Puzzle

A puzzle is a problem or enigma presented as entertainment; that is written down, acted out, etc.

Many puzzles stem from serious mathematical or logistical problems (see packing problems and tour puzzles). Others, like chess problems, are derived from board games. Others again have been devised for the sole purpose of being brain teasers.

The history of puzzles goes back many thousand years, Tangram being one of the earliest and still one of the most popular puzzles. In certain temples of Japan monks used to write mathematical puzzles on temple walls.

Table of contents

1 Categories of puzzles
2 Examples of puzzles that do not fit into any of the categories above
3 Puzzle archive
4 Literature

Categories of puzzles

boardgame puzzles - puzzles derived from board games
- chess-type problems
  - chess problems
  - Eight queens puzzle
computer puzzle games
cube puzzles
logic puzzles
- Paint by numbers
mechanical puzzles
- Rubik's_Cube
packing problems
pair-up puzzles
polycube puzzles
- Soma cube
riddle
shuffling puzzles
- Tower of Hanoi
solitaire-type puzzles
- Peg solitaire
stick puzzles
- matchstick puzzles
tiling puzzles
- jigsaw puzzles
- polysquare puzzles
- Tangram
tour puzzles
transport puzzles
- sliding puzzles
  - Fifteen puzzle
- Sokoban
whodunits
word puzzles
- anagrams
- code crackers
- crossword puzzles
- the -gry puzzle
- verbal arithmetic

For more examples click one of the categories.

Examples of puzzles that do not fit into any of the categories above

Geocaching
Logiquiz
Situation puzzles
please add more puzzles to this list

Puzzle archive

An archive of puzzles posted to the rec.puzzles newsgroup is at The Rec.Puzzles Archive.

Literature

Creative Puzzles of the World, 1980, Plenary Publications International
Denkspiele Der Welt, MÃÂÃÂ¼nchen 1977,1981, Heinrich Hugendubel Verlag