Puzzle Books

Reading about mechanical puzzles is fun (though not as much fun as playing with them). There are but a few good books solely focused on mechanical puzzles - I wish there were more. You can't just waltz into a bookstore and find shelves full of them. Like others with an interest in this topic, I was first "recruited" upon finding van Delft and Botermans' book "Creative Puzzles of the World," and looked forward to each new installment of Slocum's collaboration with Botermans.

Below are some of the books in my library. They are in no particular order, though I have grouped them by subject matter (subjectively, and tongue-in-cheek). Some of these stray into logic and mathematical puzzles. For some of the books, I have listed interesting contents. In some cases items shown on this site are highlighted in bold.

You won't find lots of links to sources here, since many of these books are out of print - try Amazon, sometimes used copies are available. I have had some luck locating books using isbn.nu. You can also try Book Cost.

Sandy Thompson's wonderful Twisty Puzzles site has a comprehensive list of Rubik's-related books. John Rausch's site has a list of books related to mechanical puzzles. You can also find links to several puzzle-related books available for free download at The Online Books Page of the University of Pennsylvania. Many of the books seem to be housed at http://djm.cc/library, which is part of David Moews's home page.

Core Curriculum [8]
The Classics [18]
Electives [37]
Extra Credit [6]
Shop Class [13]
Psych. 101 [10]
Rubik-ology [11]
Additional Reading [34]
Foreign Language Studies [13]
Martin Gardner - Man or Legend? [19]

[169]


Core Curriculum

Creative Puzzles of the World
Pieter van Delft, Jack Botermans 1978
  • Geometrical Problems
    • Moving-Piece Puzzles (he means Tangram-like, not Sliding Piece) pp.12-27
      • Kopfzerbrecher pp.12-16
      • Circular Tangram p.17
      • Pythagoras pp.18,9
      • The Circle Puzzle (Kreisraatsel) pp.20,1
      • The Broken Heart (9 pcs) p.22
      • The Magic Egg (Ei des Columbus, Scrambled Egg) p.23
      • The Cross Breaker (Kreuzerbrecher / Kreuzspiel, The Lucky Puzzle) pp.24-6
      • The Nine Puzzle (Alle Neune) p.27
    • Dissection Puzzles pp.28-39
      • Greek Cross to Square, others p.29
      • other dissectons pp.30-33
      • Snake eating its tail p.34
      • Cross and Crescent (Moon and Greek Cross) p.34
      • Disappearance Puzzles (vanishes e.g. Think Square, L'Echiquier Fantastique, Get Off the Earth) p.35
      • Letter Dissections pp.36,7
    • Polyforms pp.40-48
      • rhombus from 12 hexiamonds p.40
      • Pentominoes pp.41-3
      • Solid Pentominoes pp.44,5
      • Soma pp.46,7
      • The Balacing Soma p.48

  • Matchstick Puzzles pp.49-56
  • Domino Puzzles pp.57-65
  • Construction Puzzles and Packing Problems pp.66-85
    • OCC p.67
    • Rattles pp.68,9
    • The Magic Disc - 3-piece coordinate motion p.70
    • Van der Poel's 18-piece burr p.71
    • trad. 6-piece burr, J.H. de Boer pp.72-5
    • Ball-in-Cage p.76
    • Japanese Crystal (pagoda burr) pp.77,8
    • The Cluster (diagonal burr) p.80
    • O'Beirne Melting Block p.81
    • Conway 17-pc Packing in 5x5x5 p.82
    • Haselgrove Box p.83
    • Chinese Cube (ivory) p.84
    • The Vanishing Space (ball packing 13/14) p.85

  • Magic Squares - lo shu pp.86-95
  • Ring-String-Ball Puzzles - start on p.97
    • Patience/"tiring irons" - p.97
    • The Crown Puzzle p.98 (see also Hoffmann p.30 The Balls and Rings)
    • Block and Tackle p.99
    • Meleda aka Chinese Rings p.100
    • The Chinese Ladder p.104 (see Hoffmann p.31)
    • Cherry Tree p.105
    • Trefoil p.111
    • Imperial Scale p.114
    • Triplets p.115

  • String Puzzles - he means magic tricks and string figures p.117
  • Mazes and Labyrinths pp.124-142
  • Wire Puzzles
    • Stanley p.143
    • The Gordian Knot p.146
    • Triple Cross p.147
    • Triangular Trickery (Stumpy Originals No. 2) p.148
      (see also Hoffmann p.200 The Interlaced Triangles)
    • Jack's Special (spiral, cube, ball) p.149
    • Loop the Loop (aka Infinity) p.150
    • Staircase p.152
    • Ball and Ring (aka Ball and Chain) p.154
    • Loony Loop (aka Possibly Impossible) p.154
    • Squaring Off p.155

  • Number and Logic Puzzles
    • The Number Frame p.160
    • The Binary System pp.162-3 (I made these cards as a kid!)
    • Mind Reading Cards p.164
    • The Colormatch Square p.165 (like Pressman Think Through, Nitty Gritty)

  • Positioning Puzzles
    • Fore and Aft p.166
    • Crossing the Water Puzzles
    • Peg Solitaire pp.170-174
    • Tower of Brahma (Hanoi) p.175
    • Railroad Shunting Problems pp.176-177
    • Puzzles with Checkers
    • Sliding Block - Flying, Ma's, George Washington pp.180-1

  • Solutions pp.182-200

Puzzles Old and New
Jerry Slocum, Jack Botermans 1987
166pp.
    Put-Together Puzzles

  • Bug House p.13
  • Sectional Checker Board p.14
  • Polyominoes, Pentominoes p.16, Hexiamonds p.18
  • Tenyo Beat the Computer polyforms p.18
  • The Egyptian Puzzle (aka Bombing Mystery) p.19
  • Cross and Letter Dissections pp.20,21
  • Stomachion / Loculus of Archimedes p.22
  • Tangrams (McLouglin Bros.) pp.22-25
  • Richter Anchor Stone puzzles pp.26-33
  • Lott's Stone Puzzle p.30
  • Sam Loyd's Trick Mules p.34
  • Question du Lapin (Rabbit Silhouette) p.35
  • Heads and Tails (e.g. Calumet, Grandpa's Wonder Soap) p.36
  • Eight Queens, Jeu des Manifestants p.37
  • Instant Insanity - Katzenjammer, Four Ace, Symington's, Allies Flags p.38
  • Magic Squares p.39
  • Three-Dimensional Assembly Puzzles

  • Solid Pentominoes p.40
  • Soma p.41
  • Gordon Giant Pyramid p.42
  • Dean Hoffman's Packing Puzzle, Kolor Kraze p.43
  • 1934 Chicago World's Fair Scrambled Eggs p.44
  • Pyramid Puzzle p.46
  • Puzzle Rings p.47
  • Take-Apart Puzzles

  • The Masterpiece Puzzles set, Pik-a-Peg p.48
  • Hoffmann puzzles pp.49-51
  • Takitapart, Tri-'n'-do-it p.52
  • Japanese Trick Boxes p.54
  • Gerald p.55
  • Kamei p.56-57
  • The Hello Puzzle p.58, Nuts and Bolts
  • Sputnik p.59, card & Key, Three Ring Puzzle, Puzzle Pants
  • Puzzle Locks pp.60,61
  • Interlocking Solid Puzzles

  • Kumiki pp.63-65
  • Naef Swiss Cow p.66
  • Burrs pp.66-68
  • Altekruse p.72, Pagoda p.73, Chuck p.74
  • Arjeu p.75, Gaby Games (Philippe Dubois) p.76
  • Chestnut Burr (Wyatt) p.78
  • Plastic Burrs p.79
  • The Third Dimension (60 sticks) p.80
  • Van Deventer's Matchboxes p.81
  • Cuckoo Nest, Three-Piece Block p.82
  • The Fearsome Four (6-pc burrs) p.83
  • Stewart Coffin - Four Corners, Scorpius, Second Stellation p.84, Jupiter p.85
  • Keychains pp.86,87
    Disentanglement Puzzles

  • A B C tangle set p.88
  • French boxed tangles pp.90-91
  • Amazing Hand, Three Nags, Queen's Jubilee p.92
  • Doggie Puzzle p.93, Boodle Alderman
  • Fire Irons, Collin's, Keys p.94
  • The Devil's Keys, Three Snakes, Stars and Crescent, Star and Garter, Four Keys p.95
  • Gilbert Puzzle Parties set p.96
  • Hobbles p.97
  • Uncle Sam's Puzzles sets p.99
  • Snake and Scissors, Ingenious Ring puzzles (Bob Easter) p.100
  • Ingenious Ring Puzzle Book, pub. 1958 by Ch'ung-En Yu
  • Double Witch Key, Wedding Ring (Ring and Fetters), Caught Heart, Lyre Star p.102
  • Varieties of Wire Puzzles p.103
  • HPG set p.103
  • Chinese Rings (Patience) pp.105-107, The Brain p.107
  • Pentangle story p.108,9
  • Ball and Chain p.110
  • Tenyo Computer tangles p.110
  • Swiss Cheese (mouse and cheese per HABA) p.111
  • Red Goose Shoes card, Un Coeur en Peine p.112
  • Lumberjack/Stumps - Rikk Kvitek, Sword (like Wit's End) p.113
  • Strong Man (aka Jolly Ni**er) p.114
  • Chinese Ladder, Love p.115
  • Sequential Movement Puzzles

  • Peg Solitaire, Hop Over pp.117-121
  • Le Moulin Rouge, Question du Jour, So Easy p.123
  • Shunting Problems (Switchback Puzzle/Chifu-Chemulpo Puzzle) p.124
  • Draught Board Puzzle p.125, Ten Little Ni**er Boys, Presidential Muddle
  • Sliding Block Puzzles e.g. Get My Goat, Dad's, Moving, Humdinger, Flying, Quinties (Embossing Co.) pp.126-133
  • different instances of Dad's Puzzle p.130
  • Tit-Bits Teaser No.4, The Flying Puzzle p.131
  • Ma's Puzzle p.132
  • Century of Progress, Line Up the Quinties, Les Bourgeois Punis p.133
  • La Chevre et le Chou (river crossing) p.134, Capital and Labor
  • Tower of Hanoi, The Brain, Panex p.135
  • Pike's Peak or Bust p.136 (p.4), The Eclipse, Africa
  • Bolt maze (Screw Loose) - Marvin Glass, Maze Medal (Hoffmann), 16-to-1 p.137
  • Rubik's-style collection, w/ Columbus' Egg (mid left) p.138-9
  • Puzzle Vessels pp.140,141
  • Dexterity pp.142-143
  • Vanishes - Get Off the Earth, The Lost Jap, Teddy and the Lion p.144, L'Echiquier Fantastique
  • Impossible bottles, dovetails pp.145-147
  • Folding Puzzles - The Fifth Pig folding puzzle p.148
  • Pick the Pickaninnies p.149
  • The Camel folding puzzle (same as fold-a-horse) p.149
  • Solutions pp.150-156 - includes Pentominoes, Tangrams, Burrs, Sliding Piece
New Book of Puzzles
101 Classic and Modern Puzzles to Make and Solve
Jerry Slocum, Jack Botermans 1992
128pp.

Though they do not use section titles, the major divisions of the book follow the classification scheme favored by Slocum and used in the 1987 book.

