Puzzle tasks and game rules
Choose your puzzle or head over to the games page. You’ll find the challenge there, along with hints to guide you toward the solution. If you get stuck, use a hint and try again with that help. Just don’t go through the hints one after another; we designed them so you can actually solve the puzzle yourself, rather than simply looking up the answer right away.
Choose a puzzle or games.
A few helpful principles
— Take a close look at the puzzle and all of its pieces. Notice how many holes there are, which pieces look alike, which ones are mirror images of each other, and which are not.
— Most puzzles have one or several particularly tricky pieces—pieces that take up a lot of space, have an awkward shape, or come with certain placement restrictions. Once you figure out where those pieces belong, the rest of the puzzle often falls into place.
— The trial-and-error method (trying every possible combination) works in most cases. However, if you identify and place the challenging pieces first, you'll have far fewer combinations to test.
— Don't be afraid to backtrack. In many puzzles, it's an essential part of finding the solution. Sometimes you need to look a few steps ahead, then return and take a different path with a better understanding of the puzzle.
— Think outside the box. If the puzzle has a frame, board, or container, it may be easier to rotate and arrange the pieces freely on a table or in your hands first. This lets you view them from every angle and move them around more easily before placing them back into the puzzle.
— However, if the puzzle board has an unusual shape, is asymmetrical, or has strict constraints, it's often more effective to start by working around those limitations.