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EntityQ191024· pop 34· linked from 40 articles

Also known as mystic square, gem puzzle, boss puzzle, game of fifteen, game of 15, fifteen puzzle

number game with 15 pieces but 16 spaces

Wikidata facts

Instance of
sliding puzzle
Image
15-puzzle.svg
Show 2 more facts
Commons category
15 puzzle
maintained by WikiProject
WikiProject Mathematics
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~10 min read

Encyclopedic overview

To solve the puzzle, the numbers must be rearranged into numerical order from left to right, top to bottom. The 15 puzzle (also called Gem Puzzle, Boss Puzzle, Game of Fifteen, Mystic Square and more) is a sliding puzzle. It has 15 square tiles numbered 1 to 15 in a frame that is 4 tile positions high and 4 tile positions wide, with one unoccupied position. Tiles in the same row or column of the open position can be moved by sliding them horizontally or vertically, respectively. The goal of the puzzle is to place the tiles in numerical order (from left to right, top to bottom).

Named after the number of tiles in the frame, the 15 puzzle may also be called a "16 puzzle", alluding to its total tile capacity. Similar names are used for different sized variants of the 15 puzzle, such as the 8 puzzle, which has 8 tiles in a 3×3 frame.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “15 puzzle” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.