Klotski
The sliding puzzle had already been trademarked and sold under different names for decades, including Psychoteaze[1] Square Root,[2] Intreeg,[3] and Ego Buster.
One game—lacking the 5 × 4 design of Pennant, Klotski, and Chinese models but a likely inspiration—is the 19th century 15-puzzle, where fifteen wooden squares had to be rearranged.
[citation needed] The 15-puzzle enjoyed immense popularity in western countries during the late 19th century.
[citation needed] Lewis W. Hardy obtained copyright for a game named Pennant Puzzle in 1909, manufactured by OK Novelty Co., Chicago.
John Harold Fleming obtained patent for a puzzle in 1934 in England, with almost identical configuration as described in this page.
The first account of occurrence of Klotski in China is in Shaanxi Province, where Lin Dekuan from the Northwestern Polytechnical University noted that children in a village, a countryside in Chenggu county, were playing a version of Klotski made with pieces of paper in 1938.
[7] In 1943, the Huarong Dao was publicized by Liang Qing, a teacher in the New Fourth Route Army who learnt it from people living in northern Jiangsu province, among soldiers to enhance their cultural life.
One of the earliest books about standard Klotski was written by the Chinese professor Jiang Changying (姜长英) from the Northwestern Polytechnical University in 1949 in his book《科学消遣 – transl.
[8] Jiang Changying also believed that the Huarong Dao was mostly likely introduced in Shanghai from the early 1940s from Northern Jiangsu province.
(translation: Mathematics Tidbits; Kāi Mínɡ Shū Diàn, March 1952) His solution involves 100 steps.
The current Guinness World Record for the Fastest time to Solve a 4x5 Klotski puzzle is 3.99 seconds, achieved by Lim Kai Yi, a speedsolver from Malaysia on June 13, 2024.
There are several variations of this game, some with names specific to the culture of certain countries, some with different arrangement of blocks.
The Daughter in the Box (Japanese name: hakoiri musume 箱入り娘) wood puzzle depicts an "innocent young girl, who knows nothing of the world" trapped in a building.
It features a red donkey (the largest piece) trying to escape a maze of fences and pens to get to its carrots.
The puzzle is also found in the 1995 Super Nintendo Entertainment System game Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals.
In a cave on Dragon Mountain, the player is told "The world's most difficult trick is beyond this point."
The central block contains four chests with powerful items: Mega shield, Holy Robe, Legend helm, and Lizard blow.
