| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Move 3 sticks creating 5 squares. All squares must be flat on the surface and do not have to be equal in size.
30 June 2011
66. Move 3 Sticks creating 5 Squares
Move 3 sticks creating 5 squares. All squares must be flat on the surface and do not have to be equal in size.
29 June 2011
65. 3 Squares using 8 Sticks
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
8 sticks are used to construct 2 big squares and 1 small square as shown. Move 2 sticks to show another way of constructing 3 squares, but now 2 small and 1 big square. All sticks must be flat on the surface.
28 June 2011
64. Roman numeral: Tongue in the cheek
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
How can you make this Roman equation true by not moving any sticks?
27 June 2011
63. House fronting West
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
This house is fronting West. Move only 1 stick to make it front East.
26 June 2011
62. Farmer and Neighboring Sons
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
A farmer wants to sub-divide his farm between his 4 sons and at the same time retain his own piece of land in the middle for himself. His farm should be equal in size, but different in shape to those of the sons. The 4 farms of his sons should be equal in size and shape. He also wants his farm in the middle of the big farm to have them all 4 as neighbors!
How would you achieve this by adding 16 sticks?
25 June 2011
61. Roman numerals: 12 changed to 7
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Shown here is the Roman numeral for the figure 12. Remove half the sticks to form 7.
24 June 2011
60. Black and white knights
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
In this puzzle you need to have a knowledge of the movement of knights on a chess board.
The 2 matchsticks with heads are the BLACK knights and the 2 matchsticks without heads are the WHITE knights. How can the black knights swop places with the white knights if they are only allowed to move according to the rules of chess? (Knights move like the letter L in chess)
The central square (position 5) can never be reached by any of the knights. So, start with any knight and move in either direction. All the other knight follow the same direction and in sequence. One solution is:
1 to 6, 3 to 8, 9 to 4, 7 to 2, 8 to 1, 6 to 7, 4 to 3, 2 to 9, 1 to 6, 7 to 2, 3 to 8, 9 to 4, 6 to 7, 2 to 9, 8 to 1 and 4 to 3.
23 June 2011
59. Reduce 6 Squares formed by Crosses to 3 Squares
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
The crosses in the figure are placed in such a way that it forms 6 squares. Remove 3 crosses so that there are only 3 equal sized squares left. All remaining crosses should form part of squares.
22 June 2011
58. Reduce 5 Squares to 4
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
This is one of the most classical matchstick puzzles ever. Move only 2 matchsticks to form 4 squares equal in size.
21 June 2011
57. Dividing Figure and put together to form a Rectangle
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
How would you divide the figure in 2 equal sized shapes so that, when you put the 2 shapes together again, it forms a 4X5 rectangle? Use 5 matchsticks to achieve this.
20 June 2011
56. 25 Broken Matchsticks adding up to 15
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Take 5 matchsticks and break each one into 5 separate pieces. The pieces with heads count 5 points, all the pieces without heads count 1 point.
Put these 25 pieces into the 9 squares so that each vertical, horizontal and diagonal row adds up to 15. You may only use the numbers 1 to 9 and may only use each number once.
19 June 2011
55. Square 4X4 : How many Squares?
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
How many squares in the figure? It looks easy, but make sure you count them all!
A total of 16 squares
1X1 squares : 9
2X2 squares : 5
3X3 squares : 1
4X4 squares : 1
1X1 squares : 9
2X2 squares : 5
3X3 squares : 1
4X4 squares : 1
18 June 2011
54. Adding Sticks without forming a Square
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
How many matchsticks can be added to the structure without forming a square?
A total of 8 matchsticks can be added before a square is formed.
You cannot add a matchstick at the bottom between 3 and 5, that would form a 4X4 square!
You cannot add a matchstick at the bottom between 3 and 5, that would form a 4X4 square!
17 June 2011
53. Oil and No Oil
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
What is the numerical value of each letter to make the statement true?
Replace letter "O" with number 7,
Replace letter "I" with number 6,
Replace letter "L" with number 1,
Replace letter "N" with number 8.
The sum then becomes:
761
87
761
+78
-----
1687
16 June 2011
52. Dividing the Sphinx
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Add 8 matchsticks to divide the sphinx into 4 parts, all equal in size and shape.
15 June 2011
51. Land, Water and Island
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
You are standing on the LAND and want to get to the ISLAND. 1 matchstick is just too short to build a bridge to the ISLAND over the WATER. In what other way would you construct a bridge using only 2 matchsticks?
