Mechanical Puzzles
Jim Storer

Copyright (c) James A. Storer 2016.

Table Of Contents

Burrs - 23

Knot Shaped Three Piece Burrs
Wood Knot - 31
Cross Keys (a.k.a. Three Piece Puzzle) - 32
Knotted Cube - 33
Oskar's Blocks - 34
Shaekel Knot - 35
Cheers - 36

Standard Shaped Three Piece Burrs With A Single Trick
Segerblom Knot - 37
Sideways Burr - 38
Sonneveld Three Piece Burr - 39
Triple Play - 40

Standard Shaped Three Piece Burrs
Just The Three - 41
3 Piece Burr Yamaosa - 42
Three Open Windows - 43
GigaBurr & GigaBurr II - 44
Cubie Burr & Cubie Burr #2 - 45

Burrs With Four or Five Pieces
JA6PB - Just Another 6-Piece Burr - 46
Switch Board Burr - 47
Accordion - 48
Octo Burr - 49

Standard Six Piece Burrs
Simple 6-Piece Burr - 50
The Puzzle (a.k.a. Double Cross) - 52
Mikado Block Puzzle - 54
Yamato Block Puzzle - 56
Devil's Knot - 57
Misfit Puzzle - 58
Coffin's Improved Burr - 60
Bill's Baffling Burr - 61
L5 Notchable - 62
Computer's Choice 3-Hole - 63
Computer's Choice 4-Hole - 64
Eight Is Enough - 65
Compter's Choice 5-Hole - 67
The Piston Puzzle - 68
Computer's Choice Unique-10 - 69
L46AA Notchable - 70
Mega Six - 71
Love's Dozen - 72
139 Burr - 73

Non-Standard Six Piece Burrs
Twelve Points To Insanity - 74
Dragon Fly - 75
Butterfly - 76
Explode-A-Burr - 77
Programmer's Nightmare - 78
Holey Astigmatism - 79
U-Nam-It Burr - 80
Bill's Ball Bearing Burr - 81
Blind Burr - 82
Luxemburr - 83
Around The Bend - 84
Frantix - 85
Dovetail Burr - 86
Lock Nut - 87
Missing Notch - 88
Three Pieces Puzzle - 89
Tri Again - 90
Zauberflote - 91
Zig-Zag Knot - 92

Six Piece Plate Burrs
Chen's Six Board Burr - 93
Chocolate Dip Burr - 94
Gordian Knot - 95
Bent Board Burr #2 - 96

Burrs With More Than Six Pieces
Japanese Shape Burrs (a.k.a. Kumiki Puzzles) - 97
Drueke Burrs - Bill's and Marian's Puzzles - 99
Uranus - 100
Miyako Wooden Puzzle - 101
The Aeroplane Block Puzzle - 102
Sydney Harburr Bridge - 103
Bill's Ball Buster - 104
Hectix (a.k.a. Hexsticks, Notched Hexagonal Sticks) - 105
Locked Blocks - 107
Block Puzzle Senior - 108
Satellite Burr - 109
H Burr - 110
Sears Tower - 112
Wausau '81 - 113
Wausau '82 - 114
Wausau 83 - 115
Wausau 84 - 116
Burry Joint - 117
Lassen Risti - 118
Old Oak Of England - 119
Lattice - 120
Quadlock1 - 121
The Pacco Puzzle - 122
Q.E.D. - 123
Miyako 21-Piece - 124
Binary Burr - 125
Visible Burr - 126
SM24 Burr - 130

Multi Burrs
Fusion Burr - 139
Four Burr Stick - 140
Four Burrs - 142
Lost Day (a.k.a Eight Burrs) - 143
Berserk BurrCirc - 144

Framed Burrs
Oskar's Cube - 146
Two Piece Oddity - 147
Pair Dance - 148
Three Sticks Trapped - 149
Three Trapped Sages - 150
Pandora's Box (a.k.a. Internal Combustion) - 151
Spacemine - 154
Locked Sticks - 155
Two Halves Cage - 156
Constrained Burrs - 157

Burr Sets
Simple 6-Piece 6-Solutions Burr Set - 158
Burr Set JCC - 159
CCH Level 1 Key Piece Burr Set - 160
Interlocking Puzzles Burr Set - 162
Interlocking Puzzles Burr Set #2 - 167



Cube Assembly - 170

Pieces Made from Unit Size Cubes
Soma Cube - 171
Half Hour - 172
IP Five Piece Cube - 173
Coffin Quartet - 174
Four X - 175
Bedlam Cube - 176
Century Cube - 177

Pieces Made from Rectilinear Non-Cubic Shapes
Patio Block - 179
Patio Block MPA - 180
Splitting Headache - 182

Pieces Based on Polyhedral Dissections
Quadro Cube - 183
Diagonal Cube - 184

Pieces With Interlocking Connections
Cubes And Pegs - 185
Cubes And Pegs Version B - 186
L-Bert Hall - 187
Five Minute Puzzle - 188
Corner Block - 189
Pieces Of Eight - 190
Groovy Cubes - 192
Twenty Cube - 193
Rik's Kiddy Wrapping - 194

Manipulation of Connected Cubes
Folding Cubes - 195
Hinged Cubes - 196
Kev's Snake Cubes (a.k.a. Serpent Cubes) - 197
Cubra Cubes - 198



Packing (including 2D Shapes) - 199

Checkerboard Puzzles
Checkerboard (a.k.a. All Square Novelty Puzzle, Check-A-Board, ...) - 200
Sectional Checkerboard Puzzle - 201
Chequers (a.k.a. Famous Bug House Puzzle) - 206
The Bug House Puzzle - 208
Famous Baffling Checkerboard Puzzle - 209
XceL Checkerboard Puzzle No. 1 - 210
XceL Checkerboard Puzzle No. 2 - 211
Gyro Checker Board Jig Saw Puzzle - 212
Draught Board Puzzle (a.k.a. Krazee Checkerboard Puzzle, Zebas Puzzle,...) - 213
Adams Idiot's Delight Checkerboard Puzzle - 216
Japanese 19 Piece Checkerboard Puzzle - 217

Richter Tangram and the Other 36 Anchor Stone Puzzles
Anchor Puzzle Tangram (a.k.a Caricature, Cut-Up Square ... Richter No. 8) - 218
The Nine (a.k.a. All Nine, Richter No. 1) - 228
Lightning Conductor (a.k.a. Richter No. 2) - 230
Egg Of Columbus (a.k.a. Columbus' Egg, Columbian Puzzle, Richter No. 3) - 234
Patience Prover (a.k.a. Richter No. 4) - 237
Trouble Killer (a.k.a. Richter No. 5) - 240
Heart Puzzle (a.k.a. Richter No. 6) - 243
Kobold (a.k.a. Richter No. 7) - 249
Circular Puzzle (a.k.a. Richter No. 9) - 250
Cross Puzzle (a.k.a. Richter No. 10) - 253
Not Too Hasty (a.k.a. Richter No. 11) - 257
Pythagoras (a.k.a. Richter No. 12) - 260
Tormentor (a.k.a. Richter No. 13) - 266
BeQuiet (a.k.a. Richter No. 14 /3) - 271
Sphinx (a.k.a. Lott's Stone Puzzle, Richter No. 15 / 16) - 274
Magic Egg (a.k.a. Miracle Egg, Richter Anchor Stone Puzzle No. 16 / 17) - 277
Wrath Breaker (a.k.a. Richter No. 17) - 279
Richter Anchor Stone Puzzle No. 23 - 282
Richter Anchor Stone Puzzle No. 26 - 283
Richter Anchor Stone Puzzle No. 27 - 284
Richter Anchor Stone Puzzle No. 28 - 285
Richter Anchor Stone Puzzle No. 29 - 286
Richter Anchor Stone Puzzle No. 30 - 287
Richter Anchor Stone Puzzle No. 35 - 288
Richter Anchor Stone Puzzle No. 36 - 289
Richter Summary - 290

Some Other Richter Puzzles and Games
Richter Piccolo Nr. T1 (a.k.a. Richter Picco Nr. T1) - 298
Richter Hamleys - 299
Richter Trench and Zoo Puzzles (a.k.a. Schutzengraben, Zoologischer-Garten) - 300
Richter Star Puzzle - 303
Richter Puzzle Mosaic No. 3 - 306
Richter Meteor 1 - 307
Richter Meteor 6 - 308

Other Tangram-Like Puzzles
The Classic Tangram (a.k.a. Richter Anchor Puzzle) - 309
Daddling - 310
Pythagoras - 311
Voodoo - 312
HiHo - 313
Sherlock Holmes - 314
Scrambled Egg - 316
121 Puzzles - 317
ELZZUP - 318
PIC-TUR-ETT - 323
King Tut's Puzzle - 325
HIQU - 326
Shape By Shape - 327

Other 2D Puzzles With Polygonal Shapes
Four Piece Square (a.k.a. Magic Square) - 328
Double Square (a.k.a Square Me, Five Block Puzzle, Madagascar Madness) - 329
Missing T (a.k.a. T Puzzle, Magic T, Cut-Up T, Pa's T Puzzle, etc.) - 332
What's Your Score - 335
FPuzzle (theF) - 336
H Puzzle - 337
Pie Without E - 338
Make A Square - 339
Major War Problem - 340

Other 2D Packing Puzzles
Checking In - 341
Decoy Puzzle - 342
Batee Baseball - 343
Blockade - 344
Four T Puzzle - 345
Pencil Puzzle - 346
Pearl In The Shell - 347
Czech Farms - 348
Seven - 349

Pentominoes
Pentominoes (a.k.a Polyominoes) - 350
Twin Box Pentominoes - 358

3D Box Filling
Block Head (a.k.a. Sneaky Squares, Stark Raving Cubes, Square Fit, KUBI) - 359
Three Piece Block Head (a.k.a. The Third Degree) - 360
Coffin's 271A - 361
Log Stacker - 362
Dice Packing Box - 363
Chaotic Cube - 364
Pack It In - 367
Cube Root Blocks - 368
Parcel Post - 369
Bermuda Hexagon - 370



Matching - 371

2D Matching
Rubik's Tangle 3x3 (a.k.a Rubik's Mini Tangle) - 372
Rubik's Tangle 3x3 Double Sided - 373
Rubik's Tangle 5x5 - 374
Cluzzelei - 375
Crazy Puzzles - 376
McDonald Land Guzzle - 377
Infants Hospital - The Magic Line - 379
Krazee Links (a.k.a Endless Chain) - 380
Lost Rope - 381
Drive Ya Nuts - 382
Circus Seven (a.k.a. Mind Exerciser) - 383
Circus Puzzler (a.k.a. Color Matcher) - 384
Color Match - 385
Thinkominos - 386
Match The Colors - 387
Triazzle - 388
Bee - 389
Invisible - 390
Snake Pit - 391
Frog Pond - 392
Tool Trouble - 393
Transposer 6 & Bonbons - 394
Transposer Kaboozle - 395
Tantrix Discovery - 396
Tantrix Extreme - 397
Great Gears - 399
Spectra - 400

Instant Insanity Family
Instant Insanity (a.k.a Katzenjammer, Great Tantalizer, Face-4, ...) - 402
The Grand Army Puzzle - 415
The Allies Flag Puzzle (a.k.a. The Allied Flags Puzzle) - 416
The Allies Flags Puzzle - 417
Tantalizing Ten - 418
Cuss - 419
Iribako - 420
Drives You Crazy - 421
Boer War Puzzle - 422

Other 3D Matching
Bolygok - 424
Double Disaster - 425
Mental Blocks - 426
Disney Cubes - 427
Make A Dice (a.k.a. Spots Puzzle) - 428
Twice Dice - 429
Loony Tunes Blocks - 430
Smarts Pyramid - 431
Smarts PyramidJr - 432
The Rock - 433
Einstein Cube - 434
Rubik Triamid - 435



Other 3D Shape Assembly - 436

Convex Polyhedral Shapes
Two Piece Pyramid (a.k.a. Magic Pyramid) - 437
Three Piece Tetrahedron - 438
Four Piece Pyramid, Version 1 - 439
Four Piece Pyramid, Version 2 - 440
Four Piece Tetrahedron - 441
Truncated Tetrahedron - 442
Five Piece Tetrahedron - 443
Truncated Octahedra - 444
Truncated Cubes - 445
Garnet - 446
Y-Knot - 447

More Complex Polyhedral Shapes
Three Piece Block - 448
Three Boxy - 449
Three Bunnies - 450
118-X - 451
Three Pairs - 452
Augmented Four Corners - 453
Turnabout - 454
Triumph - 455
Fusion Confusion - 456
Rosebud - 457
Twelve Piece Separation - 458
Crystal Pyramid - 461

3D Jig Saw Puzzles
Jig Saw Dog - 462
Wonder Puzzle Block - 463
3x3 Chinese Zigzag - 464
3x4 Chinese Zigzag - 465
Four Piece Jig Saw Puzzle - 466
Wonders Of The World Cube Puzzle - 467

Misc. Shape Assembly
Oskar's Matchboxes - 468
Pin-Hole Puzzle (a.k.a Pegged Puzzle) - 469
Wood Star - 470
Saturn Ring - 471
Rubik's Snake - 472
Yin And Yang - 473
Wooden-Do-It (a.k.a. Cigar puzzle) - 474
Gumball Keychains - 476
Hartley's Humpty Dumpty - 477
Almost Impossible Heart - 478



Rubik's Cube Etc. - 479

Rubik's Cube - The Two That Started It All
Rubik's 2x2x2 Pocket Cube - 480
Rubik's 3x3x3 Cube - 491

More Rubik's Type Cubes
Rubik1x2x2 - 503
Rubik 1x2x5 - 504
Rubik 1x2x9 - 505
Rubik 1x2x13 (a.k.a. Unlucky Twist) - 506
Rubik 1x3x3 Floppy Cube - 507
Rubik1x3x3 Floppy Mirror Cube (a.k.a. Magic Floppy Cube) - 508
Rubik1x3x3 Scramble Cube - 509
Rubik 2x2x2 Bandaged - 510
Rubik 2x2x2 Double Bandaged - 511
Rubik 2x2x2 Nested (a.k.a. Rubik 2x2x2 Super Square) - 512
Rubik 2x2x2 Cubes Fused - 513
Rubik 2x2x3 Tower Cube (a.k.a. Slim Tower, Franken Tower) - 514
Rubik 2x2x4 Tower - 515
Rubik 2x2x4 Nested (a.k.a. Rubik 2x2x4 Super Square) - 516
Rubik 2x2x23 (a.k.a. Overlap Cube) - 517
Rubik 2x3x3 Domino - 518
Rubik2x3x3 Layered - 519
Rubik 2x3x4 - 520
Rubik 2x4x4 (a.k.a. WitEden 2x4x4) - 521
Rubik 3x3x3 Mirror Cube (a.k.a. Mirror Block, Yong Jun Cube) - 522
Rubik3x3x3 Fisher Cube (a.k.a. Square King) - 523
Rubik 3x3x3 Void Cube (a.k.a. Holey Cube) - 524
Rubik 3x3x3 Edges Only (a.k.a. Cornerless Void Cub) - 526
Rubik's 3x3x3 Fourth Dimension - 527
Rubik 3x3x3 Layered - 528
Rubik's 3x3x3 Perpetual Calendar - 529
Rubik 3x3x3 Bandaged (a.k.a. Bicube) - 530
Rubik 3x3x3 Patched (a.k.a. Fused Cube) - 531
Rubik 3x3x3 Brick (a.k.a Brick Cube) - 532
Rubik 3x3x3 Latch Cube - 533
Rubik 3x3x3 Constrained (a.k.a. TomZ / Tom's Constrained Cube) - 534
Rubik 3x3x4 - 535
Rubik 3x3x5 - 536
Rubik 3x3x5 X - 537
Rubik 3x3x5 Cross - 538
Rubik 3x3x9 - 539
Rubik 3x3x9RoadBlock - 540
Rubik 3x4x5 - 541
Rubik 4x4x4 Revenge - 542
Rubik 4x4x4 Patched - 543
Rubik 4x4x4 Brick - 544
Rubik 4x4x5 - 545
Rubik 4x4x6 (a.k.a. TomZ 4x4x6 Cuboid) - 546
Rubik 5x5x5 Professor - 547
Rubik 6x6x6 (a.k.a. V-Cube 6x6x6) - 548
Rubik 7x7x7 (a.k.a. V-Cube 7x7x7) - 549
Large Rubik Cubes - 550
Huge Rubik Cubes - 551

Camouflage Cubes / Evil Cuboids
Camouflage Cube 3x3x3 - 552
Camouflage Cube 3x4x4 - 553
Evil Cuboid 2x3x4 - 554
Evil Cuboid 3x3x3 - 555
Evil Cuboid 3x4x5 - 556