    Put-Together Puzzles

  • Tangram pp.8,9
  • Jigsaw pp.10,11
  • Dissected Letters pp.12,13, The New L-Square Puzzle, Squares & Oblongs p.13
  • Square Dissection - Snider's Diamond Puzzle p.14
  • The Fresh Milk Puzzle (card from National Milk Council) p.15
  • La Chaine Sans Fin - The Endless Chain p.16
  • Magic Squares pp.18,19
  • Les Deux Mulets p.21
  • Les Quatre Vagabonds, Willard-Johnson Prize Fight p.22
  • Bucephale, Un Sage dans les Nuages (A Sage in the Clouds) p.23
  • Pair-It (edgematch) p.24
  • L'Arc en Ciel p.25
  • Nut Pyramid p.27
  • Revolving Century, The 40 Puzzle p.29
  • 25 Y p.30
  • Diabolical Cube p.32
  • Diabolical Die (Wil Strijbos) p.33
  • Splitting Headache p.34
  • Matchstick Puzzles p.36
  • Take-Apart Puzzles

  • Puzzle Purse p.38
  • The Hidden Coin p.39
  • Misc. Trick Boxes pp.39-43
  • Paper tangles pp.44-45
  • Pick-a-Peg p.46
  • Dualock p.48
  • Interlocking Solid Puzzles

  • Kumiki pp.50,51
  • Burrs pp.52-65
  • Boule Enfermee p.57
  • Bill Cutler Bin Cross p.60
  • Finnish Diagonal Burr p.62
  • Russian Rattle Burr p.64
  • Bantam Eggs (Scrambled Eggs) p.66
  • Broken Heart (Technisolid) p.67
    Disentanglement Puzzles

  • Violin tangles pp.68-69
  • Butter-Nut Bread paper tangle p.70
  • Wit's End p.74-5 (easy and hard versions)
  • Gordian Knot (Gekkenwerk) pp.76,77 (solution)
  • Buttonhole Pencil pp.78,79
  • Delivrez Mon Coeur p.80
  • Untie the Bear, Aunt Jemima paper tangles p.81
  • The Braided Leather Puzzle p.82
  • Stewart Coffin Super Sleeper Stopper p.83
  • Horseshoes pp.84,5
  • various wire puzzles pp.86-95, La Balance de Themis (eq. to Le Bon Geolier), La Bouteille Infernale, Les Tracas de L'Artilleur (eq. to Le Souci de l'Artilleur)
  • Le Petit Porte-Veine, Comment Nous Separer p.90, Le Cavalier et son Sabre (eq. to Le Dragon et son Casque) p.91, Le Divorce, Le Bracelet Egyptien
  • Heartbreaker, Heart's Desire (Uncle's) p.92
  • Gingerbread Man, Fooler p.94-5
  • Sequential Movement Puzzles

  • Indians and Travellers (river crossing), Jealous Husbands, Men and Boys pp.96,7
  • Double Five, Great 13 pp.98,99
  • Peg Solitaire pp.100-103
  • Pyramids (Towers of Hanoi) pp.104,5
  • The Railroad Puzzle (Protheroe - Humpty Dumpty; Great Northern Puzzle) p.106
  • Oklahoma (string around pegs) p.108
  • Yankee Puzzle (step maze) p.110
  • Puzzles with Checkers p.111
  • The New 15 p.112, The 13 Puzzle p.113 (Slocum's IPP11 gift)
  • No-Jump-O p.114
  • Dexterity Puzzles

  • Flip-A-Ring p.116, One-In-the-Eye-For-Kruger p.117
  • Other (including Vanish and Impossible)

  • Devil's Fan (like Loyd's GOtE) p.118
  • Magic Playing Card p.119
  • Arrow Through Bottle p.120
  • Solutions pp.121-125

The Book of Ingenious and Diabolical Puzzles
Jerry Slocum, Jack Botermans 1994
152pp.

Organized using the usual Slocum classification.

    Put-Together Puzzles

  • Tangram and dissections - pp.1-19
    • Anchor, La Hache du Bourreau p.6
    • La Cocotte, Anchor Geduldprufer p.7
    • WAR p.8
    • The Egyptian Puzzle - Murray Wagons, Patriotic, Bombing Mystery pp.8,9
    • Anchor copies p.10 - Seven Block 1935 (eq. to Pythagoras), Lucky Puzzle (eq. to Kreuzspiel)
    • Baffle No. 1, Adams Square and Cross p.11
    • St. Charles Evaporated Milk Seven Card Puzzle p.12
    • La Croix Brisee (eq. to Jeu de la Croix), Jeu Geometrique / L'Union Fait La Force p.13
    • Hill's American p.14
    • Jayne Fishing Puzzle, Mysterious Cross (red cross) p.15
    • ELZZUP p.16,17
    • Checkerboard pp.18,19
  • Edgematching pp.20-23; Daily Mail World Record Net Sale p.20, Royal National Life-Boat, OXO triangles p.21
  • Le Taquin Japonais p.22
  • Mosaik, Tesa Mosaic Square p.23, Testa Cross Colour
  • Jeu des Sentinelles p.24
  • Havana Harbor, Chad Valley Bird's p.25
  • Quinz Partout (eq. to Les 15), Radcliffe's Magic Hexagon p.26
  • C'est a Prendre ou a Laisser (Greco-Latin Square), Ivory Soap Bubble Puzzle, playing cards by Jacques Ozanam p.27
  • weaving - Les Anciennes Provinces de la France, Les Quatre Verites p.28
  • Le Berger Malin (The Lazy Shepherd - get 10 in each square) p.29; Le Fermier Avise, Le Nombre Treize (no pic)
  • Bismarck's Puzzle, The Doctor on the Shelf pp.30,1
  • Cover the Red Spot p.32, Olympic Rings
  • Perforated Disc p.33
  • Ten Spot Domino, Mayblox, Mystic Eight p.34
  • The Spots Puzzle (dissected Die) p.35
  • Sivy Farhi's Nonahuebe, Beat the Elf, Kolor Kraze pp.36,7
  • O'Beirne's Six Block: Six Step - Trevor Wood (read about O'Beirne's six-block cube), Coffin's Unhappy Childhood p.38
  • Nob's Cube p.39
  • N pentacube, T packing, Coffin's Pentacube pp.40,1
  • Take-Apart Puzzles

  • Trick Matchboxes (Vestas) pp.44-49
  • Trick Locks pp.50-59
  • Van Houten's Padlock Puzzle (cardboard) p.55
  • Trick Knives pp.60-63
  • Trick Boxes pp.64-69
  • Interlocking Solid Puzzles

  • Philippe Dubois Icosahedron Frequency 2 (120 pcs) p.70
  • 7-piece Ivory Burr, 9-piece Ivory Burr p.72
  • 3-piece burrs p.73
  • "OCC" 3-piece interlocking p.74
  • Dubois' Coubion Burr, Rhomak Burr p.75
  • Stewart Coffin pp.76,77 - General, Twelve Point, Rosebud p.77
  • Geoff Wyvill's Nova Plexus p.78, various aluminum burrs
  • Kumiki pp.80-89
  • General Engineering & Design Double Cross Puzzle (6-pc burr) p.84
  • Dario Uri burr p.85
  • Gold Moon (1982 Epoch Co.), T-Dof, Perplexity p.85
  • Shackman Clown, Comic Man, etc. p.86
  • Kumiki crustaceans, pistols pp.87-9
  • Mag-Nif Deviled Egg, Fractured Fruit - Apple/Orange & Apple/Watermelon p.90
  • Lakeside Banana Split, Phony Baloney, Prankfurter, Fickle Pickles, Cheerios pp.90,1
  • Pacific Puzzle Co. sandwich 1992 p.91
  • Disentanglement Puzzles

  • Edison Mazda Lamp, Hang the Kaiser, Weil Bros. Bear p.94
  • National Oats girl, Fairmont milk can, Jewel Stoves and Ranges p.95
  • Everett Piano, Michelin man & tire p.96
  • Irish Question, Jayne's Expectorant, Daisy Puzzle, Yankee Mystery p.98
  • Van Houten's Spider Web p.99
  • Rastus, Ivory Lotus, Ariel p.100
  • Ivory Boat p.101
  • Bovril, Chilean Puzzle p.102
  • Gardner Screw Corp. Bootlegger and His Flask p.103
  • Bild-a-Bike p.103
  • Houddene p.103
  • Hanging Strongman, Boot and Hand p.103
  • tangles from China pp.104,5
  • Sequential Movement Puzzles

  • Fisherman's Puzzle (nails & string) p.106
  • Cannibals and Missionaries p.107
  • Ring-in-Plate mazes, Cross & Crown, Razzle Dazzle pp.108-9
  • Dorstrom Hub (fan blades) p.109
  • Queen's Jubilee p.109
  • Stivers' Panama Canal (copyright by J.H. Lynch) (eq. to mountain goats) p.110
  • Eight Pin Puzzle p.110
  • La Question Sino-Japonaise (eq. to mountain goats) p.111
  • Mazawattee Tea and Coffee (eq. to Fore and Aft) p.111
  • Octo/Okto, Le Disque, Jeu du Zig-Zag (all eq. to Eight-Point Puzzle aka Seven Knights) pp.112,3
  • L'Horologe Etoile (like 8-point, but 12 points) p.113
  • Selchow & Righter Spider Web (peg solitaire) p.114
  • peg solitaire p.115
  • Au Revoir, Do Svidania, White Eagle Mobil Gas p.116
  • United States, Mystic Six, Canama Panal (sliding piece) p.117
  • Blockado p.118
  • Daughter in a Box, Break Through the Defenses, Germain (all sliding block) p.119
  • The Premier Puzzle, Silver Label p.120
  • Hard Time Map, Jungle Gym (eq. to Ma's) p.121
  • Infant's (Hospital) Progress, Tit-Bits New Game Capture the Kaiser, Kapture the Kron Prinz p.122
  • 1916 Presidential Puzzle, Put Hitler in the Doghouse, George Washington Puzzle p.123
  • various Rubik-style puzzles pp.124-7
  • Dexterity Puzzles

  • Garden of Eden p.132
  • Donkey Puzzle 1897 p.133
  • Puzzle Vessels pp.136,7
  • Rabbiduck p.136
  • Impossible Objects pp.138-141
  • Solutions pp.142-147, including: Bild-a-Bike, Boot and Flask, St. Charles, Royal National Life-Boat, Daily Mail hexagons, OXO, Ten Spot Domino, Ivory Soap Bubble Puzzle, Mayblox, O'Bierne's Six Block, Unhappy Childhood, Mystic Eight, ...

The Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections
Stewart T. Coffin

An updated version of this book is hosted on-line at John Rausch's site.

Geometric Puzzle Designs, shown below, is an even more recent update of this book. In the contents I show here, sections present only in GPD are enclosed in brackets. Some sections are revised, and a few are omitted in GPD.

