EP0173776A1

EP0173776A1 - A puzzle

Info

Publication number: EP0173776A1
Application number: EP84305712A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Erskine Hewett
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1984-01-18
Filing date: 1984-08-22
Publication date: 1986-03-12
Also published as: AU2358184A

Abstract

A puzzle comprising a plurality of playing pieces (1a, 1b, 1c) which are substantially regular in cross-section and which are each longer than they are wide with at least two faces of substantially all the pieces carrying a pre-determined marking or markings which form part of a solution figure. The playing pieces are arrangeable together to form the solution figure having an exposed solution face composed of one exposed face of each playing piece, the width and depth of the solution face being greater than the length of any playing piece.

In a preferred embodiment, each of the four solution faces of each playing piece carries a design which forms part of another different solution so that the same set of playing pieces can be arranged together into other configurations to form different solution figures.

Description

_My present invention relates to a puzzle such as is provided for amusement.
Various forms of puzzle are known in the art and it is the object of my invention to provide a further form of puzzle, over and above those already available, which is both challenging and amusing.
In broad terms, my invention may be said to comprise a puzzle comprising a plurality of playing pieces which are substantially regular in cross-sectional shape and which are each longer than they are wide with at least two faces (as herein defined) of substantially all the pieces carrying a pre-determined marking or markings (as herein
defined), the playing pieces being arrangable together to form a solution figure having an exposed solution face composed of one exposed face of each playing piece, the width and depth of which solution face is greater than the length of any playing piece and on which solution face the marking(s) of the exposed face of substantially each of the said pieces together form a pre-determined design.
In this specification the term "face" is intended to encompass only the long faces of each playing piece, which are used for the purposes of the invention, and it is intended to specifically exclude the end faces of the pieces, which are not used for the purposes of the invention.
The term "marking or markings" is intended to encompass any type of annotation, colouring, engraving, printing or the like which comprises part of the solution face design, which design in turn could comprise any form of picture, pattern or the like.
In especially preferred forms of the puzzle of the invention each of the faces of substantially each playing piece carry the said pre-determined marking or markings, whereby the playing pieces are arrangable together into a number of alternative solution figures, each of which has an exposed solution face on which the exposed markings form a different pre-determined design. These preferred puzzles are particularly challenging.
Preferably the playing pieces are square or substantially square in cross-sectional shape, with each of the four long faces of each piece being used for the purposes of the invention, but the pieces could be of any other suitable regular cross-sectional shape.
Further description of the invention will be given with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view from above of the playing pieces of a first preferred form of the puzzle of the invention arranged together to form a solution figure with the solution face exposed, on which the pre-determined solution design comprises a picture; and
Figs. 2 to 5 are plan views of the pieces of the puzzle of Fig. 1, showing the four possible solution figures into which the puzzle pieces are arrangable, each having a different solution face on which the markings form a different solution design as can be seen; and
Fig. 6 is a view of the faces, and ends, of one playing piece of the puzzle of Figs. 1 - 5, shown in an "opened out" format; and
Figs. 7 and 8 are plan views of the pieces of second and third preferred forms of the puzzle of the invention arranged together to form solution figures/solution faces on which the solution design comprises a pre-determined regular pattern of coloured squares and a pre-determined regular pattern of coloured triangles respectively.

