Embedded Files
Sliding puzzles are composed of several tiles which lay in a defined geometric shape
and which are only moved by sliding. The objective is to rearrange the tiles
or to move one or several tiles to a specific position. Normally you only slide one tile at a moment.
Most sliding puzzles are plain, but this is not a necessity.
The geometric shape itself as well as the geometric shape and its tiles can be three-dimensional.
The geometric shape of the puzzle can be for example cylindric, spheric or cubic.
Up and down,
Left and right
Almost done,
Never right.
Sliding Puzzles with square tiles
a.) With square geometric
The most famous sliding puzzle is the 15 Puzzle. The puzzle was invented by Noys Palmer Chapman in 1880.
The idea is to slide the stones to order them from 1 to 15 starting by any initial random order.
In 1880 the puzzle became very popular in the USA and in many countries of the world.
Puzzle poems are very rare. But there are many poems about the 15 puzzle. Here are several examples:
One More Unfortunate.
She couldn't get the puzzle solved,
For lack of time-a minute,
And if you would avoid her fate,
Why, never you begin it.
Evening Gazette; Jervis Post, NY, March 11, 1880
Push, Brothers, Push
Push, brothers, push with care,
Push the 14 to the 15 square;
The 6 to the 7, and you've got it there;
The 10 to the 9, or you don't care where,
But the 15 and the 14 they will stick there.
Push, brothers, push with care
Till your minds are all a jumble and you tear your hair.
World; Utica Morning Herald, March 2, 1880.
The Gem Puzzle.
Full many a gem-the puzzle you have seen-
The dark, unfathomed caves of lying bare;
Full many a sorely puzzled wight, I ween,
Will lose his patience and will loudly swear.
But who, unto dumb foolishness a prey,
This pleasing, anxious puzzle e'er resigned
When he would lie, "I did it'other day,
But how, I cannot now quite bring to mind?"
Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault
If never any one believe their tales:
You know full well they'd scarcely earn their salt
By puzzling o'er it till their reason fails.
No further seek their lying to upbraid.
Or ask them how they did the blasted thing;
The puzzle 't is that liars them has made,
The wicked swear-words to their lips does bring.
Boston Transcript, February 12, 1880.
14 - 15 Puzzle/ The Boss Puzzle/The Gem Puzzle
Difficulty: simple
designed by Noyes Palmer Chapman 1880
no copyrights
14 - 15 Puzzle/ The Boss Puzzle/The Gem Puzzle
Difficulty: simple
designed by Noyes Palmer Chapman 1880
no copyrights
Imp Puzzle
Difficulty: simple
designed by Ernest U. Kinsey 1878
no copyrights
Magic Square
4 x 4
Olympic Sports
4 x 4
Bäumchen wechsel dich
You have to exchange the both trees
Difficulty: very simple
made by Clemens Gerhards KG
no copyrights
OUTTA GAS!
3 x 4
comes with 12 problems
Difficulty: very simple
made by POPULAR PLAYTHINGS (Huntar Company, Inc.)
7x2
made by PUSSYCAT
7 x 4
no copyrights
6x4
3 x 3
Difficulty: very simple
Animal World
3 x 3, 3 x 3
10x3
Miro
7 x 7
Difficulty: very simple
made by PUSSYCAT
Miro
7 x 7
Difficulty: very simple
made by PUSSYCAT
Airport Puzzle
7x7
made by PUSSYCAT
7x5
7x5
8x4
From
3 x 7
3 x 3
made by TAQUINZE
3 x 5
Proton
designed by Andrew Looney
made by Looney Labs
Bassie & Adriaan
5 x 3
4 x 2
Panda
3 x 4
3-D PUZZLE
Animal World
3 x 3, 3 x 3
DIGITS
designed by J�rgen Reiche
made by Siebenstein Spiele
COLOR MAGIC PUZZLE
b.) With letters
DEAD PIGS WONT FLY
DEAD PIGS FLY TOWN
made by Village Games Camden Lock London
THE CROSSWORD ADDICT PUZZLE
made by PUSSYCAT
From
made by The Henley Company of Craftsmen Limited
DirtyWord Puzzle
made by AMERICAN PUBLISHING CORP
Buchstabe
Solution: Whiskyproducent
designed by Hans Janmaat
made by TAQUINZE
c.) Magic Squares
The pieces have to slide in such a way that in every row and column as well as in both main diagonals is a different colour.
