puzzle

Puzzle is a problem or game that tests a person's ingenuity, knowledge, or reasoning, with the aim of arriving at a solution or completing a task. Puzzles are designed to challenge pattern recognition, logical deduction, memory, or spatial reasoning, often with a clear goal and rules that constrain possible solutions.

Common forms include word puzzles (crosswords, anagrams, acrostics), number puzzles (Sudoku, Kakuro), logic puzzles (grid-based logic, nonograms), mechanical puzzles (Rubik's Cube, burr puzzles), jigsaw puzzles, and puzzle-oriented games and escape-room challenges. Many problems combine several modalities, such as a story-driven puzzle in a video game that requires both clues and spatial navigation.

Historically, puzzles appear in many cultures and have evolved alongside writing and mathematical notation. In the modern era, printed puzzles proliferated in newspapers and magazines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with crossword puzzles becoming particularly influential after their 1913 debut in the New York World. The latter half of the 20th century saw a boom in recreational mathematics and the introduction of iconic mechanical puzzles, culminating in popular items like the Rubik's Cube in 1974. The internet era expanded puzzle communities, online archives, and collaborative hunt formats.

Solving a puzzle typically involves understanding the constraints, selecting a strategy, and iterating through possible solutions. Puzzles can serve educational purposes, exercise cognitive skills, or provide entertainment and social interaction through competitions and collaborative solving.

Puzzles are found in education, game design, literature, and cultural media, with dedicated communities and events that celebrate creativity and problem-solving.