Fifteen puzzle

This is the first post of this blog and I'd like to devote it to one of the most popular puzzles. It has a lot of names and variations - fifteen puzzle, eight puzzle, Sam Lloyd's slide puzzle,....

The goal of this magic game is to arrange the tiles in correct order from 1 to 15 using the empty space.



This puzzle combines all features of successful logical games - it's very easy to understand the rules of this puzzle, it keeps your mind on solving it and at the same time it does not require any additional knowledge or skills. It makes this game so popular and addictive for people of all ages.

It was invented and claimed by Noyes Chapman in 1880 and almost immediately started its triumph journey around the world. A little bit later Sam Lloyd's "drove the whole world crazy" with his variant of 15 puzzle and a prize of 1000 dollars for it's correct solution. He kept money in his pocket because this problem is impossible to solve.



In one of the next posts we consider why this variant is really insoluble. But for now try to solve the following nice version of the puzzle. You need to rearrange the tiles below to get the following text "RATE YOU MIND PAL".



There are a lot of different variations of fifteen game available for iPhone. You can select one depending on your taste and requirements. Later we consider the particular examples standing out for their interesting functionality. But if you want to rack your brains with famous addictive game or remember your childhood - try this puzzle. You will not regret for the time spending on it.