominoes |
I I I I I X F N L L Y Y Y Y T X V V V T X F N L T X F Y Z T U F N V P X F N L P U Z Z Z T U W N V P U W W L P U Z W W P
Wit's End by Lowe from 1967 is a set of tetracubes. The instruction sheet gives several construction problems. |
![]() The Spear's Multipuzzle is a plastic set of hexominoes. It includes all 35 "free" hexominoes and duplicates of 7 of them. The pieces are essentially 2D - they are not built from unit cubes and cannot be built into 3D structures. The set comes with a 6x10 tray and a booklet of problems specifying subsets of pieces to be fit into the tray. |
![]() The Ten Yen puzzle, published in 1950 by the Multiple Products Corp. of NY, includes a monomino, domino, both trominoes, and 3 each of the tetrominoes and pentominoes. Kadon offers one. Pieces in three colors. One challenge is to create identical shapes from the sets of three different colored pieces. |
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![]() A gift from Brett of three "Meiji Chocolate" plastic Polyomino puzzles by Hanayama - Milk (12 pentominoes), Black (11 hexominoes), and White (8 pieces) - find them at Kinokuniya. |
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![]() #0 |
![]() #22 A set of the 22 pentahexagons. |
![]() #600 This is a set of the 35 hexominoes. |
![]() #783 783 comprises two sets of the tetrominoes. |
The first two are copies of Tenyo #6 and #24, made by Lucky. #6 is a set of Hexiamonds - each piece is formed from six equilateral triangles. #24 is a set of Heptiamonds - 7 triangles each. Torito sells a black set of Heptiamonds from Tenyo. Peter Pan made a set of Hexiamonds. |
![]() Hi-Q Fusion is, like Tenyo #22, the set of 22 penta-hexagons. So is another version, Hi-Q Confusion. |
![]() Kwazy Quilt by Kohner is equivalent to Beat the Computer #0. I have two versions - thick pieces and thin pieces. There are several versions including Hi-Q Euclid by Gabriel. When circles are arranged into a hexagonal grid, there are triangular interstices. The Kwazy Quilt pieces include all of the ways a circle can be augmented with from one to six triangular interstices, plus an extra "single." |
![]() This "Wisdom Puzzle" includes only seven of the Kwazy-Quilt-type pieces. Select one and place it in the upper left hand "Begin" position. Then try to fit in the rest. 120 combinations in total. |
![]() Peri Spiele (Austria) makes a set of 19 n-iamond pieces packed into a Star-of-David tray. The set includes two tetriamonds, seven pentiamonds (all 4 possible + dups), six hexiamonds, three heptiamonds, and one octiamond. |
I saw this variation from "Peri" on someone's web site - I do not have this puzzle. It uses 19 pieces but not full sets. |
A one-million pound prize was offered for the solution of the
Eternity Puzzle.
I didn't win. The puzzle comprises 209 pieces called 12-polydrafters. For more info on the Eternity series, take a look at |
The Eternity Delta puzzle was billed as a warm-up to the full Eternity.
It uses the set of 14 tetratans.
Here are some interesting sites discussing polytans:
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![]() This is the Eternity Meteor puzzle. It uses a set of ten penta-hexagons. |
![]() Last but not least, the Eternity Heart. |
![]() I believe this is "Hextra" from Robert Longstaff Workshops. It uses a set of septa-hexagons. This is a gift from Carol Monica, the proprietress of one of the best puzzle shops around - the Games People Play shop in Cambridge, Mass. |
![]() The Snowflake puzzle was designed by Stewart Coffin (#3), and this version made of foam was offered by Binary Arts in 1993. It includes two sets of 3 tri-hexagons and 7 tetra-hexagons, a tray with two levels, and a booklet of challenges. |
![]() Here is an unnamed but colorful set of tetra-hexes in a clear case. |
![]() The "Hexagon Sense-A-Gone" is one in a series of Brain Drain puzzles from Mattel. It employs a set of 3 tri-hexagons and 7 tetra-hexagons. The pieces cannot be flipped, and only one of each of the pairs of mirror images is used. The pieces are prettily colored and suggest 3-dimensional cubes, but the instructions do not indicate any edge-matching constraint. Assemble them / Pack them in the tray. |
![]() Hexagon Sense-A-Gone Assembly |
![]() Profound Round Circle Dissection |
![]() Mangle Quadrangle Edge Matching |
![]() Checkle Heckle Checkerboard Dissection |
![]() Block Shock Edge Matching |
![]() Square Where Packing Equivalent to the Pressman Think Square puzzle. |
![]() Kadon Rombix |
![]() Galt Puzzle Blocks |
![]() TriPentaHexagon - George Miller |
![]() Piet Hein's Soma Cube is the classic example of the polycube puzzle. The Soma Cube uses the six non-convex tetracubes plus the single non-convex tricube. Pictured above are: a pair of plastic Soma cubes from Parker Brothers; a wooden Soma on an aluminum base - the wood is beautiful - dark and striated - I believe it's Rosewood; the green felt base is stamped "Produced in Denmark" though some of the text is damaged; a Soma Cube I made from Lego; Skor-Mor's Fascinating Cube.
