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• Puzzles, exercises designed to challenge the mind, have been around for thousands of years. They come in all levels of perplexity, from jigsaw puzzles to advanced mathematical problem solving, and may be 3-dimensional, 2-dimensional, digital or purely abstract.

• Fast Facts

  1. Newspapers started publishing puzzles to increase sales
  2. The Rubik's Cube is one of the most popular puzzles of all time

• Puzzle Timeline

  • 3rd Century BC: Greek mathemetician Archimedes invents a geometrical puzzle called the Loculus, meaning "little box."

  • 1760: The first known jigsaw puzzle is made by British mapmaker John Spilsbury.

  • 1772: The mathematical Puzzle "Euler's Equation of Degree Four" is first posed.

  • 1903: The Englishman Henry Dudeney publishes trigonometrical "Haberdasher's Puzzle".

  • 1913: The first crossword puzzle, originally called "Word-Cross Puzzle," is published by journalist Arthur Wynne.

  • 1926: Henry Dudeney publishes the first "crossnumber" puzzle.

  • 1974: Rubik's Cube invented by Hungarian professor Erno Rubik.

  • 1979: The American architect Howard Garns invents the numerical puzzle that would later be called Sudoku. It's originally called "Number Place."

  • 1984: The Monthly Nikolist publication features first Japanese sudoku puzzle, sparking decades-long international craze.

• Related Mahalo Pages

  How to Solve The New York Times Crossword Puzzle | Boggle | Quiddler | Scrabble | Bookworm | Mahjong | Text Twist | Scattergories | Literati | Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix | Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day | Rubik's Cube | Tetris | Christmas Crossword Puzzles | Typing Games | Math Games

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