1. 2D Dissections
  • Jigsaws
  • Tangram
  • Other Tangram-like Puzzles (Anchor)
  • Loculus of Archimedes
  • Convex Tangrams
  • Sam Loyd's 5-piece Square Dissection
  • Geometrical Dissections
  • Dudeney's Four-Piece Square/Triangle
  • Checkerboards
2. 2D Combinatorial Puzzles
  • Triangles as Building Blocks - Polyiamonds
  • Squares as Building Blocks - Polyominoes
  • Pentominoes
  • More Checkerboards
  • The Cornucopia Puzzle
  • Hexagons as Building Blocks
  • The Snowflake Puzzle
[Misdirection-Type Puzzles]
  • Square-Root Type Designs
  • #176-A
  • #177-A
  • Housing Project
  • Cruiser
  • Few Tile (IPP18 Tokyo) - Drop-In?
[Variations on Sliding Block Puzzles]
  • Dad's Puzzle
  • Butterfly Puzzle (IPP25)
  • Window Pain
  • Looking Glass
  • The Decoy
  • Drop-Out
3. Cubic Block Puzzles
  • The 3x3x3 Cube
  • The Diabolical Cube - Hoffmann
  • Mikusinski's Cube - Steinhaus
  • Soma Cube - Piet Hein
  • Tetra-cubes and Penta-cubes enumerated
  • The Half-Hour Cube
  • The Solid Tetrominoes
  • The Solid Pentominoes
  • A Checkered Pentacube Puzzle (Unhappy Childhood)
  • Polycubes in General
  • Rectangular Blocks
  • Slothouber-Graatsma Puzzle
  • Conway's Packing Puzzle
  • The Patio Block Puzzle
4. Interlocking Block Puzzles
  • Cubic Block Puzzles
  • [The Involute Puzzle]
  • The Convolution Puzzle
  • The Three-Piece Block Puzzle
5. The Six-Piece Burr
  • The 25 Notchable Pieces
  • Burr No. 305
  • Difficulty Index and Burr No. 306
  • Higher-level Burrs and Bill's Baffling Burr
  • Peter Marineau's [Piston] Burr
6. Larger (and Smaller) Burrs
  • Symmetry
  • The Three-Piece Burr Problem
  • Practical 12-Piece Burrs
  • The Altekruse Puzzle
  • Variations of the Altekruse Puzzle
  • The Pin-Hole Puzzle
  • The Corner Block Puzzle
  • A 24-Piece Burr - Pentangle's Squirrel Cage
7. The Diagonal Burr

8. The Rhombic Dodecahedron and its Stellations

  • Theory of Interlock
  • Stellations
  • The Second Stellation
  • The Four Corners Puzzle
  • Color Symmetry
  • The Second Stellation in Four Colors
  • The Third Stellation in Four Colors
9. Polyhedral Puzzles with Dissimilar Pieces
  • The Permuted Second Stellation
  • The Permuted Third Stellation
  • The Broken Sticks Puzzle
  • The Augmented Second Stellation (aka 12-Point)
  • Building Blocks
  • The Augmented Four Corners Puzzle
  • The Diagonal Cube Puzzle
  • The Reluctant Cluster Puzzle
10. Intersecting Prisms
  • The Hexagonal Prism Puzzle
  • The Triangular Prism Puzzle
  • The Star Prism Puzzle
  • The Square Prism Puzzle
  • The Three Pairs Puzzle
11. Puzzles That Make Different Shapes
  • The Star of David Puzzle
  • [All-Star]
  • [Fusion-Confusion]
  • A Puzzle in Reverse
12. Coordinate-Motion Puzzles
  • The Expanding Box Puzzle
  • [Combination Lock]
  • [Vector Diagrams]
  • The Rosebud Puzzle
13. Puzzles Using Hexagonal or Rhombic Sticks
  • The Cuckoo Nest Puzzle
  • [The Nine Bars Puzzle]
  • A Triple-Decker Puzzle
  • A Holey Hex Hybrid
  • Notched Hexagonal Sticks - Hectix
  • Notched Rhombic Sticks - [Twelve Piece Separation]
14. Split Triangular Sticks
  • Scorpius
  • The Dislocated Scorpius Puzzle
  • The Scrambled Scorpius Puzzle [and Scrambled Legs]
15. Dissected Rhombic Dodecahedra
  • The 10 Possible [Garnet] Pieces
  • Two-Tiered Puzzles - [The Split Star]
  • The Pennyhedron Puzzle
16. Miscellaneous Confusing Puzzles
  • The Pseudo-Notched Sticks Puzzle
  • [The Hectic Hexsticks]
  • The Square Face Puzzle
  • The Queer Gear
17. Triacontahedral Designs
  • Thirty Pentagonal Sticks and Dowels
  • Pentagonal Sub-Units
  • Notched Pentagonal Sticks
  • Notched Rhombic Sticks
  • The Jupiter Puzzle
  • [Saturn]
  • The Dislocated Jupiter Puzzle
  • A Scrambled Jupiter?
  • The Dissected Triacontahedron
18. Puzzles Made of Polyhedral Blocks
  • Truncated Octahedra (5-Piece Box Packing) Setting Hen???
  • Rhombic Dodecahedra
  • The Leftover Block Puzzle (13-14)
  • Substitution of Spheres
  • The Four-Piece Pyramid Puzzle (design of pieces not shown)
  • The Octahedral Cluster Puzzle
19. Intermezzo

20. The Two Tiers Puzzle (Garnet in Garnet)
[20 is deleted in GPD]

21. Theme and Variations

  • [The Peanut Puzzle]
  • The Six-Part Invention
  • The Eight-Piece Cube Puzzle (Pieces of Eight)
  • More Variations
  • The Pillars of Hercules Family
22. Blocks and Pins
  • The Lollipop Puzzle
23. Woodworking Techniques

Geometric Puzzle Design
Stewart T. Coffin
2007 A.K. Peters

This is an updated version of Stewart's classic "Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections." It contains some new material, including his "Involute" cube design.

The Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections CD-ROM
Stewart T. Coffin

A gift from Brett.

In addition to "The Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections" this CD-ROM contains the 1985 and 1992 editions of Stewart's Puzzle Craft.

You can get a free copy of the 1992 edition of Puzzle Craft from the g4g4 site.

The Classics

 

Puzzles Old and New
Professor Hoffmann aka Angelo John Lewis
The 1988 hardcover reprint by L.E. Hordern and Martin Breese Limited, of the original 1893 Frederick Warne and Co. edition.

Find out more about the history of this book at Dalgety's Puzzle Museum.

Click for an index compiled by Donald Knuth.

Several other books on games and magic appeared under the byline of Professor Hoffmann, including the Illustrated Book of Patience Games, and Drawing Room Amusements (London, George Routledge, 1883).

You can purchase some as e-books from Lybrary.com.


  • Chapter I - Dexterity
  • Chapter II - Mechanical, Trick, Secret
  • Chapter III - Dissected or Combination
  • Chapter IV - Arithmetical
  • Chapter V - Word and Letter
  • Chapter VI - Counters
  • Chapter VII - Matchstick
  • Chapter VIII - Wire Puzzles
  • Chapter IX - Quibble or Catch
  • Chapter X - Misc

Chapter II describes 52 mechanical puzzles, many of the trick opening type...
  1. Barrel and Ball -- BP
  2. Dice Box (barrel)
  3. The Churn
  4. Cannon and Ball -- BP; has extra nozzle unscrew
  5. Cage and Ball -- BP; has rotating base
  6. Castle Money Box
  7. New Castle Money Box
  8. Brass Money Box
  9. Captive Six-Pence -- corian version
  10. Cannon & Cord
  11. Heart Puzzle
  12. Alliance (aka Victoria)
  13. Two Balls = Ox Yoke
  14. Ariel (base w/ two pillars, cord)
  15. Pen and Wheel
  16. Balls and Rings (crown)
  17. Chinese Ladder
  18. The Staff
  19. The Imperial Scale
  20. Sceptre (see Donay)
  21. Balls and Chain (see Donay)
  22. Four Keys -- BP
  23. Screw Box -- thin shell, press sides in to grip inner sleeve
  24. Ball and Three Strings
  25. Lighthouse -- BP
  26. Jubilee Puzzle Box
  1. Jubilee Penny -- hinged door on coin
  2. Invisible Gift
  3. Arabi Gun
  4. Psycho Matchbox -- the penny safe design
  5. Touch-Me-Not Matchbox -- pin prick
  6. Magic Drawer Matchbox -- double drawer trick
  7. Unique Matchbox -- move bottom plate to release top
  8. Surprise Matchbox -- prick, fake hinge
  9. New Brass Puzzle Matchbox -- cylinder, coin on top, counter-thread top unscrews
  10. Ne Plus Ultra Matchbox
  11. Sphinx Matchbox -- ne plus with a hinged side to lock the top
  12. Puzzle Snuff-Box
  13. New Puzzle Snuff-Box
  14. Puzzle Ball -- like ebony ball but no cuts
  15. Ebony Ball
  16. Puzzle Purse
  17. Puzzle Pocket-Knife
  18. Automatic Knife
  19. Double Ball and Ring
  20. Wedding Ring Box
  21. New Money Box
  22. Zulu Box -- brass magic trick equivalent
  23. New Persian Puzzle
  24. Magic Handcuff -- Chinese finger trap
  25. Key and Ring -- tip unscrews with wingnut
  26. New Egg of Columbus -- red, cone in base
Chapter III describes 41 "Dissected or Combination" puzzles...
  1. The Anchor Puzzle (Kopfzerbrecher #8)
  2. The Tormentor Puzzle (Qualgeist #13)
  3. The Pythagoras Puzzle (#12)
  4. The Cross Puzzle (Kreuzspiel #10, also Lucky Puzzle, Kohner's Voodoo)
  5. The Circular Puzzle (Kreisraatsel #9)
  6. The Star Puzzle (Stern Raadsel)
  7. The Zigzag Square (12 pcs)
  8. The Extended Square
  9. The Octagon Puzzle
  10. The Patchwork Square
  11. The Two Squares (eq. to the Cut Out Puzzle)
  12. The Latin Cross Puzzle (5 pcs.)
  13. The Greek Cross Puzzle
  14. The Protean Puzzle
  15. The Caricature Puzzle (eq. to Kopfzerbrecher pcs)
  16. The Chequers Puzzle (14 pcs.)
  17. The Spots Puzzle
  18. The Endless Chain (La Chaine sans Fin)
  19. The Hexagon (5 pcs.)
  20. Eight Squares in One
  21. The Five Squares
  1. The Geometrical Square
  2. The Dissected Square (9 pcs. - form 3 squares or one large one)
  3. The Twenty Triangles (eq. to Mystic Wedge)
  4. The New Triangle (7 pcs.)
  5. The Japanese Square (10 pcs.)
  6. The Chinese Square (16 pcs.)
  7. The Yankee Square (11 pcs.)
  8. Another Cross Puzzle (eq. to Jeu de la Croix)
  9. The Carpenter's Puzzle No. 1
  10. The Carpenter's Puzzle No. 2
  11. The Cabinet Maker's Puzzle (divide a circle into two stool seats with holes)
  12. The Bonbon Nut Puzzle (burr)
  13. The Rattle Puzzle (burr)
  14. The Cross-Keys or Three-Piece Puzzle (OCC)
  15. The Nut (or Six-Piece) Puzzle (trad. 6-pc burr)
  16. The Fairy Tea-Table
  17. The Mystery
  18. The Diabolical Cube
  19. The Chinese Zigzag (3D jigsaw)
  20. The Man of Many Parts (Les Quatre Vagabonds)
Chapter IV describes 112 Arithmetical puzzles...
  • 7. A Simple Magic Square (Lo Shu)
  • 8. The "Thirty-Four" Puzzle (Thinking Man's 34, 34 Skidoo)
  • 9. The "Sixty-Five" Puzzle
  • 10. The "Twenty-Six" Puzzle (4x4 w/ corners omitted)
  • 28. The Captives in the Tower
  • 54. The Tenth Man Out (circle of 30, leave 15)
  • 55. The Ninth Man Out (circle of 30, leave 15)
  • 56. The Three Travellers (river crossing)
  • 57. The Wolf, the Goat, and the Cabbages
  • 58. The Three Jealous Husbands
  • 68. The Magic Cards (binary cards)
  • 69. The Fifteen or Boss Puzzle
  • 70. The Peg-Away Puzzle
  • 72. The Royal Aquarium Thirteen Puzzle (eq. to Le Nombre Treize)
Chapter VI describes 27 Puzzles With Counters...
  • 13. (The Eight-Point Puzzle)
  • 14. "Okto" (variant of 8-point)
  • 17. The "Right and Left" Puzzle (mountain goats)
  • 19. The "Four and Four" Puzzle (related to the 1915 PANAMA puzzle)
  • 20. The "Five and Five" Puzzle
  • 21. The "Six and Six" Puzzle
  • 24. No Two in a Row (8 queens)
Chapter VIII describes twelve tanglement puzzles...
  1. United Hearts -- eq. Uncle's Heart's Desire
  2. Triangle -- simple spiral, single gate
  3. Snake and Ring -- ring on spring
  4. Hieroglyph
  5. Interlaced Triangles -- Stumpy #2, Uncle's TriangleDangle
  6. Double Bow and Ring -- classic horseshoes
  1. Egyptian Mystery
  2. Ball and Spiral -- eq. La Bouteille Infernale
  3. Unionist -- eq. Claws
  4. Eastern Question -- eq. Hess F069
  5. Handcuff -- four rings
  6. Stanley
Chapter X describes 48 Miscellaneous Puzzles...
  1. The John Bull Political Puzzle (sliding counter)
  2. The Pig in the Sty (12-move jumping pegs)
  3. Hide and Seek (2-sided boxed maze)
  4. The Brahmin's Puzzle (Towers of Hanoi)
  5. Cardan's Rings (Patience)
  6. The Knight's Tour
  7. The Knotted Handkerchief
  8. Crossette
  9. Single-Stroke Figures
  10. The Balanced Egg. Another Method.
  11. Solitaire Problems
  12. Skihi (construction cards, pat. by Skihi Novelty Co.
  13. A Card Puzzle - arrange the four fives from a deck of cards, face up, so only four pips on each is visible.
  14. Another Card Puzzle - Graeco-Latin 4x4 using aces and face cards
  15. The Floating Corks - make seven corks float upright in a basin of water
  16. The Obstinate Cork
  17. Fixing the Ring
  18. The Treasure at Medinet (four piece version of Jeu des Manifestants / 8 Queens)
  19. The Four Wine-Glasses
  20. One Peg to Fit Three Holes (circle, triangle, square)
  21. The Balanced Pencil
  22. To Balance an Egg on the Point of a Walking Stick
  23. The Ashantee Horseshoe
  24. A Feat of Dexterity
  1. The Divided Square - cut a square into 5 equal squares
  2. The "Oval" Problem - draw an oval with just a compass
  3. The Floating Ball
  4. The Cut Playing Card - cut a hole in a playing card so a person can step through the hole
  5. The Mitre Puzzle - remove an isoceles-triangular one-fourth of a square, then divide the resulting "mitre" shape into four equal parts
  6. The Five Straws
  7. The Three Fountains
  8. The Two Dogs (same principle as Sam Loyd's Mules)
  9. Water Bewitched
  10. The Balanced Halfpenny
  11. The Balanced Sixpence
  12. Silken Fetters (classic two-person handcuffs challenge)
  13. The Orchard Puzzle
  14. The Cook in a Difficulty (La Question de la Marmite)
  15. The Devil's Bridge (La Pont du Diable)
  16. The Two Corks (grasp two corks and pull apart without entangling fingers)
  17. The Divided Farm
  18. The Conjurer's Medal (eq. to The Queen's Jubilee puzzle)
  19. The Maze Medal
  20. The Puzzle Key-Ring
  21. The Singular Shilling
  22. The Entangled Scissors
  23. The Penetrative Penny
  24. The Packer's Secret (Le Secret d'un Emballeur)
Hoffmann's Puzzles Old and New (Centenary Edition)
1993
Edward Hordern
Puzzles in Wood
Edwin M. Wyatt
Copyright 1928 The Bruce Publishing Company
Fourth Printing 1939