made by PUSSYCAT
MOZAIKOVA SKLADANKA
made by irisa
TAQUINZE
designed by Hans Janmaat
made by TAQUINZE
MAGIC 21 SQUARE
designed by Hans Janmaat
made by TAQUINZE
NINE O'CLOCK
designed by Hans Janmaat
made by TAQUINZE
d.) With some other geometric shapes
Time Puzzle
Once in this formation, never lift them out of the box again.
From the original position, slide the numbers around The Baffle
Blocks into the arrangement shown in problem 1. From the
solution of problem 1, try problem 2, and from its solution to
No.3, etc. If you get stuck and want to make a fresh start,
begin from the original position. (Consider the Baffle Blocs as
immovable, since they always occupy the position shown above.)
The puzzle has around 9 problems.
problem 2:
122 moves
The Baffle Blocks are immovable.
made by THE EMBOSSING CO., Albany , N.Y.
no copyrights
TUK-TAK
designed by Vladimir Krasnoukhov
TUK-TAK
designed by Vladimir Krasnoukhov
=>
Up & Down
designed by Jürgen Reiche
made by Siebenstein Spiele
WORK or GOLF / A Motor Garage Puzzle / The Sputnik Puzzle
8 pieces
43 moves
You have to switch the two words
Difficulty: medium
made by ThinkFun (BINARY ARTS)
designed by H. E. Dudeney
no copyrights
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HONOR & GLORY
similar puzzles: Black and White
10 pieces
42 moves
You have to switch the two words
Difficulty: medium
made by ThinkFun (BINARY ARTS)
no copyrights
Baustelle
Same puzzle as the HONOR & GLORY puzzle.
The red dot tiles can not move
Difficulty: medium
no copyrights
Billiards
designed by Josh Frankel
made by ThinkFun (BINARY ARTS)
DIAMOND BOB'S BILLIARDS 8 Ball Puzzle
made by ThinkFun (BINARY ARTS)
4 x 4
PANEX
31537 moves
The puzzle is very difficult to solve.
designed by Toshio Akanuma
made by Tricks Co. Ltd.
Four
designed by GMK, Brasilien
made by Philos
John Muir
The puzzle is double sided and has seven tiles.
Difficulty: very simple
designed by Roland Koch in Autumn 1999
made by KNOX Puzzles (Roland Koch)
UNITED STATES Spelling Puzzle
no copyrights
no copyrights
From
WALT DISNEY SWITCHIT
Difficulty: easy
Playing Time: < 5 minutes
Nine Men in a Trench
28 moves
Difficulty: easy
Playing Time: < 5 minutes
designed by H. E. Dudeney
Dimension: 23 cm * 7 cm
no copyrights
THE PERPLEXING PALACE PUZZLE
Puzzle Design Competition 2012
IPP 32 Exchange / Washington, D.C.
designed by James Dalgety and Martin & Brian Scoefield
made by James Dalgety
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Schofield Puzzle (US patent: US 552721 Patented Jan. 7 1896)
35 moves
Difficulty: easy
Playing Time: < 5 minutes
designed by Thomas F. Schofield
Dimension: 9.5 cm * 14.5 cm
no copyrights
front
comes with 2 problems
back
comes with 4 problems
e.) Combined with mazes
Most maze sliding puzzles have a ball and sliding tiles in a closed box. They have also two markers for the start and the end position.
The goal is to maneuver the ball from the start to the end position with use of the sliding tiles.
Very often, this puzzle type is also a dexterity puzzle. The ball can easily fall down from a sliding tile and you have to start from the beginning.
