Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Find The Imaginative Leisure That You Get From Puzzle Games

By Paula D Bryant

Puzzle games are mainly just logistical difficulties that necessitate the solver to utilize a series of ideas to eventually come across the solution. Some can be so confusing that the mathematical community considers them more than just a puzzle but an authentic mathematical challenge that when solved is a great contribution to mathematical studies.

Puzzle games, depending on the type, have numerous options in which they can be solved. Each requires something explicit before a solution can be achieved. Sometimes patterns or ordering of objects is involved before the solver can find an answer to the problem.

Not all individuals are great puzzle solvers either. Those that largely use inductive reasoning are likely to do better solving puzzles relating to patterns and ordering whole those with heightened capabilities in the areas of deduction will many times do better with puzzles requiring inquiry and discovery to hit upon the answer.

Puzzle games can be traced back to the 1700's when John Spilsbury developed the first jigsaw puzzle in 1760. John Spilsbury was a map maker. Back then they were not used for entertainment purposes, but rather teaching aids for teaching geography. It was until the 1800's they another purpose was discovered for these puzzles.

In the early part of the 20th century the newspapers realized they could draw in more readers and subscribers by publishing puzzles in the paper. The Sunday crossword is still widespread today with many individuals as they sip their morning coffee.

Popular puzzle game inventors include Martin Gardner, Will Shortz and Sam Loyd. These are some of the more identifiable names in the industry. But there are dozens of others that could be included on this list.

Martin Gardner's name is more normally associated with his "Mathematical Games" column that ran from 1956 to 1981. In his time he published over 70 books and some even think the popular term "mathemagician" first came from his lips.

Will Shortz worked for Penny Press Magazine then as an editor for Games Magazine during which he founded the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in 1978. In 1992 he turned around and also founded the World Puzzle Championship and became the director of the United States Puzzle Team.

Sam Loyd is best remembered as a chess player and at one time was ranked 15th in the world. He liked to craft chess puzzles with comical themes. While he was a great chess player in his day many experts say his playing skills were defective due to the fact that he liked to generate complicated combination's instead of simplifying his moves in an attempt to win. Until his death in 1911 he claimed to have invented the "fifteen puzzle" but it is understood now that he only tailored an existing puzzle instead.

Puzzle have been so popular for so many years that in the present day we see them as the encouragement for several video games. Tetris and Resident Evil are both exceedingly popular video games that are puzzle based. Letter and word games are also used commonly in school systems as teaching tools and have proven quite useful in doing so.

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