  • Cut-Up "T" (=Pa's T)
  • Cut-Up Cross (=Shackman What's Your Score Cross)
  • Cut-Up Square 1 (=tangram)
  • Cut-Up Square 2 (=Crestline Mystic Wedge)
  • Impossible Area (8x8=5x13, as L'Echiquier Fantastique)
  • Band-Sawed Sphere (=3D Jigsaw Sphere)
  • Band-Sawed Square Prism (like Venus Key)
  • Turned Box with Combination Lock Lid
  • The Bewitching Cubes (=6-cube Instant Insanity)
  • Shuffle Puzzle 1 (=15)
  • Shuffle Puzzle 2 (=Dad's)
  • Peg and Disc Puzzle (=Towers of Hanoi)
  • The "Cross" Plug Puzzle (circle/plus/square plug)
  • The "Wedge" Plug Puzzle (square/triangle/circle plug)
  • A Steamed-Wood Puzzle
  • Wood Fan
  • Bottled Cross
  • Savings Bank
  • Three-Piece Cross (=Triple Cross)
  • Three-Piece Burr Puzzle (another 3-piece burr)
  • Six-Piece Burr (15 assemblies from 13 length-8 pieces: AJVTOYNFHDMBI)
  • Diagonal Six-Piece Burr
  • Nine-Piece Burr (=Marian's Puzzle?)
  • The Cross Burr (12 pieces)
  • The Twelve-Piece Burr Puzzle (=Altekruse)
  • Fifteen-Piece Burr
  • The Great Pagoda or Nineteen-Piece Burr
  • Jackstraws
  • Polyburr
  • Built-Up Cube (=Kumiki Cube)
  • The Grill (=Dovetail)
  • Locked Links
  • The Double Dovetail
  • The Impossible Dovetail Joint (=Danzig's Dilemma but no lock)
  • Double-Lock Dovetail Joint
  • Two-Way Fanned Half-Lap Joint
  • Wooden Log Chain
  • Caged Balls
  • The Magic Drawer
  • The Mysterious Coin Purse (=Penny Safe)
  • The Coin Bank
  • Oriental Jewel Box with Secret Lock
  • Secret Lock Tool Box
  • Desk Companion with Secret Stamp Compartment
  • Hidden Key-and-Lock Jewel Box

Wonders in Wood
(sequel to Puzzles in Wood)
Edwin M. Wyatt
Linden Publishing Inc. 1997 (orig. pub. 1946)

  • The Tetrahedron or Triangular Pyramid (=2-piece pyramid)
  • Nest of Toys (=nesting furniture)
  • Three-Dimensional Jigsaw (like cowboy)
  • Cut-Up Checkerboard (14 pieces)
  • Six-Pointed Star
  • Squaring Triangles (like Loculus of Archimedes)
  • Built-Up Trapezoid
  • Built-Up Square (=Egyptian Puzzle)
  • Lost Area (13x13=8x21)
  • Solitaire Marble Game Board
  • Marbles in a Maze
  • Solitaire Checkerboard (circular 13-hole)
  • Fore and Aft (=Setko)
  • Shuffle Box Number One (14 blocks)
  • Shuffle Box Number Two (11 blocks)
  • Double-Double Dovetail Joint
  • Triple Dovetail Puzzle
  • Double Cross (3-piece burr)
  • Eighteen-Piece Double Cross (=Arjeu CT718 ?)
  • Quadruple Burr
  • The Snowflake (burr)
  • Chestnut Burr
  • Toy Chair
  • Enchanted Dice (=6-cube Instant Insanity)
  • Cross-Barred Ball Cage
  • Concentric Spheres
  • Wooden Pliers
  • Scissors
  • E Puzzle (imp. obj.)
  • Wooden Valentine (imp. obj.)
  • Draftsman's Dream
  • Six-Piece Ball Puzzle
  • Cocklebur
  • The Floating Magnet
  • The Mysterious Block (magic trick)
  • The Lie Detector
  • Fake Pop Gun
  • Plugged Bottle (imp. obj.)
  • Disappearing Coin Device (magic trick)
  • Counterfeit Machine
  • Dominoes
  • String Puzzle (magic trick)
  • Built-Up Turned Work
  • Rope Border
  • Marquetry
  • Geometrical or Chip Carving

100 Puzzles - How to Make and Solve Them
Anthony S. Filipiak
A. S. Barnes and Company New York 1942

I found one cheap, but it seems to be pretty rare. I've seen it going for anywhere from $70 to over $400. The dust jacket on mine is mostly intact and shows several puzzles which aren't even mentioned in the book! The Star and Crescent, Valspar, Boot and Hand, and U2 tanglements are all pictured but not discussed. The Kumiki motorcycle and tank aren't, either, but the cube and gun are. I suppose there is something to be said for modern truth-in-advertising laws.

  • Shifting Block Puzzles - 19, 9, 5, 11, 15, 10, and 27 blocks
  • Straight Line Peg Puzzles - Jumping, Flipping in Pairs
  • Circle Peg Puzzles
  • Checker Board Puzzles
  • Checker Board String Puzzles
  • Chinese Chess Board
  • String Puzzles
  • Glass Topped Box Puzzles
  • Six Piece Burr Puzzle
  • Wood Design Puzzles (Kumiki)
  • Geometric Design Puzzles
  • Miscellaneous Puzzles (incl. 4 Ace Puzzle like Katzenjammer, also an original bolt and washer)
Mathematical Puzzles and Other Brain Twisters
100 Man Made Problems - How to Make and Solve Them

Anthony S. Filipiak
A. S. Barnes and Company New York 1942

Same contents as above.

New Mathematical Pastimes
Maj. Percy MacMahon
Paul Garcia and Tarquin Reprints 2004
Reprinting of the Cambridge University Press 1930 Edition 2nd Impression
www.mathsite.co.uk
  • Part I - Pastimes Based Upon Simple Geometrical Forms
  • Double-Six Dominoes
  • Equilateral Triangles (4 colors in 3 compartments per triangle = 24 tiles; see Contack)
  • Square Pastimes (3 colors in 4 compartments per square = 24 tiles)
  • (5 colors in 4 compartments, no repetition = 30 tiles; if all must have a given color, then 24 tiles)
  • Right-Angled Triangle Pastimes
  • The Cube Pastime (6 colors all faces different = 30 cubes; MacMahon Colored Cubes / Mayblox)
  • Pastimes Based Upon the Regular Hexagon (6 colors, always same pair at north and south = 24 tiles)
  • Part II - The Transformation of Part I
  • (Shaped Edges in Lieu of Colors)
  • Part III - The Design of "Repeating Patterns" or Decorative Work
Mathematical Recreations and Essays
W.W. Rouse Ball (revised by H.S.M. Coxeter)
Macmillan 11th ed. 6th printing 1973

Fourteen chapters:
  • I. Arithmetical Recreations
  • II. Arithmetical Recreations (continued)
  • III. Geometrical Recreations
  • IV. Geometrical Recreations (continued)
  • V. Polyhedra
  • VI. Chess-Board Recreations
  • VII. Magic Squares
  • VIII. Map-Colouring Problems
  • IX. Unicursal Problems
  • X. Kirkman's School-Girls Problem
  • XI. Miscellaneous Problems
  • XII. Three Classical Geometrical Problems
  • XIII. Calculating Prodigies
  • XIV. Cryprography and Cryptanalysis

Some of my favorites:

  • Geometrical Paradoxes (e.g. L'Echiquier Fantastique / L'Incroyable) p.84
  • triangular edgematch p.111
  • MacMahon color cubes p.112
  • Great Northern Puzzle (shunting) p.114
  • Chifu-Chemulpo (shunting) p.115
  • ferry-boat problems p.116
  • Third Problem with Pawns (e.g. Fore-and-Aft) p.124
  • The Eight Queens Problem p.165
  • Guarini's Problem (e.g. Knights Exchange on 3x3) p.188
  • Latin Squares and the Magic Card Square (e.g. Bali Buttons) p.189
  • Euler's Problem (The Seven Bridges of Koenigsberg) p.242
Mathematical Snapshots
Hugo Steinhaus
Dover edition 1999 - reprint of 1983 edition - copyright 1950
You can peruse Sam Loyd's Cyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles online at Ed Pegg's site.

