Modern Sliding Puzzles

Sliding Puzzle with rotation

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EASY? 1989

comes with 9 problems

designed by Minoru Abe

Wheels & Arrows

In this puzzle you may rotate the central part of the tray with pieces on it.

Change the arrows as shown in the right figure.

44 moves

Difficulty:easy

Playing Time: < 15 minutes

Dimension: 14 cm * 14 cm

Solution

designed by Serhiy Grabarchuk

Slide & Turn

IPP 16 Exchange / Luxemburg

designed by Herman Witteveen

Uhr / Clock

designed by Jean Claude Constantin

made by Jean Claude Constantin

The Crocs in the Billabong

IPP 27 Exchange / Australia

designed by Michael L. Powell

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Dustin puzzle (US patent: US 1993211)

Description

50 moves

8 pieces

Difficulty: medium - difficult

Playing Time: > 1 hour

Solution

designed by F. G. Dustin

Dimension: 12 cm * 12 cm

no copyrights

Dustin puzzle (US patent: US 1993211)

designed by F. G. Dustin

Dimension: 12.5 cm * 13.5 cm

no copyrights

Combination Lock (US patent: US 560197)

5 pieces

designed by Williard E. Dow

Dimension: 14 cm * 14 cm

no copyrights

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African Mask

around 65 moves

Solution

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Keyless Lock

Challenge: Open the lock

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Hexagonal Sliding Puzzles

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Viking's Journey

designed by Tim Snyder

Two Flowers

8 pieces

Difficulty: easy

Playing Time: < 5 minutes

designed by Diniar Namdarian

My Goldfish

designed by Diniar Namdarian

My Goldfish

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Challenges:

Sliding Dissection Puzzles

Two Sliding Squares

IPP 26 Exchange / Boston

Slide the pieces to form a single square

designed by Serhiy Grabarchuk

made by Walter Hoppe, Laser Perfect

Two Sliding Squares

Slide the pieces to form a single square

designed by Serhiy Grabarchuk

made by BITS & PIECES

Sliding Metamorphosis

Puzzle Design Competition 2007

Slide the pieces to form the Square from the Cross

designed by Tsugumitsu Noji

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Sliding Square Octagon

Slide the pieces to form a single octagon

51 moves

Difficulty: medium - difficult

Playing Time: > 20 minutes

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Dimension: 12.3 cm * 12.3 cm

Sliding Perigal

Slide the pieces to form a single square

15 pieces

85 moves

Difficulty: difficult

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Dimension: 14 cm * 14 cm

Sliding Cross easy Version

14 pieces

six problems

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Dimension: 17 cm * 11 cm

Sliding Cross Difficult Version

14 pieces

six problems

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Dimension: 17 cm * 11 cm

Challenges:

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problem 1:

30 moves

Difficulty: easy (warm up)

Playing Time: < 5 minutes

Solution

problem 2:

form a cross out of the pieces of the square in the middle of the frame

128 moves

Difficulty: easy

Playing Time: 30 minutes

Solution

problem 3:

24 moves

Difficulty: easy

Playing Time: < 5 minutes (warm up)

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problem 4:

160 moves

Difficulty: easy-medium

Playing Time: 30 minutes

problem 5:

form a T out of the pieces of the square in the middle of the frame

130 moves

Difficulty: easy

Playing Time: 30 minutes

problem 6:

34 moves

Difficulty: easy

Playing Time: < 5 minutes (warm up)

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problem 1:

30 moves Difficulty: easy

Playing Time: < 5 minutes (warm up)

Solution

problem 2:

form a cross out of the pieces of the square in the middle of the frame

60 moves

Difficulty: easy

Playing Time: 30 minutes

Solution

problem 3:

24 moves

Difficulty: easy

Playing Time: < 5 minutes (warm up)

Sliding Letter Puzzles

These sliding puzzles have the sliding pieces cut out as letters or numbers.

The aim is to exchange two letters or numbers.

a.) Serhiy Grabarchuk

These puzzles consist most often of 8 pieces and give the impression to lie on 3 x 3 fields.

But the 8 sliding pieces lie on 9 x 9 fields. The letters can exchange their places by interlocking into each other.

The picture illustrates the interlocking of the sliding pieces

when solving the problem.

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For You, Pa

Exchange the green and orange O as shown on the right

51 moves

designed by Serhiy Grabarchuk Jr.

Dimension: 11 cm * 11 cm

The Sliding Cyrillic Letters Puzzle

56 (54) moves

designed by Serhiy Grabarchuk

Dimension: 11 cm * 11 cm

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The Sliding Latin Letters Puzzle

Exchange pieces B and A as shown on the right.