Read about the Soma Cube on:
The Balanced Soma is an assembly such that the pieces remain together when balanced on a single cube
placed at the center of the bottom face.
At least six such constructions exist.
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![]() The eight pieces of this Baumeisterspiel ("Master Builder") set from Logika include the Soma pieces, plus a 1x1x3. I also have a "mini" version with a handy cover. |
![]() Rhoma is like Soma, but with rhombic pieces. I have a large and a small Rhoma. |
![]() The Illusions from Magnif is similar to Rhoma. |
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![]() Bill Cutler's Splitting Headache yields a nice A-Ha moment when one solves it systematically. I think I bought this at Games of Berkeley many years ago. Discussed on Peter Kaldeway's site. |
Stewart Coffin's Half Hour Cube (#29) see the pieces at Puzzle Will Be Played... ; also see Chapter 3 in Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections (scroll down to Fig. 53) |
![]() The TetraCube Purchased from Wingstoys (defunct). Cheap Monkeypod wood. 13 pieces make a 4x4x4. One "L" tetracube, plus 12 pentacubes: 6 planar: F, L, P, T, W, Y, and 6 non-planar, 3 pairs of mirror images: (using Kadon's naming system) L1 and J1, L2 and J2, and L4 and J4. |
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![]() The Bedlam Cube Wikipedia entry; also take a look at Sidney Cadot's site for a cool animated graphic of a solved Bedlam Cube. |
Bedlam Treasure Chest Gift from Brett. Thanks! |
![]() The Pedestal Problem has cubies joined at an offset, and must be assembled inside fenceposts |
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![]() The craftsman Scott T. Peterson of the state of Washington made this beautiful version of Stewart Coffin's Unhappy Childhood (#41) puzzle for me. Of the 17 non-planar solid pentominoes, 12 lack an axis of symmetry. Eliminate the two that fit into a 2x2x2 box to arrive at the ten pieces of this puzzle. Those ten pieces pack into a 2x5x5 box in 19,264 ways, and can be checkered in 512 ways. Only one of those possible checkerings has a unique solution (one other has no solution and the rest have multiple solutions) - this is the checkering for the Unhappy Childhood. |
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![]() Cube from Melissa & Doug - the same set of planar pieces as the classic Diabolical Cube, which appears in Hoffmann's 1893 Puzzles Old and New. Also see Kevin Holmes' Compendium, page 3^3-3. |
![]() Metropolis |
![]() Rubik's Bricks |
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![]() Naef Campanile Designed by Manfred Zipfel and Cordula von Tettau in 1979. See the Campanile pieces here. |
![]() Professor Brain's Tower Puzzle 10 pieces, different from Campanile. |
![]() Here is a puzzle using pieces made from unit spheres - the pieces stack inside a cage. It is called "Cerebrum." |
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![]() ![]() Flogik.de Skyscraper This is almost identical to Naef's Campanile (but made with much less quality). In the Skyscraper, piece 'B' has an extra cubie sticking up at the junction. |
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![]() Closterman cube Six pieces fit sequentially into a cubic cage. Nicely handmade in Yellowheart wood. |
Here is another set of pieces in a cage. I received this puzzle in a trade with P. F. Ramos - he designed it and IP made it. It is called "Twin Pentominoes Into a Light Box." There are two instances of each of the non-planar pentomino pieces. |
![]() Double Cross (without the tray) (discontinued) from William Waite. Fit the 6 pieces together in 2 layers of 3. I think I actually prefer it without the tray - the pieces mate tightly and seem like they would be difficult to manipulate if they were in a tray. |
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![]() Naef Escalon Designed by Jost Hanny. |
![]() Tetris Cube Designed by Matt Campbell, produced in 2007 by Imagination Games and tetris.com. 9839 solutions - confirmed by BurrTools. This is the small-sized cube. |
![]() Eclecticube - Kevin Holmes |
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![]() Double Take - Mag Nif 2003 Eight pieces form a 4x4x4 cube or an 8x8 square. |
![]() Albertuv #4 The eight octacubes form a 4x4x4 cube or an 8x8x1. Purchased at a puzzle store in Prague. |
![]() Albertuv #8 The eight octacubes form a 4x4x4 cube or an 8x8x1. Purchased at a puzzle store in Prague. |
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![]() KeshIQ erasers mfd by Seed Co. in Vietnam. Purchased from Eureka |
![]() Dollar Tree Hexagon Equiv. to Naef Favus at a fraction of the cost! (Favus was designed by Toshiaki Betsumiya.) |
![]() Japanese hexagon An Asian version of the Hexagon/Favus. |
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The three Gordon Brothers pyramids are some of my favorites - the smaller Perplexing Pyramid is doable by hand,
but I wrote a computer program to solve the Giant Pyramid.