Also check Donald Knuth's index.

Mathematical Puzzles of Sam Loyd Volume One
ed. by Martin Gardner
Dover Publications 1959
  • Hoop Snake p.15
More Mathematical Puzzles of Sam Loyd
ed. by Martin Gardner
Dover Publications 1960
  • The Switch Problem (shunting) p.18
536 Puzzles & Curious Problems
Henry Ernest Dudeney
428pp.
1967 Charles Scribner's Sons
ISBN-10: 0684717557

Arithmetical and Algebraical Problems
  • Money Puzzles
  • Age Puzzles
  • Clock Puzzles
  • Speed and Distance Puzzles
  • Weight Puzzles
  • Digital Puzzles
  • Skeleton Puzzles
  • Cryptarithm Puzzles
  • Miscellaneous Puzzles
Geometrical Problems
  • Triangle, Square, and Other Polygon Puzzles
  • Circle Puzzles
  • Dividing-the-Plane Puzzles
  • Plane Geometry Puzzles
  • Solid Geometry Puzzles
  • Dissection Puzzles
  • Paper Folding Puzzles
  • Moving Counter Puzzles
Combinatorial and Topological Problems
  • Magic Square Puzzles
  • Magic Star Puzzles
  • Liquid Pouring Puzzles
  • Route and Network Puzzles
  • Point Alignment Puzzles
  • Map Coloring Puzzles
  • Miscellaneous Combinatorial Puzzles
Game Puzzles
Domino Puzzles
Match Puzzles
Unclassified Puzzles
Answers

The 1917 book Amusements in Mathematics by the noted British Puzzler Henry Ernest Dudeney is available online to read or for free download at Project Gutenberg.

I also have the softcover Dover edition, copyright 1970.

Many fascinating topics of potential interest to the mechanical puzzle afficionado.

Puzzles and Paradoxes
Thomas H. O'Beirne
Oxford University Press 1965
  1. One More River to Cross
  2. False Coins and Trial Balances
  3. New Weighs With False Coins
  4. Jug and Bottle Department
  5. A Gamut of Geometry from A to Y
  6. Race-Track Problems and Legal Fictions
  7. Cubism and Colour Arrangements
  8. Gamesman, Spare That Tree
  9. "Nim" You Say, and "Nim" It Is
  10. Ten Divisions Lead to Easter
  11. Problematic Lies and Unexpected Truths
  12. A Christmas Cracker With 100 Birds
Everybody's Illustrated Book of Puzzles
Don Lemon
Saxon 1890

Download this from The Internet Archive.

"Don Lemon" is a pseudonym of Eli Lemon Sheldon who, according to Greg Frederickson in Dissections: Plane & Fancy, was an American mortgage broker posted in London. Sheldon was born in Michigan in 1848 and died in London in 1892.

1929 Johnson Smith & Co. Catalogue
Reproduction hardcover in slipcase, by Chelsea House Publishers 1970

The catalogue contains a zillion different novelty items and provides an interesting perspective on life during the early part of the 20th century. There are many puzzles offered for sale (163 by my count)...

  • p.25 No. 3096 The Tennis Racquet Puzzle - 15 cents (DEX - pick it out)
  • p.170 No. 2578 White City Puzzle Time Lock Safe #326 - $1 (OPN)
  • p.170 No. 2579 White City Puzzle Safe #10 - $1.25 (OPN)
  • p.170 No. 2580 Puzzle Pail Bank - 75 cents (OPN)
  • p.171 No. 2577 New Puzzle Basket Bank - $1.50 (OPN)
  • P.171 No. 2586 Automatic Dime Bank - 15 cents (OPN)
  • p.174 No. 3055 Lovers Link - 10 cents (OPN - eq. to Chinese Finger Trap)
  • p.188 No. 3667 The Three Nags Puzzle - 15 cents (TNG)
  • p.191 No. 3631 The Arcade Keyless Lock - 50 cents (OPN)
  • p.191 No. 3632 The Clinch Keyless Lock - 25 cents (OPN)
  • p.199 No. 3035 The Mysterious Cross - 15 cents (ASM - 5 pieces)
  • p.221 No. 3027 The Bootlegger Hand Puzzle - 15 cents (TNG)
  • p.221 No. 3053 Combination Lock Puzzle - 15 cents (PAT - 4 dials, align to total 40 in all 16 columns)
  • p.222 No. 3662 Heart and String Puzzle - 10 cents (TNG)
  • p.226 No. 3060 The Great Nail Puzzle - 12 cents (TNG)
  • p.228 No. 3099 Puzzle Picture Mirror - 10 cents (DEX - balls into holes)
  • p.233 No. 3097 Nut and Bolt Puzzle - 35 cents (OPN)
  • p.236 No. 3033 Checker Puzzle - 25 cents (ASM - aka Bug House)
  • p.237 No. 3041 The Enchanted Bottle - 10 cents (Imp Bottle trick - will not lie down)
  • p.238 No. 3341 Gravity Ball - 15 cents (DEX - blow into tube)
  • p.241 No. 3051 Jockey Key Puzzle - 50 cents (OPN - get ring off key)
  • p.241 No. 3044 Gordian Knots - 25 cents (INT - a multi-piece burr)
  • p.244 No. 3073 Spider's Web Puzzle - 12 cents (TNG - ring in plate step maze)
  • p.247 No. 3675 Pyramids Puzzle - 65 cents (SEQ - Gray Code - Towers of Hanoi)
  • p.247 No. 3679 The Spoophem Puzzle - 10 cents (DEX)
  • p.247 No. 3676 Faith, Hope, & Charity Puzzle - 15 cents(TNG)
  • p.247 No. 3677 Spider & Flies Puzzle - 65 cents (DEX)
  • p.247 No. 3678 See-Saw Puzzle - 65 cents
  • p.248 No. 3688 Goofy Bugs - 35 cents (DEX)
  • p.248 No. 3689 Goofy Hill - 35 cents (DEX)
  • p.248 No. 3690 Goofy Cats - 35 cents (DEX)
  • p.248 No. 3691 Goofy Spider - 35 cents (DEX)
  • p.248 No. 3692 Goofy Golf - 35 cents (DEX)
  • p.248 No. 3693 Goofy Luke - 35 cents (DEX)
  • p.248 No. 3695 Zulu Chief Puzzle - 15 cents (DEX)
  • p.249 No. 3670 The Clock Puzzle - 15 cents (DEX - 70-74 under celluloid dome)
  • p.249 No. 3671 The Whirl Dice - 15 cents (DEX)
  • p.249 No. 3672 Pigs in Clover - 15 cents (DEX)
  • p.249 No. 3673 The Spiral - 15 cents (DEX)
  • p.249 No. 3674 The Ring Pin - 15 cents (DEX)
  • p.249 No. 3003 The Four Ball Puzzle - 20 cents (DEX - get a ball in each corner)
  • p.250 No. 3650 Star and Garter - 15 cents (TNG)
  • p.250 No. 3651 The Snake Puzzle - 15 cents (TNG - cast 3 snakes)
  • p.250 No. 3652 The Anchor Puzzle - 15 cents (TNG - cast anchors)
  • p.250 No. 3653 Lucky Star - 15 cents (TNG - cast horseshoes w/ star)
  • p.250 No. 3654 Fire Irons - 15 cents (TNG)
  • (No. 3655 The Hearts Puzzle (cast hearts) appears on p.442)
  • p.250 No. 3656 Salmon and Grid - 15 cents (TNG)
  • p.250 No. 3657 Snake and Scissors - 15 cents (TNG)
  • p.250 No. 3658 Sandow - 15 cents (TNG)
  • p.250 No. 3659 Tango - 15 cents (TNG)
  • p.251 No. 3023 Cabinet of 8 Puzzles - 65 cents (TNG - compendium)
  • p.251 No. 3024 Cabinet of 15 Puzzles - $1 (TNG - compendium)
  • p.251 No. 3168 Puzzle Barrel of Dice - 50 cents (OPN)
  • p.252 Nos. 1-22 Collection of Wire Puzzles No. 1 - 12 cents each or all 22 for $2.50 (TNG)
    • No. 1 Plate metal Horseshoes w/ 3rd shoe
    • No. 2 Devil's Keys
    • No. 3 Stars and Crescent
    • No. 4 wire horseshoes - lightbulb loops
    • No. 5 scissors (wire monkey)
    • No. 6 (Le Bon Geolier design)
    • No. 7 (TJ Conestoga Playmate design)
    • No. 8 (The Lance design)
    • No. 9 wire horseshoes - large loops
    • No. 10 heart on trapeze
    • No. 11 F017 G's
    • No. 12 D023 Fooler design
    • No. 13 3 witches (?)
    • No. 14 F079 Over the Top
    • No. 15 linked hearts
    • No. 16 ring and 2 clips
    • No. 17
    • No. 18
    • No. 19
    • No. 20 Elks
    • No. 21 Devil's Claws
    • No. 22 F069 double rings with straight handles

  • p.253 Collection of Wire Puzzles No. 2 - 12 cents each or all 22 for $2.50 (TNG)
    • No. 3005 wire monkey
    • No. 3010 heart on trapeze
    • No. 3011 2 G's
    • No. 3012 Le Bon Geolier design
    • No. 3014 Over the Top
    • No. 3021 Devil's Claws
    • No. 3022 F002 Pig Tail
    • No. 3037 La Croix du Sud design
    • No. 3038 horseshoes var.
    • No. 3039
    • No. 3046
    • No. 3047 Stilts
    • No. 3048
    • No. 3049 jacob's ladder chain (?)
    • No. 3050 Porte Veine
    • No. 3062 double trapeze
    • No. 3065 ring on spring
    • No. 3067
    • No. 3068 Bicycle
    • No. 3069 ring and fetters
    • No. 3070 C and U
    • No. 3074 wire 3 snakes