MAZE BALL GAME
Kugelpuzzle / The ball puzzle
Difficulty: simple
Schieblehre
made by Jean Claude Constantin
A Drive Down Lombard Street
IPP 29 Exchange / San Francisco
designed by Brian Young
made by Brian
f.) With square geometry, but where several tiles are blocking
Slide-Blocked Sliding Block
This puzzle was awarded the Grand Prize
at the 1988 Hikimi Wooden Puzzle Competition.
designed by Bill Cutler
made by Tom Lensch
Arrow puzzle
You have to change the color and the direction of the arrow.
The puzzle has three solutions with more then 112 moves
designed by Junichi Yananose before 1995
made by Pelikan
Arrow Blocks
designed by Goh Pit Khiam
made by Tom Lensch
Meiji Takenoko no Sato
Chocolate Coated Bamboo Shoot Shaped Cookies
Object : To get all the cookies to point away from the centre
Meiji Kinoko no Yama
Chocolate Coated Mushroom Shaped Cookies
Object : To get all the cookies to point away from the centre
STARDUST
Object: To get the star in the center
Zookeeper's nightmare
comes with 18 problems
made by Educational Insights
Climb Mt. Fuji
IPP 30 Exchange / Osaka + Hakone
designed by Jürg van Känel
made by Kreative Puzzles
Virus I
designed by Dov Nesis
made by ARLENCO TOYS AND GAMES C.C
g.) With square geometric, but several tiles can also rotate
TWISTING RINGS PUZZLE
designed by Dov Nesis
Oost West puzzel
designed by Mark Peters
made by Ton Delsing
TWISTED MIND PUZZLE
designed by Dov Nesis
Twist 'N Slide
it is really a kid toy
made by Popular Playthings
h.) special movements
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The Fan Puzzle / Propeller Puzzle
46 (41) moves
Difficulty: easy
Playing Time: < 15 minutes
IPP 24 Exchange / Tokyo
designed by Grabarchuk
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The Super Fan Puzzle
Problem 1:
68 (63) moves
Difficulty: easy
Playing Time: < 15 minutes
designed by Grabarchuk
Dimension: 11 cm * 14 cm
i.) frame can also be slided
This kind of sliding puzzle allows the frame also to be slided.
The goal is to move the frame from one side of the board to the other side.
In order to achieve this, pieces have to be slided appropriately.
The difficulty thereby is that the movement of the pieces is constrained.
This is either realised by the immobilisation of some stones or
by the presence of some pins on the board so that certain pieces can only be slided to certain positions.
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DOUBLE SLIDING
IPP 22 Exchange / Antwerp
designed by Dario Uri
The Sliding One Puzzle
42 (24) moves
designed by Serhiy Grabarchuk
Dimension: 14 cm * 10 cm
j.) other
SlideMaster / Battle the Space Aliens!
made by Dan Gilbert, Inc.
SlideMaster / Bad dogs are on the Loose!
made by Dan Gilbert, Inc.
From
Mind Lock
designed by Markus Peatling
3 level Puzzle
made by IBEX CORP. LTD
k.) Ton Delsing
Many of Ton Delsings puzzle designs are sliding puzzles with square tiles. Most of them look very simple to solve, but are very difficult.
I love Sliding Puzzles
made by LaserExact!
Sam Loyd 15 / 14 cracked?
IPP 28 Exchange / Prague
Designed by Ton Delsing
made by Peter Knoppers
CAT & DOG
One of Delsings best puzzles.
One tile in the middle can only move up and down.
If you do not use the two middle tiles,
you can only move the other tiles in a circle.
If you use the middle tiles, one tile will get out of the center
and another tile from the opposite has to move to the center.
problem 1:
212 moves
problem 2:
212 moves
made by LaserExact!
Missing 1-8
made by LaserExact!
Ton's Sliding 15
made by LaserExact!
Squares
made by LaserExact!
Spider's Web
made by LaserExact!
Hole 19
made by LaserExact!
