Puzzles Old and New

Hoffmann's classic collection of puzzles: mechanical and wire puzzles, puzzle boxes, matchstick and coin problems, card and domino puzzles and arithmetical teasers, with the solutions. Not conjuring, but a goldmine for anyone who builds puzzle-style effects.

What’s inside

1. Puzzles dependent on dexterity and perseverance — the planet puzzle, the spider and the flies, the maze, the pig puzzle
2. Mechanical puzzles dependent on some trick or secret — puzzle money-boxes and match-boxes, the Chinese ladder, the magic handcuff
3. Dissected or combination puzzles — the Richter puzzles, puzzle squares and crosses, the diabolical cube
4. Arithmetical puzzles — magic squares, the wolf, the goat and the cabbages, the “fifteen” puzzle
5. Word and letter puzzles — pied proverbs, anagrams, word squares, knight’s tour letter puzzles
6. Puzzles with counters — rows of counters, the blind abbot and his monks, the eight-pointed star
7. Puzzles with lucifer matches — match squares and bridges, the magnetised matches
8. Wire puzzles — the united hearts, the Egyptian mystery, the handcuff puzzle
9. “Quibble” or “catch” puzzles — trick sums and catch questions
10. Miscellaneous puzzles — Cardan’s rings, the knight’s tour, solitaire problems, balancing feats

Professor Hoffmann, 1893 · Frederick Warne & Co. Complete 416-page PDF. Free to download: check out at $0 and the file arrives by email and on your order page.

This classic is in the public domain. Scans come from library copies, so expect the odd stain or stamp of an old book.