Crazy Cubes
Crazy Cube 2x3x3 - 557
Crazy Cube 3x3x3 - 558
Crazy Cube 3x3x7 (a.k.a. WitEden Super Magic Cube) - 559
Crazy Cube 4x4x4 - 560
Crazy Cube 4x4x4 Two - 561

Gear Cubes
Geared 1x1x4 - 562
Geared 2x2x2 - 563
Geared Mixup - 564
Gear Cube - 565
Gear Cube Extreme - 566
Timur Gear Skewb - 567
Gear Shift - 568

Other Rectangular Shapes
Mixup Cube - 569
Ghost Cube - 570
Pocket Cube - 571
Axel Cube - 572
Skewb - 573
Holey Skewb (a.k.a. Void Skewb) - 575
Golden Cube - 576
Dino Cube (a.k.a. Dinosaur Cube) - 577
Blue Magic (a.k.a. Black Flower Cube, Star Cube, Rex Cube) - 578
Mosaic Cube - 579
Square 1 (a.k.a. Super Cubix, Cube 21) - 580
Helicopter Cube - 588
Curvy Copter - 589

Pyrmid and Diamond Like Shapes
Pyraminx - 590
Pyraminx Duo - 592
Pyraminx Diamond - 593
Jing's Pyraminx (a.k.a. Rounded Halpern-Meier Pyramid) - 594
Crazy Pyraminx (a.k.a. Crazy Tetrahedron Plus) - 595
Gear Pyraminx - 596
Gear Pyraminx2 (a.k.a. Gear Mastermorphix) - 597
Tetraminx - 598
Professor Pyraminx - 599
Vulcano - 600
Megaminx (a.k.a. Supernova) - 601
Holey Megaminx - 602
Crazy Megaminx - 603
Gear Minx - 604
Kilominx (a.k.a. Flowerminx) - 605
Master Kilominx - 606
Gigaminx - 607
Teraminx - 608
Gear Change - 609
Pyraminx Crystal - 610
Helicopter Dodecahedron - 611
Skewb Diamond - 612
Super Skewb Diamond (a.k.a. Diamond Octahedron) - 613
Skewb Ultimate - 614
Skewb Kite - 615
Skewb Fourteen - 616
Pyrastar - 617
Pyramorphix (a.k.a Figurenmatch, Distortion Demon Square) - 618
Starburst (a.k.a. Star of David, Sterns Puzzle) - 619
Mastermorphix (a.k.a. Master Pyramorphinx) - 620
Dinomorphix - 621
Pillow Cube (a.k.a. Cushion Cube) - 622
Enhanced Pillow Cube (a.k.a. Polish Cushion) - 623
Confused Pillow Cube - 624
Hungarian Diamond - 625
Rhombi Diamond (a.k.a. Diamond Style Puzzler) - 626
Octahedron (a.k.a. Magic Octahedron) - 628
Full Octahedron - 629
Flowered Jewel (a.k.a Jewel Puzzler, Christopher's Magic Jewel, ...) - 630
Gear Octahedron (a.k.a. Timur Gear Corner Turning Octahedron) - 631

Disc and UFO Shapes
Rubik's Cheese - 632
Rubik UFO - 633
UFO Cheese - 634
Rubik Cheese Cake - 635
Puck Puzzle (a.k.a Hockey Puck Puzzle) - 636
Saturn - 637
Hungarian UFO (a.k.a. Varia Disk) - 638
Tricky Disky (a.k.a. Tricky Disk, Mind Trapper) - 639
Smart Alex (a.k.a Alpa-2-Go) - 640
Netblock UFO / Sando Ring (a.k.a. King Ring) - 641
Octo (a.k.a. Meeting Colors, Disco Puzzle) - 642
Gerdig UFO - 643
Brain Ball - 644

Sphere Shapes
Rubik 2x2x2 K-Ball - 645
Rubik 3x3x3 Ball - 646
Rubik 3x3x3 Apple - 647
Gear Ball - 648
Master Ball (a.k.a. Duo Master, Geo Master) - 649
Skewb Puzzle Ball (a.k.a Creative Puzzle Ball) - 652
Impossiball - 654
Dogic - 655

Other Shapes
Rubik House (a.k.a. Eight Planets Bermuda Cube) - 656
Time Machine - 657
Rubik Barrel - 658
Cuboctahedron - 659
Rainbow Cube - 660
Rainbow Nautilus - 661
Pentahedron - 662
Pentahedron 5 Layer - 663
Crazy Pentahedron - 664
Dino Star - 666
Alexander's Star - 667
Platypus - 668
Skewb Egg (a.k.a. Golden Egg, Silver Egg, etc.) - 669
Brain Twist - 670
Roundy - 671



Other 3D Manipulation - 672

Panel Puzzles
Rubik Mini Magic Panels (a.k.a Rubik Magic Junior) - 673
Rubik's Magic Panels - 678
Rubik Magic Panels Create The Cube - 686
Rubik's Master Magic Panels - 688
Rubik Magic Cross Panels - 690
Rubik Super Magic Panels - 691

Towers Of Moving Balls Or Tiles
Whip-It Towers (a.k.a. Genius Puzzle) - 693
Varikon Towers - 694
Whip-It Ball - 696
Babylon Towers - 697
Calendar Bank - 698
Thai Tower (a.k.a. Clever Toys Tower) - 699
Numbers Barrel - 700
Missing Link - 701
Reduced Missing Link - 703
Extended Missing Link - 704
Doubled Missing Link - 705
Mini Missing Link - 707

Other Puzzles With Moving Balls or Tiles
Magic Rainbow Ball - 708
Hungarian Globe (a.k.a. Equator Ball, Magic Sphere, IQ Ball) - 709
Bolaris - 711
Magic Sphere - 712
Touchdown - 713
Twister (a.k.a. Wooden Screwball, Clever Toys Natural) - 714
Atomic Chaos (a.k.a. Kaos) - 715
Entrapment - 716
Pakovalec (a.k.a. Stupid Cylinder) - 717
Ten Billion Barrel (a.k.a. Billion Barrel, Tumbler Puzzle) - 718
Russian Revolver (a.k.a. Russian Flower, Russian UFO, Soviet UFO) - 719
Back Spin (a.k.a. Loophole) - 720
Sliding Piece Can Puzzle - 721
Sliding Piece Can Puzzle - 722
Brain Racker - 723
The Orb (a.k.a. Orb-It, l'ORBS) - 724
Rubik's Shells - 725
Astrolabacus - 726

Movement of Pieces by Tilting or Pushing
Varikon Box 2x2x2 - 727
Varikon Box 3x3x3 - 728
Inversion - 729
Peter's Black Hole / Vadasz Cage (a.k.a. Inside Out, Magic Jack, IQ Cube) - 731
Mad Marbles - 732
Dice Box - 733
Clark's Cube - 734
Pionir Box (a.k.a. Pionir Cube) - 735
Rubik Dice - 736

Movement of Discs and Rings
Towers Of Hanoi (a.k.a. Pyramid Piling Puzzle, Rainbow Puzzle, Brahma Puzzle) - 737
Chinese Rings (a.k.a. Cardan's Rings, Baguenaudier) - 740
Spinout - 744
Hexadecimal Puzzle - 745
WanderRings - 749
Panex - 751

Manipulation Of Positioned Balls, Levers, Buttons, Etc.
Cmetrick - 752
Cmetrick Too (Hard) - 753
Planets - 754
SaturnLD - 755
Orbik - 758
Rolling Cubes - 759
Cross Teaser - 760
Rubik's Clock - 761
Cerebral Rings Puzzler - 763
Simultaneous Maze - 764

Misc.
Wisdom Ball (a.k.a. Mind Twister) - 765
SpongeBob PuzzlePants (a.k.a. SpongeBob Cube) - 766
Flip Side - 767
Kabalabda - 768
Rubik's Rabbits (a.k.a. Rubik's Hat) - 769
Enigma - 770
Brain Puzzler - 771



Sliding Pieces and Other 2D Manipulation - 772

Square Pieces
Fifteen Puzzle - 773
Unocando - 821
Sixteen Puzzle - 822
Eight Puzzle (a.k.a. Super Solitaire) - 823
Nine Puzzle - 824
Ditho (a.k.a. Fourteen Puzzle) - 827
Great Fifty Puzzle - 830
Panama Canal Puzzle - 831
Moving Day (a.k.a. a.k.a. 5-Block Puzzle, Lodging House Difficulty) - 835
Bull's-Eye (a.k.a. Bullseye, Target, Zot) - 836
Good Luck - 842
Twenty - 843
Double Trouble Puzzle - 844
Twenty Seven - 845
Scrabble Pocket Puzzle - 847
Thirty One (a.k.a. Jumble) - 848
RO-LET - 850
Cornell Crossword Puzzle - 851
SKOR - 852
ScribeO - 853
LINGO - 854
Missionary Puzzle - 858
Mystic - 859

Square Pieces With Obstacles
Grandpa's Car (a.k.a. Slide-Blocked Sliding Block) - 860
Time Puzzle - 861
Work Or Golf (a.k.a. Motor Garage Puzzle, Parka Car, Sputnik, E Peg Puzzle) - 864
Honor And Glory (a.k.a. Black And White) - 867
One Fish Another Fish - 869

1x2 Pieces and (in most cases) 1x1 pieces
Get My Goat (a.k.a. Kapture The Kron Prinz, Boogie Man, Center Point, ...) - 870
Line Up The Quinties - 876
Johnson City Puzzle - 878
Four Suits 2 - 880
Puzzle Contrast - 881
Sliding Arrow Through The Bottle Puzzle - 882
Slidem WWII Puzzles - 883
Monarch - 887
Sliding Chess Mate 36 - 888
Straight Arrow - 889

Dad's Puzzler Family - 4x5 Trays and Multiple Shapes Rectangular Pieces
Dad's Puzzler (a.k.a. Moving Puzzle, Tit-Bits Teaser 1, Pennant Puzzle, ...) - 890
Dads Puzzler - Humdinger Version - 925
Dad's Puzzler - Exchange Version / Infants' Hospital - 932
Quzzle And Quzzle Killer - 939
Nine Block - 943
Red Donkey, with Simple TJ, Century, Super Century (a.k.a. L'Ane Rouge, ...) - 946
Traffic Jam / Let Me Through - 956
Century and Super-Century - 961
Grand Master With Century And A Half and Little House - 967
Ushi And Ushi-Flipped - 971
Hole In One With Royal Out and King Out - 974
Fence The Cow - 977
Dad's Puzzle Family Set With Fujiwara 15/22/25 and Super Compo - 979

Dad's Puzzler Family With Obstacles and Non-Rectangular Pieces
D209 - 984
Super Dries - 985

Beyond Dad's Puzzler Family
Sunbeams Rainbow Puzzle - 986
Infants Hospital Puzzle (a.k.a. Infants Progress Puzzle) - 987
Trans-Atlantic (a.k.a. Ten Block Puzzle, Traffic Cop Tangle) - 989
Happy Couple (with Ten Block and The Hughes Puzzle) - 991
Flying Puzzle (a.k.a. Starry Puzzler, Tit-Bits Teaser No. 2, Ching Foo, ...) - 997
Technocracy - 1007
George Washington Puzzle - 1008
Presidential Puzzle - 1011
Tit Bits Teaser No. 5 - 1013
Century Of Progress (a.k.a. South Pole Expedition) - 1018
Sliding Block Puzzle (a.k.a. Fifteen Block Puzzle, 1-2-3 Puzzle, ...) - 1020
Slide A While & Model Garage - 1025
Tokyo Parking / Rush Hour - 1030
Adam & Eve (a.k.a. Comic Scramble Game) - 1034
RunAway II - 1036
Neo Pink And Blue - 1038

Further Beyond Dad's Puzzler Family - Non-Rectangular Shapes
Ma's Puzzle (a.k.a. Spirit of '76, Wooden Puzzle, Rectangle Puzzle) - 1041
Dad's and Ma's Stumbling Blocks (a.k.a. Dad's Puzzler + Ma's Puzzle) - 1048
Mini Ma - 1049
Traffic Jam Puzzle (a.k.a. Tit-Bits Teaser No. 4) - 1050
Triple Tango - 1057
Clouds And Sheep - 1058
Slider (a.k.a. Hole In One) - 1059
Heart-In - 1060
Soap - 1061
Block Ten - 1062
Stumbling Block - 1068
I Want You - 1070
Neo Black And White - 1072
Kuroko And Dairu - 1077
Dinosaur Egg (a.k.a. Egg Puzzle) - 1078
Solo - 1079
Angel And Satan - 1080
Dog And Cat - 1081
Two Sliding Squares - 1082

Sliding Pieces Non-Standard Movement - layers, capture movement, rotations, etc.
Get My Sheep - 1083
Two Eggs - 1085
Sliding Cross - 1095
Football Match - 1104
Sliding Three - 1107
Neo Slide-9 - 1108
RunAway - 1110
Trap - 1112
Tricky - 1120
Two Dogs - 1128
Stacking Cups - 1131
Train Puzzle - 1138
Dustin Puzzle - 1139
Who's The Boss - 1140
Easy - 1146
Easy 1989 - 1148

Movement of Buttons, Balls, Numbers, etc.
New Fifteen Puzzle - 1150
Perplexity Puzzles (Perplexity, Automobile, This is Jonah, Panama Canal) - 1151
One To Ten - 1152
Good Luck Railroad Puzzle Game - 1153
Rotos - 1154
Puzzler Novice / Challenge / Avenger (a.k.a. Turnstile, Twinspin, ...) - 1155
Rotascope (a.k.a. Taquinoscope) - 1156
Hungarian Rings - 1158
Hungarian Rings Triple - 1159
Hungarian Rings Quad - 1160
Hungarian Olympic Rings - 1161
One Circle Two Circles - 1162
Billiards - 1163
Billiards 9-Ball - 1164
Flower - 1165
Trio - 1166
Trio 2 - 1167
Butterfly - 1168
Subway Shuffle - 1169

Movement of Tokens
Eight Peg Puzzle - 1175
TeeZ / Brain Buster - 1176
Peg Puzzle - 1177
Hopper (a.k.a. Downsize) - 1178

Mechanically Assisted Sliding Pieces
Top Spin / No. Crunch - 1180
Line Art - 1181
Colour Match - 1182
Magic Cross (a.k.a. Zauberkreuz) - 1183
Rubik's XV (a.k.a. Rubik's Fifteen) - 1184
Tsukuda's Square (a.k.a. It, 4x4 Four By Four Puzzle) - 1185
Uriblock (a.k.a. Mix Box) - 1186
Trillion - 1187
Port To Port And Triple Cross - 1189
Switch Back - 1193
SwissMad - 1194
Modern Times - 1195
Mad Triad Challenge (Twisting Tri-Side Puzzle) - 1196
Mad Triad Handy (Twisting Tri-Side Puzzle) - 1197
La Cerradura Doble - 1198
Elemental Neon - 1199
Fluorine - 1201
SF PP STAR 29 - 1202



String and Wire Puzzles - 1203

Move or Remove a Ring
Horse Shoes - 1204
Ball And Ring (a.k.a. Ball And Chain) - 1205
Moving Rings (a.k.a. Moving Beads, Tiger Cross, Wizzard Wedding Ring) - 1206
Wits End - 1207
Single Loop Wit's End - 1209
Loop Trap - 1210
Parallel Dimension - 1211

Disengage Two Pieces
Nails - 1212
Wire U's - 1213
Wire P's - 1214
Wire Heart - 1215
Cast Ring - 1216
Vortex - 1217
Simple Knot 47091 - 1218
EZ Atom 47092 - 1219
Lucky Clover - 1220

Misc.
Rod and Loop - 1221
Hide The Knots - 1222



Other Puzzles - 1223

Mechanicl Challenges
TakitaparT (a.k.a Take It Apart) - 1224
Double Puzzle - 1225
Rook Puzzle - 1226
Bolt And Ball - 1227
Spark Plug Puzzle (a.k.a. Bougie, Get Charged) - 1228
Cage Puzzle - 1229
Drive The USA - 1230
Screwball - 1231
Magic Chalice - 1232

Dexterity Puzzles
Abercrombie & Fitch Dexterity Puzzles - 1233
A Ward In The Infant's Hospital (a.k.a. The Little Patients Puzzle) - 1234
ElsieCow - 1235
Reiss Style 393 - 1236
Crazy Maze - 1237
Metro - 1238
Perplexus - 1239

Brain Teasers
What's Your Age - 1240

Jigsaw Puzzles
Infants Hospital Jigsaw Puzzle - 1241

Puzzle Boxes
Parrot Box - 1242
Spin Box - 1243
Coffin's Double Play X-48 - 1244
Stickman Fulcrum Box - 1245
Pirate's Wallet Box (a.k.a. Stickman No. 27) - 1246
Stickman Grandfather Clock - 1255



