Interesting Facts on Puzzles History

“Legpuzzel” is the dutch name for jigsaw puzzles and tangram-like puzzles.

Puzzel represents the most general word, encompassing logical puzzles, crosswords, mechanical puzzles and in general all kind of “problems” to solve.

On 18 october 1817 in Paris a booklet with the title “Le Casse-tête Chinois” was published and it was a copy of the English publication ” The Chinese Puzzle”.

In italy the etimology of word puzzles weas reflected in Rompicapo- Al Gioco Cinese chiamato il Rompi-Capo” was the title of an 1818 Italian publication.

The Spanish Rompecabezas is from some later date, probably introduced as Rompe-Cabezas as one of the titles of French export puzzles.

The German name Kopfzerbrecher has been used in 1891 as the name for the Anker tangram puzzle

“Chinese puzzles” became in the middle of nineteenth century the name for mechanical puzzles from Asia  - they were made in Japan or India.

Unlike word or jigsaw puzzles, mechanical puzzles are hand-held objects that must be manipulated to achieve a specific goal. These puzzles are often referred to as mechanical puzzles, brain teasers, 3D puzzles, mind benders, one person games, or just plain wooden games or wooden toys.