The Big Pyramid has a square base.
You can purchase the Giant and Perplexing, as well as a set called "Warp-30," from
Kate Jones at Kadon.
Here are some solutions:
Perplexing Pyramid
3 OO = 1 OOO = 2 OOOO = 3
4
3 4 OO = 4 OOO = 5 OOO = 6
O O O
5
4 5
3 6 5
1
5 1
6 6 6
3 2 2 2
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Giant Pyramid
5 L = 1,2,3,4
C = 5
5 S = 6
3 3 P = 7
I = 8
7 J = 9
3 5
2 2 5
7
3 1
2 6 1
4 6 9 1
7
7 6
2 6 8
4 4 4 8
9 9 9 1 8
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Big Pyramid
1 OOOO = 1
2 1 OO
8 2 OO = 2,3,4
2 4 1 OO
4 2 5 O = 5,6
8 5 5
OOO = 7,8
6 6 3 1 O
6 4 3 3
4 8 7 3
8 7 7 7
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![]() The classic 2-piece pyramid has to be one of the most simple yet elegant puzzles devised. Once you've solved it, it gets old, but it is always fun to watch a newbie's first encounter with it. |
![]() Rosie's Puzzle - Drueke The classic 2-piece has also appeared with each piece divided again. |
![]() This pyramid by Pussycat has 3 identical unusual (and pointy!) pieces. |
![]() Tut's Tomb by Mag-Nif is a 4-piece classic. The German company Pussycat makes a diminutive equivalent version. A similar puzzle, in steel and having six pieces, was offered by Bits and Pieces. |
Four-Piece Pyramid from Thinkfun Another interesting dissection of a tetrahedron into four equal pieces. |
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![]() This is another Tut's Pyramid, by DanleyQuest. The objective is to construct a pyramid using the four large pieces. However, each piece has different symbols on its faces, and an additional goal is to ensure that each of the three visible faces of the pyramid will have three specific symbols that signify a certain phrase. |
![]() This four-piece tetrahedron called Tetra Teaser by Stokes Publishing Co. uses the same piece shapes as the DanleyQuest model, but without the symbols or mythos. |
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![]() I have a 6-piece puzzle that forms a tetrahedron. Its white pieces are all planar and are equivalent to the pieces of Piet Hein's Pyramystery. |
![]() Piet Hein's Pyramystery (I don't have this.) |
![]() I do, however, have this plastic version of Pyramystery, by Hubley. |
![]() Here is a 4-piece puzzle called "Der Fluch des Pharao" (Curse of the Pharaoh) by Markus Goetz, made by Philos and purchased from Funagain Games. The pieces actually do interlock but I still categorize this as an assembly rather than an interlocking puzzle. |
![]() Cubikon Ball Puzzle The pieces of the Ball Puzzle from Cubikon are all planar and have spheres joined at 90-degree angles. Contrast with the pieces of Fantastic Island which employ 60-degree joints. Fit the pieces in the tray, then use subsets of them to make pyramids. |
![]() Kanoodle - SmartGames Fit the pieces in the tray, then use subsets of them to make pyramids. |
![]() The Bermuda Triangle is a wooden pyramid - the pieces do not interlock. |
![]() This is a Step Pyramid from Philos, designed by Ferdinand Lammertink, having 10 pieces. |
![]() Here is another step pyramid, from Germany. It is much smaller than the Philos, and made of plastic rather than wood. It uses 7 pieces. |
This is a ten-piece pyramid. No name or manufacturer info on the box, other than "Mindgame." Purchased at New England Hobby. There are at least two distinct solutions, since I found one by hand that is different from the supplied solution. The pieces are composed from two logical units - a square-based pyramid, and a tetrahedron (slightly stretched). There are a maximum of two tetrahedrons and 3 pyramids per piece. |
![]() Dalloz Tempil - from the John Ergatoudis collection. |
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![]() This is Pyrra. It has 3 distinct solutions. |
![]() Dollar Tree Pyramid (Richard's pic) |
![]() I got the PyrPlex and the OrbSticle from Andy Snowie (CalmPlex). |
![]() This is a Pyrix puzzle. Assemble a tetrahedron such that each face is a uniform color, constrained by the fixed threading of the pieces. U.S. Patent 5108100 - Essebaggers 1992 |
![]() From the same maker as Pyrix, Pyram consists of an octahedron and four smaller tetrahedrons, each having various patterns on their faces. Build a tetrahedron satisfying a pattern constraint. |
![]() The Pyrus Puzzle completes the three offered by Enpros. Like Pyram, an octahedron and four tetrahedrons. Build a larger tetrahedron having each of the four colors appear on every side. |
![]() Super Star - Melissa & Doug This is a dissection of a five-pointed star, in a tray. |
![]() Broken Heart Form a heart from the 9 pieces. |
![]() Doctor's Puzzle Board |
![]() IQ Circle (PeToy Hong Kong) |
![]() Mind Bender Circle |
Squaring the Circle - Dollar Tree |
![]() Perfect Squares |
![]() Profound Round One of Mattel's Brain Drain series. |
![]() Fit the six pieces into the case to form a rectangle such that it contains only 3 straight seams. From puzzle-factory.com. |
![]() Form a six-pointed star using the six pieces. Also from puzzle-factory.com. |
![]() This set of "What's Your Score" puzzles from Shackman includes a dissected cross, square, and form a star. |