Games - 1261
Goblet - 1262
Quixo - 1265
Quarto - 1266
Othello - 1267
Nine Mens Morris (a.k.a. Mill, Muhle, Merelles / Merilles, Mulino) - 1268
Tablut - 1270
Senet - 1272
Nannon (a.k.a. Nano Backgammon) - 1276
Make Numbers - 1277



Books - 1278

Hoffmann Related Books
Hoffmann's Puzzles Old and New (1893) - 1279
Hordern's Edition Of The Hoffmann Book (1993) - 1285
Het Puzzle-Boek (1900) - 1286
Hoffmann Posthumous Books (1925) - 1287
Hoffmann's Best Math Book (2007) - 1288
Hoffmann Patience Games Book (1892) - 1289
Hoffmann's Magic Trilogy Books (1920) - 1290
Hoffmann Study Book (1977) - 1291

Other Books from Before 1960
Robert Merry's Books Of Puzzles 1-3 (1866) - 1292
Excursions Into Puzzledom (1879) - 1294
Everybody's Puzzle Book (1890) - 1295
Richter Company U.S. Brochure (early 1900's) - 1296
New Book Of 200 Puzzles (1908) - 1303
Dudeney Books (1920's) - 1304
Dudeney Posthumous Books - 1305
Sam Loyd's Cyclopedia Of Puzzles (1914) - 1306
Sam Loyd and His Puzzles (1928) - 1307
Wyatt's 1928 and 1946 Books - 1308
Johnson Smith Catalog (reprinted from 1929) - 1309
Hirschberg Book (1930) - 1310
I-X-L Puzzle Book (1938) - 1311
Filipiak Book (1942) - 1312
Everythings A Puzzle (1953) - 1313

Books 1960 - 1999
Bell's History of Board Games (1960) - 1314
Murray's History of Board Games (1978) - 1315
Delft And Botermans Book (1978) - 1316
Winning Ways Books (1982) - 1317
Hordern's Sliding Puzzle Book (1986) - 1318
Slocum and Botermans Books (1986) - 1319
Cutler's 6-Piece Burr Books (1986) - 1320
The Mathematics Of Games (1989) - 1321
Coffin's Book On Polyhedral Dissections (1990) - 1322
Coffin's Puzzle Craft Books (1992) - 1323
The Puzzle Archade (1996) - 1324
Gabarchuk's Sliding Block Puzzle Book (1996) - 1325
Frederickson's Dissections Book (1997) - 1326
G4G Tributes To Martin Gardner (1999) - 1327

Books 2000 - present
The Follette Puzzle Design Book (2001) - 1328
The Tangram Book (2003) - 1329
Haubrich's Checkerboard Puzzles (2005) - 1330
The Fifteen Book (2006) - 1331
A Visual History of The S.S. Adams Co. (2006) - 1332
The Self and Lensch Puzzle Design Book (2006) - 1333
Boardman's Puzzle Projects Book (2007) - 1334
The Cube Book (2009) - 1335
Hess Mathlete Book (2009) - 1336
Diaconis and Graham Book (2012) - 1337
Stickman Book (2012) - 1338
The Anchor Puzzle Book (2012) - 1340
Coffin's AP-ART Book - 1342

--- 23 --- Burrs

Pieces are formed by removing unit cubes from rectilinear solid pieces. A burr is notchable if it can be made with just straight cuts. Some burrs have a "key" piece that slides out. More complex ones have a number of internal voids (called holes), where removing the first piece may require sliding several pieces. An assembly of a burr is a solved shape. An assembly is a solution if it can be achieved by starting with the pieces apart and making legal moves. The level of a solution is the minimum number of moves required to remove the first piece (or separate the puzzle into two parts). The level of a burr is the lowest level of its solutions. Note that to compute level, we use Cutler's definition, where the movement of several pieces together, or the consecutive movement of pieces in the same direction, counts as a single "move". Burr level can be expressed with more than one number; e.g., 3.7.2 means 3 moves to remove the first piece, 7 moves to remove the second piece, and 2 moves to remove the third piece.

--- 24 --- Standard Six Piece Burrs

The most well known burr is the standard 6 piece burr, with 2 x 2 x 6 unit pieces (or sometimes 2 x 2 x 8). For example, the figure above shows Coffin's Improved Burr, which requires 3 moves to remove the first piece (letters show how pieces fit, numbers indicate an order in which they can be disassembled).

The number of holes in a standard 6-piece burr:

• Volume of six solid pieces = 6 x 24 = 144 (or 192 for 2x2x8 pieces).
  
• Volume of a solid burr = 24+24+16+16+12+12 = 104 (or 152 for 2x2x8 pieces).
  
• Volume difference = 40.
  
• Holes = (total number of unit cubes removed from the six pieces) - 40.

Standard 6-piece burr records, from the computer work of Bill Cutler:

• Highest level for unique solution with 3 holes = 7.
• Highest level for unique solution with 4 holes = 8.
• Highest level for unique solution with 5 holes = 9.
• Highest level with a unique solution (uses 7 holes) = 10.
• There are no standard 6-piece burrs of level 11.
• Highest possible level (its the only one, but has non-unique solution) = 12.
• Highest level for unique notchable (has 7 holes) = 5.
• Highest level for notchable with non-unique solution = 10.

--- 25 --- Interesting Issues For Burrs

Questions and generalizations for 6-piece burrs:

• Highest level when fractional moves may be made.
  
• Highest level when rotations may be made.
  
• Non-rectangular cuts.
  
• Solutions that have exposed holes.
  
• Ball bearings inside.
  
• Solutions where the additional moves to remove the second piece require more moves than the first.
  
• Etc.

Other Types of Burrs:
Non-standard 6-piece burrs have six pieces but don't adhere to standard construction rules. Burrs in the theme of the standard 6-piece burrs but with more pieces can be very hard, and more pieces combined with non-standard types of constructions can derail approaches that you have worked out for standard constructions. Finally, burrs with fewer than six pieces can be quite fun. The most well known are 3 piece "knots" that fit together in a simple but not at first apparent way. Some three piece knot variations require unusual twists or diagonal motions as well. Burrs in the theme of the standard 6-piece burrs with as few as 3 pieces can be quite difficult (e.g., the Cuter Level 8 GigaBurr).

--- 26 --- Burr History

The basic idea of a burr seems quite old. The 1893 Hoffman book presents a wood knot as "Cross Keys" and a 6-piece burr as "The Nut". The 1929 Johnson and Smith Catalog, on pages 254-255, shows a 6-piece burr, a two burr stick, and related wood puzzles. The Puzzlers' Tribute book, on page 260 cites a 6-piece burr called the Devil's Hoof and a 24-piece burr called the Large Devil's Hoof in a Catel's catalogue of 1785, and credits David Singmaster as having found an example of a 6-piece burr in a 1733 Spanish book by Pablo Minguet E. Irol; also, on page 262 it credits the Mikado Puzzle as shown in the 1915 C. J. Felsman Catalogue.



The Slocum and Botermans New Book of Puzzles on page 52 discusses the Spears Puzzle knots manufactured in Bavaria in 1910 and marketed in England; it is also mentioned that six piece burrs appeared in Bestelmeier's 1803 Toy Catalog.

--- 27 --- Classic Burrs

The 1942 Filipiak book has a substantial discussion of burr puzzles; here are figures it shows of a 3-piece wooden knot, a 6-piece burr, and a 6-piece burr set:

--- 28 --- Burr Patents

There have been many burr patents; for example, here are the figures from the 1890 Altekruse and 1917 Brown patents:

--- 29 --- Some Burr Patents

Chandler Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 393,816
Altekruse Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 430,502
Porter Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 524,212
Nelson Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 588,705
Ford Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 779,121
Curtis Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 781,050
Erickson Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 985,253
Banic Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 1,099,159
Brown Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 1,225,760
Keiser Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 1,261,242
Senyk Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 1,350,039
Schenk Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 1,455,009
Kramariuk Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 1,542,148
Turner Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 2,836,421
Pidgeon Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 4,148,489
Derouin Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 4,880,238
Dykstra Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 5,040,797

Rob's Puzzle Page, from: http://home.comcast.net/~stegmann/interlocking.htm
Cutler's Holey 6PB Booklet, from: http://home.comcast.net/~billcutler/docs/H6PB/index.html
Cutler's Computer Analysis, from: http://home.comcast.net/~billcutler/docs/CA6PB/index.html
IBM Burr Page, from: http://www.research.ibm.com/BurrPuzzles
Curfs' Page, from: http://home.tiscali.nl/~bcurfs/homepage/burrs/burrs-e.htm
Math Games Page, from: http://www.maa.org/editorial/mathgames/mathgames_08_02_04.html
Wikipedia Burr Page, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burr_puzzle
Mathematische Basteleien Page, from: http://www.mathematische-basteleien.de/devilsknot.htm
Mr. Puzzle Page, from: http://www.mrpuzzle.com.au/category129_1.htm
Source Forge Page, from: http://burrtools.sourceforge.net/gui-doc/BurrDesignTools.html

Interlocking Puzzles, circa 2000. (3 wood pieces, 2.75")

Daniel C. Alsmeyer 2006, Sabriday Puzzles. (3 wood pieces, 3")

"Triple Cross", Puzzles & BT 2006. (3 wood pieces, 3.2")

Three examples of the wood knot that was patented by M. P. Rao in 1980. Here are the directions that were sold with the Sabriday version:



Further reading:
Rao Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 4,198,053

a.k.a. Three Piece Puzzle
Purchesed from Puzzles and Brain teasers Ebay Store 2006.
(three wood pieces, 3.75 inches;
described on pages 106 and 139 of the 1983 Hoffmann book)

Designed and made by Interlocking Puzzles, circa 2000.
(walnut, paduk, and hard maple, 3 inches square)

Unlike the common three piece wood knot, there are no identical pieces:

Designed by Oskar Van Deventer, purchased from Bits And Pieces, 2008.
(metal, 1.4 inches)

Here are photographs of the three pieces being disassembled:


Here is the solution sheet that was sold with the puzzle:

Designed by Oskar van Deventer 1983.
Made by Tom Lensch.
Sold by Cubic Dissection 2005.
(three wood pieces and solution figures, 3 inches)

Designed by Ronald Kint-Bruynseels, made by Eric Fuller 2006, Level 8.
(wood, 3 inches)

Here are the 8 assembly steps:

Designed by Wilhelm Segerblom in the late 1800's.
(three wood pieces, 2.25 inches)

The IBM Burr page cites the April 1899 issue of Scientific American as publishing this puzzle. Three identical pieces each have outer dimensions 2 by 2 by 6 units. Each has all of the center 2 by 2 by 2 portion removed except for a 1 by 1 by 2 rod that is beveled at 45 degrees (a total of 7 units of wood has been removed from each piece). To assemble, all three pieces have to be slid together simultaneously (an outside surface of the rod slides perpendicular to one piece while the beveled surface slides over the corner of another). It is not possible to put two pieces together and then slide the third one in. The figure below shows the three identical pieces in the orientation to be put together.



Further reading:
IBM Burr Page, from: http://www.research.ibm.com/BurrPuzzles/

Designed by R. Stanton, made by E. Fuller 2008.
(Curly Maple, 3 inches)

Three identical piece slide together simultaneously to make a 3-dimensional cross.

Assembly: Hold one piece vertically and determine how a second piece fits (there are only a few possibilities; look for the one where two faces sit nicely together), then carefully slide it out and put that piece down on the table without disturbing its orientation, then do the same for the third piece. Now that you have determined the orientation of the three pieces, hold them in their orientations so that they are just on the verge of engaging, line everything up, and then just squeeze the three together.

Disassembly: Randomly jiggle and push on the pieces until you can get it to come apart just a bit. You can keep doing this until the puzzle comes apart, but as it comes apart a bit you should be able to find the right way to hold on to and push two of the pieces so that the puzzle slides apart, and you can just push and pull to make it expand and contract, where the third piece is being controlled by the movement of the other two that you are holding.

Here are two views of the puzzle in a partially expanded state:

Designed by Dic Sonneveld, made by Tom Lensch, circa 1990.
(Walnut, 2.25 inches)

Three identical pieces come apart in simultaneous motion:

Designed by Jim Gooch,
made by Eric Fuller,
purchased from www.cubicdissection.com.
(three wood pieces, 2.9 inches)

At first this appears to be a three piece burr made with excess play in the fit. However, the extra play is just enough so that these three identical pieces come apart with a non-rectilinear movement.

Designed by J. Krijnen, made by E. Fuller 2008, unique level 7.
(Quilted Sapelle, 3 inches)

Here are steps ito dissassemble:

Designed by O. Yamamoto, made E. Fuller 2008, unique level 4 with a twist.
(Walnut, 3 inches)

Here are steps ito dissassemble (there are two photos for the second step, which is a twist):

Designed by T. Jolly, made by E. Fuller and sold by Cubic Dissection 2008, level 6.
(Bloodwood, Wenge, Holly, 3 inches)

When assembled, one can look through the center holes in any of the three directions. Here are photographs of the six steps to disassemble, where step 2 is a twist:

Designed by Bill Cutler 1999, made by Jerry McFarland, level 8.
(left: GigaBurr -Walnut, 2.2 inches; right: GigaBurr II - Cherry, 2.2 inches)

The 250 billion puzzles of this type were enumerated with a computer by Bill Cutler. The highest level (moves to remove the first piece) was 8, of which there were 80 different puzzles, where only 3 had only 9 internal voids. Two of these are the GigaBurr and GigaBurr II, and the third is a symmetric version of the GigaBurr II. To solve, two pieces can go together only one way, and then visualize the third piece in its final position to determine how to get it in and out. Here are photos of solving (the third sequence shows the symmetric GigaBurr-2 made by someone else):

Designed and made by Bill Cutler and Jerry McFarland 2001, level 6.
(left: Poplar / Walnut, 2.2 inches;
right: Cherry / Walnut / Wenge, 2.2 inches)

The basic design of the 3-piece GigaBurr and GigaBurr-2 was expanded to a 5x5x5 cube by gluing on edge and corner pieces. Cutler's computer search yielded three basic level 6 puzzles, of which these are two.

Designed by Bill Cutler.
(Walnut, 3.5 inches)

Four irregular shaped pieces and two ball bearings, which when assembled, look like a 6-piece burr. Falls apart easily.

Designed by Jim Gooch, made by Eric Fuller, level 9.
(Pau Amerillo / Wenge / Bocote, 3 inches)

The pieces consist of a "block", two identical "rods" in symmetric orientations, and two identical "plates" in symmetric orientations. Orientate the puzzle as shown on the left below (the right rod will drop down as shown if the puzzle is not too tight), exchange the plates by passing them through each other, then the right plate (which was the left plate) can be twisted (in two ways) and removed (or without twisting it can be slid out together with the right rod).

Designed by William Hu, made by Eric Fuller, 2014.
(4 pieces, White Oak, Chakte Viga, 2" x 2" x 3")

This is what the puzzler maker says about the puzzle:

"This seemingly simple puzzle uses a very interesting and difficult type of rotation. Ultra tricky and not like anything I've tried before. Level nine and fun...watch out, this one will have you pulling your hair out! Construction was tricky...the solid side spine and endgrain key pieces were fun to make, but very labor intensive. Fit is excellent; may be difficult to solve in highly humid environments due to the very close tolerances involved."

At first it looks like there is no way for it to come apart. If we number the pieces 1, 2, 3, 4 going from left to right, the trick to dissassembly is to tilt piece three and rotate piece two 90 degrees (clockwise as you look through the puzzle from left to right). The puzzle generally has a nice loose fit, but it is a tight fit at the point of the rotation.

Designed byStewart Coffin, purchased from Cubic Dissection circa 2006.
(five wood pieces, 3.5 inches)

The 5 pieces give the appearence of four sets of two. The solution is not unique.

Old design, level 1, no holes, notchable.
(six wood pieces, 3 inches)

The basic idea of level 1 with a key piece is described on pages 106 and 139-140 of the 1983 Hoffmann book. This one is even simpler. Pieces 1, 2, and 3 are identical, pieces 4 and 5 are identical, and piece 6 is a simple solid "key" piece that comes out first.

1.	2.	3.
4.	5.	6.

Assembly:

1. Place pieces 1 and 2 together to form an empty rectangle shape.
2. Lay piece 3 in the bottom of the empty rectangle.
3. Place pieces 4 and 5 on either side.
4. Slide in piece 6.

