| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Move 4 matchsticks to create 3 squares. The squares may differ in size.
20 January 2019
616. Five to three squares
Move 4 matchsticks to create 3 squares. The squares may differ in size.
06 January 2019
615. Mathematical: 2 minus 2 is not 5
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
ADD 3 matchsticks to make the equation true. Negative numbers are not allowed and no number is greater than 9.
28 December 2018
614. Divide the shape
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Add TWO matchsticks to the layout above to divide the area into two parts. The two parts must be equal in size and shape.
22 December 2018
613. Five to six squares
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Move 4 matchsticks to create 6 squares. Squares may differ in size.
15 December 2018
612. Ship to Triangles
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
MOVE four matchsticks to convert the ship into eight triangles.
The triangles may differ in size and all matchsticks don't have to be flat on the surface.
08 December 2018
611. Heads and squares
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
If four matchstick heads form the four corners of a square, how many squares can you identify in the layout above? Squares my differ in size.
Be warned, this is not so easy!
There are 11 squares
Small: ABED, CDHG, DEJH, EFKJ, HJML
Medium: CAEH, BFJD, KMHE, LGDJ
Big: CBKL, AFMG
Small: ABED, CDHG, DEJH, EFKJ, HJML
Medium: CAEH, BFJD, KMHE, LGDJ
Big: CBKL, AFMG
01 December 2018
610. Mathematical: 9 minus 6 is not 4
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
MOVE 3 matchsticks to make the equation true.
There are four possible answers. Getting one solution within 30 seconds makes you good. Getting four solutions within three minutes makes you brilliant!
24 November 2018
609. Five to two squares
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
There are 5 equal squares in the layout above. Move 6 matchsticks to reduce the number of squares to two. The two squares MUST be different in size.
17 November 2018
608. Spot the twins
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
How long does it take you to spot the two identical triangles?
Numbers 3 and 8 are identical.
12 November 2018
607. Mathematical: 4 - 0 is not 7
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
ADD 5 matchsticks to make the equation true. No number may be greater than 9 or negative.
04 November 2018
606. Nodes: 4 matchsticks
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
There are 4 nodes in the layout above (the circles) and the node value is 8. A node can therefore be described as the touching point of two or more matchsticks OR the two ends of a matchstick. A matchstick head has a value of 2 and the opposite side a value of 1.
How would you place 4 matchsticks to create a node value of exactly 20?
28 October 2018
605. Five matchsticks in a row
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Five matchsticks are placed with heads pointing North as shown above. The challenge is to turn ALL the matchsticks so that all the heads are pointing South. The following rules apply when turning:
1. Turn 3 matchsticks at a time.
2. The 3 matchsticks you turn don't have to be adjacent.
Can you achieve this in 3 steps?
20 October 2018
13 October 2018
603. Move 3 to create 2 rhombuses
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Move 3 matchsticks to create 2 rhombuses. (also known as diamonds) The 2 rhombuses must be equal in size.
06 October 2018
602. Divide into equal parts
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Place 7 matchsticks inside the layout above to form 3 equal shapes. The 3 shapes must be equal in shape and size.
29 September 2018
601. Rectangle 3X2: Remove 6
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
TAKE AWAY 6 matchsticks to create 2 squares. The 2 squares must not be equal in size.
15 September 2018
600. The clock and the number
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Beware, another sneaky one!
Where would you ADD one matchstick to make the statement true?
08 September 2018
599. Mathematical: 3 minus 9 is not 9
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
TAKE AWAY 5 matchsticks to make the equation true. Can you find both solutions?
25 August 2018
598. Three squares and four rectangles
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
There is one square and one rectangle in the layout above. ADD 6 matchsticks to form three equal squares and four equal rectangles.
The four equal rectangles are easy to identify, but the three equal squares are:
ACHK, BDGJ and CEFH
ACHK, BDGJ and CEFH
15 August 2018
597. Not Roman numerals
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Move only ONE matchstick to make the equation true.
11 August 2018
596. M for Matchstick
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Add 2 matchsticks to form 10 triangles. The matchsticks may overlap and do not have to be flat on the surface.
There are 4 Small triangles:
ALK
BCM
OME
LOJ
There are 6 combined triangles
AJH
BDE
LEF
MJF
KOH
CDO
ALK
BCM
OME
LOJ
There are 6 combined triangles
AJH
BDE
LEF
MJF
KOH
CDO
28 July 2018
595. Polygon with 8 sides
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Shown above is a seven sided convex polygon built from 2 squares and 3 triangles. 12 matchsticks were used to achieve this. The outside angles are all greater than 180 degrees as illustrated with angle "a" above.
Create your own convex polygon. The following rules apply:
1. Polygon must have 8 sides
2. 17 matchsticks to be used
3. All outside angles to be greater than 180 degrees
4. There must be 6 equal sized triangles
5. There must be 2 equal sized squares
6. All matchsticks must be flat on the surface.
14 July 2018
594. Mathematical: 8 minus 3 is not 3
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
MOVE only 1 matchstick to make the equation true. Can you find the 3 solutions?
07 July 2018
593. Divide into 3 shapes
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
Add 4 matchsticks to divide the triangle into 3 equal parts. The 3 parts may differ in shape but must be equal in size.
If the length of 1 matchstick is 1 unit, the size of the big triangle (A + B + C + D) is:
= 1/2 X 4 X 3
= 6 square units
The size of rectangle A is:
= 2 X 1
= 2 square units
The size of triangle B is:
= 1/2 X 1 X 2
= 1 square unit
But C = B based on the same calculation which results in B + C = 2 square units.
Size of part D is:
= Big triangle - size A - size B - size C
= 6 - 2 - 1 - 1
= 2 square units
It should be clear that A = D = (B + C)
= 1/2 X 4 X 3
= 6 square units
The size of rectangle A is:
= 2 X 1
= 2 square units
The size of triangle B is:
= 1/2 X 1 X 2
= 1 square unit
But C = B based on the same calculation which results in B + C = 2 square units.
Size of part D is:
= Big triangle - size A - size B - size C
= 6 - 2 - 1 - 1
= 2 square units
It should be clear that A = D = (B + C)
01 July 2018
592. Increase the inner triangles
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Extreme |
This puzzle is similar to but different from No 517.
In the figure above 8 matchsticks were placed on a grid to form 6 inner triangles.
What is the maximum number of inner triangles you can create by rearranging the 8 matchsticks?
23 June 2018
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