I love puzzle
IPP 31 Exchange / Berlin
designed by Ton Delsing
l.) Serhiy Grabarchuk
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PUZZLE IMPOSSIBLE
made by HANAYAMA
The Sliding Matchstick Fish Puzzle
Rearrange the pieces in such a way that the matchstick fish swims
in an opposite direction as shown on the right.
60 moves
designed by Peter Grabarchuk
made by Ton Delsing
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Return to the Future
29 moves
made by Ton Delsing
The Snake with Diamonds
designed by P. Grabarchuk
made by Ton Delsing
One Fish, Another Fish
Make the fish shown in the right figure
36 moves
Difficulty: medium
Playing Time: < 30 minutes
Dimension: 12 cm * 15 cm
The Two Butterflies Puzzle
Change the two cocoons into the two butterflies
40 moves
Dimension: 14 cm * 10 cm
m.) Hans van der Zon
Change of Heart
IPP 25 Exchange / Helsinki
designed by Hans van der Zon
made by Buttonius Puzzles & Plastics
Slidy 7.a.1
designed by Hans van der Zon
made by LaserExact!
Dancing Square
IPP 31 Exchange / Berlin
designed by Hans van der Zon
made by LaserExact!
Slide & turn
designed by Hans van der Zon
made by LaserExact!
Symbols Mix
designed by Hans van der Zon
made by LaserExact!
Slidy Cupido
designed by Hans van der Zon
made by LaserExact!
Slidy 8.a.1
designed by Hans van der Zon
made by LaserExact!
n.) Vladimir Krasnoukhov
designed by Vladimir Krasnoukhov
designed by Vladimir Krasnoukhov
The Luckless Angler
designed by Vladimir Krasnoukhov
PHOTOROBOT
If you examine the image carefully,
you will find on the left side Slocum Puzzles and
on the right side Gillen & Gitt and NOB'S PUZLETOPIA
designed by Vladimir Krasnoukhov
PHOTOROBOT
designed by Vladimir Krasnoukhov
AEROFLOT
designed by Vladimir Krasnoukhov
BETWIXT AND BETWEEN
designed by Vladimir Krasnoukhov
designed by Vladimir Krasnoukhov
The Tricky Hedgehog
designed by Vladimir Krasnoukhov
The Little Bear
designed by Vladimir Krasnoukhov
Hermit's dominoes
designed by Vladimir Krasnoukhov
IPP 16 Exchange / Luxemburg
designed by Vladimir Krasnoukhov
Sliding Puzzles with rectuangular tiles
Tokyo Parking
is the same puzzle as Rush Hour
designed by Nob Yoshigahara
Rush Hour
designed by Nob Yoshigahara
made by ThinkFun (BINARY ARTS)
Snakes in a Plane
The concept is the same as by Rush Hour,
the puzzle is only made in Oskar style
IPP 28 Exchange / Prague
designed by Oskar van Deventer
made by Buttonius Puzzles & Plastics
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Israelogi
161 moves
designed by Junk Kato
Adam & Eve
You have to interchange Adam and Eve
56 moves
IPP 17 Exchange / San Francisco
designed by Nob Yoshigahara
The Flag
31 moves
same puzzle: Butterfly
Difficulty: simple
IPP 25 Exchange / Helsinki
designed by Stewart Coffin
made by Stewart Coffin
Butterfly
31 moves
same puzzle: The Flag
Difficulty: simple
Puzzle Design Competition 2005
designed by Stewart Coffin
made by Tom Lensch
CHICKEN SHUFFLE
comes with 48 problems
Five transparent rectuangular pieces which have 5 chickens
on the top lie over a background picture.
The background picture shows some eggs and animals.