14 June 2011
50. Vertical, Horizontal and Diagonal Rows
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Shown here are 7 matchsticks placed in such a way that it forms a horizontal row (matchsticks 2,4,6), two vertical rows (matchsticks 1,2,3 and 5,6,7) and two diagonal rows (matchsticks 1,4,7 and 3,4,5) Note the 3 matchsticks in a row each time. The vertical and horizontal distance between matchsticks is exactly one matchstick.
The challenge is to add 2 matchsticks so that there are 6 diagonal rows, 3 vertical rows and 1 horizontal row, still with 3 matchsticks in a row.
13 June 2011
49. EAT and ATE and TEA
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Each letter represents a number. If a 1 is placed before TEA, what should the numerical value of each letter be to make the calculation true?
E = 5
A = 5
T = 0
12 June 2011
48. 13 Squares Reduced to 8
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Remove 4 matchsticks leaving 9 squares. All the squares don't have to be equal in size.
11 June 2011
47. 6 Farms to 6 Farms
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Shown here is a farm, subdivided into 6 smaller camps using 13 matchsticks. If the length of a matchstick is 1 unit, the total area of the farm is 3 square units.
Can you rearrange the matchsticks, using ONLY 12, to form another farm, again with 6 camps, so that the total area of the farm is between 2.5 and 3 square units? All matchsticks must be flat on the surface and no matchsticks may be broken.
Applying Pythagoras:
(0.5)² X (A)² = (r)² (where r=1)
A²= (0.75)²
A = 0.866 units
The total area of the 6 triangles:
= 6 X (1/2 X 1 X 0.866)
= 6 X 0.433
= 2.598 square units
(0.5)² X (A)² = (r)² (where r=1)
A²= (0.75)²
A = 0.866 units
The total area of the 6 triangles:
= 6 X (1/2 X 1 X 0.866)
= 6 X 0.433
= 2.598 square units
10 June 2011
46. Reduce 6 Triangles to 3
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Move 4 matchsticks to reduce the number of triangles from 6 to 3. All triangles don't have to be equal in size.
09 June 2011
45. Turn matchsticks in the circle
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
In the layout above 8 matchstick heads are pointing to the OUTSIDE. The challenge is to turn 7 of the 8 matchsticks so that the heads are pointing to the INSIDE. The following rules apply when turning matchsticks:
1. Start every time on a matchstick with head pointing to the OUTSIDE.
2. Skip 3 matchsticks (INCLUDING the one you started on) and turn the 4th matchstick with head pointing to the INSIDE.
3. You may only move CLOCKWISE.
For example, start on matchstick number 7, count clockwise, 7, 8, 1 and turn stick no 2. Another example would be to start on number 5, count 5, 6, 7 and turn number 8.
One solution is:
8,1,2 turn 3
5,6,7 turn 8
2,3,4 turn 5
7,8,1 turn 2
4,5,6 turn 7
1,2,3 turn 4
6,7,8 turn 1
A general solution would be to turn the matchstick on which you started the previous round. Look at the solutions above. If you turn number 7, you should have started on 7 the previous round.
8,1,2 turn 3
5,6,7 turn 8
2,3,4 turn 5
7,8,1 turn 2
4,5,6 turn 7
1,2,3 turn 4
6,7,8 turn 1
A general solution would be to turn the matchstick on which you started the previous round. Look at the solutions above. If you turn number 7, you should have started on 7 the previous round.
08 June 2011
44. Remove 3 leaving no Triangles
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Shown here are 7 triangles. Confirm that you agree.
Remove 3 matchsticks leaving NO triangles.
07 June 2011
43. Maze 5X5 : Move 4 creating 3 Squares
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Move 4 matchsticks to create 3 squares. The 3 squares must be different in size.
06 June 2011
42. 6 Squares reduced to 5
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Shown here are 6 equal sized squares. Move 3 matchsticks to create 5 equal sized squares.
05 June 2011
41. Move 3 creating 9 Squares
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Shown here are 5 squares equal in size. Move 3 to create 9 squares, not necessarily all equal in size.
04 June 2011
40. Digital Mirror Image
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Shown here is the mirror image of a digital clock. Without using a mirror, what is the real time?
To confirm the answer above you need to put a mirror to the LEFT or RIGHT of the puzzle.
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