A puzzle is a

game A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...

problem Problem solving is the process of achieving a goal by overcoming obstacles, a frequent part of most activities. Problems in need of solutions range from simple personal tasks (e.g. how to turn on an appliance) to complex issues in business an ...

, or

toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and p ...

that tests a person's ingenuity or

knowledge Knowledge is an Declarative knowledge, awareness of facts, a Knowledge by acquaintance, familiarity with individuals and situations, or a Procedural knowledge, practical skill. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is oft ...

. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are different genres of puzzles, such as crossword puzzles, word-search puzzles, number puzzles, relational puzzles, and logic puzzles. The academic study of puzzles is called enigmatology. Puzzles are often created to be a form of entertainment but they can also arise from serious

mathematical Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

logical Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure of arg ...

problems. In such cases, their solution may be a significant contribution to mathematical research.

Etymology

The ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

'' dates the word ''puzzle'' (as a

verb A verb is a word that generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual description of English, the basic f ...

) to the 16th century. Its earliest use documented in the ''OED'' was in a book titled ''The Voyage of Robert Dudley...to the West Indies, 1594–95, narrated by Capt. Wyatt, by himself, and by Abram Kendall, master'' (published circa 1595). The word later came to be used as a

noun In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an Object (grammar), object or Subject (grammar), subject within a p ...

, first as an

abstract noun In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an object or subject within a phrase, clause, or sentence.Example ...

meaning 'the state or condition of being puzzled', and later developing the meaning of 'a perplexing problem'. The ''OED''s earliest clear citation in the sense of 'a toy that tests the player's ingenuity' is from Sir

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

's 1814 novel '' Waverley'', referring to a toy known as a "reel in a bottle". The etymology of the verb ''puzzle'' is described by ''OED'' as "unknown"; unproven hypotheses regarding its origin include an Old English verb ''puslian'' meaning 'pick out', and a derivation of the verb ''pose''.

Categories

Puzzles can be categorized as: *

Lateral thinking puzzle Situation puzzles, often referred to as minute mysteries, lateral thinking puzzles or "yes/no" puzzles, are puzzles in which participants are to construct a story that the host has in mind, basing on a puzzling situation that is given at the sta ...

s, also called "situation puzzles" *

Mathematical puzzle Mathematical puzzles make up an integral part of recreational mathematics. They have specific rules, but they do not usually involve competition between two or more players. Instead, to solve such a puzzle, the solver must find a solution that sati ...

s include the missing square puzzle and many impossible puzzles — puzzles which have no solution, such as the

Seven Bridges of Königsberg The Seven Bridges of Königsberg is a historically notable problem in mathematics. Its negative resolution by Leonhard Euler, in 1736, laid the foundations of graph theory and prefigured the idea of topology. The city of Königsberg in Prussia ...

, the

three cups problem The three cups problem, also known as the three cup challenge and other variants, is a mathematical puzzle that, in its most common form, cannot be solved. In the beginning position of the problem, one cup is upside-down and the other two are ri ...

, and

three utilities problem The three utilities problem, also known as water, gas and electricity, is a mathematical puzzle that asks for non-crossing connections to be drawn between three houses and three utility companies on a Plane (geometry), plane. When posing it in ...

Sangaku Sangaku or san gaku () are Japanese Euclidean geometry, geometrical problems or theorems on wooden tablets which were placed as offerings at Shinto shrines or Buddhist temples in Japan, Buddhist temples during the Edo period by members of all so ...

(Japanese temple tablets with geometry puzzles) *A

chess problem A chess problem, also called a chess composition, is a puzzle created by the composer using chess pieces on a chessboard, which presents the solver with a particular task. For instance, a position may be given with the instruction that White is t ...

is a puzzle that uses chess pieces on a chess board. Examples are the

knight's tour A knight's tour is a sequence of moves of a knight on a chessboard such that the knight visits every square exactly once. If the knight ends on a square that is one knight's move from the beginning square (so that it could tour the board again im ...

and the

eight queens puzzle The eight queens puzzle is the problem of placing eight chess queens on an 8×8 chessboard so that no two queens threaten each other; thus, a solution requires that no two queens share the same row, column, or diagonal. There are 92 solutions. ...

. *

Mechanical puzzle A mechanical puzzle is a puzzle presented as a set of mechanically interlinked pieces in which the solution is to manipulate the whole object or parts of it. While puzzles of this type have been in use by humanity as early as the 3rd century BC ...

s or dexterity puzzles such as the Rubik's Cube and

Soma cube The Soma cube is a mechanical puzzle#Assembly, solid dissection puzzle invented by Danish polymath Piet Hein (scientist), Piet Hein in 1933 during a lecture on quantum mechanics conducted by Werner Heisenberg. Seven different Polycube, pieces ...

can be stimulating toys for children or recreational activities for adults. **

combination puzzle In mathematics, a combination is a selection of items from a set (mathematics), set that has distinct members, such that the order of selection does not matter (unlike permutations). For example, given three fruits, say an apple, an orange and a ...

s like

Peg solitaire Peg Solitaire, Solo Noble, Solo Goli, Marble Solitaire or simply Solitaire is a board game for one player involving movement of pegs on a board with holes. Some sets use marbles in a board with indentations. The game is known as solitaire in Bri ...