The goal is to slide the pieces in such a way
that the chickens on top of the pieces cover the eggs,
but not the animals.
designed by Raf Peeters
made by smartgames
Broken Heart
designed by Junichi Yananose
Who's the boss ?
made by Siebenstein Spiele
SMARTPHONE
comes with 32 problems
designed by Raf Peeters
made by smartgames
A Slide-ly Tricky Tower
IPP 19 Exchange / London
designed by Lee Yee Dian
The Nightmare
made by Siebenstein Spiele
Sliding Puzzles with square and rectuangular tiles
a.) from various designers:
Zwirbel
made by HABA
Something Japanese
designed by LEVEL-5 Inc.
made by BANDAI
Schieb' den Saurier durch die Stadt!
made by VOCK Spiele
no copyrights
Khun Phan / Khum Pan / Quo vadis / Klotski / L'Ane Rouge
10 pieces
81 moves
designed by J. H. Fleming in 1932
patented in England, patent number 411515
Difficulty: difficult
no copyrights
no copyrights
Fence The Cow
Durst-Strecke
made by Bartl
Get My Goat / Kapture the Kron Prinz / The Boogie Man / Helio Puzzle
28 moves
made by HIKIMI
designed by J. I. Wiley (US patent1 112 746) /
R. W. Hunter and J.C. Wilson (UK patent 110 186)
Goal
Pentangle
Hooked
Pentangle
Howzatt
Pentangle
Pit Stop
Pentangle
Buddelschiff
made by Siebenstein Spiele
ROADSIDE RESCUE
designed by Hank Atkins
made by ThinkFun (BINARY ARTS)
comes with 2 problems
designed by Vladimir Krasnoukhov
made by Vladimir Krasnoukhov
designed by Jean Claude Constantin
made by Jean Claude Constantin
CHECKMATE
designed by W.G.H. Strijbos
made by PUSSYCAT
SLIDING BLOCK PUZZLE
The goal is to exchange the number 1 and 3.
Number 2 remain in the same position.
designed by S.S. Adams
made in England
Logik 3
a very simple sliding puzzle
you have to slide the pieces in 18 moves,
so that the yellow pieces make an archway.
The photo shows the start position.
made by Kamenzer Spielwaren GmbH
QWIK-SANE
35 moves
designed by J. R. O'Neil
made by WFF'N PROOF
347
comes with 3 problems
IPP 16 Exchange / Luxemburg
LB
IPP 25 Exchange / Helsinki
designed by Toshi (Junk) Kato
made by Toshi (Junk) Kato
Lung
made by Siebenstein Spiele
Feld und Wald
made by Verlag W. Girardet Essen
Tiger Triple Teaser
comes with 3 problems
IPP 19 Exchange / London
designed by Sherley E. Stotts
made by Interlocking Puzzles
Linking Rings
comes with 2 problems
IPP 30 Exchange / Osaka + Hakone
designed by Kohfuh Satoh
DAS FÜNFLINGS-PUZZLE / Line up the Quinties!
Line up the Quinties!
made by THE EMBOSSING CO., Albany , N.Y.
no copyrights
=>
Magic Domino
Puzzle Design Competition 2011
IPP 31 Exchange / Berlin
designed by W.G.H. Strijbos
Spotcheck Puzzle
needs 224 Moves to solve
made by Pentangle
BUDGET CRISIS PUZZLE
IPP 32 Exchange / Washington, D.C.
9 pieces
comes with 12 problems
designed by Dick Hess and Neil Bickford
made by Walter Hoppe, Laser Perfect
Schiebung
made by Siebenstein Spiele
TRICKY NUMBERS
IPP 29 Exchange / San Francisco
designed by Ton Delsing
8 Queens
9 pieces 8 sliding pieces
designed by Gennady Yarkovoy
Proton-Puzzle
comes with 5 problems
designed by Vladimir Krasnoukhov and Irina Novichkova
made by Vlaidmir Krasnoukhov
Helio puzzle
designed by Nob Yoshigahara
made by Hikimi
b.) Serhiy Grabarchuk
The Bat Puzzle
IPP 19 Exchange / London
designed by Grabarchuk
The 9 Puzzle
57 moves
designed by Peter Grabarchuk / Serhiy Grabarchuk Jr.
made by Ton Delsing
=>
=>
CARD SYMBOL PUZZLE
33 moves
Difficulty: easy
Playing Time: < 5 minutes
designed by Grabarchuk
made by GRIFFIOEN DESIGN, NL
The Christmas slide
designed by Grabarchuk
made by Ton Delsing
c.) Herman Witteveen
EXPLODE
IPP 14 Exchange / Seattle
designed by Herman Witteveen
ONETOTEN
IPP 16 Exchange / Luxemburg
designed by Herman Witteveen
Sliding Puzzles with square, rectuangular and L-shape tiles
a.) from various designers:
S(lide) & P(lace) Jr.