![]() Watney's Red Barrel puzzle Build a red barrel from the pieces. A nice symmetric dissection. |
![]() "Jeu de la Croix" is a vintage French boxed version of a dissected cross on a pedestal. |
![]() "La Cocotte" is a vintage French boxed puzzle - form a bird shape from eight isoceles right triangles. |
![]() Bibendum six-piece rectangle |
![]() "Jeu de l-Octogone" is a vintage French boxed dissection of an octogon into 12 pieces. (I don't have this.) |
The "Red Cross" or "Mysterious Cross" puzzle has been issued by several manufacturers of different nationalities and is known by various names. The eight red pieces form a Greek cross. The eight white triangles fill in the corners of the square. |
![]() IQ Mega-Form Circle |
![]() The Land Puzzle You are given a 2x2 square, with one corner unit square missing, leaving three unit squares. Cut the shape into four identical pieces. |
![]() Stacked Triangles - George Miller |
![]() Stacked Squares - George Miller |
![]()
Spear's Shape Puzzles |
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The vintage Celestial Cross puzzle issued by McLaughlin Bros. of NY. |
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![]() Missing T - Thinkfun This is a version of the classic 'T' dissection, by Thinkfun. |
![]() Another classic T. |
![]() Pa's T from Drueke. |
![]() This cardboard version of the classic T dissection puzzle is a promotional item for a magician. |
![]() Chase & Sanborn Coffee-Tea Showing both sides of each of the four pieces, which form the usual T. |
![]() Form the word THINK from the 21 pieces. The pieces of each letter are easy to discern since the letter to which each piece belongs is embossed on its face. The T is the classic T dissection. The H is also familiar. The I is trivial. N and K gave some challenge. |
![]() A political promotion - form the letters F and D. (I don't have this.) |
![]() The "Famous F" puzzle Note the trapezoidal piece - these pieces ar pretty much the same as in the "FD Puzzle." |
![]() Cracker Jack F (I don't have this.) Similar to the "Famous F." |
![]() Fletcher's F - an advertising promotion. (I don't have this.) Different than the "Famous F." |
![]() Furnas - The New F Form an F from the six pieces. |
![]() Magic Z |
Dad's Boy K (I don't have this.) I've drawn the four pieces. |
![]() An H dissection puzzle was included in the vintage "Deluxe Puzzle Chest No. 3006" from F.A.O. Schwartz. |
An H Puzzle designed by Tomas Linden and made from Marblewood by Eric Fuller. |
![]() Woodn't Tri - Reiss Form a square from the 4 pieces. Then form a triangle. This is a well-known dissection, originally called the "Haberdasher's Problem" and created in 1907 by Henry Dudeney. Discussed by Frederickson pp136-8. |
![]() Devil Puzzle This set of pieces can also be put together to form a rectangle. It was offered by Bits and Pieces. It was also offered as part of a series by Nob Yoshigahara. This is the same set of pieces as in the Anchor Kobold puzzle. |
![]() Dudeney's Zoo from Archimedes' Lab The triangle, pentagon, hexagon, and octagon are each dissected such that the pieces of each can form the square. 170mm x 120mm. |
![]() The Adams' Square and Cross. Form a square or Greek cross from the four pieces. (I don't have this.) |
![]() Form a square or a Greek cross from the six pieces. An advertising premium from Molson - the pieces are nice 1/8" plastic. Note the similarity to the Adams Square or Cross - two pieces have simply been divided. |
"A Double Puzzle." A vintage advertising puzzle from Dickinson's. I don't have this, but it is the same puzzle as the Molson Square or Cross puzzle. |
![]() Crescent or Cross I don't have this one but I really like it - it is a nice wooden version of Sam Loyd's Cross and Crescent dissection/transformation between the crescent and a Greek cross (plus sign). Notable because of the curved edges accomodated. Notice the flattening of the tips of the crescent. The nice 7-piece dissection shown was actually found by Harry Lindgren. It avoids thin slivers and differs from Loyd's solution. Discussed by Frederickson on pp167-9. (I could no longer find the seller or item online.) |
![]() Cut Out Puzzle You are given a 2x3 rectangle, with one corner unit square missing, leaving five unit squares. Cut the shape into three pieces, which can be re-arranged to form a square. |
![]() Spade and Heart by Mineyuki Uyematsu Make a Spade or a Heart from the four pieces. Purchased at IPP28 in Prague. |
A vintage Cracker Jack premium - the "Chicken and the Egg Puzzle" |
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![]() Copyright 1939! |
![]() Versa-Tiles
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![]() 'Teen Squares The four pieces can be arranged to apparently show a total of 15, 16, or 17 black squares. A classic geometric vanish. |
![]() Biform Square
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![]() The Tormenter
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![]() Ha-Cho Form various silhouettes from the seven tiles. |
![]() |
L'Echiquier Fantastique is a French version of the well-known geometric vanish also illustrated in
'Teen Squares (above).
