Magnetic Slider Puzzles

thingiverse

According to Wikipedia, sliding puzzles have been around for a very long time indeed. The classic 15 Puzzle shown above was "invented" by Noyes Palmer Chapman back in 1874. Over the years, there have been many variations on the original, with colored blocks, jumbled pictures, variously sized grids, and more. I have fond memories of playing with the 15 Puzzle and some of its variants growing up. These puzzles all follow a similar pattern: a shallow box base holds a grid of flattened square blocks, with one 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 mechanism held the movable pieces firmly to the base while allowing them to slide freely into the empty space. A quick search shows that there are many things already out there that show you how to make various kinds of sliding puzzles. Angus from Makers Muse has a great video on making "print in place" sliding puzzles, for instance. 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 I have a better way - magnets. I was inspired to make sliding puzzles with magnets by another one of my projects: the "Mostly 3D Printed Slider Switch". The switch used magnets to "snap" a sliding bar into one of five preset positions. It had a very satisfying feel that I thought would translate well to moving pieces around a slider puzzle, and 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. It just feels right. Let's get started with the classic 15 puzzle now.