27 moves
designed by Hiroshi Yamamoto
LeoLei
24 moves
designed by D.Sam Cornwell
made by HABA
Alef Bet
190 moves
designed by Minoru Abe
Slide-Trom-Bones
comes with 5 problems
IPP 20 Exchange / Los Angeles
designed by Harry Nelson
made by Interlocking Puzzles
Get the Square out / Quadrat raus
designed by Bernhard Schweitzer
made by Philos
Something Japanese
designed by LEVEL-5 Inc.
made by BANDAI
Sink or Swim
comes with 50 problems
made by POPULAR PLAYTHINGS (Huntar Company, Inc.)
=>
1999 - 2000 Puzzle
89 moves
IPP 19 Exchange / London
designed by Rodolfo Kurchan and Serhiy Grabarchuck
LE RETIF
IPP 26 Exchange / Boston
made by Marcel Gillen
no copyrights
16 - I - P - P
comes with 3 problems
designed by Serhiy Grabarchuk and Peter Grabarchuk
Dimension: 9.5 cm * 8 cm
Maggies's Farm
comes with 10 problems
designed by MINE (Mineyuki Uyematsu)
made by DYLAN-Kobo
b.) Diniar Namdarian
Sliding Chess
The purpose of sliding chess is to mate the opposing king by sliding from an existing mate position.
Thereby, it has to be considered that the existing pattern of the chess board is maintained.
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Fish and Swan
9 pieces
52 moves
Difficulty: medium
designed by Diniar Namdarian
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Challenges:
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Sliding puzzles with triangle tiles
Triolo
The problem is to slide the pieces, so that the three dark
pieces forms a hexagon.
There are two solutions:
One solution needs 21 moves,
and the other solution needs 27 moves.
designed by Hanns-Helmut L¨ders
Triangolo
designed by Lothar Hannapel
made by HABA
Derrick's Triangle Slider
IPP 19 Exchange / London
designed by Derrick Schneider
made by Kadon Enterprises
Sliding puzzles with hexagonal tiles
=>
NINEFIELD
designed by D.Sam Cornwell in 1992
The Shield Puzzle
Rearrange the pieces into the position shown on the right
52 moves
designed by Grabarchuk
Dimension: 11.5 cm * 14 cm
Sliding puzzles with other tile shapes
a.) from various designers:
Labyrinth 88
designed by MINE (Mineyuki Uyematsu)
Schiebeschloß
18 moves are needed to open it
designed by Jean Claude Constantin
made by Jean Claude Constantin
Anti-Virus
designed by Oskar van Deventer
made by smartgames
The Quadrion Puzzle
120 moves
designed by Serhiy Grabarchuk
made by HIKIMI
Slide in Slide
IPP 28 Exchange / Prague
Object: To swap the positions of the green
and red pieces
36 moves
designed by Hiroshi Yamamoto
The Stuck Drawer
IPP 28 Exchange / Prague
designed by Goh Pit Khiam
Rebuild Jerusalem
261 moves
designed by Ili Kaufman
Dog & Balls
IPP 27 Exchange / Australia
designed by MINE (Mineyuki Uyematsu)
STAR DOCK
designed by Douglas A. Engel
made by Douglas A. Engel
b.) Serhiy Grabarchuk
Grabarchuk is apart from Minoru Abe one of the most important sliding puzzles designers.