The area of the figure seems to vary depending on how the pieces are arranged.
The wooden pieces are actually very useful in showing the fallacy.
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Over the years, there have been many variants on the theme of a dissected checker- or chess- board. Jacques Haubrich has published a compendium of checkerboard puzzles in two volumes. The first volume, "A Century of Checkerboard Puzzles," describes all known checkerboard puzzles - over 440 of 190 different types - published between 1880 and 1980. The second volume, "Additional Checkerboard Puzzle Designs," covers checkerboard puzzles published in the last 25 years. |
Jacques characterizes the puzzles using a code of the following format and meaning:
N[2].D.S-L
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Slocum and Botermans, in their 1986 book "Puzzles Old & New" suggest that the first checkerboard puzzle was this Sectional Checkerboard of 15 pieces, patented in 1880 by Henry Luers (231963) and produced by Selchow and Righter. |
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![]() This "Krazee Checkerboard Puzzle" was made by The Plas-trix Co. Inc. Jamaica NY. There is no date on it, though in Haubrich's "Century" the date listed is 1957. This variation has code 12.11.3-7. My Dad had a puzzle like this, but it's gone - and I don't remember which variant it was. |
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![]() This is the Bug House puzzle. Jacques gives a date of 1912. This has metal, rather than cardboard, pieces. It has code 14.14.3-5. |
![]() This one is the "Unique Original Checker Board Puzzle" from the Unique Novelty Company, and not only is it "Improved" but it is also the "Most Difficult Puzzle Known." It has code 14.14.3-5 and is the same set of pieces as the Bug House. No date is given in Jacques' book, but Slocum and Botermans bracket this in 1930-1940. |
![]() This one, "manufactured by J. F. Friedel Co., Syracuse, N.Y." calls itself "The Original Checkerboard Puzzle." I have no idea if the claim is true. There are 15 pieces and the price on the box says 10 cents. Jacques gives no date. Code is 15.14.3-6. |
![]() The Famous and Baffling Checker Board Puzzle has fourteen pieces and originally cost fifteen cents. 1927, code is 14.14.3-5. Inside the cover, the Vasen Mfg. Company of Davenport, Iowa, ran a contest offering $500 in Gold for the greatest number of correct solutions. Unfortunately, the contest expired July 15, 1928. |
![]() Checkle Heckle is a checkerboard dissection in the Mattel Brain Drain series from 1969. It consists of a tromino, 4 tetrominoes, and 9 pentominoes. The pieces cannot be flipped, so some mirror images are included. This is the same set of pieces as the Famous and Baffling Checker Board Puzzle. Code is 14.14.3-5. |
![]() Angle Mania has 15 pieces, but only 14 are needed to complete the puzzle. Four different pieces can be left unused. From 1984. Code: 15.15.2-6. |
![]() This is a recent wooden variation called just the "Chess Box." It includes a set of 12 checkered pentominoes plus a 2x2 checkered square piece. |
![]() Golf Tease - Great American Puzzle Factory 1996. Assemble 14 pieces into a 9x9 checkered square. |
![]() An advertising puzzle of 14 polyominoes from AMF. |
The older version of the TSL Draughtboard Puzzle. |
The newer version of the TSL Draughtboard Puzzle. |
![]() But - Oh My! |
![]() An advertising puzzle for the Burlington Railroad. |
![]() All Square |
![]() Uneasy Checkers |
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There are several cubic puzzles in the form of a dissected die. In Hoffmann's Puzzles Old & New, The Spots Puzzle is number XVII in chapter III. The puzzle consists of nine 1x1x3 bars, each decorated with some pattern of spots (pips on the die). The task is to assemble a 3x3x3 replica of a die, having the correct arrangement of pips on all six sides. The modern puzzles below are all based on the same principle. |
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Intelligence Puzzler |
![]() Cracked Dice - Lakeside 1969 There are three dice - one whole (serves as a prototype) and the other two dissected into three 1x3x3 pieces each. |
![]() Make a Dice Puzzle Can you solve in 8 minutes? Copyright 1957 St. Pierre & Patterson Mfg. Co. |
![]() The Broken Die - Gantt's Wood Things |
![]() made in China |
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![]() Twice Dice - Pentangle (small version) |
![]() Twice Dice - Pentangle (large version) |
![]() Woodn't Die - Mag-Nif |
I bought an "8-block Collusion" puzzle from
Rocky Chiaro.