  • p.254 No. 3075 (6 piece burr) - 15 cents (INT)
  • p.254 No. 3076 burr - 35 cents (INT)
  • p.254 No. 3077 burr bank - 35 cents (INT)
  • p.254 No. 3078 burr - 50 cents (INT)
  • p.254 No. 3079 burr - 75 cents (INT)
  • p.254 No. 3080 burr - 75 cents (INT)
  • p.254 No. 3081 kumiki cube - $1 (INT - Kumiki)
  • p.254 No. 3082 kumiki sphere - $1 (INT - Kumiki)
  • p.254 No. 3083 kumiki egg - $1 (INT - Kumiki)
  • p.254 No. 3084 kumiki apple - $1.50 (INT - Kumiki)
  • p.254 No. 3085 double burr - 35 cents (INT)
  • p.254 No. 3086 burr table - $1.50 (INT)
  • p.254 No. 3087 burr - $1 (INT)
  • p.254 No. 3088 burr - $1 (INT)
  • p.254 No. 3089 burr (like Fancy Square design) - $1 (INT)
  • p.254 No. 3090 kumiki coffee pot - (INT - Kumiki)
  • p.254 No. 3091 burr - 75 cents (INT)
  • p.254 No. 3092 burr - 75 cents (INT)
  • p.254 No. 3093 kumiki pear - $1.50 (INT - Kumiki)
  • p.254 No. 3094 kumiki barrel - $1.50 (INT - Kumiki)
  • p.254 No. 3095 burr - 75 cents (INT)
  • p.256 No. 3061 Max and Fritz (linked keys) - 10 cents (TNG)
  • p.256 No. 3043 Lucky Horseshoe - 10 cents (TNG)
  • p.256 No. 3071 Stars and Crescent - 10 cents (TNG)
  • p.256 No. 3032 Centrifugal Puzzle - 10 cents (DEX)
  • p.256 No. 3664 cast ABC - 15 cents (TNG)
  • p.256 No. 3668 The Twin Links (ring and 2 clips) - 10 cents (TNG)
  • p.256 No. 3666 Aeroplane Puzzle - 15 cents (TNG)
  • p.257 No. 3681 Shamrock Puzzle (3 wire snakes) - 10 cents (TNG)
  • p.257 No. 3683 Button Hook Puzzle (F024) - 10 cents (TNG)
  • p.257 No. 3684 The Chain Puzzle (chain on spiral) - 10 cents (TNG)
  • p.257 No. 3682 Devil's Keys (F026 Offset Keys) - 10 cents (TNG)
  • p.257 No. 3020 Elk Horn Puzzle - 12 cents (TNG)
  • p.257 No. 3687 The Chilian Puzzle - 15 cents (TNG)
  • p.257 No. 3685 The Three Witches - 10 cents (TNG)
  • p.257 No. 3662 Heart and String - 10 cents (TNG)
  • p.257 No. 3686 The Triangle Puzzle (F029 Triangle and key) - 10 cents (TNG)
  • p.258 No. 2042 The Fifteen Puzzle - 15 cents (SEQ - Sliding)
  • p.258 No. 3056,7,8 Puzzle Money Box - .5,.75,$1 (OPN)
  • p.275 No. 3662 Heart and String - 10 cents (TNG)
  • p.277 No. 3028 Teddy Bear Puzzle - 10 cents (TNG)
  • p.277 No. 3031 Automobile Puzzle - 20 cents (SEQ - Sliding)
  • p.281 No. 3003 Four Ball Puzzle - 20 cents (DEX)
  • P.312 No. 3171 Egg of Columbus - 15 cents (DEX - balancing ovoid)
  • P.312 No. 3036 Chinese Ring Bar Puzzle (patience) - 15 cents (SEQ - Gray Code)
  • p.399 No. 1031 New Book of 200 Puzzles - 10 cents (EPH - Book)
  • p.427 No. 3029 Humdinger Puzzle - 25 cents (SEQ - Sliding)
  • p.433 No. 3665 The Four Ace Puzzle - 30 cents (PAT - Inst Insanity family)
  • p.442 No. 3655 The Hearts Puzzle (cast hearts) - 15 cents (TNG)
  • p.442 No. 3660 Mutt and Jeff - 10 cents (TNG)
  • p.442 No. 3661 Over the Top - 10 cents (TNG)
  • p.442 No. 3663 The Three Rings Puzzle (F010) - 10 cents (TNG)
  • p.456 No. 4543 Flexible Key Ring - 15 cents (OPN)
  • p.465 No. 3040 Diabolical Dice - 25 cents (ASM - dissected die)
  • p.472 No. 2282 The Fakir Who Swallows Eggs - 25 cents (EPH - mechanical card)
  • p.474 No. 3649 Furniture Puzzle - 35 cents (ASM - dissected block)
  • p.475 No. 3065 Spiral Ring Puzzle (ring on spring) - 10 cents (TNG)
  • p.476 No. 3664 cast ABC - 15 cents (TNG)
  • p.476 No. 3668 The Twin Links - 10 cents (TNG)
  • p.476 No. 3669 Puzzle Ring - 35 cents (TNG - puzzle ring)
  • p.490 No. 3072 Pea and Pot Puzzle - 20 cents (DEX)
  • p.573 No. 3064 Perplexity Puzzle - 20 cents (SEQ - Sliding)
  • p.586 No. 3000 Rat Trap Puzzle - 15 cents (DEX)
  • p.589 No. 2293 Puzzle Peg (cross solitaire) - 55 cents (SEQ - solitaire)
  • p.595 No. 3066 Tantalizing Puzzle (F020 pat. Deck 1903)- 12 cents (TNG)
  • p.599 No. 2585 The Dime Registering Bank - 35 cents (OPN)
  • p.599 No. 3052 Jolly Ni**er Puzzle - 15 cents (DEX - pick it out)
  • p.630 No. 2835 Puzzle Scissors - 35 cents (OPN)
  • p.638 No. 2851 Miniature Golf Game - 35 cents (DEX)
  • According to Slocum, I missed the following:
    • No. 3063 Puzzle Padlock (OPN)
    • No. 2943 Chinese Puzzle Purse (OPN)
    • No. 3645 Puzzle Milk Bottle (OPN)
    • No. 3030 Magnetic Puzzle (PAT)

Electives
 

The Oxford University Press Recreations in Mathematics series edited by David Singmaster includes the following books (I have found copies of each of them):

 
  1. (1984) Mathematical Byways in Ayling, Beeling, and Ceiling - Hugh ApSimon
  2. (1985) The Ins and Outs of Peg Solitaire - John D. Beasley
  3. (1987) Rubik's Cubic Compendium - Erno Rubik, Tamas Varga, Gerszon Keri, Gyorgy Marx, Tamas Verkerdy
  4. (1986) Sliding Piece Puzzles - L.E. Hordern
  5. (1989) The Mathematics of Games - John D. Beasley
  6. (1990) The Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections - Stewart T. Coffin
  7. (1990) More Mathematical Byways - Hugh ApSimon
 

There was also a book called "Recreations in Mathematics" by H. E. Licks (Helix?) published in 1917 by Van Nostrand. It is available as a PDF for free download here. I found this link at The Online Books Page at the University of Pennsylvania. Subjects covered in the book include: The Fifteen Puzzle, Magic Squares, Geometric Fallacies (such as L'Echiquier Fantastique), Map Coloring, the Cells of the Honeybee, the Sun Dial, and the Diaphote hoax.

Here are other links to free online books on the topic of Mathematical Recreations.
Also take a look at free online books on Puzzles.

Ap-Art - A Compendium of Puzzle Designs
Stewart Coffin

Puzzle Instructions and Ephemera
Stewart Coffin

Polyominoes
Solomon W. Golomb

Table of contents of the revised edition.

Read about polyominoes at Mathworld. More from Jan Kok.

Spiele mit Pentakuben
Ekkehard Kunzell

See Kunzell's website.

Puzzle Master Solution Booklet for Wire Puzzles
Copyright 2004 Puzzle Master Inc.

Purchased in Montreal at Boutique Strategie.

  • King Cobra
  • Heart Breaker
  • Handcuffs
  • Iron Maiden
  • "A" Puzzle
  • Lion's Lair
  • Jester
  • Beetle Bug
  • Wedding Vows
  • The Rack
  • Scorpion
  • Mosquito
  • Silent E
  • Cupid's Dart
  • Cowboy's Hobble
  • Catacombs
  • Fantastic Five
  • Rat Race
  • Black Widow
  • Infinity
  • Blue Knight
  • Mirror Image
  • Annihilator
  • Sidewinder
  • Man-O-War
  • Anomaly
  • Derringer
  • Parallel Dimensions
  • Scorpion's Sting
  • Arrow Dynamics
  • Tree Puzzle
  • Missing:

  • Butterfly's Revenge
  • G Factor
  • The Yak
A Century of Checkerboard Puzzles
Additional Checkerboard Puzzle Designs

Jacques Haubrich
Compendium of Card Matching Puzzles (volumes 1-3)
and
About, Beyond, and Behind Card Matching Puzzles
Jacques Haubrich
1995, 1996, 2002

The Glass Puzzle Answer Book
Toyo Glass

Contains solutions for the following Toyo Glass puzzles:

  • Pack the Plums
  • Pack the Rice Crackers
  • Pineapple Delight
  • A-Maize-Ing
  • Pack the Orange
  • Java Tea
  • On The Rocks
  • Hole in One
  • Cross Cross
  • Tongari-Kun and Roppongi
  • Super Cross
  • Assembling Puzzle
  • ... (I have omitted impossible object, tanglements, dexterity, solitaire, vanishes) ...
  • Red All Through
  • Checkers
  • Pile'Em Up (Six Pieces)
  • Starry Skies
  • Pile'Em Up Orange
  • Happy Hearts
  • Green Grocer
  • Animal Land
  • Bill Cutler's Bin Cross
  • Bottleneck
  • Magical Bottle Bolt & Nut
  • Magical Bottle Double Super
  • Sliding Puzzle Sixteen

Sadly, no solution for Packed in Tokyo or Peanuts.

Compendium of Over 10500 Wire Puzzles
Seventh Edition Dec. 2003
Richard I. Hess
The Collector's Guide to Cluster Puzzles of the 1960s and 1970s
Kelvin Palmer
The Tangram Book
Jerry Slocum
The 15 Puzzle
Jerry Slocum
Puzzles from Catel's Cabinet and Bestelmeier's Magazine 1785 to 1823
Jerry Slocum and Dieter Gebhardt
Compendium of Mechanical Puzzles from Catalogs 1785 to 1946
Jerry Slocum
First Ed. Sept. 1977, Corrected and Revised 2006
46 pp.
  • Put-Together
    • Cross, Mysterious Cross, Five Block, Zany, FourAce, Katzenjammer, Allies Flag, Combination Lock, Diabolical Dice, Eclipse, Puzzle Ring
  • Take-Apart
    • various Hoffmann, Indian Ball, Imp Bottle, Dice Barrel, Takitapart, Hello, White City Pail
  • Interlocking
  • Disentanglement
    • Cast: Star and Garter, Lucky Star, Tango, Snake and Scissors, Salmon and Grid, Three Snakes, Ring and Plate, Keys, Loop the Loop, Faith/Hope/Charity, Elk, Hearts, Three Nags, Aeroplane, ABC, Fire Irons, Anchor, Sandow
    • Wire: Stars and Crescent, Bootlegger, Triangle (F029), Button Hook (F024), Claws, C and U, Three Witches, Doggie, Heart and String, Teddy Bear, Chinese Ladder, Jolly Ni**er
  • Sequential Movement
    • Peg Solitaire, 15, Humdinger, Bramah, Automobile, Perplexity, Bootlegger and His Flask, Boo Bogey Mans
  • Dexterity
    • Journet, Trench Football, Query, Mountain Climber, Bughouse, Ring Pin, Quintuplets
  • Miscellaneous
  • Boxes of Assorted Puzzles
  • Catalog References
The Puzzle Arcade
1996 Klutz
Jerry Slocum

A fun, portable, self-contained puzzle kit - including all the actual puzzles:

  • The Button-hole Killer Pencil
  • Playing Card Puzzle
  • Sam Loyd's Mules (get two riders on two mules)
  • The Richter Cross
  • The Wheel of Disappearing Pirates (Get Off the Earth)
  • Illusion Puzzles
  • The Wired Heart
  • The Pyramid
  • Heads & Tails Puzzle (Edge Matching)
  • Stick Puzzles (Matchstick figures & transformations)
  • The Bulldog (String through holes)
  • The Broken Heart (Ox-Yoke)
  • The Trapdoor Maze (clever multi-page maze with holes in pages)
  • Picture Puzzles
  • a bonus I-Spy-type puzzle inside the back cover
Matchstick Puzzles
Jack Botermans
Coin Games and Puzzles
Maxey Brooke
Dover Publications 1973
originally published as "Fun For the Money" by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1963
Dissections: Plane & Fancy
Greg N. Frederickson
Cambridge University Press 1997
Geometric Dissections
Harry Lindgren

The Jigsaw Puzzle
Anne D. Williams
Antologica Berrocal
 
Jerry Slocum's Directory of Puzzle Collectors & Puzzle Sellers
5th Ed. June 2003
Jerry Slocum
Puzzletts Saga 1
Puzzletts (Mike Green)

R. Journet & Company. A Brief History of the Company & its Puzzles
James Dalgety

See the Journet section on my dexterity page.