** construction puzzles such as stick puzzles **

disentanglement puzzle Disentanglement puzzles (also called entanglement puzzles, tanglement puzzles, tavern puzzles or topological puzzles) are a type or group of mechanical puzzle that involves disentangling one piece or set of pieces from another piece or set of pie ...

s, ** folding puzzles **

jigsaw puzzle A jigsaw puzzle (with context, sometimes just jigsaw or just puzzle) is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often irregularly shaped interlocking and mosaicked pieces. Typically each piece has a portion of a picture, which is comple ...

s. Puzz 3D is a three-dimensional variant of this type. ** lock puzzles **A

puzzle box A puzzle box (also called a secret box or trick box) is a box that can be opened only by solving a puzzle. Some require only a simple move and others a series of discoveries. Modern puzzle boxes developed from furniture and jewelry boxes with ...

can be used to hide something —

jewelry Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...

, for instance. **

sliding puzzle A sliding puzzle, sliding block puzzle, or sliding tile puzzle is a combination puzzle that challenges a player to slide (frequently flat) pieces along certain routes (usually on a board) to establish a certain end-configuration. The pieces to ...

s (also called sliding tile puzzles) such as the 15 Puzzle and

Sokoban is a puzzle video game in which the player pushes boxes around in a warehouse, trying to get them to storage locations. The game was designed in 1981 by Hiroyuki Imabayashi and first published in Japan in 1982 by his company Thinking Rabbit for ...

** tiling puzzles like Tangram * Metapuzzles are puzzles which unite elements of other puzzles. * Paper-and-pencil puzzles such as '' Uncle Art's Funland'', connect the dots, and

nonogram Nonograms, also known as Hanjie, Paint by Numbers, Griddlers, Pic-a-Pix, and Picross, are picture logic puzzles in which cells in a grid must be colored or left blank according to numbers at the edges of the grid to reveal a hidden picture. In ...

s **Also the

logic puzzle A logic puzzle is a puzzle deriving from the mathematics, mathematical field of deductive reasoning, deduction. History The logic puzzle was first produced by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who is better known under his pen name Lewis Carroll, the a ...

s published by Nikoli:

Sudoku Sudoku (; ; originally called Number Place) is a logic puzzle, logic-based, combinatorics, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. In classic Sudoku, the objective is to fill a 9 × 9 grid with digits so that each column, each row, and ...

, Slitherlink,

Kakuro Kakuro or Kakkuro or Kakoro () is a kind of logic puzzle that is often referred to as a mathematical transliteration of the crossword. Kakuro puzzles are regular features in many math-and-logic puzzle publications across the world. In 1966, Cana ...

, Fillomino, Hashiwokakero, Heyawake, Hitori, Light Up, Masyu, Number Link, Nurikabe,

Ripple Effect A ripple effect occurs when an initial disturbance to a system propagates outward to disturb an increasingly larger portion of the system, like ripples expanding across the water when an object is dropped into it. The ripple effect is often use ...

, Shikaku, and Kuromasu; takuzu. * Spot the difference * Tour puzzles like a

maze A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lead ...

* Word puzzles, including

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into the phrase "nag a ram"; which ...

cipher In cryptography, a cipher (or cypher) is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption—a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is ''encipherment''. To encipher or encode i ...

s, crossword puzzles, Hangman (game), dropquotes, and word search puzzles. Tabletop and digital word puzzles include Bananagrams,

Boggle ''Boggle'' is a word game introduced in 1972 and in which players try to find as many words as they can from a grid of lettered dice, within a set time limit. It was invented by Allan Turoff and originally distributed by Parker Brothers. Rules ...

Bonza Bonza Aviation Pty Ltd, operating as Bonza, was a short-lived Australian low-cost airline, headquartered on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Sunshine Coast. Founded in October 2021, Bonza commenced operations on 31 January 2023. The airline ente ...

, Dabble, Letterpress (video game), Perquackey, Puzzlage, Quiddler,

Ruzzle ''Ruzzle'' is a mobile game developed by Swedish gaming company MAG Interactive and was first published in the Apple Store in March 2012.

Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a Board game, game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, re ...

, Upwords,

WordSpot ''WordSpot'' is a fast-paced word search board game where players use transparent tokens to highlight words found on a board of wooden letter tiles. The goal is to use up all your tokens. The game is designed by Russell Ginns and published by F ...

, and

Words with Friends ''Words with Friends'' is a multiplayer computer word game developed by Newtoy. Players take turns building words crossword-puzzle style in a manner similar to the classic board game ''Scrabble''. The rules of the two games are similar, but ''Wo ...

Wheel of Fortune (U.S. game show) ''Wheel of Fortune'' (often known simply as ''Wheel'') is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show has aired continuously since January 6, 1975. Contestants solve word puzzles, similar to those in hangman (game), ha ...

is a game show centered on a word puzzle. *

Puzzle video games Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, Sequence, sequence solving, Spatial ability, spatial recognition, ...