Rocky refers to the Collusion and its relatives as "pin puzzles."
I solved Rocky's Collusion and realized it was similar in principle to several other
puzzles in my collection such as Jean-Claude Constantin's "The Fence"
that don't necessarily employ pins.
I call this group of puzzles the "Crossed Sticks Family."
A set of rods/sticks are crossed in two layers, with the points where each rod crosses (mates with) another
constrained by a feature present at that location on the rods, and the compatability of the respective features.
The crossings define a grid.
Identical overall physical dimensions make the rods interchangeable (except for their features), and features
are positioned at crossing points.
The notching positions are well-defined along the rod, and the number of potential notch positions is
related to how many rods cross.
The progenitor of this family seems to be this puzzle called Sputnik, made in the 1950s in Japan.
There was also a version from 1958 with six sticks called the "Mysto-Peg Puzzle."
Sputnik is described on page 59 of Jerry Slocum's and Jack Botermans' 1987 book
"Puzzles Old and New."
Rocky says it was his inspiration for his pin puzzles.
Notched rods can be assigned unique identifiers simply by giving them a binary code -
start on one end and compose the code with a zero for no notch and a one for a notch.
For three kinds of features, e.g. holes, flats, and pegs, count in trinary, etc.
When determining the ID for a piece, my convention is to orient it so that the "endmost" notch is rightmost,
and number with the LSB on the right.
The features are drawn from a specific set:
8-block Collusion Rocky Chiaro Pieces: 0, 1, 2, 6, 7, 12, 14, 15. |
![]() The Fence Jean Claude Constantin Pieces: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11. |
![]() Rocky sent me this 1-block version of Collusion he calls the "AB-L" puzzle, after the person who inspired it. (Same pieces as 8-block.) |
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Timbers by Mad Cow Pieces: 010, 120, 200, 201, 202, 220. |
The Log Pile puzzle uses 10 sticks in 2 crossed layers of 5. There are 13 pegs and 13 holes, so no hole/flat or hole/hole matings will be possible. Pieces: 00110, 01012, 02011, 02101, 02121, 10121, 11012, 11202, 11212, 12112. |
![]() This is a recent wooden version called the "Snag Box," also known as the "Computer Chip." It uses 8 sticks: 0, 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, 15. |
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![]() Here is another example of the type, called "Weaver's Dilemma." I don't own this puzzle, but I wanted to show it because it uses duplicates of several pieces: 0, 2x2, 3, 2x6, and 2x15. |
![]() A 3x3 weave puzzle I do not own, using 0, 2x1, 2x5, 7. |
![]() Haba Crux |
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![]() The "Clive Cube" is a representative of this group, extending it from the 2 axes employed above, to 3 orthogonal axes. |
![]() The "IQ Puzzle" or "Ten Pins" puzzle is another 3D example. |
![]() I got this version from Torito. |
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![]() The Nine of Swords |
![]() This is the plastic Reiss version of the Nine of Swords. |
![]() A nice hefty weave puzzle in lucite - I found it in Montreal. |
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![]() Haba Verticus |
![]() Arjeu Achille CT5152 Purchased at GPP. |
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Collusion
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The Fence
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Timbers, Log Pile
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Stabpuzzle
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Rob's Magnetic Puzzle
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Prairie-Dog Town, Alien Hive, and Tee Time
each include 6 pieces (they're really the same puzzle)
that must be arranged in a 3x3 "sandwich" between two 3x3-holed plates.
Prarie-Dog Town is fun to analyze and solve.
These puzzles are slightly different from the previous examples, in that a piece can have "pegs" (or bumps)
on both sides.
The puzzle uses six planks of width 1 and length 3 units, and includes two 3x3 plates with all holes.
At each of the 3 positions on a side of a plank, there may be
a hole (which goes through the plank and therefore also appears on the other side in the same position),
a flat, or a peg (which fits into a hole).
When the pieces are mated, a peg must mate with a hole from one side, and this blocks BOTH sides of the hole.
Two holes, two flats, or one of each may also mate.
So a length-3 plank has 6 positions at which a hole, flat, or peg could exist.
For any plank, there may be a maximum of 3 holes or 6 pegs.
Below is my enumeration of all possible pieces for this style of puzzle.
The Prairie-Dog Town puzzle utilizes 6 pieces,
outlined in red in the chart (the piece with 2 bumps and 1 hole, with the hole on an end, is used twice).