Made in Indonesia 2004. (wood, 3 inches)	Made in Indonesia 2004. (wood, 3.2 inches)
Purchased in the 1970's. (plastic, 2.5 inches)

a.k.a. Double Cross
Made in Japan, circa 1930?, level 1, no holes.
(six wood pieces, each 5/16 inches square by 2.4 inches long)

Another example of a Simple 6-piece Burr. Also in the theme of pages 106 and 139-140 of the 1983 Hoffmann book, but also simpler. Two identical pieces form an empty rectangle, a double notched piece goes in the bottom, two identical pieces go on each side, and the key piece slides in:

Old design, level 1, no holes, notchable., circa 1960s-1980s??
(six aluminum pieces in a cardboard box, 2+3/8" x 2+3/8" x 1/2";
directions on the back of the box are shown above)

"Made by U.N. Co. N. Y.", circa 1920?, level 1, no holes, notchable, 2x2x8 pieces.
(cardboard box, 3.2 by 2.2 by 5/8 inches, and six 1/2" x 1/2" x 2" wood pieces)

Along wth the Yamato Block Puzzle, this puzzle is discussed on page 262 of the Puzzlers' Tribute Book in a chapter by Jerry Slocum and Rik van Grol on antique Japanese export puzzles. They show a picture from the 1915 C. J. Felsman Catalog of a Mikado puzzle saying "A problem of problems ...", and note that the sililar language here, "The puzzle of puzzles ...", is further evidence that although it says NY, it may in fact be a Japanese import. Here is what is on the cover and the inside of the cover:

"Made by U.N. Co. N. Y.", circa 1920?, level 1, no holes, notchable, 2x2x8 pieces.
(cardboard box, 3.2 by 2.2 by 5/8 inches, and six 1/2" x 1/2" x 2" wood pieces)

Along wth the Mikado Block Puzzle, this puzzle is discussed on page 262 of the Puzzlers' Tribute Book in a chapter by Jerry Slocum and Rik van Grol on antique Japanese export puzzles. Here is the solution sheet that came with it and a photo of another one of these puzzles where someone has labeled the pieces:

Made in Germany, level 1, circa 1940's?
(six wood rods, 3/8" square by 2+3/8" long, with solution sheet, in cardboard box)

"Pheno-Caffein Co.,Worchester, MA, circa 1910.
(wood, 2.1 inches)

The Pheno-Caffein Co. also made the Sectional Checkerboard Puzzle, and like that puzzle, one could obtain a solution:

Designed by Stewart Coffin level 3, 3 holes.
(six wood pieces, 3.5 inches)

Designed and made by Bill Cutler 1984, unique level 5, 7 holes.
(Red Oak, 3 inches; 24 assemblies with a unique solution)

Discovered (by computer) and made by B. Cutler 1987, unique level 5, 7 holes.
(Mahogany, 3 inches)

Discovered (by computer) and made by B. Cutler 1988, unique level 7, 3 holes.
(Cherry, 3 inches)

Discovered (by computer) and made by B. Cutler 1988, unique level 8, 4 holes.
(Maple, 3 inches)

Designed by B. Cutler, made J. McFarland 2009, unique level 8, 7 holes.
(Maple / Walnut / Cherry, 2.8 inches)

Here are the first six steps:




Now the leftmost piece can be lifted up and out:

Discovered (by computer) and made by B. Cutler 1988, unique level 9, 5 holes.
(Walnut, 3.5 inches)

Designed by P. Marineau, made by J. McFarland 1986, unique level 9, 7 holes.
(Walnut, 3 inches)

Designed by Bill Cutler 1990, unique level 10, 7 holes.
(Mahogany, 3.5 inches)

One of 18 similar unique level 10 burrs discovered by Bill Cutler with a computer program. It can be disassembled by moving (1) C /E forward 1 unit, (2) F up 2 units, (3) A back one unit, (4) D /F right 1 unit, (5) F down 2 units, (6) F forward 1 init, (7) D left 1 unit, (8) A/E back one unit, (9) B/C/F right one unit, (10) B down one unit. Note that some would consider this 11 moves since for "move" 8, both A and E can move back without dragging the other. To assemble, rather than inserting B into the pieces appropriately oriented, it may be easier to orientate things with CD facing up, and hold A/D/E (appropriately positioned) in your left hand and B/C/F (appropriately positioned) in your right hand to perform steps 10 and 9.

Discovered (by computer) and made by B. Cutler 1987, level 10, 9 holes, notchable.
(Maple, 3.6 inches)

Non-unique with solutions below level 10, but made to be unique level 10 by drawing diagonal lines on the pieces that must form a loop around the puzzle when solved.

Designed by Brian Young, made by Mr. Puzzle Australia, level 10, 8 holes.
(4.7 inches)

Unique Level 10 solution. One more hole than Computer's Choice Unique-10, with 20 assemblies instead of 7. Here is the solution that was sold with it:

Designed by Bruce Love 1987, made by Bill Cutler, level 12, 9 holes.
(Maple, 3 inches)

According to Bruno Curfs' page, Love's dozen has 89 solutions ranging from Level 3 to one of the solutions being level 12; this puzzle made by Bill Cutler has a big D drawn on a pair of the ends that forces the level 12 solution.



Further Reading
Curfs' Page, from: http://home.tiscali.nl/~bcurfs/homepage/burrs/burrs-e.htm

Designed and made by Bill Cutler; can't be disassembled.
(Red Oak, 4.5 inches)

From his computer analysis, Cutler determined that 139 was the largest number of states that a standard 6 piece burr could have without having a solution, and then he chose the simplist of these for this puzzle. So this burr is made to the dimensions of a normal 6-piece burr, has lots of movement, but can't be disassembled (it was made by gluing two portions of a piece together during assembly).

Purchased from Mr. Puzzle Australia 2006, level 1, no holes.
(six wood pieces, 3.5 inches)

Mr. Puzzle Australia credits this puzzle as being sold as early as 1875, and as having been sold under a number of names, including the Cluster, the Gem Cut Puzzle, the Chestnut Burr, and the Snowflake. When assembled it looks like a standard version of the Simple Six Piece Burr (where pieces have a diamond cross section). However, it actually is composed of six identical pieces where two assemblies of three slide together.

Made in Japan circa 1930?, level 1.
(cardboard box and 6 wood pieces, 3.75 inches;
box cover similar to other vintage Japanese exports like the Yamato Puzzle)

Made in Japan circa 1930?, level 1.
(cardboard box and 6 wood pieces, 3 inches;
box cover similar to other vintage Japanese exports like the Yamato Puzzle)

Here is the solution sheet that came with it:

Designed by Bill Cutler 1965, purchased circa 2000, level 1.
(six wood pieces, 3.5 inches)

Six identical pieces with some angled internal cuts that slide apart simultaneously.

Discovered (with a computer) and made by Bill Cutler 1989, level 5, 7 holes.
(Maple, 3.5 inches)

A programmer's nightmare because disassembly requires a twist. Move F up 1/2 unit, rotate A 90 degrees, move A up (pulling F with it by 1/2 unit), move D up, slide D out. Note that although the 1/2 move is needed theoretically, there is enough play in the puzzle that F can initially be moved up a full unit (this does not change the level since A has to be moved up in any case). This puzzle is hard for a person too, because according to Cutler's computer analysis, there are 102 assemblies (ways these pieces can exist in space in the solved shape) with only this one solution (the only way that is achievable starting with the pieces apart).

Designed and Made by Bill Cutler 1994, level 7, 4 holes, notchable.
(Cherry, 2.25 inches)

Bill Cutler credits Stewart Coffin with the idea of making burrs with slanted pieces in a way that restricts the number of possible assemblies. Cutler then found a non-unique level 7 burr from his computer analysis which became unique when made with slanted pieces. Slide F forward, slide E left (pulling D with it), slide E forward, push D right, slide F back, slide F right, remove A:

Designed by Bill Cutler.
(Walnut, 3 inches)

Slide F back and then remove the three pieces A, C , E simultaneously by expanding them out to the upper left:

Designed by Bill Cutler1986, spin + level 3.
(Red Oak with two steel ball bearings, 3.5 inches)

Spin the puzzle in the orientation shown (around the axis defined by E and F) to position the balls, and then the two halves A,C,F and B,D,E can slide apart with three moves:

Designed by Gregory Benedetti, made by Maurice Vicourouz 2012.
(Purple Heart, 3.25 inches)

Pieces are a small cube trapped in the center, three identical "simple pieces", and three identical "complex" pieces. Assembly is relatively easy, where the three complex pieces and the cube are put compactly together as shown on the left in the figure below (rubber bands keep them together for the photo) and then the three simple pieces slide simultaneously over the exposed corner:



Disassembly requires simultaneous motion to move the three complex pieces together into the "key position" shown on the left below. One first has to identify which three are the complex pieces and then carefully jiggle and push to get all three to push in flush. In the middle is this position lit up from the back (where the serial number of the lower in-out piece can be seen), and on the right is shown the top three pieces coming apart simultaneously. The puzzle's name comes from the fact that when you don't know what is inside this puzzle, disassembly may be achieved by accident when randomly shaking and pulling on the puzzle.

Designed by Matti Linola, made by Eric Fuller 2010.
(Yellowheart and Wenge, 3 inches)

Once one sees how to solve the three piece burr formed by the light colored pieces, the dark pieces don't change the puzzle very much, but the construction and fit is terrific.

To solve:

1. Take out the dark pieces, to first solve the 3-piece burr.
2. Start with the simple U shaped piece and see that because each piece has to slide over one of the other two, there is only one way the other two can go, and then assemble the three pieces.
3. Now look down each end, and it can be seen that there is only one way the dark pieces could possibly fit.
4. Then take apart the three light pieces, insert the dark pieces, and push everything back together, moving the dark pieces in and out as needed.

Here are photos of the assembly progressing:

Designed by Frans de Vreugd 2005, purchased from Mr. Puzzle Australia.
level 5, 3 hole, notchable, six 2x2x6 pieces with end caps.
(Queensland Silver Ash with Queensland Blackbean ends, 3.125")

A variation of the standard 6 piece burr where end caps have been added to the pieces; highest level for this type of burr with notchable pieces. Here is a diagram of the puzzle and the pieces (numbers are the order they can be removed):

Designed by Stewart Coffin, made and sold by Interlocking Puzzles 2000.
(wood, 2.6 inches)

A variation of the 1890 Altekruse burr with pins and holes for some of the notches; described in the Coffin Book. Disassembly is by sliding apart the two halves of the puzzle; here are photos of the halves coming apart and three pieces removed:

Designed by Frans de Vreugd, purchased from Bits and Pieces 2007, level 6.
(wood, 3.75 inches)

Designed by Stewart Coffin (design number 105)
Sold in 2006 by Cubic Dissection (www.cubicdissection.com)
(left Bocote / right Cocobola, both 3.25 inches)

Can be solved in two ways using the same pieces; the left above is solved using coordinate motion (all pieces moving together at the same time), and the right above is solved by halving two halves that slide together. The hardest part is trying to visualize what it should look like together once it is apart. Here is what the two solutions look like when starting to come apart:

Designed by Stewart Coffin, Made by Eric Fuller 2012.
(Canarywood, a 13/16" cube and 6 pieces 3" long by 13/16" square)

The six pieces assemble with coordinated motion into a standard 6-piece burr shape with the cube trapped in the middle. I found the maniputlation of these pieces a bit unpleasant and gave up (at least for the moment - it would have probably felt better if I had solved it). Here is the description quoted from the puzzle maker's page:

"This puzzle was Jarry Slocum's exchange puzzle at IPP18. I was recently visiting a puzzle friend and saw it on the shelves. Spent some time working with it and finally solved it... HAD to make it. Since John Rausch did such a nice job writing up a description on his site, I think I'll plagarize from it directly:

"Four of the six pieces have diagonal notches on both sides of the large, simple notch. Two pieces have them on only one side. Normally, a six-piece burr consisting only of pieces with a single, large, simple notch could not be assembled. With the diagonal notches described, it becomes a coordinate motion puzzle - a difficult one! Number 129a in Stewart's numbering system. He made 100 in 1998."

I have modified the design a little bit based on Nick Baxters advice - instead of two pieces having only one notch, one piece does (leaving the other five with double notches). After some experimentation I felt that this configuration was the trickiest, and really made the solver grasp the concept behind the puzzle. Finaly, this puzzle is by nature very loose when solved. It's just a function of the notch location. I hate loose puzzles, so I included a 7th piece, which is an internal cube with magnets. This doesn't really add to the assembly, but it keeps the puzzle nicely together once solved. Happily it also makes the puzzle much more difficult to disassemble!"

a.k.a. Triple Play
Purchased from Bits and Pieces 2007.
(wood, 3 inches)

Looks like three pieces but is actually a level 1 non-standard 6 piece burr (six pieces (three light wood and three dark wood pieces). Here is the solution that came with the puzzle:

Designed by F. Potts, made by E. Fuller 2008, purchased from Cubic Dissection.
(Walnut and Maple, 3 inches)

Six pieces with magnetic tips assemble to look like a three piece burr (e.g., Just The Three). The pieces are all identical; here are photos of different views of them:


Here are photos of pulling apart the whole assembly and an assembly of four:


The solution is almost as much of a dexterity puzzle as a logic puzzle, where there is only one way to put two together that will lead to a solution, then it is easy to spread them apart and put in the next two, then harder to spread apart the four to get in the fifth, and then after pushing everything back together, a bit tricky with only two hands to get in the sixth piece. Here is a photo of the assembly of four with the two remaining pieces still to be put in:

Designed by Gregory Benedetti, made by Eric Fuller 2011.
(Acrylic, Yellowheart, 2.25 inches)

Here is what the puzzle maker said about this puzzle in the sale listing:

"Reminiscent of Padaung Rings, this nifty little pocket puzzle is a lot of fun to solve. With a level 14.4.2 it's tricky but not impossible ... once you get the correct alignment and piece selection, it flows fairly quickly."

Copyright ThinkFun 2010.
(plastic, 2.75 inches square)

Comes with a solution booklet that has 37 steps to disassemble reading forward and 37 steps to assemble by flipping over the booklet and reading in the other direction.

Further Reading
Booklet pages.

Designed by Chi-Ren Chen, made by Eric Fuller 2012, unique level 2.
(Walnut, Ash, American Mahogany, 3")

Designed (with a computer) by Bill Cutler and Frans de Vreugd 2001, level 13
(Hard Maple and Jatoba, 2.25 inches)

Two 1x4x6 pieces in each dimension. Making top dark wood and the bottom light wood makes the level 13 solution unique. The number of "holes" (internal voids) is 13 because the volume of assembled shape if it was solid is 104, and adding up the volume of the six pieces gives 91. Here are sheets that came with the puzzle (copyright by and courtesy of Bill Cutler).

Purchased from ThinkFun 2006. (plastic, 6 pieces, 2.75 inches)

Made by D. Alsmeyer 2007, Sabriday Puzzles. (6 different woods, 3.5 inches)

The booklet that comes with the retail plastic puzzle shows 65 steps to completely take the puzzle apart. McFarren's Page shows a solution that removes the first piece in 28 steps, and completely takes the puzzle apart in 35 steps.

Further reading:
McFarren's Page, from: http://www.geocities.com/abcmcfarren/math/gordian.htm
Sabriday's wood description (Mahogany, Maple, Cherry, Purpleheart, Walnut, Paduk).

Designed and made by Franz de Vreud 2003, unique level 16.
(Maple and Granadillo, 2.9 inches assembled)

These were made in Japan and owned by J. A. Storer in the 1960's. The Cleverwood Page credits these simple types of burrs to Tsunetaro Yamanaka (born 1874) and his descendants; here is a diagram of a cube from the 1942 Filipiak book, and an inexpensive circa 2000 plastic ball:



Further Reading
Cleverwood Page, from: http://www.cleverwood.com/kumiki.htm

Wm. F. Drueke & Sons, Grand Rapids, MI, circa 1940's?
(wood pieces in cardboard box, 2+5/8" x 2+5/8" x 2+5/16" high)

Examples of some classic relatively simple burrs that have been made by many over the years (e.g., see the Japanese Shape Burrs). Historical acounts indicate that Bill and Marian were Drueke family names.

Further Reading
Drueke Family History, from: www.peterspioneers.com/WRSD.htm
Drueke Directory, from: www.peterspioneers.com/WRSDdir.htm
C. Bloom Grand Rapids Press Article, from: www.peterspioneers.com/WFD.htm
Cribbage Board Article, from: http://www.cribbageboardsonline.com/article2005b.pdf

Designed by Junichi Yananose, made by Eric Fuller.
(7 wood pieces, 3 inches)

Looks at first like a standard 6-piece burr. However, one of the apparent pieces is really two pieces.