58 (57) moves

designed by Serhiy Grabarchuk

Dimension: 11 cm * 11 cm

The Sliding Digits Puzzle

27 moves

Exchange pieces 8 and 7 as shown on the right.

designed by Serhiy Grabarchuk

Dimension: 11 cm * 11 cm

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MY PUZZLE

Exchange pieces white Z and brown Z as shown on the right

47 (46) moves

designed by Serhiy Grabarchuk Jr.

made by HIKIMI

My Way

Exchange pieces yellow Y and orange Y as shown on the right

71 (57) moves

designed by Serhiy Grabarchuk Jr.

Dimension: 12 cm * 11 cm

b.) Diniar Namdarian

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BE HAPPY

37 moves

designed by Diniar Namdarian

BY THE WAY

40 moves

designed by Diniar Namdarian

ENJOY LIFE

43 moves

designed by Diniar Namdarian

I LOVE dAD

39 moves

designed by Diniar Namdarian

SOLUTION

47 moves

designed by Diniar Namdarian

The End

51 moves

designed by Diniar Namdarian

LET iT GO Problem 1

11 moves

designed by Diniar Namdarian

LET iT GO Problem 2

49 moves

designed by Diniar Namdarian

GO FOR iT Problem 1

45 moves

designed by Diniar Namdarian

GO FOR iT Problem 2

30 moves

designed by Diniar Namdarian

i LOVE YOU Problem 1

25 moves

designed by Diniar Namdarian

i LOVE YOU Problem 2

40 moves

designed by Diniar Namdarian

i LOVE YOU Problem 3

25 moves

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Sliding puzzles with other tile shapes

a.) Serhiy Grabarchuk

The Windmill Puzzle

The task is to get the windmill blades to have the holes on the outside.

66 moves

Solution

designed by Serhiy Grabarchuk

Dimension: 12 cm * 15.75 cm

b.) Hirokazu Iwasawa (Iwahiro)

Hexangular Jam

designed by Hirokazu Iwasawa (Iwahiro)

Rectangular Jam

It consists of a square frame and four equivalent sized and shaped rectangles.

Beginning: Put the four rectangular pieces in the starting position.

During the game: Slide the pieces without picking them up.

End: Slip the green piece through the hole in the front of the frame

(Only the green piece can go through).

Difficulty: easy

Playing Time: 20 – 30 minutes

designed by Hirokazu Iwasawa (Iwahiro)

Pentangular Jam

designed by Hirokazu Iwasawa (Iwahiro)

Triangular Jam

Unlike the orthodox puzzles of this genre,

where you can only slide the pieces in straight directions,

"Triangular Jam" requires to move the pieces diagonally and rotate them.

Moreover, consisting of only four equivalent sized

equilateral triangles in a square,

"Triangular Jam" is mathematically very simple.

Beginning: Put the four triangular pieces in the starting position.

During the game: Slide the pieces without picking them up.

End: Slip the red triangle through the hole in the front of the frame

(Only the red one can go through).

designed by Hirokazu Iwasawa (Iwahiro)

Rightangular Jam

Yen in a Jam

designed by Hirokazu Iwasawa (Iwahiro)

c.) Diniar Namdarian

Central Slider

My Tower of Hanoi

5 problems

8 + 1 pieces + central slider

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Dimension: 13 * 18 cm

Challenges:

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problem 1:

115 moves

Solution

Difficulty: easy

Playing Time: < 20 minutes

problem 2:

112 moves

Difficulty: easy

Playing Time: < 10 minutes

problem 3:

109 moves

Difficulty: easy

Playing Time: < 20 minutes

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problem 4:

124 moves

Difficulty: easy

Playing Time: < 20 minutes

problem 5:

82 moves

Difficulty: easy

Playing Time: < 5 minutes

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Switch Side

46 moves

9 pieces + Slider

Difficulty: medium

designed by Diniar Namdarian

H-Slider II

exchanging the numbers up to bottom

93 moves

9 pieces + Slider

Difficulty: easy

Playing Time: < 30 minutes

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Dimension: 12.5 cm * 15 cm

H-Slider

10 problems

7 pieces + H-slider

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Dimension: 13 cm * 13 cm

Challenges:

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problem 1:

exchanging the numbers left to right

72 moves

Solution

problem 2:

44 moves

problem 3:

57 moves

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problem 4:

36 moves

problem 5:

68 moves

problem 6:

46 moves

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problem 7:

46 moves

problem 8:

57 moves

problem 9:

37 moves

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problem 10:

59 moves

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Magic Hat

76 moves

11 transparent pieces + rabbit + 2 hat pieces

Difficulty: easy

Playing Time: 20 – 30 minutes

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Dimension: 17cm * 12 cm

Internal locking mechanism

Flutter of Butterflies

8 pieces

Difficulty: easy - medium

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Dimension: 12.5 cm * 12.5 cm

Challenges:

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problem 1:

make all the butterflies fly outwards instead of inwards

36 moves

problem 2:

50 moves

problem 3:

40 moves

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problem 4:

38 moves

Two Layer Sliding Puzzles

Football match

Puzzle Design Competition 2014

IPP 34 Exchange / London

comes with 22 problems

The football should be moved in order

to score a goal.

Amongst the latter ones there are two players

who can fetch and transfer the ball

from one to another or from player to goal.

So you will have to collect the ball with the correct orientated player

in phase one at the goal on the right hand side,

transfer/pass it on to the second player of the same team

which is oriented to the left hand side on the grid (phase two)

and finally score at the goal to the left (third and final phase).

9 pieces + football

3 phase

problem 1:

61 moves

Difficulty: medium

Playing Time: around 45 minutes

problem 2:

75 moves

Difficulty: medium

Playing Time: around 45 minutes

problem 3:

85 moves

Difficulty: medium

Playing Time: around 45 minutes

Dimension: 11.5 cm * 17 cm

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Football Match

IPP 34 Exchange / London

designed by Diniar Namdarian

made by Dr. Hiren Shah

Challenges:

53 moves

53 moves

Solution

56 moves

Solution

57 moves

61 moves

Solution

62 moves

63 moves

63 moves

Solution

66 moves

68 moves

69 moves

70 moves

70 moves

70 moves

71 moves

73 moves

Solution

80 moves

82 moves

85 moves

Solution

88 moves

89 moves

Solution

107 moves

Solution

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Two Eggs

This is a double layered puzzle in the sense that the three pieces of the egg are two units big and are glued to one unit underneath.

That leaves room for a number of ‘loose’ units, which play an important role.

Furthermore two pieces cannot pass each other everywhere. Some careful planning is needed if you don’t want to lose your eggs!

78 moves

11 pieces (5 identical pieces)

Difficulty: medium

Playing Time: 45 minutes

Solution

inspired by Grabarchuks The Two Butterflies Puzzle

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Dimension: 14 cm * 11 cm

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Get My Sheep

70 moves

10 pieces

Difficulty: difficult

Solution

inspired by Get My Goat Puzzle

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Dimension: 14 cm * 11 cm

Two Butterflies

52 moves

8 pieces

Solution

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Moon and Star

7 pieces

3 problems

problem 1:

40 moves

Solution

inspired by Get My Goat Puzzle

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Dimension: 9 cm * 16 cm

Challenges:

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problem 1:

move the star up into the moon

40 moves

problem 2:

27 moves

problem 3:

12 moves

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problem 4:

25 moves

problem 5:

38 moves

Fence The Sheep Difficult Version

Get the sheep into the fenced area

10 pieces

168 moves

Solution

inspired by Fence The Cow Puzzle

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Dimension: 12 cm * 14.5 cm

geometry dissections

other tile shapes

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Train Puzzle

flip the position of the train and carriage

several hundred moves

11 pieces

moves: interlocked moves

Difficulty: Extremely difficult

Playing Time: around 1 week

Solution

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Dimension: 13.9 cm * 9 cm

My Dog

53 moves

8 pieces

moves: interlocked moves

Solution

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Dimension: 14 cm * 12 cm

Two Dogs

Puzzle Design Competition 2014

comes with 11 problems

8 pieces

moves: interlocked moves

You are given a certain starting position

where the dogs can not see each other and looking to opposite sides.

Your goal is to move both dogs in a way that they look at each other.

There is a lot of freedom to move the small pieces from the upper area at the beginning.

So you can sort them nearly anyway you like but when you start to move one of the dogs,

the freedom of movement shrinks very fast. The order you choose

at first must be the right one, otherwise you have no chance to change the two dogs.

If you place a grid over the puzzle with 9 rows and 8 columns,

the dogs are each almost as large as 4 rows and 4 columns.

So if you places them side by side, there is no free column left.

If you places them one above the other, there is only one free row left.

This is the reason why it is so hard to move the smaller pieces alongside the dogs.