George Hardy is an expert on Anchor Stone building blocks and puzzles. You can download a copy of George's book Richter's Anchor Stone Building Sets, which includes some info about the Anchor puzzles, from ankerstein.de.
The Circle Puzzler's Manual
Doug Engel

Doug's Circle Puzzler's Manual is hosted online at Jaap's Puzzle Page.

Extra Credit
Winning Ways for Your Mathematical Plays, Vol. 4, 2nd Ed.
2004
Elwyn R. Berlekamp, John H. Conway, Richard K. Guy
  • Purging Pegs Properly - Peg Solitaire
  • Pursuing Puzzles Purposefully - Soma, Wire and String, Rubik's Cube, Sliding Block
  • What Is Life? - Conway's Game of Life
The Mathemagician and Pied Puzzler
Ed. by Berlekamp and Rogers

I have this as an e-book. You can get it free from the G4G4 site.

The contents are now available on the G4G Wiki site as individual PDF files.

A subset of the contents...

  • A Maze With Rules - Robert Abbott - Visit Abbott's website.
  • O'Beirne's Hexiamond - Richard K. Guy - describes a solution classification method (e.g. Tenyo #6)
  • The Japanese Tangram: The Sei Shonagon Pieces - Shigeo Takagi
  • Polly's Flagstones - Stewart Coffin
  • Those Peripatetic Pentominoes - Kate Jones
  • Self-Designing Tetraflexagons - Robert E. Neale
  • The Odyssey of the Figure Eight Puzzle - Stewart Coffin (aka Possibly Impossible)
  • Metagrobolizers of Wire - Rick Irby
  • Beautiful But Wrong: The Floating Hourglass Puzzle - Scot Morris
  • Cube Puzzles - Jeremiah Farrell
  • The Nine Color Puzzle - Sivy Fahri (see Kolor Kraze)
  • Twice: A Sliding Block Puzzle - Edward Hordern (invented by Dario Uri)
  • Planar Burrs - M. Oskar van Deventer (Nine and One-Half Moves - see Buffalo Nickel)
  • Block-Packing Jambalaya - Bill Cutler (also on Cutler's website)
  • Classification of Mechanical Puzzles and Physical Objects Related to Puzzles - James Dalgety and Edward Hordern
  • Hollow Mazes - M. Oskar van Deventer (Wedge of Wallis, see Oskar's Cube in the Route-Finding section)
Puzzlers' Tribute - A Feast for the Mind
David Wolfe, Tom Rodgers Eds.
A. K. Peters Ltd. 2002

A subset of the contents...

  • The Eng Coin Vise - Gary Foshee
  • David Klarner's Pentacube Towers - C. J. Bouwkamp
  • A Scrub Tile Puzzle - Tom Rodgers (Petersen graphs)
  • "Impossible Foldings" - Luc De Smet
  • Diabolical Puzzles from Japan - Nob Yoshigahara, Mineyuki Uyematsu, Minoru Abe (incl. Minoru's sliding block puzzles)
  • How to Outwit the Parity - Serhiy Grabarchuk
  • Inflated Pentominoes - Rudolfo Kurchan
  • Classic Six-Piece Burr Puzzle - Robert J. Lang (origami version of diagonal star)
  • A Classification of Burrs - Bill Cutler
  • Early Japanese Export Puzzles: 1860s to 1960s - Jerry Slocum and Rik van Grol
  • The Partridge Puzzles - Robert Wainwright (see an example in my Packing section)
  • The Sol LeWitt Puzzle: A Problem in 16 Squares - Barry Cipra
  • Shadows and Plugs - Gwen Roberts
  • Y2K Problem of Dominoes and Tatami Carpeting - Yoshiyuki Kotani
Tribute to a Mathemagician
Edited by Barry Cipra, Erik D. Demaine, Martin L. Demaine, and Tom Rodgers
A. K. Peters Ltd. 2005

A subset of the contents...

  • Nob Yoshigahara - Jerry Slocum (In Memoriam)
  • Chinese Ceramic Puzzle Vessels - Norman L. Sandfield
  • Mongolian Interlocking Puzzles - Jerry Slocum and Frans de Vreugd (see the Sphinx/Turtle puzzle in the Interlocking section)
  • Fold-and-Cut Magic - Erik D. Demaine and Martin L. Demaine
  • The Three-Legged Hourglass - M. Oskar van Deventer
  • Sliding-Coin Puzzles - Erik D. Demaine and Martin L. Demaine
  • A History of the Ten-Square - A. Ross Eckler (word squares - see the journal Word Ways)
  • Polyform Patterns - Ed Pegg, Jr.
  • Another Pentomino Problem - Solomon W. Golomb
  • Polyomino Number Theory (III) - Uldis Barbans, Andris Cibulis, Gilbert Lee, Andy Liu, Robert Wainwright
  • The Panex Puzzle - Mark Manasse, Danny Sleator, Victor K. Wei, Nick Baxter
  • The Complexity of Sliding-Block Puzzles and Plank Puzzles - Robert A. Hearn (PSPACE-completeness, sliding-block logic gates)
    also see another paper, by Hearn and Demaine (PDF)
    also see U.S. patent 3216558 - Marsh 1965, and Kagen Schaefer's Block Box
    also see ref. "Sliding Block Puzzles" in the Sixth Book of Mathematical Games from Scientific American by Martin Gardner
    also see this FAQ on the NP-completeness of Minesweeper
    also see David Eppstein's page on the Computational Complexity of Games and Puzzles
    also see the Wikipedia entry on Complexity Class
  • Hinged Dissections: Swingers, Twisters, Flappers - Greg N. Frederickson
  • Rolling Block Mazes - M. Oskar van Deventer
The New Turing Omnibus: Sixty-Six Excursions in Computer Science
A. K. Dewdney
480pp.
1993 Owl Books
ISBN-10: 0805071660
The Tinkertoy Computer
A. K. Dewdney
238pp.
1993 W. H. Freeman & Co.
ISBN-10: 071672491X
Shop Class
A Compendium of Cube-Assembly Puzzles using Polycube Shapes
Kevin Holmes, Rik van Grol

This great little book catalogues the designs of various puzzle cubes assembled from polycube pieces. With a set of LiveCube and this book, one can have fun for months!

There are 40 3^3, 81 4^3, 16 5^3, and 20 6^3 puzzles described.

You can find this book and others at Frank Potts' site Potty Puzzles.

Selected contents below...
    3^3

  • The Diabolical Cube
  • The Nine Tricubes (9 non-convex tricubes)
  • Conway's Cube - 6x 1x2x2 + 3x 1x1x1
  • Mikusinski's Cube (aka the Steinhaus Cube)
  • Nob's Cube
  • Stewart Coffin's Half Hour Cube
  • Coffin's Quartet
  • Piet Hein's The Soma Cube
  • The Impuzzables
  • Cotway's Cube - 6x N-tetracube + 3x 1x1x1
  • Adrian Fisher's The Minotaur Cube
  • Coffin's Quintet
  • Kolor Kraze
  • Twice Dice
  • The Spots Cube
  • 4^3

  • Trevor Wood's Holey Squares Cube
  • Stewart Coffin's Convolution
  • The Bedlam Cube
  • Mayer's Cube No. 1 (model 9B)
  • Mayer's Cube No. 2 (model 7B)
  • Mayer's Cube No. 3 (model 10C)
  • King's Court
  • Two sets of the eight tetracubes
  • Martin Watson's The Dutch Cubist
  • Abraxis
  • The Tetrepeat Cube - Holmes
  • The Eclecticube - Holmes
    5^3

  • Conway's 17-piece packing cube
  • Conway's Blocks in a Box
  • 25 Y pentacubes
  • 25 N pentacubes
  • Stewart Coffin's Wookey Hole
  • Pfaffinger No. 208
  • Pfaffinger No. 646
  • Watson's Wormhole
  • 6^3

  • Bill Cutler's Splitting Headache
  • Cubic Equation No. 1 - (similar to Pentangle's 3456 Pythagoras Revisited)
  • 54 N-tetracubes
  • 54 T-tetracubes
  • The full set of 35 planar hexacubes plus one additional planar hexacube assmble to a 6^3. Not every planar hexacube can serve as the extra.

Crafting Wood Logic Puzzles
Self & Lensch
New Wood Puzzle Designs
James W. Follette

Here is a link to an article on Follette at woodcentral.com, with some nice photos.

All Screwed Up
John Berkeley
Rose and Twinkleberry's Guide to Building Your Own Puzzles Using Lego Building Blocks
2001
Doug Walker
  • Put-Together - Polyominoes, Checkerboard, ...
  • Sequential Movement - Sliding Block, Peg Solitaire, ...
The Puzzle Action Pack
3D Puzzles - 10 Classic-Style Sculptural Puzzles to Cut and Construct & Solve
1989
Alan Robbins
Paper Capers
122pp.
Jack Botermans
1986 Henry Holt
ISBN-10: 0805001395

See some folded cards here.

Fast & Funny Paper Toys You Can Make
1991
E. Richard Churchill
M.C. Escher Kaleidocycles
Doris Schattschneider and Wallace Walker

I actually have a folio which includes the 1977 edition and the cardboard sheets.

Here is a link to a nice website about Kaleidocycles.

Magic Arrow Tile Puzzles
Ivan Moscovich
Puzzling Reflections
Ivan Moscovich
1990 Tarquin Publications
The Mirror Puzzle Book
Marion Walter
Tarquin 1986
ISBN 0906212391
Psych. 101
The Paradoxicon
1983
Nicholas Falletta
The Paradox Box
Patrick Hughes
ISBN: 1870003616 (Redstone)
ISBN-10: 0877739412 (Shambala 1993)
ISBN-10: 1570625123 (Shambala 1999)

Redstone Press (Julian Rothenstein), with Shambala Publications

I have the box with cards.

Can You Believe Your Eyes
1992
J. Richard Block and Harold Yuker
Great Book of Optical Illusions
More Optical Illusions
Masters of Deception
Ambiguous Optical Illusions
Al Seckel

Visit Al Seckel's home page.

It's not Seckel's site, but you have to check out the "Rotating Snakes" illusion on Akiyoshi Kitaoka's page. It is by far the best rotational movement illusion I have seen!