Made in Japan, circa 1930?, level 1, no holes.
(cardboard box, 2.6" x 2.1" x 7/16", 9 wood pieces, and solution sheet;
box cover similar to other vintage Japanese exports like the Yamato Puzzle;
this puzzle was also made in a 22-piece version)

Here are photos of basic solution steps:

"Patent number 35588, Made In Japan", circa 1920's?
(10 wood pieces in a 3.75" x 2.4" x 1/2" cardboard box)

Easy to see how it goes together, but a bit of a dexerity puzzle to put the final piece in; two of the rectangle pieces have bevels to make that work (on on the inside middle and one on both edges).

Designed by P. McDermott, made by B. Young and P. McDermott,
purchased from Mr. Puzzle Australia in 2007, level 6.
(wood, 10 pieces, 3.25 by 6.25 by 2.5 inches)

Here are the directions and solution that were sold wih the puzzle:

Designed by Bill Cutler.
(wood, 3.5 inches, 11 pieces and 5 ball bearings)

Eleven pieces in a 2-4-5 configuration. Takes 5 balls (it came with 4 inside and you are asked to put the 5th in). Two are in a notch near the top of 11. The other three can be in a portion of the bottom part of piece 11 when it is pushed up, but in order to get 11 in place, they must be shaken out into other places that lock up the other pieces. Number the ends as follows:



Disassembly:

1. Jiggle the balls if necessary and move 11 up.
2. Two balls are always in a notch near the top of 11;
   jiggle the other three so that they are in a cavity at the bottom of 11.
3. Slide 8 up (1 and 2 get dragged with it).
4. The balls will now all fall out.
5. Slide 5 out.
6. Slide 11 out.
7. Slide 3 and 10 out.
8. Remove 7 and 9.
9. Remove 4.
10. Remove 6.
11. 1, 2, and 8 now come apart.

Assembly:

1. Assemble the puzzle without the balls by reversing the disassembly.
2. Slide 11 and 8 up (8 gets 1 and 2 dragged with it).
3. Put the two balls in the top and then slide a pencil through
   the puzzle to keep them from coming out.
   Then turn the puzzle over and put the other three balls in.
4. Slide 8 down (dragging 1 and 2 with it) as you carefully remove your pencil.
5. Shake the three balls so they leave the bottom of 11; then slide 11 down.

a.k.a. Hexsticks, Notched Hexagonal Sticks
Patented by S. Coffin 1973, made by 3M 1970,
also discovered independently by B. Cutler.
(12 plastic pieces, 3.5 inches)

Three solutions for assembling the twelve notched sticks are described on pages 116-118 of Coffin's book. The package is shown above; it has the directions on the bottom (also shown above) and inside is a hexagonal shaped solution booklet. Below are two panels from each side (other three are shown on the next page):

Further Reading
Coffin Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 3,721,448
Cutler's Hectix Page, from: http://home.comcast.net/~billcutler/stock/hectix.html
Cutler's Hectix Revisited Page, from: http://home.comcast.net/~billcutler/stock/revisited.html

S.S. Adams Co., 1961.
(12 plastic pieces, each 1.5 by 3/8 by 3/8 inches)

S.S. Adams Co., 1961.
(12 plastic pieces, each 1.5 by 3/8 by 3/8 inches)

Purchased from Bits and Pieces 2007.
(10 wood pieces with solution sheet, 4.5 inches;
shown as "The Mystery" on pages 107-108, 141-142 of the 1893 Hoffmann book)

Copyright 1991-2007 Junichi Yananose, purchased in Japan 2010.
(aluminum, 12 pieces, 3.5 inches square)

Here is the box and the text on the front and back:



The puzzle slides apart in two halves and a free piece:

Designed by Bill Cutler and made by Jerry McFarland 2003.
(Walnut, 12 pieces, 2 by 2 by 8 inches)

Here is the sheet that came with the puzzle (copyright by and courtesy of Bill Cutler):

Designed by Bill Cutler 1981.
(Maple / Walnut / Cherry, 3.7 inches, 12 pieces)

Designed by Bill Cutler 1982.
(Maple / Walnut / Cherry, 4 inches, 13 pieces)

Designed by B. Cutler in 1983, made by Mr. Puzzle Australia 2008, level 11.
(Queensland Silver Ash / Queensland Blackbean / Mackay Cedar, 14 pieces, 4";
sold with directions and solution shown above)

Designed by B. Cutler 1984, made by E. Fuller 2008.
(Maple / Walnut / Mahogany, 15 pieces, 4 inches)

Designed by Bill Cutler and made by Jerry McFarland 2000.
(wood, 3 inches, 13 pieces + 2 pins)

Looks like the Wausau '82 puzzle, but different inside; here are excerpts from the puzzle sheet (copyright by and courtesy of Bill Cutler):

1. Position the puzzle on a table so the group of three are vertical and the group of six with the dot is facing you, with the dot on the right (upsidedown from the figure).
   
2. Give the puzzle a hard spin clockwise to move the pins into their holes.
   
3. Simultaneously, the center rod of the three goes up, the rod with the dot comes out toward you, and the rod to its left goes back away from you. You will see the pins in the ends of the rod with the dot and the one next to it (take them out so you don't lose them).
   
4. Now the puzzle comes apart.

Designer unknown, made by Eric Fuller.
(Purpleheart / Maple / Lacewood, 13 pieces, 2.25 by 3 by 3.75 inches)

Here is what Eric Fuller says:

"This 13 piece interlocking burr puzzle was published in the magazine Soumen Kuvalehti number 11 in 1926. There are 2 possible solutions, both very similar. Despite its not being a high level puzzle, the solution is surprisingly tricky, probably because of its unusual shape. Ishino Keiichiro posted it on his site and Matti Linkola discovered the magazine."

Level 1, circa early 1900's??
(4" wood box with directions and 18 wood pieces, 3.6 inches assembled;
right vertical piece in photo above is solid key piece.)

Designed by Bill Cutler 1975.
(Maple / Walnut / Cherry, 3.6 inches, 18 pieces)

Designed 1992 and made by Jerry McFarland, purchased from cubicdissection.com 2008.
(Walnut, Mahogany, Maple, 19 pieces, 3.5" by 2.6" high, 7/8 inch square sticks)

Disassembly involves manipulating the central 4 pieces like opening a lock.
Here is the diagram of the pieces from the solution sold with the puzzle and photos of removing three pieces:



Further Reading
Solution that was sold with the puzzle.

"Made in Japan K.K.", circa 1920's?
(20 wood pieces, 4 inches;
box cover similar to other vintage Japanese exports like the Yamato Puzzle)

Two pairs of identical 4" pieces, four identical 2.5" pieces, eight identical 1.3" pieces, and four identical 1.3 inch solid pieces assemble to a somewhat two-dimensional snowfake arrangement; here is a photo of the box and the solution sheet:

Purchased from Pentangle Puzzles 2007.
(wood, 7.5 inches, 20 pieces)

Made in Japan, circa 1930?, level 1, no holes.
(cardboard box, 4.1" x 3.4" x 1/2", 21 wood pieces, and solution sheet;
this puzzle was also made in a 9-Piece Version)

Designed by Bill Cutler and made by Jerry McFarland 2003, level 85.
(Cherry / Walnut, 21 Pieces, 3 by 3 by 3.6 inches)

The Binary Burr functions like the Chinese Rings puzzle:



There are six "ring" pieces that must be manipulated in order to remove the "bar" piece; the remaining 14 pieces don't move and form the "cage' that constrains the movements. It basically takes two moves for each move of the corresponding Chinese Rings puzzle.

Designed by Bill Cutler 1978, made by J. McFarland 2012.
(24 Maple, Walnut, and Cherry3/4" rods, 5.25" square assembled)

Designed by Bill Cutler 1978, made by J. McFarland 2012.
(24 Maple, Walnut, and Cherry3/4" rods, 4+3/8" square assembled)

PDesigned by L. Kleinwaks, made by Eric Fuller 2013.
(Walnut, Cherry, Maple, 2.25" x 2.25" x 4")

Purchased from Interlocking Puzzles 2000.
(wood, 2.5 by 2.5 by 9.8 inches)

Four standard 6-piece burrs that share one dimension. Pieces 4, 8, and 10 are identical, pieces 1, 5, and 15 are identical, pieces 12 and 16 are identical, pieces 11 and 14 are identical, and pieces 9 and 13 are identical:

Designed by Wayne Daniel 1982, made by Interlocking Puzzles.
(wood, 4.8 inches)

a.k.a. Eight Burrs
Designed by David Bruce, made by Interlocking Puzzles 2000.
(wood, 24 pieces, 4.8 inches)

The basic idea is to combine two eight piece assemblies and then add eight "outer" pieces. Here are diagrams of the pieces from the solution that came with the puzzle:

Assembly A pieces:


Assembly B pieces:


Outer pieces pieces:


Further Reading
Lost Day solution that was sold with the puzzle (pdf 9 pages).

Purchased from Interlocking puzzles 2002.
(13 ply Baltic Birch rings 7.2", Australian Jarrah rods 2.25", 18 pieces)

Four 6-piece burrs connected in one dimension by a pair of rings. Requires multiple counter rotations of the rings to disassemble or assemble. Interlocking Puzzles said:

"The eight radial pieces have slightly angled notches and can be sorted into four right handed and four left handed pieces. The eight axial pieces have normal notches. The four unique higher level burrs are distinctly different. The lengths of the burr rods are greater than 6 units. If these were four stand alone burrs they would require five, four, or three moves to get the first piece out. One of them would also require three moves to get the second piece out. It is a fun challenge to assemble each individual burr onto the rings and then remove it before facing the larger challenge of the whole puzzle."

Purchased circa 2000.
(plastic, 2.25 inch cube with 3D cross)

Similar idea to the Two Piece Oddity, with a frame and a 3D cross like piece that has to be removed.

Designed by Tom Jolly, made by Eric Fuller circa 2000.
(T'Zalam, 3 inches)

A frame and a 3D cross like piece that has to be removed.

Designed by Osanori Yamamoto, made by E. Fuller 2013, Level 14.
(Jatoba and Purpleheart, 2.25" x 1.5" x 1.8")

To disassemble, exchange the two trapped pieces, maneuver a bit, and then the two can be manipulated out of the cage; here are some selected positions:

Designed by Stephane Chromine, made by Eric Fuller, 2011.
(Walnut and Yellowheart, 3" x 2.25" x 1.5")

The top two pieces are identical. Different assemblies are possible depending on how the top two pieces are rotated. In their easiest positions, the bottom piece can be removed in 8 moves. However, in one configuration, 12 moves are required to remove the bottom piece (given a reasonable way of counting rotations). Below are 9 of the positions for disassembly starting with the top piece rotated as the puzzle was shipped. Although the middle piece starts in its correct rotation for the final steps of disassembly, after pulling out and tilting down the bottom piece, the middle piece is rotated and drops down to allow the top piece to be rotated, and then the middle piece can be pushed up and rotated back so that the top two pieces are together and up to allow the bottom piece to be removed. Note that it now takes only 8 steps to put the puzzle back together by leaving the top two pieces in their existing rotations.

Designed by Ramos & Abad, made by Pelikan 2006, level 13.
(wood, 2.4 inches)

a.k.a. Internal Combustion
Designed by Tado Muroi early 1990's.
(left: "Pandora's Box", Mr. Puzzle Australia, Queensland Blackbean, 3.5x3.5x2.25";
right: "Internal Combustion", Bits and Pieces, Aluminum, 2.25" x 2.25" x 1.5";
described in Boardman's book)

Four burr pieces (two of which are identical) in a frame. Below is a 9-step assembly (6 steps to remove the first piece) based on the piece orientations shown on the right above (except in the photo above the left two have been flipped upside-down for better viewing):

1. 2. 2.
4. 5. 6.
7. 8. 9.

A 12-step assembly where the piece labeled 3 is reversed from the 9-step assembly shown on the preceding page:

A 15-step assembly (see also the Boardman book):

Designed by Yavuz Demirhan, made by Eric Fuller 2013.
(Sapele and Imbuya, 2.25" square, level 4)

Purchased from Bits And Pieces, 2008.
(wood, 3.4 inches square assembled by 7/8 inches thick, with solution sheet)

Designed by Gregory Benedetti, made by Eric Fuller 2012.
(Sapele and Wenge, two halves of the cage and 6 pieces, 2+5/8" square)

Designed by Logan Kleinwaks, made by Eric Fuller 2013.
(right, "Bookend Burr", Holly, Walnut, Ash, 2.5"x2.25"x2.75", level 10;
(middle, "Clamped Burr", Holly, Walnut, Ash, 2.25"x 3"x2.6", level 15;
right, "Cornered Burr", Walnut, Cherry, Ash, 2+5/8" square, level 14)

Beautifully made with high levels for rectlinear moves solutions. Shorter solutions may be possible with non-rectilear moves. For example, to remove a piece from the Cornered Burr with just three moves and some additional twisting, start by sliding the top piece to the right (if it looks like on the left below, re-orient the puzzle so it looks like the right photo below), then slide the front piece left, then up, and now, although it is easier by first sliding the bottom piece to the right, it can be twisted out without any further movement of other pieces.

Sold by Interlocking puzzles 2000.
(wood, 2.5 inches)

The only set of 6 notchable pieces that can be assembled into 6 different level 1, no-hole, standard six piece burrs. Here is the solution that was sold with the puzzle:

Designed and made by Jean-Claude Constantin, purchased used 2006.
(13 pieces, set is 6.25" x 3.25 x 2.5 inches, each piece is 3/4 x 3/4 x 3 inches)

A set of 13 pieces to make 40 different notchable 6 pice burrs; the same set of 6 is sometimes used for several different problems (pieces in different positions). Each piece is 2 by 2 by 8 units.

JCC's 40 Problems:

1. ADFIKL 2. ADFIKL 3. ABDKLM 4. ABDKLM 5. ABDKLM 6. ACDKLM 7. ACDKLM 8. ACDKLM

09. ADGHKL 10. ADEJKL 11. AFGIKL 12. AFIJKL 13. AEGIKM 14. AFHJLM 15. ADHIKM 16. ADEFLM

17. ACGKLM 18. ACGKLM 19. ACJKLM 20. ACJKLM 21. ABGKLM 22. ABGKLM 23. ABJKLM 24. ABJKLM

25. ADEIKM 26. ADEIKM 27. ADFHLM 28. ADFHLM 29. AGHIKM 30. AGHIKM 31. AEFJLM 32. AEFJLM

33. BCFIKL 34. BCFIKL 35. BEFHIM 36. BEFHIM 37. BEFHIM 38. BEFHIM 39. BEFHIM 40. BEFHIM

JCC's Solution Hints:

1. AK-LI-FD 2. AL-KF-DI 3. AM-IK-BD 4. AL-MK-BD 5. AK-ML-DB 6. AD-MC-KL 7. AD-KC-ML 8. AD-LC-KM

09. AL-KH-GD 10. AK-LE-DJ 11. AK-GF-LI 12. AL-JI-FK 13. AK-GE-MI 14. AL-JH-FM 15. AD-IH-KM 16. AD-FE-ML

17. AL-KC-GM 18. AM-KC-GL 19. AK-LC-MJ 20. AM-LC-KJ 21. AK-MG-BL 22. AK-LG-BM 23. AL-MJ-KB 24. AL-KJ-MB

25. AK-ME-DI 26. AM-KE-DI 27. AL-MH-FD 28. AM-LH-FD 29. AM-IH-KG 30. AK-IH-MG 31. AM-FE-JM 32. AL-FE-JL

33. BI-LC-FK 34. FB-CK-LI 35. BE-HF-MI 36. BH-EI-FM 37. FH-EM-BI 38. EI-MH-FB 39. EH-FM-BI 40. EH-MI-FB

Purchased from Creative Craft House 2007.
(wood box 3.4" x 9.25" x 4.1" with 27 wood pieces, each 3.1" long by 3/4" square)

This set has 27 2x2x6 unit standard 6-piece burr pieces numbered from 0 to 26, where piece 0 is the solid piece. A total of 69 different level 1 standard 6-piece burrs can be selected, where all use piece 0 as a key piece, and the other 5 pieces are specified with a tic-tac-toe notation:

Made by Interlocking Puzzles 2000.
(7 x 6 x 3.4 inch Jarrah box with 42 Chechen pieces, each 3/4 x 3/4 x 2.4 inches)

25 distinct notchable 2 x 2 x 6.5 unit pieces, indexed from A to Y, a total of 42 pieces including duplicates, which can be used to assemble the 314 different level 1 six piece burrs that have no holes. The set comes with five puzzle cards and five solution clue cards that list the pieces in order from 1 to 6 according to where they belong in the diagram above. This set does not contain all possible notchable pieces; just has the pieces necessary (and enough copies) to make all 6-piece notchable burrs with no holes. Also, some higher level burrs can be constructed with this set; for example, L5 Notchable is OODXNL and Holey Astigmatism is TYLLUM. Note that because the pieces are more than 6 units long, there are some higher level burrs that don't quite work, but would if the pieces were exactly 6 units long.