Of course you have to wedge the two dogs into each other but at one Moment

they have to be one above the other and at this point, it is impossible

that all smaller pieces already have passed the two dogs

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Dimension: 10 cm * 11 cm

Challenges:

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problem 3:

81 moves

Difficulty: difficult

Playing Time: more than 4 hours

Solution

problem 4:

112 moves

Difficulty: difficult

Playing Time: more than 4 hours

Solution

126 moves

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37 moves

125 moves

80 moves

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72 moves

92 moves

83 moves

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problem 2:

more than 30 moves

Difficulty: difficult

Playing Time: more than 4 hours

Solution

problem 1:

more than 30 moves

Difficulty: difficult

Playing Time: more than 3 hours

Solution

six or fewer pieces

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Stacking Cups

IPP 34 Exchange / London

6 pieces

moves: interlocked moves

problem 1:

41 moves

Solution

problem 2:

48 moves

Solution

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Dimension: 21 cm * 10 cm

Just Six Pieces

41 moves

6 pieces

moves: interlocked moves

Solution

inspired by Minoru Abes Egg Puzzle

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Dimension: 11 * 14 cm

sliding magic squares

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Sliding Magic Square

around 91 moves

12 pieces

inspired by Minoru Abes Slide 9 Puzzle

designed by Diniar Namdarian

Sliding Magic Square II

47 moves

12 pieces

Solution

inspired by Minoru Abes Slide 9 Puzzle

designed by Diniar Namdarian

sliding maze puzzles

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Sliding Maze

78 moves

9 pieces + Slider

designed by Diniar Namdarian

sliding and rolling puzzles

Two Real Dice / Slide' N' Roll

80 moves

change the positions of the two dice by sliding the pieces

and by rolling the dice over any of their edges

on to the neighbour vacant cell.

IPP 20 Exchange

designed by Serhiy Grabarchuk / Serhiy Grabarchuk Jr.

made by Dirk Weber

Acrobats

Acrobats

IPP 32 Exchange / Washington, D.C.

Difficulty: easy / easy - medium

Playing Time: < 30 minutes

designed by Diniar Namdarian

The goal is to move some acrobats into target positions.

The puzzle consists of a board, several capping stones, some sliding stones and a few acrobats.

How to play: Rules of the Acrobats Puzzle:

Symbol

Piece

capping stones

sliding pieces with and without openings

4 acrobats (Orange, Yellow, Red, Blue)

Yellow and orange pieces

Associated Rules

Stationary pieces, will be put on board as in challenge and will remain in their positions.

These pieces may be slid like in a sliding pieces puzzle (e.g. "15 game"),

as long as there is no acrobat on the piece to be slid. There are solid

pieces, pieces with slot opening, a piece with a cross-slot opening and

one with a circular opening. On the board there will be one free field to

allow sliding in each challenge.

Acrobats must always be and move on sliding pieces with openings, not

directly on the board. A movement is performed by rolling an acrobat

onto an adjacent piece, e.g. if an acrobat is "standing" with its feet down

in a sliding piece, a possible move would be to roll it so that it is with its

left or right hand in one of the adjacent sliding pieces on the board.

An acrobat on the piece with the circular opening may be turned so that

in the next step it can roll to any of the four directions.

No two acrobats may ever be on two adjacent fields

so that one is in the way of the other (Also during

acrobat moves!). They are allowed on adjacent

fields, when they are parallel, however.

please note small letters for color

On the yellow sliding piece only the yellow acrobat is allowed, on the

orange one only the orange acrobat. Otherwise, these pieces are just

regular sliding pieces.

easy challanges:

difficult challanges:

Two acrobats are in this challenge: the orange and yellow

acrobat. One yellow and one orange piece are involved.

Goal: From the starting position (as shown to the right),

bring the yellow acrobat to the yellow sliding piece and

the orange acrobat to the orange sliding piece.

Remember: The yellow acrobat may not touch the

orange piece, the orange acrobat not the yellow piece.

After setting up the position as shown to the right,

swap the acrobats' positions, i.e.:

Goal: Bring the yellow acrobat to the top-left field

(where the orange acrobat sits at the beginning) and

bring the orange acrobat to the bottom-right field

(yellow's starting position).

Remember the distance rule: Acrobats may not

come too close to each other.

First, set up the puzzle as shown to the right. All

four acrobats will be involved this time, no

stationary pieces, but not many pieces with

openings either. When you set up the acrobats,

please notice that they all have a little head, little

feet and two hands. For this challenge it is

important that you set them up "heads-up", so that

all are standing upright.

Goal:

Bring the red acrobat (that's the one in the bottom

row at the beginning) to the bottom-left field. At the

end, all acrobats must be standing upright again,

i.e. their heads up, feet down under the board.