Tile-matching video game A tile-matching video game is a type of puzzle video game where the player manipulates tiles in order to make them disappear according to a matching criterion. In many tile-matching games, that criterion is to place a given number of tiles of the ...

** Puzzle-platformer **

Adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

Hidden object game A hidden object game, also called hidden picture or hidden object puzzle adventure (HOPA), is a subgenre of puzzle video game, puzzle video games in which the player must find items from a list that are hidden within a scene. Hidden object games a ...

Minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

Puzzle solving

Solutions of puzzles often require the recognition of

pattern A pattern is a regularity in the world, in human-made design, or in abstract ideas. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner. A geometric pattern is a kind of pattern formed of geometric shapes and typically repeated l ...

s and the adherence to a particular kind of order. People with a high level of

inductive reasoning aptitude Inductive reasoning aptitude (also called differentiation or inductive learning ability) measures how well a person can identify a pattern within a large amount of data. It involves applying the rules of logic when inferring general principles fr ...

may be better at solving such puzzles compared to others. But puzzles based upon

inquiry An inquiry (also spelled as enquiry in British English) is any process that has the aim of augmenting knowledge, resolving doubt, or solving a problem. A theory of inquiry is an account of the various types of inquiry and a treatment of the ...

and

discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

may be solved more easily by those with good deduction skills. Deductive reasoning improves with practice. Mathematical puzzles often involve BODMAS. BODMAS is an acronym which stands for Bracket, Of, Division, Multiplication, Addition and Subtraction. In certain regions, PEMDAS (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition and Subtraction) is the synonym of BODMAS. It explains the order of operations to solve an expression. Some mathematical puzzles require top to bottom convention to avoid the

ambiguity Ambiguity is the type of meaning (linguistics), meaning in which a phrase, statement, or resolution is not explicitly defined, making for several interpretations; others describe it as a concept or statement that has no real reference. A com ...

in the order of operations. It is an elegantly simple idea that relies, as

sudoku Sudoku (; ; originally called Number Place) is a logic puzzle, logic-based, combinatorics, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. In classic Sudoku, the objective is to fill a 9 × 9 grid with digits so that each column, each row, and ...

does, on the requirement that numbers appear only once starting from top to bottom as coming along.

Puzzle makers

Puzzle makers are people who make puzzles. In general terms of occupation, a ''puzzler'' or ''puzzlist'' is someone who composes and/or solves puzzles. Some notable creators of puzzles are: * Ernő Rubik * Sam Loyd *

Henry Dudeney Henry Ernest Dudeney (10 April 1857 – 23 April 1930) was an English author and mathematician who specialised in logic puzzles and mathematical games. He is known as one of the foremost creators of mathematical puzzles. Early life Dudene ...

* Boris Kordemsky * Will Shortz *

Oskar van Deventer Oskar van Deventer (born 1965) is a Dutch puzzle maker. He prototypes puzzles using 3D printing. His work combines mathematics, physics, and design, and he collaborates at academic institutions. Many of his combination puzzles are in mass produc ...

* Lloyd King *

Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing magic, scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writin ...

Raymond Smullyan Raymond Merrill Smullyan (; May 25, 1919 – February 6, 2017) was an American mathematician, magician, concert pianist, logician, Taoist, and philosopher. Born in Far Rockaway, New York, Smullyan's first career choice was in stage magic. He ...

History of puzzles

The nine linked-rings puzzle, an advanced puzzle device that requires mathematical calculation to solve, was invented in China during the

Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...

(475-221 BCE). Jigsaw puzzles were invented around 1760, when John Spilsbury, a British engraver and

cartographer Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

, mounted a map on a sheet of wood, which he then sawed around the outline of each individual country on the map. He then used the resulting pieces as an aid for the teaching of geography. After becoming popular among the public, this kind of teaching aid remained the primary use of jigsaw puzzles until about 1820. The largest puzzle (40,320 pieces) is made by a German game company Ravensburger. The smallest puzzle ever made was created at LaserZentrum Hannover. It is only five square millimeters, the size of a sand grain. The puzzles that were first documented are

riddles A riddle is a :wikt:statement, statement, question, or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or Allegory, alleg ...

. In Europe, Greek mythology produced riddles like the

riddle of the Sphinx A sphinx ( ; , ; or sphinges ) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle. In Greek tradition, the sphinx is a treacherous and merciless being with the head of a woman, the haunches of a ...

. Many riddles were produced during the Middle Ages, as well. By the early 20th century, magazines and newspapers found that they could increase their readership by publishing puzzle contests, beginning with crosswords and in modern days

Organizations and events

There are organizations and events that cater to puzzle enthusiasts, such as: * Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition * World Puzzle Championship * National Puzzlers' League * National Puzzle Day * Puzzlehunts such as the Maze of Games * World Cube Association

References

External links

{{Authority control Problem solving