The Magic Show
Mark Setteducati, Anne Benkovitz
Workman Publishing N.Y.

Check out Mark's site.

Optical Trix 'n' Kicks
2003
Red Bird Publishing Ltd.

A large folio containing several optical illusions and curiosities.

  • instruction booklet
  • 2 pairs of red/green 3-d glasses
  • a poster with 3-d image of midtown Manhattan, and a dinsoaur
  • 8 two-sided cards of invertible heads
  • a flip-book
  • 4 cards to make pencil-tops
  • 21 optical illusion cards
  • a pair of the classic "which is bigger" arcs
  • a pair of finger-tip balancing butterflies
  • seat-the-riders
  • a 3-piece vanish puzzle
  • a 16-card never-ending mural
  • a booklet of hand-shadow puppets
  • 4 large mazes
  • 9 3-d mazes, including a jigsaw
Five Star Mind
1995
Tom Wujec
Rubik-ology
The Simple Solutions to Cubic Puzzles
1981
James G. Nourse
  • Pyraminx
  • Missing Link
  • Barrel
  • Rubik's Magic Snake
  • Picture Cube
  • Octagon
  • Ranking the Puzzles
  • Other Puzzles (e.g. Whip-It, Varikon)
Puzzle It Out
The Simple Solution to Rubik's Cube
1981
James G. Nourse
The Winning Solution
1982
Minh Thai
How To Solve Rubik's Revenge
1982
Jeffrey Adams
The Official Solution to Alexander's Star
1982
Adam Alexander
Unscrambling The Cube
1980
M. Razid Black and Herbert Taylor
Inside Rubik's Cube and Beyond
1982
Christoph Bandelow
  • Other Magic Polyhedrons
  • Meffert's Pyraminx
Notes on Rubik's Magic Cube
1981
David Singmaster
Adventures in Group Theory
David Joyner
Rubik's Puzzles
1999
Albie Fiore
Additional Reading
Dictionary of Mathematical Games, Puzzles, and Amusements
Harry Edwin Eiss
Copyright 1988 Greenwood Press
The Puzzle Instinct
Marcel Danesi
Copyright 2002 Indiana University Press
1000 Play Thinks
Ivan Moscovich
2001 Workman Publishing Co. Inc. NY
large format, spiral bound, 420 pp.

Nick Baxter proofread the book and has an errata sheet online.

The book contains 1000 puzzles (surprised?) - I will mention some below as I run across those that I believe may be of particular interest to mechanical puzzlers...

  • #8 - Consecutive Rectangle Squares
  • #12 - Arrow Number Boxes; see #416 for the inversion of this
  • #52 - Colored Dodecagons (edgematching)
  • #55 - Convex Tangrams
  • #56 - Domino Patterns
  • #61 - Fault-Free Square
  • #205,206 - The Tree Game
  • #219 - Serpent
  • #227 - (= Mattel Profound Round)
  • #231 - Crescents of Hippocrates - This brings to mind a potential dissection puzzle - can the two crescents be dissected into pieces that can be re-assembled into the triangle? According to Greg Frederickson, it's not possible because of the curves.
  • #283 - Packing Box
  • #348 - Fitting Shapes
  • #386 - Mathemagic - In the section that covers magic, Latin, and Greco-Latin squares. I've seen this as a physical puzzle - I don't have it but it's easy to try on paper. Arrange the eight numbered blocks in the tray so that no consecutive numbers adjoin each other orthogonally or diagonally. The picture does not show a solution.

  • #389 - Strip Tease - equal to More Madness and Bird's Puzzle
  • #397 - Magic Triangle I
  • #400 - Magic Color Shapes - a special problem using Bali Buttons
  • p.155 - Order-10 Greco-Latin Square
  • #414 - Octopuzzle 2 - like Mattel Block Shock
  • #417 - Cubes in Perspective 2 - a 25-tile edgematching
  • #425 - Color Triangles 1 - MacMahon
  • #432 - Hexagons 1 - edgematch like Adams
  • #435 - Abdul Wefa's 9-piece three squares to one dissection
  • #437 - Square Dissected 20 - Mystic Wedge
  • #439 - 6-piece three squares to one
  • #470 - Perigal's Puzzle - prove the Pythagorean Theorem
  • #470 - Pythagorino
  • #477 - Rectangling Circle - sand-dollar to rectangle
  • p.182 - Packing Unit Squares
The Think Tank
Ivan Moscovich

Super-Games
Ivan Moscovich
The New Puzzle Classics
Serhiy Grabarchuk
Sterling 2005
ISBN 1402717420
PuzzleGrams
More PuzzleGrams
Pentagames
Amazing Backseat Book-a-ma-thing
Klutz Staff
Scholastic U.S. 1998
Collector's Digest Dexterity Games 1995
L-W Book Sales 1995
Merlin's Puzzle Pastimes
Charles Barry Townsend
After Dinner Tricks and Puzzles
Toys and Games From Times Past... and Still Enjoyed Today
George Rice

Historical Folk Toys 2004

I bought this as a souvenir from our visit to Old Newgate Prison and Copper Mine.

Ancient Puzzles
Dominic Olivastro
280pp.
1993 Bantam Books
ISBN 0553372971

  • Introduction
  • The First Etches
    • The Ishango Bone 9000/11000/20000BP
  • The Entrance Into All Obscure Secrets
    • The Rhind Papyrus 1800BC
  • On A Temple Roof
    • The Temple of Kurna 1400BC - Pentalpha, Mill
  • To Measure the Heavens
    • Nine Chapters - China 200BC
    • Bhaskara - Lilavati - Behold
    • Tangrams
  • On a Turtle Shell
    • Magic Square - Lo Shu - 400BC
    • Albrecht Durer - Melencolia I - 1514
    • Pandiagonal Squares
  • Speak, Who Can
    • Alcuin of York ca 800AD
    • river crossing problems 17,18,19
    • Tartaglia (Niccolo Fontana) - measuring wine 3,5,8 -> 4,4 - ca 1500AD
    • Leofric Bishop of Exeter - ribald riddles
  • I Was Regarded With Astonishment
    • Abu Kamil - Book of Precious Things - 900AD
    • al-Khowarezmi - Algebr w'al-Mugabala
    • Archimedes - The Number of the Cattle of the Sun
  • The Merhcants of Pisa and the Digits of the Hindus
    • Liber Abaci - Fibonacci 1202AD
    • coin weighing problems
  • Graphs and Puzzles
    • Bridges of Koenigsberg - Euler Walk
  • Postscript

New Media Puzzle Workout
Scott Kim
More Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Brain Teasers
Stan Gibilisco
Even More Puzzicles
Alan Robbins
The Ultimate Book of Puzzles, Mathematical Diversions, and Brainteasers
Erwin Brecher
Second Miscellany of Puzzles Mathematical and Otherwise
Stephen Barr
The Macmillan Company 1969 First Printing
Puzzles, Perplexities & Obfuscations
George Hardy
Dr. Broth and Ollie's Brain-Boggling Search for the Lost Luggage
2000
Michael Abrams, Jeffrey Winters
The Lady or the Tiger?
1982
Raymond Smullyan
Masquerade
Kit Williams

There have been several "books as puzzles" - this and the following three are some of the better-known (surely not the only?) ones.

Here is a link to a page-by-page solution.

The Eleventh Hour
Graeme Base
The Egyptian Jukebox
Nick Bantock
Maze - Solve the World's Most Challenging Puzzle
1985
Christopher Manson

Play the Maze book on-line!

The Rails I Tote
Christopher Manson
Animalia
Graeme Base

A lavishly illustrated abecediary. The pictures took 3 years to complete. Each contains numerous, and often hard-to-spot, items whose names begin with the letter in question. An "I-Spy" type puzzle for each letter, but with no list of items - you'll be discovering new ones with each re-reading - either with your kids or on your own. In addition, a boy hides in each picture - pre-dating the less-artistic "Where's Waldo."

MENSA Logic Puzzles
Wordplay
John Langdon
The Amazing Book of Mazes
Adrian Fisher
Secrets of the Maze
Adrian Fisher

Mind Boggling Mazes and Loopy Labyrinths
Klaus Eid, et al
Foreign Language Studies
Hlavolamy

This beautiful Czech book is an expanded edition based on Slocum and Botermans' Puzzles Old and New.

Petits Jeux et Casse Tete de la Belle Epoque (Small Games and Puzzles of the Golden Age)
Yves Rifaux
Haute - Savoie
ISBN 2910067173
144pp.

Seems to be available from Amazon France.

A softcover book with black and white pictures (pictures are poor photocopy quality). Devoted to a listing of over 130 French boxed puzzles of several varieties which were manufactured during the period from 1878 to 1914, most of them by the five Paris-based firms:

  • [Charles]Watilliaux
  • Mauclair et Dacier
  • Nicolas et Keller
  • Simonin Cuny
  • Revenez et Tabernat
Also mentions the firms: Fernand Nathan, N. K. Atlas, Saussine, Jeux et Jouets Francais, Wogue et Levy, Perret, Delhaye Freres, Villard et Weill, and L. Baudot.

Accompanied by four loose addendum sheets dated June 1990, December 1993, June 1996, and January 2000, which bring the total number of puzzles covered to over 200. Also accompanied by four cards printed with cut-out puzzles including: Fend-L'Air et Pegase (seat two riders on two mules), Le President Loubet, Les Quatre Vagabonds, and Un Sage dans les Nuages.

Rifaux categorizes the puzzles into eight basic classes, and also assigns some to "combination" classes:

  • A - dexterity puzzles (Jeux d'Adresse) - by far the largest class
  • I - logic puzzles (Casse-Tete Intellectuels)
  • FM - wire puzzles (Casse-Tete en fil de fer)
  • T - tactical problems, e.g. sequential movement (Problemes de tactique)
  • D - prediction/divination games
  • C - games of chance
  • E - educational games
  • AM - unclassifiable diversions
Mechanical Puzzles 130
92pp.
pub. 2006 by "Three Guess Corp." and Kodansha
ISBN 4063171647

I ordered mine from the Yamanaka Kumiki Works.
Amazon Japan also has it.

  • Part 1. 組み合わせパズル - Put-together Puzzles
  • Part 2. 開けるパズル - Take-apart Puzzles
  • Part 3. はずして組むパズル - Interlocking Puzzles
  • Part 4. ほどくパズル - Hodoku Pazuru - Disentanglement Puzzles
  • Part 5. ー連の動きのパズル - Sequential Movement Puzzles
  • Part 6. その他のパズル - Impossible Objects and Miscellanies
Cube Puzzle Reader
Akiyama
239pp.
Pub. 2004 by New Era Corp.
ISBN 4775302841

Amazon Japan has it.

  1. ways to flatten a cube; cube cross-sections; dice; magic squares; The Mystic Eight puzzle; shortest path; cube penetrations; sugar cubes; resistor networks
  2. The Diabolical Cube; chart of #'s of n-ominoes, tri-ominoes, tetrominoes; Slothouber-Graatsma puzzle; Mikusinski Cube; Kev's Cubic Equation; The Spots Puzzle; colored cubes; Instant Insanity; The Allies Flag puzzle; MacMahon's Colored Cubes; Conway's matrix
  3. jigsaws; magnetic globe jigsaw; chinese zigzag puzzle; Mag-Nif; chart of #'s of planar polyominoes; pentominoes; Back in the Box; checkerboard puzzles; Tangram; Soma; The 15 puzzle; Piet Hein's Qrazy Qube and other 3-D sliding block pu