Magnetic Slider Puzzles

thingiverse

According to Wikipedia, sliding puzzles have been with us for a very long time. The classic 15 Puzzle shown above was "invented" by Noyes Palmer Chapman around 1874. Over the years there have been many variations on the original, with colored blocks, jumbled pictures, variously sized grids, etc.. I have fond memories of playing with the 15 Puzzle and some of the variants growing up. These puzzles all follow the same pattern, a shallow box base holding a grid of flattened square blocks, with a single block missing. Adjoining blocks can be slid into the empty space leaving behind a new empty space. In this way blocks can be moved around the board (one at a time) to "solve" the puzzle by arranging the pieces in a particular pattern. A clever tongue and groove mechanism held the movable pieces firmly to the base, yet allowed them to slide freely into the empty space. A quick search shows that there are many Things already that show you how to make various kinds of sliding puzzles. Angus from Makers Muse has a great [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KJ-RB6S3vY) on making "print in place" sliding puzzles. So why am I creating this Thing? Well because all of the examples mentioned here use the classic tongue and groove mechanism to hold the pieces in place and I think that I have a better way, magnets. I was inspired to make sliding puzzles with magnets by another of my projects the "[Mostly 3D Printed Slider Switch](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4057812)". The switch used magnets to "snap" a sliding bar into one of five preset positions. It had a very satisfying "feel" that I though would translate well to moving pieces around a slider puzzle. I think I was right. For the slider puzzle, magnets not only serve to hold the pieces securely onto the base without the need for a mechanical tongue and groove mechanism, they also help to snap the blocks into place when sliding them into the empty square. I just feels right. Let's get started with the classic 15 puzzle.