I have shaded green the cells containing only pieces having at least one pair of opposing pegs.
![]() Rick Eason's Keyhole Puzzle also calls for 6 sticks to be arranged in a 3x3 sandwich, but with the additional complexity of sequential assembly. The pegs are screws and the holes are "keyholes" into which the screwheads must slide in the proper direction. |
![]() Rick has taken this concept into a new dimension with his Keyhole Cube. |
Many assembly puzzles use pieces themselves constructed from regular units - cubes, spheres, or tetrahedrons.
An assembly puzzle can also have irregular dissimilar pieces.
Each Paracelsus Puzzle is one of a series of unique castings.
I have two - a "waterfall" and a disk.
The material is silicon bronze.
These were made by Steve Johnson of Port Townsend, WA.
Purplepomegranate.com used to list him as one of their artists as late as Sept 2004, but no longer.
Maybe he’s out of the business?
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![]() Penthouse from Pentangle |
![]() Screwball (an oldie) U.S. Patent 3813099 - Scott 1974 |
![]() The "Moron Puzzle" To quote from the label:
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![]() Bamboozle - B&P |
![]() 5th Chair - Thinkfun (Gift from Brett) |
![]() The Chaotic Cube |
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![]() 2 Scheibenpuzzle (Logika) |
Heart - Logika |
4-piece puzzle - Logika |
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![]() Think Tac Toe - Pressman |
![]() Pegged - B&P |
Olistripe The pieces interlock somewhat, but not enough. |
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![]() Think|a|ma|jig Copyright 1974 by Leonard J. Gordon (Gordon Bros.) |
![]() Jumpin' Frog Jumble The pieces do "interlace" but they don't really interlock in a solid 3D structure. |
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![]() The Woody Cube (Nankai) - B&P |
![]() The Intragon from Naef Designed by Jost Hanny in 1989. Twelve pieces assemble inside a frame. See the Intragon pieces here. |
Six Key Mine (B & P) An R.D. Rose design. First Prize, 2003 IPP Puzzle Design Competition. The pegs have tongues that can interfere inside the sphere. Insert all 6 without interference. |
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Just Fit - William Strijbos 16 pieces plus tray. Create a two-layer 5x5 checkerboard in the tray. 1990 Hikimi Wooden Puzzle Competition winner. |
Diamond Mind - Constantin |
Diamond Soul |
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![]() Hippo Haven (Thinkfun) Each Hippo has two pegs. The pegs and holes in the base are of 4 different depths. Find a way to fit the Hippos in the base so all pegs are completely inserted. |
Short Circuit Purchased the Constantin version at GPP. Similar to Hippo Haven. |
Hooked Cube Philos (Goetz) |
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Juha Six J's Cube set - IPP19 Together, the 24 pieces from the four cubes can make over 200 assemblies. |
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Tower of Babble by Leonard J. Gordon Item No. 134 |
The Infernal Triangle was issued by Gordon Bros. and is marked "Item No. 135 1974 Leonard J. Gordon." The seven pieces are similar to those of the Tower of Babble, but here you must arrange them to form a two-layer triangular grid with 5 cylinders along a side. |
Surface |
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Harry Potter Mirror (see U.S. Patent 6976678 - Setteducati 2005) |
Punch Cards Tom Lensch |
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Link Puzzle make a cube from the loop of chain links |
Rising Mountain |
![]() This is a sculpture made of South Australian Red Gum wood by Robin Turner. I believe it is one of his "Ayers Rock" series. |
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Impuzzleble |
Batee Baseball A set of puzzles from Plas-Trix, includes: another Batee Baseball, a pair of Krazee Links, a checkerboard dissection, a dissected scene |
Nuts and Bolts - Learningsmith |
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Tool Trouble 1996 Great American Puzzle Factory, Norwalk CT. Assemble the 17 irregular pieces into a 7" x 9" (4x4 piece) rectangle. Six of the pieces have diagonal edges. Each piece depicts some tools, but they have nothing to do with the solution. |
Prismentwist - Logika |
Tuned In Milton Bradley 1973 Using all 14 gears, assemble a gear-train linking the knob with the male and female symbols. |
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Chess Cubes |
Daily Mail Crown Puzzle |
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(not sure of name or manufacturer) |
Times Square - B & P |
Ziggurat - Creative Crafthouse has it. |
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Dizzy Tower - Dizzy Art 1996 |
Barricade - B & P |
Naef's Discon puzzle, designed by Jost Hanny. Also, Discon Fever - a copy of Discon from B & P For a solution, look here. |
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![]() Idea Cube - by Idea Ocean |
![]() A paper version of Deep Sea Tango - obtained from George Hart at the 2007 NYPP. |
The 3Q Cube designed by Takeyuki Endo. Fit the three two-cube pieces into the cage. 2 solutions. |
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![]() Milton Bradley made a couple of "Stickler" puzzles. Insert pins into a stack of disks which have holes at various points. The disks must be aligned so that all pins can be inserted. |
![]() Schalenwurfel - Logika |
Keiichiro Ishino modified Takeyuki Endo's 3Q Cube so that it has only one solution. A gift from Bernhard Schwietzer, at NYPP 2008. Thanks, Bernhard! |
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From Eureka, three "Dice Box" puzzles - Half-Cubes, Rod by Rod, and Stacked Sticks. Imported from China by CHH Games. |
![]() Three diminutive but colorful plastic puzzles from Germany - build a cube from six panels, build a cube from nine concave tricubes, and build a step pyramid. |
9-Post Packing Puzzle De Vreugd B & P |
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IQ Cube - Brainbenders Eight cubes with tabs and slots. Make a 2x2x2. |
This is a relatively inexpensive mass-produced copy of Wayne Daniel's famous All Five assembly. Purchased from Mr. Puzzle Australia. |
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Here is a series of assembly puzzles by Andy Snowie of CalmPlex Puzzles:
From left to right, they are: ConeFusion, CyliPlex, EllipToy, and Pocket CalmPlex.
