Puzzles are good to improve your brainpower. It can also help you to enhance your mood. Solving puzzles has many benefits. Meanwhile, there are several types of puzzles you can avail in the market. To help you choose the best for you, continue reading.
All puzzles are designed to provide fun and entertainment to the solver. It also comes with a well-defined solution. To make the most of solving puzzles, you must first learn the types of puzzles.
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Mechanical puzzles
Mechanical puzzles include Rubik’s Cubes, nail puzzles, and jigsaw puzzles. These types of the puzzle can be solved through trial and error. However, the Rubik’s Cube can also involve logical and mathematical methods for solution.
Trivia puzzles
Trivia puzzles come with custom designs. With this, the player must have an idea about the topic. It can also include a word puzzle.
Cryptic puzzles
An example of a cryptic puzzle is my “Swiper No Swiping” puzzle. It is also considered a designer puzzle. This puzzle type is usually used in escape rooms and puzzlehunts. Your answer must be well-defined in a cryptic puzzle.
Math puzzles
Math puzzles are divided into 2 types, the traditional and modern math puzzles.
- Example of Traditional:
Given xy = 6, xz = 10, and yz = 15, find the value of zyz.
The traditional math puzzle is competitive and more recreational.
- Example of Modern:
You’ve created a social media platform; you plan on supporting 100 users for your beta release. Each user can be “friends” with any user. How many “friendships” does your social network’s database need to be stored?
The modern match puzzle is more narrative and requires a mathematical application. The answer to this puzzle is 99 + 98……+1 = 4950. Thus, everyone can have 99 friends. It is double-counting friendships, so it must be divided into 2:
100 x99 / 2 = 4950
Word puzzles
Word puzzles involve Boggle and crosswords. This puzzle needs your knowledge about language. Most word puzzles are designed to have a definition. It also involves logic to solve.
Logic puzzles
Logic puzzles include grid puzzles, Picross, and Sudoku. It is designed with grid that you need to complete though following some rules. Picross puzzle is also known as nonograms since its solution gives a picture.
Riddles
Example of Riddles:
A man and his son are involved in a car accident. The father dies, but the son is taken to the hospital. The doctor refused to operate and said, “I cannot operate on my son!” How can this be?
The answer to this riddle is “The doctor is the mother” or “The Doctor is the stepfather” To solve riddles, you need lateral thinking. It is also commonly used in escape rooms and puzzlehunts.
Pattern guessing
Example:
What comes next in the list? 1, 2, 4, …
The pattern guessing involves reasonable guesses.
Now that you have learned the different types of puzzles, you can choose the best one that matches your interests. Solving puzzles allows you to enjoy your free time while relaxing and training your brain.