1. Puzzle Descriptions 001 ALLXXX 022 CDPPYY 043 ADDVYY 002 BBTYYY 023 CDPPYY 044 ACMXYY 003 AHTYYY 024 CDPPYY 045 ADMXYY 004 AKTYYY 025 ALPXYY 046 AILOUY 005 ALLUXY 026 ALSVYY 047 AILOUY 006 BBXXYY 027 ALSWYY 048 AJLNUY 007 BETYYY 028 BCPXYY 049 AJLNUY 008 AKXXYY 029 BCPXYY 050 AKVXYY 009 ALSXYY 030 BDPXYY 051 AKWXYY 010 ACLUYY 031 BDPXYY 052 AMMXYY 011 ACLXXY 032 ELPTYY 053 BCPWYY 012 ADLUYY 033 AFLRYY 054 BCPWYY 013 ADLXXY 034 AGLQYY 055 BCPWYY 014 ALTUYY 035 ALMXXY 056 BDPVYY 015 LLPPXX 036 ALTVVY 057 BDPVYY 016 ACCXYY 037 ALTWWY 058 BDPVYY 017 ADDXYY 038 BBVXYY 059 CLPPXY 018 ALMTYY 039 BBWXYY 060 CLPPXY 019 AMSYYY 040 BLPXXY 061 DLPPXY 020 BLPTYY 041 LPPSYY 062 DLPPXY 021 BPSYYY 042 ACCWYY 063 ACLWXY

1. Puzzle Solution Clues 001 XXAXLL 022 PYPDCY 043 VYAYDD 002 YYBBTY 023 YPPCDY 044 XYAMYC 003 YYAHYT 024 YYPPCD 045 XYAMDY 004 YYAKYT 025 PXALYY 046 UYALOI 005 UXAYLL 026 YVAYSL 047 UYAOLI 006 XXBBYY 027 WYAYSL 048 UYALJN 007 YYBEYT 028 XPBCYY 049 UYANJL 008 XXAKYY 029 XYBPYC 050 XYAKYV 009 YYAXLS 030 PXBDYY 051 XYAKWY 010 UYAYLC 031 YXBPYD 052 MMAXYY 011 XYAXLC 032 YYPELT 053 YPBCWY 012 UYAYDL 033 RYALFY 054 YPBCYW 013 XYAXDL 034 QYALYG 055 YYBPWC 014 YYAULT 035 XXAMLY 056 PYBDVY 015 XXPPLL 036 VYAVLT 057 PYBDYV 016 YYAXCC 037 WYAWTL 058 YYBPVD 017 YYAXDD 038 XYBBYV 059 XPPCLY 018 YYAMLT 039 YXBBWY 060 XYPPCL 019 YYAMYS 040 XXBPYL 061 PXPDLY 020 YYBPTL 041 YYPPLS 062 YXPPLD 021 YYBPYS 042 WYAYCC 063 WXAYCL

2. Puzzle Descriptions 064 ADLVXY 085 AGLOVY 106 ANPQYY 065 AJRTYY 086 AFLNWY 107 ANPQYY 066 AIQTYY 087 AFLNWY 108 AOPRYY 067 AMPYYY 088 ANOSXY 109 AOPRYY 068 ANQSYY 089 ANOSXY 110 AOPRYY 069 ANQSYY 090 ANOSXY 111 BHNOTY 070 ANQSYY 091 BBVWYY 112 BLPVXY 071 AORSYY 092 BNQTTY 113 BLPWXY 072 AORSYY 093 BORTTY 114 LNPQTT 073 AORSYY 094 ANOTUY 115 LOPRTT 074 BCFRYY 095 ANOTUY 116 ACNOUY 075 BDGQYY 096 ANOTUY 117 ACNOUY 076 BFRTYY 097 BQRSYY 118 ACORXY 077 BGQTYY 098 BQRSYY 119 ACORXY 078 BMMUYY 099 ACNOXX 120 ADNOUY 079 ALNOUX 100 ADNOXX 121 ADNOUY 080 ALNOUX 101 ALMVXY 122 ADNQXY 081 ALNOUX 102 ALMWXY 123 ADNQXY 082 ALPVYY 103 ALQRXY 124 AINOOU 083 ALPWYY 104 ALQRXY 125 AJNNOU 084 AGLOVY 105 ANPQYY 126 AMNOTY

2. Puzzle Solution Clues 064 VXAYLD 085 VYAOLG 106 PYANYQ 065 RYAJTY 086 WYALFN 107 PYAYNQ 066 QYAIYT 087 WYANFL 108 OPAYYR 067 MPAYYY 088 NOAXSY 109 PYAORY 068 NQAYSY 089 NYAXSO 110 PYAYRO 069 QYANYS 090 OYAXNS 111 ONBHYT 070 QYAYNS 091 YYBBWV 112 XYBPVL 071 ORAYYS 092 QNBTYT 113 YXBPWL 072 RYAOSY 093 ORBTYT 114 QNPTLT 073 RYAYSO 094 NOAUTY 115 ORPTLT 074 YRBCYF 095 NYAUTO 116 NUAYCO 075 QYBDYG 096 OYAUNT 117 UYANOC 076 YRBFYT 097 QYBRYS 118 RXAOCY 077 QYBGYT 098 YRBQYS 119 RXAYCO 078 MMBUYY 099 NXAXCO 120 OUAYND 079 UXALON 100 OXAXND 121 UYAODN 080 UXANOL 101 XYAMLV 122 QXAYND 081 UXAOLN 102 XYAMWL 123 QXANYD 082 PYALYV 103 RXALQY 124 NUAOIO 083 PYALWY 104 QXALYR 125 OUANNJ 084 VYALOG 105 NPAYQY 126 NOAMTY

3. Puzzle Descriptions 127 AMNOTY 148 BDQRXY 169 BPQRYY 128 AMNOTY 149 CDPQRY 170 BPQRYY 129 BNOPTY 150 CDPQRY 171 BNOSUY 130 BNOPTY 151 CDPQRY 172 LNOPST 131 BNOPTY 152 CDPQRY 173 NOPPSY 132 BNOSTY 153 ENOPTY 174 NOPPSY 133 CFLPRY 154 ENOPTY 175 NOPPSY 134 CLPPWY 155 ENOPTY 176 AFNNOW 135 DGLPQY 156 HLNOPT 177 AGNOOV 136 DLPPVY 157 ACMVYY 178 AMNOXX 137 FLPRTY 158 ADMWYY 179 ANNQQX 138 GLPQTY 159 ALORVX 180 AOORRX 139 LMMPUY 160 ALORVX 181 ANOTVV 140 AIOTVY 161 ALNQWX 182 ANOTWW 141 AJNTWY 162 ALNQWX 183 ANOSVY 142 ANOPXY 163 AMQRYY 184 ANOSVY 143 ANOPXY 164 AMQRYY 185 ANOSWY 144 ANOPXY 165 BMPVYY 186 ANOSWY 145 BCQRXY 166 BMPWYY 187 COPPRY 146 BCQRXY 167 BFIORY 188 COPPRY 147 BDQRXY 168 BGJNQY 189 COPPRY

3. Puzzle Solution Clues 127 NYAMTO 148 QXBRYD 169 YPBQYR 128 OYAMNT 149 QYPDCR 170 PYBRYQ 129 NYBPTO 150 QYPRCD 171 ONBUYS 130 YOBPTN 151 YRPCDQ 172 ONPSLT 131 NOBPTY 152 YRPQDC 173 NOPPSY 132 ONBSYT 153 NOEPTY 174 NYPPSO 133 YRPCLF 154 NYEPTO 175 YOPPSN 134 YPPCLW 155 YOEPTN 176 OWANNF 135 QYPDLG 156 ONPHLT 177 NVAOGO 136 PYPDLV 157 YYAMCV 178 MXAXNO 137 YRPFLT 158 YYAMDW 179 NNAXQQ 138 QYPGLT 159 VXALOR 180 OOAXRR 139 MMPULY 160 VXAOLR 181 NVAVTO 140 VYAIOT 161 WXANQL 182 OWAWNT 141 WYAJTN 162 WXALQN 183 VYANOS 142 PXAONY 163 MRAYYQ 184 NVAYSO 143 PXANYO 164 MQAYRY 185 OWAYNS 144 PXAYNO 165 MPBVYY 186 WYAOSN 145 XRBCYQ 166 PMBWYY 187 POPRCY 146 XRBQYC 167 ORBIYF 188 PYPRCO 147 QXBDYR 168 QNBJYG 189 YOPPCR

4. Puzzle Description 190 CLPQRX 211 AORTWY 232 ACNOWX 191 CLPQRX 212 AORTWY 233 ADNOVX 192 DLPQRX 213 BNPQWY 234 BCQRWY 193 DLPQRX 214 BNPQWY 235 BCQRWY 194 DNPPQY 215 BNPQWY 236 BDQRVY 195 DNPPQY 216 BNPQWY 237 BDQRVY 196 DNPPQY 217 BOPRVY 238 BIOPWY 197 LPQRSY 218 BOPRVY 239 BJNPVY 198 LPQRSY 219 BOPRVY 240 LNPPQX 199 ACQRYY 220 BOPRVY 241 LOPPRX 200 ADQRYY 221 FILOPR 242 ACNQXY 201 AFNORY 222 GJLNPQ 243 ADORXY 202 AFNORY 223 ILOPPW 244 AMNOUY 203 AGNOQY 224 JLNPPV 245 BNPQXY 204 AGNOQY 225 LMPPVY 246 BNQSWY 205 AMNQXY 226 LMPPWY 247 BOPRXY 206 AMNQXY 227 LNOPSU 248 BORSVY 207 AMORXY 228 LPPQRY 249 CNOPPX 208 AMORXY 229 LPPQRY 250 DNOPPX 209 ANQTVY 230 ACIOWY 251 ANOPVY 210 ANQTVY 231 ADJNVY 252 ANOPVY

4. Puzzle Solution Clues 190 XRPCLQ 211 ORAWYT 232 WXAOCN 191 XRPQLC 212 RYAWTO 233 VXANOD 192 QXPDLR 213 NYBPWQ 234 YRBCWQ 193 QXPRLD 214 YPBQWN 235 YRBQWC 194 NPPQDY 215 PNBWYQ 236 QYBDVR 195 NYPPDQ 216 NPBQWY 237 QYBRVD 196 YPPQDN 217 YOBPVR 238 OPBIYW 197 QYPRLS 218 OPBVYR 239 PNBJYV 198 YRPQLS 219 PYBRVO 240 XPPQLN 199 RYAYCQ 220 POBRVY 241 PXPRLO 200 QYAYRD 221 ORPILF 242 NYAXCQ 201 ORANYF 222 QNPJLG 243 OYAXRD 202 RYANFO 223 OPPILW 244 MUAYNO 203 NQAOGY 224 PNPJLV 245 XPBQYN 204 QYAONG 225 MPPVLY 246 QNBWYS 205 MNAXYQ 226 PMPWLY 247 PXBRYO 206 MYAXNQ 227 ONPULS 248 ORBVYS 207 MOAXRY 228 YPPQLR 249 XOPPCN 208 MYAXRO 229 PYPRLQ 250 NXPPDO 209 NQAVTY 230 WYAOCI 251 NPAOVY 210 QYAVNT 231 VYANJD 252 PYAONV

5. Puzzle Descriptions 253 ANOPWY 274 BNOPWX 295 ANOQRV 254 ANOPWY 275 LMNPQU 296 ANOQRW 255 BMNQUY 276 LMOPRU 297 CDQQRR 256 BMORUY 277 LNPPQW 298 CDQQRR 257 ACNQWY 278 LOPPRV 299 CDQQRR 258 ACNQWY 279 ACORVY 300 CDPQRY 259 ADORVY 280 ADNQWY 301 CDPQRY 260 ADORVY 281 AMNQWY 302 CFNOPR 261 ANQQRY 282 AMORVY 303 CNOPPW 262 ANQQRY 283 BNQQRW 304 COPQRR 263 AOQRRY 284 BOQRRV 305 DGNOPQ 264 AOQRRY 285 COPQRR 306 DNOPPV 265 LNPQSW 286 DNPQQR 307 DNPQQR 266 LOPRSV 287 BMQRVY 308 FNOPRT 267 ALQRWY 288 BMQRWY 309 GNOPQT 268 ALQRVY 289 LMPQRV 310 NOPPQR 269 AMNOVX 290 LMPQRW 311 NOPPQR 270 AMNOWX 291 AINOQW 312 NOPPQR 271 ANOQRX 292 AJNORV 313 NOPQRS 272 ANOQRX 293 AMNQVY 314 NOPQRS 273 BNOPVX 294 AMORWY

5. Puzzle Solution Clues 253 OPANYW 274 NXBPWO 295 NRAOVQ 254 PYANWO 275 MNPULQ 296 OQANRW 255 MNBUYQ 276 OMPULR 297 RQQDRC 256 OMBUYR 277 PNPWLQ 298 RQCRDQ 257 NWAYCQ 278 OPPVLR 299 RQCDRQ 258 WYANQC 279 RYAOCV 300 RPQDYC 259 OVAYRD 280 QYANWD 301 PQCRDY 260 VYAODR 281 MWAYNQ 302 RNCPOF 261 NRAYQQ 282 MVAYRO 303 PNCPOW 262 RYANQQ 283 NRBQWQ 304 RPQROC 263 OQAYRR 284 QOBRVR 305 OQPDGN 264 QYAORR 285 QOPRCR 306 OPPDVN 265 QNPWLS 286 NRPQDQ 307 PQQRDN 266 ORPVLS 287 MRBVYQ 308 RNFPOT 267 QYALWR 288 QMBWYR 309 OQPGTN 268 RYALQV 289 MRPVLQ 310 PPQRON 269 NXAMVO 290 QMPWLR 311 PNQPOR 270 OXAMNW 291 NWAOIQ 312 OPPRQN 271 QXAONR 292 OVANRJ 313 RNQPOS 272 RXANQO 293 NYAMVQ 314 OQPRSN 273 XOBPVN 294 OYAMRW

A	B	C	D
E	F	G	H
I	J	K	L
M	N	O	P
Q	R	S	T
U	V	W	X

Puzzle number 305 is {D,G,N,O,P,Q}. The solution hint 305 lists the order {O, Q, P, D, G, N). Looking at the burr figure we can make the correspondence:

1 = O 2 = Q

3 = P 4 = D

5 = G 6 = N

With this correspondence, one can see from the figure where each piece goes in the solved puzzle (but not which way to flip or rotate it), and this can make it a fun, but still not too easy, to solve the puzzle. The trick for this one is to first see how the pieces must fit together when solved, and then realize that the only way to put it together is to put three together into one half, three together in the other half, and then slide the three halves together:

Made by Interlocking Puzzles 2000.
(6.6 x 5.75 x 3.2 inch wood box with 42 wood pieces, each 3/4 x 3/4 x 2.25 inches)

35 distinct notchable 2 x 2 x 6 unit pieces, indexed with numbers in the range 0 to 56 (as shown above), a total of 42 pieces including duplicates, which can be used to assemble most of the level 5 standard 6-piece burrs. Uses David Winkler's numbering. Four puzzle and clue cards that list the pieces in order from A to F according to the diagram above.

00	01	02	03	04
05	06	07	08	09
10	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	28
29	30	32	33	34
35	38	39	40	44
45	46	49	53	56

Cube Assembly

Assembling a cube shape from pieces is so common it merits its own category. Most of these puzzles leave you with a bag of pieces when unassembled, but a few, such as Hinged Cubes and Kev's Cubes are manipulation puzzles where you can pick it up, play with it, and put it down unsolved to continue later.

Copyright 1966 Piet Hein,
produced in Denmark by Skj0de of Skjern for Parker brothers, No. 1050.
(4" box with wood pieces, metal base, and instruction booklet, 3.1" assembled)

Six of the 7 pieces are formed from 4 unit size cubes and the last piece isformed from 3 unit size cubes; the goal is to assemble them into a 3x3x3 cube. This is a relatively easy puzzle with many solutions. John Rausch credits the invention of this puzzle to Piet Hein in 1936.

