Please Read - Important

If you have visied Puzzle World before, you can see it looks different. The look and navigation has been completely overhauled to bring it into the 21st Century. When it was created in 1997, bandwidth was slow by today's standards. To accomodate people visiting Puzzle World, frames at the left side of the browser windoww ith only 20 puzzle thumbnails on the Categories and Designers & Craftsmen pages, and small puzzle images on the puzzle pages. An option to see larger ones was added later. This is now improved. I suggest you read the What's Changed page if you want more detailed information. Or, just explore around.

Design Competition, The Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections, and Sliding Block Puzzles are unchanged.

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Puzzle World contains information about many of the finest handcrafted mechanical puzzles in the world. Most of the puzzles presented here are not the mass-produced variety found in stores, but limited production puzzles designed by the foremost puzzle designers in the world and produced by craftsmen (often the designers themselves) working primarily in wood. However, to provide representative examples of all the different puzzle categories, mass produced puzzles are often the only ones available and will be included. Many of the puzzles are available directly from the designers, craftsmen, in stores or from catalog sales.

Please understand this site was created to make contact with other puzzlers who might not be aware there are several hundred serious mechanical puzzle collectors all over the world. It was first made available in 1998 when the Internet was just getting started. Major updates are no longer made because new puzzles are being designed and made faster than anyone can keep up. If you are not represented as a designer or craftsman, please accept my applogies. It remains a way to connect. Feel free to browse around, ask questions if you must. And seriously check out the books. I do update those from time to time. You might just find a way to make yourself known to other collectors and become an invited member of the community.

The IPP Puzzle Design Competition

The Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition was established in 2001 to promote and recognize innovative new designs of mechanical puzzles.

Visit this web site for further information, galleries, and all previous competitions.

The Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections The original Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections remains available as a companion site to Puzzle World. Serious puzzlers should consider purchasing the enhanced and revised Geometric Puzzle Design. When you see this image on any Puzzle World page, you can click on it to see more information in The Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections.   Nick Baxter's Sliding Block Puzzles If you are interested in sliding block puzzles, then this is the place for you.  Here you will find everything from such classics as Get My Goat and Dad's Puzzler, to the modern creations of Minoru Abe.  Many of the puzzles are old or rare, so this may be the only place were you can see these designs.  You can actually play most of the puzzles if your browser supports Java.  In most cases, the puzzle pieces are actual images from the real puzzles, making the experience that much better. Once you solve a puzzle, you can challenge yourself to match or beat the minimum number of moves - give it a try!