He has already designed more than 120 different sliding puzzles (partly together with his children)
with big differences in their functionality. Various elements such as material, frames, cubes or the board
show their advantage in his sliding designs. The sliding pieces in many of his sliding puzzles
differ from many other designers.
Thus, he likes to use pieces which consist of two layers.
His most popular sliding designs are: Slant Slide, The Super Fan Puzzle, Sliding Stones,
Two Sliding Squares and The 9 Puzzle
The Beetle
Exchange the two color squares on Beetle's back.
another puzzles.
You may turn any of these two Beetles on
90, 180 and 270 by sliding of the pieces only
(no turnung of the tray
and the the pieces is allowed).
53 moves
The object is to exchange the yellow and the red block
made by BITS & PIECES
PuzzleScope
IPP 22 Exchange / Antwerp
made by Kadon Enterprises
Replacement 3x4
IPP 27 Exchange / Australia
designed by Serhiy Grabarchuk
made by Walter Hoppe, Laser Perfect
=>
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SLIDING BUBBLE CAR PUZZLE
38 (34) moves
designed by Serhiy Grabarchuk
made by GRIFFIOEN DESIGN, NL
THE SLIDING THREE
designed by Peter Grabarchuk and Serhiy Grabarchuk
Dimension: 8 cm * 14 cm
=>
Sliding Matches
11 moves
designed by Serhiy Grabarchuk Jr.
Dimension: 12 cm * 12 cm
c.) Minoru Abe
=>
Block 10
comes with 25 problems
Kuroko & Dairu
85 moves
=>
TRAP Puzzle
TRAP Puzzle
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neo BLACK&WHITE
190 moves
designed by Minoru Abe
Egg Puzzle
22 moves
Difficulty: easy
Playing Time: < 10 minutes
SOLO
35 moves
designed by Minoru Abe
Diavolo / SOLO
35 moves
designed by Minoru Abe
made by Siebenstein Spiele
=>
Tricky?
comes with 5 problems
Angel & Satan
74 moves
designed by Minoru Abe
=>
=>
Heart in puzzle
28 moves
RUNAWAY
Sliding beads on a graph
A mathematical object, which is a set of nodes and edges, is called a graph. Two nodes can be connected by an edge.
If you interpret a position as a node, where a bean can lay, and the edge as a path, where a bean can move to the next position.
TEN LITTLE NIGGER BOYS
no copyrights
no copyrights
Automobile
no copyrights
QUESTION DU JOUR / La Grange Question / Columbia Puzzle
no copyrights
Autour Du Moulin
same puzzle as Le Moulin Rouge
made by N.K. Paris
no copyrights
Le Moulin Rouge
made by Les Jeux et Jouets Francais, Paris
no copyrights
The Thirteen Puzzle
IPP 11 Exchange
comes with 2 problems
problem 2: start- same as above
finish-consecutive order 1 to 12
clockwise around sides with 13 in original position
original was made by
COLUMBIA NOVELTY MANUFACTURING CO. BOSTON, MASS.
THE SEVENTEEN PUZZLE
IPP 17 Exchange
Billiards 9-Ball Puzzle
designed by Joshua Frankel
made by ThinkFun (BINARY ARTS)
Nutzy Numbers / Tantalising 7
/ Nutty Numbers / The KNIGHT's Puzzle
comes with 4 problems
made by E.S. LOWE COMPANY, INC.
ROW TO ROW
The same puzzle as Tower of Hanoi
motyla Hezulanka
Leapin' Lizards
designed by Larry Nichols
made by ThinkFun (BINARY ARTS)
Disk
made by www.roscreative.ru
NON IPP Puzzle
comes with 2 problems
The goal for both puzzle is to rearrange the markers
to spell the word NIPPON
IPP 21 Exchange / Tokyo
designed by Michael A. Tanoff
Colorix
made by HABA
From
The New "15" Puzzle
made by British Manufacture
ATHENA
comes with 50 problems
designed by Robert Aubrey Hearn
made by POPULAR PLAYTHINGS (Huntar Company, Inc.)