Further reading:
Stewart Coffin's book, from: http://www.johnrausch.com/PuzzlingWorld/chap03a.htm
McFarren's Page, from: http://www.geocities.com/abcmcfarren/soma/soma.htm
Lagoon Solution, from: http://www.give-me-a-clue.com
Johnson 1988 Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 4,784,392
Johnson 1989 Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 4,844,466

Designed by Stuart Coffin circa 1975, made by Cubic Dissection 2002.
(6 pieces, bocote, 2.25 inches square assembled)

Here is what Coffin says in The Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections:

"The six-piece version of the 3 x 3 x 3 cube will be considered first. For aesthetic reasons, one might prefer that all the pieces be the same size, but this is impossible, so the nearest approximation is to use three four-block pieces and three five-block pieces. It is also desirable that all pieces be non-symmetrical but this is likewise impossible so two of the four-block pieces will have an axis of symmetry. All pieces will of course be dissimilar. Of the several thousand such combinations possible the author tried several that proved to have either multiple solutions or no solution, until finally finding one with a unique solution."

Here is the solution hint that was sold with the puzzle:

Designed and made by Interlocking Puzzles circa 2001.
(5 pieces, 3 inches square assembled)

A similar theme, but not the same set of pieces as the 5 piece version of the 3x3x3 cube suggested by Stewart Coffin in Figure 55 of The Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections.

Designed by Stuart Coffin (circa 1975), Made by Interlocking Puzzles (circa 2001)
(4 pieces, 3 inches square assembled)

The photo on the right above shows the four pieces in their relative orientation for assembly. Here is what Coffin says in The Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections:

"With puzzles of this type, there are an optimum number of pieces; and as you tinker with them, you soon gain an intuitive sense of what that number is. There is no way that a four-piece version can be very difficult, although the one shown in Fig. 51 does have the intriguing property of being serially interlocking, meaning that it can be assembled in one order only. Is a five-piece serially interlocking version possible?"

Made by AussieStuff Puzzles, purchased from Mr. Puzzle Australia, 2006.
(13 pieces, wood, 6 inches)

Thirteen pieces, each designed from unit cubes, are assembled into a 4x4x4 cube; can also be assembled into a 4 x 16 rectangle. Here is the solution that was sold with the puzzle:

Purchased from UK3, 2006.

Here is a photo of the other three sides:

Purchased from Creative Craft House 2007.
(wood, 3.1 inches)

Named because the designer's wife commented that it would take a century to solve; here are the first few steps of dissassembly:

Designed by Stewart Coffin circa 1975, made by Interlocking Puzzles 2001.
(8 pieces, maple and bloodwood, 2 inches square assembled)

The wood used to make this puzzle gives a clue to the solution with symmetric color shown above; the photos below show three basic steps to this solution:


It is not unique, here are two views of another solution:


Stewart Coffin, in his book The Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections, describes the derivation of this puzzle as starting with all possible pairs of joined 1x2x2 blocks (where the resulting 10 pieces can be assembled into a 4x4x5 solid in 25 different ways) and then eliminate the two rectangular pieces (the 1x2x4 piece and the 2x2x2 piece) to see if the remaining 8 pieces can be assembled into a cube. He then goes on to say that they cannot be so assembled, but that one can be eliminated and one duplicated to make a set that can. He also notes "an interesting pattern of symmetry" in the solution.

The 1986 patent of Guenther describes puzzles where pieces are formed from pairs of rectangular solids.

Further reading:
Guenther Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 4,534,563

"Just a Little Packing Problem #1",
made by Mr. Puzzle Australia, purchased 2006;
basic idea by Stewart Coffin circa 1975.
(8 pieces, Tasmanian Oak, 2 inches square assembled)

Like the Stewart Coffin Patio Block, puzzle, but with a slightly different set of pieces. The three photos below show basic solution steps:

Designed by Bill Cutler 1991, made by Cutler / McFarland / Peterson.
(wood, 2.5 inches)

Pieces formed from black and white unit cubes and half unit cubes (starred above) must be assembled to a 3x3x3 cube with a checkerboard pattern on all sides. The solution is unique and does not follow the checkerboard pattern in the hidden center.

Designed by V. Genel, sold by Puzzleman.com, circa 2000?
(Zebrawood and Walnut, 2+5/8 inches)

Four beautifully cut pieces ome apart in pairs:

Designed by S. Coffin 1971, made by T. Lensch 2008.
(Marblewood and Brazilian Blackwood, 2.2 inches;
sold with a piece diagram piece diagram and an assembly diagram)

Described in Coffin's book, six identical pieces are augmented to make 6 different non-symmetric pieces, where two groups of three slide together diagonally:

Basic idea by Stewart Coffin, made by J. Storer 1989.
(purple heart with light wood dowels, 3 inches)

Stewart Coffin proposed this class of puzzle to make a 2x2x2 cube from 8 unit cubes, where each has three mutually perpendicular holes, and a total of 12 dowels are inserted into 12 of the 24 holes. He observed that the holes have one of two "reflexive forms", and that puzzles could be made by having all pieces of one form or having 4 with one and 4 with the other. The cubes of this puzzle all have the left form; the photos show basic solution steps:

Basic idea by Stewart Coffin, made by J. Storer 1989.
(top: purple heart with dowels, 3 inches;
bottom: rosewood with dowels, 2.25 inches)

Like the Cubes and Pegs puzzle, except here 4 pieces have one form and 4 the other (the pattern of pegs in the soluton to this puzzle is different from Coffin's Book Fig. 193):

Designed by Ronald Kint-Bruynseels, made by Eric Fuller 2007.
(walnut box and 9 cocobolo pieces with pegs, 2.5 inches)

Nine identical 3-unit L-shaped pieces with pegs added to assemble in a unique solution to a 3x3x3 cube. Here are basic solution steps:

Patented by Andy Turner, made by Eric Fuller 2010.
(Oak box 2.75" square by 2.1" high, Bubinga puzzle 2.2" square)

Don't read any further; have some fun first. This puzzle is quite hard until one sees the trick, and then it is almost impossible to forget how to solve it.

The two 1x2 pieces have double holes at one end that naturally entices one to use them, but in fact these two faces butt against each other in the unique solution (no pegs going between them), and then the puzzle solves easily. Here are four photos in sequence of assembly:

Designed Stewart Coffin, made byInterlocking Puzzles 2000.
(7 pieces, bloodwood and aluminum, 3 inches)

There are a total of 7 pieces; 2 pieces formed from 5 unit cubes with holes and rods, 4 pieces formed from 4 unit cubes with holes and rods, and one 3 unit long rod. They must be assembled into a 3x3x3 cube (there is a unit void in the center). Stewart Coffin proposed this class of puzzles and suggested this particular selection of pieces as one that has a "satisfactory" set of two solutions. Below are two stages of a solution for which the last piece placed before the rod is the T, and two stages of a solution for which the last piece placed before the rod is the Z:

Designed Stewart Coffin; left Interlocking Puzzles 2005, right Coffin circa 1980.
(left: mahogany, eight pieces, 3.25 inches,
right: mahogany, walnut, szjo, eight pieces, 2.75 inches;
right is one of 6 puzzles purchased during a visit with the designer in the early 1980's)

Featured in a December 1991 article in Fine Woodworking Magazine. Described in Stewart Coffin's book The Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections; here is some of what he says in the directions that came with the puzzle:

"Special version - only one made. No half-pieces, so ignore puzzle problems that require half-pieces. The cube has only one solution in which all sides have matched wood and grain symmetry."

The pieces are the eight ways to glue together a basic U-shaped piece; below are the pieces of the Interlocking puzzle version, the one made by Stewart Coffin pulled apart, and his grain pattern:



The wood and grain restriction has only one solution, but on the other hand, you are given clues how to do it. For example, there is just enough walnut to go around (a total of 8 squares), and so the solution cannot have any of the walnut squares hidden in the middle. For the single wood version, here is one of the solutions:

For the single wood version, Interlocking Puzzles said that there are 7 solutions each with a symmetric version; here is the solution sheet that was sold with the puzzle:

Designed Rick Eason 2004, purchased from Mr. Puzzle Australia 2006.
(Burdekin Plum, 2.4 inches)

The solution is unique and made more difficult due to 3 "false solutions" (arrangements that could exist in a solved state but there is no order of assembly to achieve any of them). Below are photos of two steps in the solution and the sheet that came with the puzzle:




Further reading:
Winter Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 6,241,248

Designed by Rick Eason 2001, made by John Devost 2007.
(Bocote and Cherry, 4 pieces, 2.4 inches square;
as described on Rick Eason's Page, this puzzle was also mass produced as
"Confusion Puzzle Mental Block" shown on the right above - wood 2.9" square)

Four pieces formed from unit cubes and rods of dimensions 1/2 by 1/2 by 2.5 units.
The photos below show the four pieces positioned to be assembled, and pairs put together; the final step slides these two halves together to get the solved cube shown above.



Further Reading
Rick Eason's Page, from: http://www.mechanicalpuzzles.org/puzzles/index.html
Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lagoon-CONFUSION-PUZZLE-MENTAL-BLOCK/dp/B004KYNB76

Designed by Kevin Holmes and Rik Van Grol, made by Eric Fuller 2009.
(Peruvian Walnut and Spalted Oak, 2.7 inches)

A beautiful and fun puzzle; here are photos of assembly:

a.k.a. Magic Cube
Circa 2000.
(laminated cardboard with Andy Warhol art, 2.75 inches)

Unlike the Hinged Cubes puzzle, this puzzle is trivial to solve and is more of a toy than a puzzle. The cube shown above, can be unfolded in two different ways to form a 2 x 4 array, and then in both cases that 2 x 4 array can be folded lengthwise to form another 2 x 4 array:

Copyright James A. Storer 2009; U.S. patent 8,393,623 March 2013.
(Kingwood with brass hinges, 2.25 inches square assembled)

Fold the eight cubes into a larger 2x2x2 cube; there are 7 hinges:



Hinge 1 joins cube 2 to cube 1, on the front faces.
Hinge 2 joins cube 3 to cube 2, on the back face of 3 and the right face of 2.
Hinge 3 joins cube 4 to cube 3, on the top faces.
Hinge 4 joins cube 5 to cube 4, on the front faces.
Hinge 5 joins cube 6 to cube 5, on the left face of 6 and the right face of 5.
Hinge 6 joins cube 7 to cube 6, on the back face of 7 and the front face of 6.
Hinge 7 joins cube 8 to cube 6, on the top faces.

A fun but not too hard puzzle; when left on a coffee table, people often spend 30 minutes or so to solve it (about right for a coffee table audience). Not only is there something very satisfying about the solid feel of real hinges, but they also tend to suggest a straightforward folding one cube at a time, which inevitably leads to a position like the one shown on the right above.

a.k.a. Snake Cubes, Serpent Cubes, Cubra Cubes
Designed by Trench Puzzles circa 1985, made by Jim Storer 1988.
(bloodwood, 2.8 inches assembled)

Twenty seven cubes are threaded together with an elastic cord to form a "snake" that can be folded up by rotating adjacent cubes with respect to each other; the object is to form a 3 by 3 by 3 cube (where none of the elastic cord shows).




Many puzzles are possible by threading different patterns. If you imagine the cubes alternately colored red, black, red, ..., then the solved 3x3x3 cube will have red cubes at the corners and the face centers. The Kev pattern is has a unique solution where the snake ends are face centers.

Further reading:
Jaap's Page, from: http://www.jaapsch.net/puzzles/snakecube.htm
Mark Weston's Page, from: http://www.cs.uvic.ca/~mweston/snakes.html
Eryk Vershen's Page; from: http://cantaforda.com/cfcl/eryk/puzzles/chain_cube.html
Dreyer Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 3,222,072

a.k.a. Snake Cubes, Serpent Cubes
Same idea as Kev's Snake Cubes, but a different pattern.
(2 inches square)

The Cubra Cubes are the same idea as Kev's Snake Cubes, but come in a number of different patterns; this is the first pattern shown on Mark Weston's Page:

"A solution can be described by a string of "directions" that the cube follows when you wrap it into a cube, either Right, Left, Up, Down, Forward, or Back. So for example if a solution starts R R F L ... then put the end of the snake with the rest trailing off to the Right, then the next cube goes in the same direction (it must be a straight-through cube), the next cube (a corner cube) turns to point Forward, then it goes Left, etc."
Solutions:
R R F L U U F D D R U B B L L F D F U U B B R R F F
R R U L F F U B B R F D D L L U B U F F D D R R U U"

Unlike Kev's Cubes, a solution starts and ends in the corners, and is not unique. Here is a solution that is provided for the Lagoon version of this puzzle (the same as the first one above, with the directions R-L, F-B, U-D all reversed):



Further reading:
Mark Weston's Page, from: http://www.cs.uvic.ca/~mweston/snakes.html
Lagoon Solution, from: http://www.give-me-a-clue.com

Packing
(including 2D Shapes)

Packing puzzles typically require one to fit pieces into a tray (two dimensional) or a box (three dimensional), although sometimes the problem is to fit the pieces into a particular shape. Perhaps the most well known example, which as been around for centuries, is the tangram, where the goal is to use the same set of simple two dimensional shapes to make many different shapes.

a.k.a. All Square Novelty Puzzle, Check-A-Board, Tyr & Do It,
Famous Checkerboard Puzzle, Weekly Telegraph Chessboard Puzzle
Left: Made 1940's by a relative of J. A. Storer who lived in up-state New York.
(wood cigar box and painted pieces cut from 1/4" masonite, with 1" squares)
Right two: J. F. Friedel Co., Syracuse, N.Y, circa 1940's.
(6.5 by 8 by 1" cardboard box and 12 cardboard pieces with 1+3/8" squares;
top edge says "Mfg. by J. F. FREDEL CO. Syracuse N.Y.";
bottom edge says "MFGS. REPRESENTATIVES POTTER & REAGAN")

Arrange the pieces to make a standard 8 by 8 checkerboard. There are 10 distinct pieces and two of the 5-unit Z's. Shown on pages 70-73 of the Haubrich book, which lists a unique solution (shown above). Here is another version made in Great Britian:

All Square Novelty Puzzle, Frederick Warne & Co., London and NY, circa 1930's? (6.25 x 6.25 x 13/16 inch cardboard box and 12 wood pieces based on 15/16" squares 1/8 inch thick; directions on the back of the box) Note: Frederick Warne & Co. is the publisher of the 1893 Hoffmann book.

Patented by H. Luers and made by Selchow & Righter, NY, circa 1880.
(8.5 inches square by 3/4 inch cardboard box and 15 cardboard pieces, 14 distinct;
pieces based on 1 inch squares can be arranged in the box;
on the cover and pages 217-219 of the Haubrich book,
which lists this puzzle having 6,013 solutions;
solution on the left above is from Haubrich, and right is from the Luers patent)

Left is a solution a previous owner drew inside the box bottom, right is the label on the box top, and below is the label inside the box top.

This version is nearly identical to the one shown on the previous pages, except the color of the label on the box top is a bit more brown than gray, and the pattern around the edge is a bit different (and this one has nothing inside the box top or bottom).

Phenyo-Caffein Co., Worcester, MA, circa 1900.
(5.25 inches square by 5/8 inch cardboard box and 15 cardboard pieces, 14 distinct;
pieces based on 5/8 inch squares can be arranged in the box;
also made with a wood box of the same dimensons and graphics)

The Pheno-Caffein Co. also made the Misfit 6 Piece Burr. The inside of the box bottom (on the right above) challenges the solver by stating that the dark square of the smallest piece can occupy any of the 32 dark squares. The sheet available from the company, on the next page, shows eight solutions (representing solution classes).

Further Reading
Luers Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 231,963

a.k.a. Famous 'Bug House' Puzzle
Feltham Co., London, Royal Letters Patent 16,310, circa 1889.
(cardboard box and 14 thick cardboard pieces, 5" x 5" x 1/2";
box bottom has add for Feltham's tennis bat;
has a sheet that is the same as what is on the inside of the box bottom;
shown on pages 165-174 of the Haubrich book,
which gives the date and lists this puzzle as having 84 solutions; one is shown above)

Franco, NY, circa 1948.
(cardboard box and 14 distinct metal pieces, 3.25" x 3.25" x 1/2")

The Bug House Puzzle, E.I.H. Co. and F&K, 1912.
(cardboard box and 14 distinct metal pieces, 2.1 by 3.1 by 1/2 inches;
inside box top gives directions and manufacture;
shown on the cover and on pages 150-151 of the Haubrich book,
which gives the manufacture date,
identifies "E. I. Horsman Co." and "Forsheim & Koningsberg", NY,
and lists this puzzle as having 141 solutions, one of which is shown below)



Note: There were a number of variations of this puzzle made. This one is the same as page 150-151 of the Haubrich book if the pieces with dots in the photo above are taken to be black; however, the dots shown in the Haubrich book are not in the same locations.

Vasen Mfg. Co., Davenport, Iowa, 1928.
(cardboard box and 14 distinct cardboard pieces, 4.25 by 4.25 by 5/8 inches;
inside box bottom says you can send 10 cents to get three different solutions;
shown on pages 158-164 of the Haubrich book,
which lists this puzzle as having 84 solutions, one of which is shown above)

Note: Pages 165-174 of the Haubrich book show puzzles that are the same except for the colors reversed, and pages 183-187 of the Haubrich book include the same box top where if the pieces for those puzzles have the colors reversed, they are the same except for one (and the same as Xcel Checkerboard Puzzle No. 1).