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![]() Jamaika - by Markus Goetz |
![]() Tirol Chocolate Purchased at IPP28 in Prague, from Wil Strijbos. |
![]() Octix - Trigam |
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![]() Pairs of Prisms Ergatoudis IPP13 exchange |
![]() Trevor Wood's Prism Cube - unknown craftsman Made from highly figured canarywood. |
![]() 3 Pyramid Cube by Philos |
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![]() The Jeu du Cube and L'Enervant puzzles are vintage French non-cartesian cube dissections. (I believe Le Tracassier is also the same set of six pieces.) |
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![]() Obsivac Cube 1 |
![]() Obsivac Cube 3 |
Naef Kniff by Manfred Zipfel and Cordula von Tettau (See Ishino's Kniff page.) Purchased at IPP28 in Prague. |
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![]() The Triangle Cube aka Pantene |
![]() The 3456 Pythagoras Puzzle from Pentangle challenges you to use the nine pieces to form a set of three cubes 3x3x3, 4x4x4, and 5x5x5, then add them together and form one 6x6x6. |
![]() Hexahedroom This very nice puzzle was made by Eric Fuller, from Ebony and Jatoba woods. Form a cube within the box by fitting the pieces in via the available holes. A cool solution. Based on an IPP25 exchange from Hirokazu Iwasawa. |
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Olymp by JCC |
The Double Octagon Box from Bits & Pieces Same idea as the cereal box puzzles from Synergistics. |
peg square (not sure of name or manufacturer; it's not the Naef design) |
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This puzzle can be solved using PuzzleSolver 3D, if it is mapped to an analogue composed of unit cubes.
My mapping is straightforward but imperfect as it will allow "illegal" solutions -
fortunately the first solution produced is acceptable.
My mapping is as follows: rotate each torus depicted by 45 degrees clockwise. Use a 3x3 grid of cubes to model the torus
and any holes - delete a corner cube corresponding to any hole.
Leave the center cube filled in, to ensure the piece remains contiguous as required by PuzzleSolver.
Add a cube extending outwards for a peg, or two stacked for a double-length peg, at the appropriate coner positions on either side.
The target volume is 3x3x12.
The diagram shows the disks, and the mapping of each disk to cubes.
Two pieces are duplicated.
Solution number 1 is: 5, 2, 12, 9, 8, 6, 3, 1, 10, 11, 7, 4.
And here is an image of the solution #1, clipped from Puzzlesolver 3D:
Synergistics isn't the only firm that made puzzles in the shape of food items.
Here are some additional examples...
![]() I had a Parker Brothers' "Phony Baloney" when I was a kid - it disappeared but I found one in auction. |
![]() This miniature version of Phony Baloney was a cereal-box prize. |
![]() Here's one I found called the Banana Split, by Lakeside. |
![]() Here is another Lakeside puzzle with a food theme - the Apple. Assemble the eight slices around the core so that the two "worms" can be inserted through the core to hold the puzzle together. The pieces have holes at 14 different heights, only two of which will line up with corresponding holes in the core. There are only two pairs of slices having core-aligned holes. Not difficult, but cute. |
![]() Prankfurter - Reiss |
![]() Burger Thing - Reiss |
![]() Here is a puzzle chocolate bar, the "Puzzle Bar" from Pentangle. |
![]() Another hamburger puzzle, made in China. |
![]() Here are Peter Piper's Fickle Pickles, a ten-piece packing puzzle. Made in Hong Kong, copyright 1973 Steven Mfg. Co. Discussed in Slocum and Botermans' The Book of Ingenious and Diabolical Puzzles on pp90-91. (Click the image to see the solution, cheater.) |
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