Try Angles / STC #251
IPP 31 Exchange / Berlin
designed by Stewart Coffin
made by Stewart Coffin
=>
InOut
12 moves
Difficulty: simple
designed by Frank Stark
made by Clemens Gerhards KG
Soko or Warehouse puzzles
Treasure Quest
designed by Harry Nelson
made by ThinkFun (BINARY ARTS)
Lunar Lockout
designed by Hiroshi Yamamoto
made by ThinkFun (BINARY ARTS)
Pete's Pike
same puzzle as Lunar Lockout,
now with goats instead of robots
designed by Hiroshi Yamamoto
made by ThinkFun (BINARY ARTS)
SOKOBAN IPP 13
IPP 13 Exchange / Amsterdam
designed by Lee Yee Dian
Designing Slidingpuzzles
A beautiful sliding puzzle is not only defined by its geometry, but also by its design.
The design should be optically appealing and at the same time show quickly the task.
Here are two examples:
The arrow should pass through the bottle, shouldn't it?
There are no flying sheep, are there?
There are two possibilities of inventing a new sliding puzzle:
First possibility:
You invent first the design and think afterwards of how the pieces could be geometrically arranged.
Example:
Design idea:
We like to go from a black checkmate position in chess by sliding into a white checkmate position.
As an 8 x 8 board is too big, I restrict myself to a 4 x 4 board.
Design:
Here are both chess positions:
If we depicted each field with a sliding piece, then we would get an ordinary 1 -15 puzzle.
Therefore for an interesting sliding game, it makes sense that some sliding pieces consist of two or three fields.
Some chess figures are in one of both positions near the border or next to another figure.
Therefore, there is a strong restriction which fields can be put together.
We see on this example that the design has a strong influence on the geometrical position of the sliding pieces.
With this approach, the sliding pieces have neither at the beginning nor at the end a beautiful symmetrical position.
Second possibility:
First, you think of the position of the pieces and then you look for an appropriate design.
Of course it is possible to take any possible geometrical order, but who will remember its solution?
It is necessary to refer all the time to the appropriate task paper.
A symmetrical order at the beginning and at the end has the charm that the solution stays in the focus.
The design should not only be aesthetically, but also show quickly what needs to be done.
Example:
We choose two L � pieces and place them on the opposite side of a 3 x 6 field.
We put 1 x 1 pieces on the additional fields, whereby we leave both central fields empty.
Can the pieces above be exchanged with the pieces below?
As they can be relatively quickly exchanged, we make the puzzle more difficult
by substituting two 1 x 1 sliding pieces with a 1 x 2 sliding piece.
The result is the following:
Design:
If we interpret above as heaven and below as earth, then we get the following picture:
Several design tips:
A puzzle design should neither look complicated nor confusing. In most cases, one or two little changes are sufficient
to design the puzzle in an easier and more appealing way.
Many sliding puzzles use numbers and letters. However, numbers remind very much of the school days and seem to be complicated.
Especially girls are scared by such sliding puzzles. If numbers are used in a sliding puzzle, then only an ascending
or a descending sort of the sliding pieces is possible. If numbers are substituted by figures, then the puzzle gets more appealing.
More problem situations are also very often possible.
Difficulty:
In general, the more moves are necessary for the shortest solution (number of the minimal steps),
the more difficult is the sliding puzzle. The number of the pieces is no indicator for the difficulty of the puzzle.
In general:
Main Designers
Minoru Abe
Ton Delsing
Serhiy Grabarchuk
Diniar Namdarian
Literature
Jantine Bloemhof Schuif puzzels
Serhiy Grabarchuk NEO SLIDING BLOCK PUZZLES
Serhiy Grabarchuk NEO SLIDING BLOCK PUZZLES Part 2
Serhiy Grabarchuk, Jr. UniSliders
Edward Hordern Sliding Piece Puzzles
Jerry Slocum The 15 Puzzle book
Shops
TAQUINZE http://taquinze.nl/
Mif Predmet http://www.mifpredmet.com/
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