Doyle Puzzle Co., Buffalo, NY, circa 1920?
(cardboard box 5.1"x5.1"x7/8", and 14 distinct cardboard pieces with 3/4" squares;
same as the Famous and Baffling Checkerboard Puzzle with colors reversed;
also made in a 13 piece version, the New XceL Checkerboard Puzzle No. 2;
shown on pages 183-187 of the Haubrich book,
which lists this puzzle as having 84 solutions, one of which is shown below)



Note: The Chequers Puzzle shown on page 97 of the 1893 Hoffmann Book is the same as a mirror image of this puzzle, except that puzzle shows only 63 squares, and can be corrected to make one of the three 4-unit L's be a 5-unit Z.

Doyle Puzzle Co., Buffalo, NY, circa 1920?
(cardboard box 5.1"x5.1"x7/8", and 13 distinct cardboard pieces with 3/4" squares;
also made in a 14 piece version, the XceL Checkerboard Puzzle No. 1;
shown on page 122 of the Haubrich book,
which lists this puzzle as having 7 solutions,
5 of which a composed of two 4 by 8 solutions,
one of these 5 and one other are shown below,
where the black squares correspond to green and the white to black)

Gyro Checker Board Jig Saw Puzzle, undated.
(3.5 by 6 inch envelope and 14 distinct cardboard pieces based on 1 inch squares;
shown on page 196 of the Haubrich book,
which lists this puzzle as having 598 solutions, one of which is shown below)

a.k.a. Krazee Checkerboard Puzzle, Zebas Puzzle,
Banzee Island Checkerboard Puzzle, 59-444 Checkerboard Puzzle
Peter Pan Playthings, England, circa 1950.
(plastic box and 12 plastic pieces, 4.75 by 4 by 5/16 inches;
there are 11 distinct pieces, where there are two of the 6-unit L;
shown on pages 57-65 of the Haubrich book, which gives the manufacture date
and list this puzzle as having 11 solutions, one of which is shown above;
pages 60-65 show reflected with reverse colors patented by J. Avila-Valdez 1995)

Arrange the pieces to make a standard 8 by 8 checkerboard. Paper, shown below, is glued to the bottom inside of the box that gives a layout for quickly storing the pieces unsolved in the box. The bottom of the box is a non-transparent black plastic that does not allow you to see the back of the paper. However, by holding it up to the light one can see that the reverse side of the paper has instructions similar to the Krazee Checkerboard Puzzle, shown on the following page.



Further Reading
Avila-Valdez Patent, from: www.uspto.gov - patent no. 5,403,005

Krazee Checkerboard Puzzle, Plas-Trix Co., Jamica, NY, 1957.
(plastic box and 12 plastic pieces, 4.75 by 4 by 5/16 inches;
same puzzle as the Draught Checkerboard Puzzle shown on the previous page,
but the back of the box is clear to allow one to view directions;
also shown on pages 57-58 of the Haubrich book, which gives the manufacture date)

Zebas Checkerboard Puzzle, Plas-Trix Co., Brooklyn, NY.
(plastic box and 12 plastic pieces, 4.75 by 4 by 5/16 inches;
same puzzle as the Krazee Checkerboard Puzzle shown on the previous page,
and also made by the Plas-Trix Co., but with different packaging)


Banzee Island Checkerboard Puzzle, made in Hong Kong.
(12 plastic pieces in plastic bag with cardboard top, 6.25 by 6.5 inches;
same puzzle as the Zebas Checkerboard Puzzle shown above,
the back of the package top refers to Chief Zebas)

S. Adams Co. Neptune, NJ., Copyright 1958.
(6" by 4" cardboard package and six 3.5 by 2.5 inch puzzles,
the checkerboard and five others, including Magic T;
shown on page 167 of the Adams Co. History book;
shown on page 21 of the Haubrich book.
which presents the unique solution shown above)

Made in Japan circa 1940.
(wood box 3.8 by 3.75 by 7/16 inches thick and 19 wood pieces;
wood inlays on the box cover are 5/8 inch diameter;
paper stamp on the back is 1/2 inch square)

Purchased from someone who remembered it from his childhood in the 1940's. At some point in the past the following solution was drawn:



This puzzle has the same dimensions, style, and cover inlays as the 16 piece puzzle on page 233 of the Haubrich book. However, even if one assumes that the 1x1 pieces broke off of larger ones before the solution above was drawn, and taking into account rotations and reflections (the pieces are double sided), there is no way to make it the same (and no way to further combine pieces to make it the same as the 14 piece puzzle of the same style on page 177) Here are the 16 pieces if the 1x1's are joined to the pieces above them in the solution above:

a.k.a. Caricature, Cut-Up Square, Stone Tangram,
Union Stone Puzzle, Richter Anchor Stone Puzzle No. 8
F. Ad. Richter & Co., Germany, 1890's / early 1900's
(cardboard box 3.1" x 3.1" x 9/16", 7 stone pieces, booklet, and solution booklet;
the Anchor Puzzle Book dates this puzzle as first made in 1890;
described on pages 77-79, 96-97, 111-115, 128 of the 1893 Hoffmann book.
"casse tete" and "kopfzerbrecher" mean headache in French and German;
inside of the cover shows how to pack the pieces into the box;
inside of the box bottom has an add for "Dr. Richter's Pain-Expeller";
booklet has multi-language text inside covers and on pages A to Q at the front,
and 64 pages with 195 shapes to make,
where the last 16 pages are shapes made in combination with another puzzle;
second booklet has solutions)

An old design known as the Tangram, dating back to ancient China; seven tiles, called Tans, can be used to make different shapes. The Richter Company of Germany, known for stone building blocks, started making this puzzle and others in 1891. It is number 8 of over 36; see The Anchor Puzzle Book, The Tangram Book, Slocum and Botermans books, and also the Richter Summary later in these pages. Many versions of the tangram have been made, some packaged as two squares of half the area:

Richter (1846-1910) had a number of business besides stone building sets and puzzles, including selling medicines (see the Richter history on the Ankerstein Page). Many of the Richter puzzles have adds or testimonials to his pain medicine. The add below is on the inside of the box bottom of the puzzle on the preceding page.

The text on pages A to Q at the start of the booklet that precedes the 64 pages of shapes is very similar to that in versions of a number of other Richter puzzles (e.g., see the corresponding pages for the Tormentor and Pythagoras puzzles). Page L describes how the last 16 pages are shapes made in combination with another puzzle; shapes 180 to 183 use the Circular Puzzle, shapes 184 to 187 use the Tormentor, shapes 188 to 191 use the Cross Puzzle, and shapes 192 to 195 use Pythagoras. An English description similar to what is on Page L is given in the description that came with the "Puzzle Drive" version shown below.










Note: These pages are shown in order (left to right, top to bottom), except that page 64 (pattern 195) is shown with page 1 (patterns 1 through 4).

This figure was extracted from the page scans shown on the preceding page; the patterns are in the order as in the booklet (left to right, top to bottom), except that page 64 (shape 195) is shown with page 1 (shapes 1 through 4).

The shapes on the first 48 pages need only the pieces of this puzzle. This figure was cropped from the figure of all shapes on the preceding page; the patterns are in the order as in the booklet (left to right, top to bottom), except that the last 4 patterns (page 48) are at the end of row 1.

(cardboard box 3.2 by 3.2 by 5/8 inches, 7 stone pieces, and two booklets;
the inside of the cover shows how to pack the pieces into the box;
box is constructed with a lip on the bottom,
booklet cover says "The Anchor Puzzle 3rd Ed",
booklet inside cover for "Casse-Tete Persan" and cover for "Kopfzerbrecher",
which says that this is the "third edition" at a price of "15 kr.",
is followed by a 3 page French and German introduction,
followed by unnumbered pages of shapes similar to the puzzle on the first page,
followed by a final page, in German, that advertizes Anchor blocks
by referring to the picture on the back of the booklet;
second booklet is a work book with shapes to draw in and many blank pages)

(cardboard box 3 by 3 by 9/16 inches, 7 stone pieces, and two booklets;
similar to the version on the previous page;
a more compact box where the small bottom lip is hidden when the cover is on;
box top graphics and booklet front and back (shown above) are the same;
inside box bottom advertizes "ANCHOR PAIN EXPELLER" from 1890;
booklet is basically the same except it is in German and English;
booklet inside cover for for "Kopfzerbrecher" and "The Anchor Puzzle",
which says that this is the "third edition" at a price of "10 cents",
followed by a 3 page German and English introduction,
followed by unnumbered pages of shapes similar to the puzzle on the first page,
folloed by a final page, in English, that advertizes Anchor blocks
by refering to the picture on the back of the booklet)

(cardboard box 3.1 by 3.1 by 1/2 inches, 7 stone pieces, and booklet;
the inside of the cover shows how to pack the pieces into the box;
box bottom lists other puzzles for sale,
the booklet has 64 pages of the same 195 shapes as the puzzle on the first page,
along with the single loose double sided page of English directions shown above)
some versions have the same box cover with "UNION" instead of "ANCHOR"
and the same booklet cover with just "STONE PUZZLE" on a single line)

(cardboard box 3.1 by 3.1 by 5/8 inches, 7 stone pieces, and booklet;
the inside of the cover shows how to pack the pieces into the box;
box and booklet front show copyright, and booklet back shows the U.S. manufacturer;
the booklet has text on the insides of the covers and 48 pages
of the same 179 shapes as the first 48 pages of shapes on the first page;
unlike earlier versions of this puzzle, an explicit copyright date is shown)

(cardboard box 3.1 by 3.1 by 9/16 inches, 7 stone pieces, and booklet;
the inside of the cover shows how to pack the pieces into the box;
the booklet has 64 pages of the same 195 shapes as the puzzle on the first page,
however its cover is blank, and there is no text explaining that
the last 16 pages are shapes made in combination with another puzzle;
the pages of this booklet were used for the scans shown earlier)

a.k.a. All Nine, Richter Anchor Stone Puzzle No. 1
F. Ad. Richter & Co., Germany, late 1890's / early 1900's
(cardboard box 2.7" x 4.4" x 1/2", 9 stone pieces, and booklet;
the Anchor Puzzle Book dates this puzzle as first made in 1899;
similar in construction to the Anchor Puzzle Tangram;
the inside of the cover shows how to pack the pieces into the box;
booklet has multi-language text inside the covers and on pages A to Q at the front,
and 48 pages with 141 shapes to make,
the first of which is the star, which can be solved as shown above,
and where the last 16 pages are shapes made in combination with another puzzle)

(cardboard box 2.7" x 4.4" x 1/2", 9 stone pieces, and booklet;
booklet has the same shape pages as the one on the previous page,
but no additional text pages;
back of the box lists other puzzles)

a.k.a. Richter Anchor Stone Puzzle No. 2
F. Ad. Richter & Co., Germany, 1890's / early 1900's
(cardboard box 3.1" x 3.6" x 9/16", 7 stone pieces, and booklet;
the Anchor Puzzle Book dates this puzzle as first made in 1893;
similar in construction to the Anchor Puzzle Tangram;
the inside of the cover shows how to pack the pieces into the box;
booklet has multi-language text inside the covers and on pages A to Q at the front,
and 48 pages with 140 shapes to make;
where the last 16 pages are shapes made in combination with another puzzle;
the first four shapes are the rectangle, parallogram, triangle, and hexagon)

Same size box and booklet as version on the preceding page.
The booklet starts with 16 not numbered pages, where the first 12 are a page of directions in 12 different languages, and the last 4 pages have multi-language text with a coupon that could be mailed in along with 15 cents to get solutions to all of the problems. Following these 16 pages are 48 pages of the same problems as the version on the preceding page. The booklet front cover, inside of the front cover, inside of the back cover, and the back, present the same text in 12 different languages; on the inside of the back cover, the English text says "Second book to The "Lightning Conductor" for drawing in the lines of solved problems." So it would appear to be the second of two booklets that originally came with the puzzle.

Same size box and booklet as version on the preceding pages.
The booklet has 48 pages of the same problems as the version on the preceding pages.

(cardboard box 3.1" x 3.7" x 1/2", 7 stone pieces, and booklet;
German text on inside of front and back cover;
also has a loose sheet with directions in German;
same 48 pages with 140 shapes to make as puzzle on first page)

(same pieces but different shapes than Richter 16 Magic Egg)



a.k.a. a.k.a. Columbus' Egg, Columbian Puzzle, Richter Anchor Stone Puzzle No. 3
Richter & Co., Germany, circa 1890's / early 1900's.
(cardboard box 3.1" x 4.1" x 9/16" with wood inserts, 9 stone pieces, and booklet;
the Anchor Puzzle Book dates this puzzle as first made in 1893;
similar in construction to the Anchor Puzzle Tangram;
the inside of the cover shows how to pack the pieces into the box;
the booklet has multi-language text inside the covers and on pages A to Q at the front,
and 48 pages with 111 shapes to make,
where the last 16 pages are shapes made in combination with another puzzle;
there are no graphics on the back of the booklet)

(cardboard box 3.1" x 4.1" x 1/2" with wood inserts, 9 stone pieces, and booklet;
the inside of the cover shows how to pack the pieces into the box;
the booklet has multi-language text inside the covers and on pages A to Q at the front,
and 32 pages with 95 shapes to make;
the booklet is the same as the one on the preceding page
except without the final 16 pages)

(cardboard box 4" x 3.5" x 5/8" with cardboard insert, 9 stone pieces, and booklet;
the inside of the cover shows how to pack the pieces into the box;
booklet has Spanish and Hungarian inside the front cover and German inside the back cover,
and at the front are 3 pages of Spanish directions and 4 pages of Hungarian directions,
48 pages present the same pages as the puzzle on the first page,
where the figures have a shaded green texture as shown above)

a.k.a. Richter Anchor Stone Puzzle No. 4
F. Ad. Richter & Co., Germany, 1890's / early 1900's
(cardboard box 4.1" x 3.1" x 9/16", 8 stone pieces, and booklet;
the Anchor Puzzle Book dates this puzzle as first made in 1896;
similar in construction to the Anchor Puzzle Tangram;
the inside of the cover shows how to pack the pieces into the box;
booklet has multi-language text inside the covers and on pages A to Q at the front,
and 48 pages with 130 shapes to make,
where the directions state that the first is the square using only 6 pieces,
the second is the right triangle of 3/2 the height of the square using only 7 pieces,
all others use all eight pieces,
and where the last 16 pages are shapes made in combination with another puzzle)

(cardboard box 3.1" x 4.1" x 1/2", 8 stone pieces, and booklet;
similar booklet with the same shapes as the version on the previous page)

(cardboard box 3.25" x 4.1" x 9/16", 8 stone pieces, and booklet;
same problem pages as the versions on the preceding pages,
but with no front or back matter, except for a loose double sided page
tucked under the cover - front and back shown above)

a.k.a. Richter Anchor Stone Puzzle No. 5
F. Ad. Richter & Co., Germany, 1890's / early 1900's
(cardboard box 3" x 3.6" x 9/16", 7 stone pieces, and booklet;
the Anchor Puzzle Book dates this puzzle as first made in 1893;
similar in construction to the Anchor Puzzle Tangram;
the inside of the cover shows how to pack the pieces into the box;
booklet has multi-language text inside the covers and on pages A to Q at the front,
and 48 pages with 108 shapes to make,
where the last 16 pages are shapes made in combination with another puzzle)

(cardboard box 3" x 3.6" x 9/16", 7 stone pieces, and booklet;
the inside of the cover shows how to pack the pieces into the box;
booklet has multi-language text on pages A to Q at the front,
and 48 pages with the same 108 shapes to make as the puzzle on the preceding page)

--- 242 --- Trouble Killer, Continued

(cardboard box 3" x 3.6" x 9/16", 7 stone pieces, and booklet;
the inside of the cover shows how to pack the pieces into the box;
this one is missing the booklet;
it came with some extra cardboard pieces
that are in the bottom of the box below the stone pieces)

a.k.a. Richter Anchor Stone Puzzle No. 6
F. Ad. Richter & Co., Germany, early 1900's.
(cardboard box 3.5" x 3.5" x 9/16", 9 stone pieces, and booklet;
the Anchor Puzzle Book dates this puzzle as first made in 1911;
similar in construction to the Anchor Puzzle Tangram;
the inside of the cover shows how to pack the pieces into the box;
booklet has multi-language text inside the covers and on pages A to Q at the front,
and 32 pages with 98 shapes to make;
the text above is on the box bottom under the puzzle)