Reference numeral 1 in the drawings generally indicates the playing pieces of the first, second and third preferred forms of the puzzle, which pieces are all square in cross-sectional shape as shown (see Fig. 1). Other cross-sectional shapes for the pieces could, however, be employed as referred to earlier.
The puzzle pieces are all longer than they are wide but will always be shorter than the width and depth dimensions of the solution face. The pieces of the puzzles shown are of two lengths, pieces lb being twice as long as they are wide i.e. two units long, and pieces la three times as long as they are wide i.e. three units long. However, playing pieces of any number of a variety of lengths could be provided to form a puzzle (the pieces could also all be of the same length) and, additionally, it is not necessary that the pieces all be of a regular unit length, any regular or irregular lengths being able to be employed for each piece, so long as all the pieces of a given puzzle can be arranged together to form a pre-determined solution figure as will be described.
In Fig. 1 the playing pieces of the first preferred form puzzle are shown assembled together to form one solution figure for this puzzle, in which the solution face is the exposed face shown. A design is shown on the exposed solution face and the particular design is an optical illusion picture of "interleaved triangles" and , when the exposed face of each of the playing pieces are brought together to form the solution figure shown, these markings together form the pre-determined solution design. Each of the other faces (not forming part of the Fig. 1 solution face) of each playing piece carries markings comprising part of another, different, solution design, so that the same set of playing pieces can be arranged together in other configurations to form different solution figures, each of which has a solution face carrying a different design. The four possible solution figures into which the playing pieces of the first preferred form puzzle are arrangable are shown in plan view in
Figs. 2-5 with the exposed solution faces of each solution figure uppermost. The Fig. 2 "interleaved triangle" solution face is that shown in Fig. 1. The Fig. 3 "cube", Fig. 4 "pipe" and Fig. 5 "stairs" designs on the solution faces of the alternate solution figures are other solution designs that can be achieved.
Solution of the puzzle involves taking the playing pieces and arranging them, from a random state, into one of the solution figures shown,- such that the desired solution face is formed, wherein the face markings form one of the pre-determined solution designs desired to be achieved. It will be appreciated that not only do the pieces need to be positioned by rotation of each piece about its longitudinal axis during selection of the appropriate face of each piece, and relative to the other pieces to form the desired solution design, but also regard must be had when solving the puzzle to forming the pieces so that the desired shape of solution figure is formed i.e. in the case shown a square. Since in each solution figure the playing pieces are arranged in a different configuration it is not simply possible to to rotate the pieces about their longitudinal axes while retaining them in the same configuration to obtain a second solution figure face. This is more easily understood from reference to Fig. 6, which shows a single playing piece of the first preferred form puzzle, in "opened-out" format. Face c of the piece shown in Fig. 6 is indicated at c in Figs. 1 and 2 wherein it is uppermost and forms part of the interleaved triangle solution design, while faces d, e and f which carry markings as shown so that they can each form part of the "cube", "pipe" and "stair" picture designs, are indicated in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 respectively in which solution figure/face they are each respectively uppermost.
The ends of the pieces are not employed in accordance with the invention.
The second and third forms of the puzzle shown in Figs. 7 and 8 are substantially identical to the first form of the puzzle thus far described except that in the Fig. 7 puzzle the playing pieces carry coloured squares on their exposed faces while in the Fig. 8 puzzle the playing pieces carry coloured triangles. The pieces are arrangable, from a randomly arranged state, into the solution figures shown providing the solution face shown in plan. With the Fig. 7 puzzle the coloured squares exposed on the solution face form a design which comprises a diagonal pattern running from left to right. With the Fig. 8 puzzle the coloured triangles form a pattern of coloured diamonds. The coloured square/triangle markings on the other faces (not shown) of each playing piece could be provided such that the pieces can be arranged into alternate solution figures having alternate solution designs, or such that only a single solution figure can be achieved to make the puzzle particularly challenging.
Obviously the solution figures/faces need not necessarily be of equal width and depth dimensions. The puzzle pieces could, for example, be marked such that the solution figure/ face is rectangular or in the form of a cross or the like.
The foregoing describes my invention including preferred embodiments thereof. The scope of the invention is defined in the following claims.

Claims

1. A puzzle comprising a plurality of playing pieces which are substantially regular in cross-sectional shape and which are each longer than they are wide with a plurality of faces (as herein defined) of substantially all the pieces carrying a pre-determined marking or markings (as herein defined), the paying pieces being arrangable together to form a solution figure having an exposed solution face composed of an exposed face of each playing piece, the width and depth of which solution face is greater than the length of any playing piece and on which solution face the marking(s) of the exposed face of substantially each playing piece together form a pre-determined design.

2..A puzzle according to claim 1 wherein each of the faces of substantially each playing piece carry the said pre-determined marking or markings, whereby the playing pieces are arrangable together into a number of alternative solution figures, each of which has an exposed solution face on which the exposed markings form a different pre-determined design.

3. A puzzle according to either of claims 1 and 2 wherein the playing pieces are square or substantially square in cross-sectional shape.

4. A puzzle according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the solution face(s) is/are of equal width and depth dimensions.

₅. A puzzle according to any one of the preceding claims wherein each of the said playing pieces is of a regular unit length.

6. A puzzle according to any one of the preceding claims wherein some of the said playing pieces are longer than others of the playing pieces.

7. A puzzle according to any one fo the preceding claims wherein the said pre-determined design or each of the said pre-determined designs is a picture.

8. A puzzle according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the said pre-determined design or each of the said pre-determined designs is a regular pattern.