Welcome to The Puzzle Museum

The museum comprises tens of thousands of mechanical puzzles from 320 BC to tomorrow's prototypes. The museum contains various collections by theme, maker etc. with many described on this website.

The Puzzle Museum Collection was started in 1886. This Website in 1996.

Over 15000 puzzles have been catalogued and classified. You can browse the catalogue and view the gallery which contains images giving an overview of the entire collection in 2003.

This museum, the world's finest puzzle collection, represents nearly 140 years of continuous puzzle collecting by ten people.

Exploring the Museum

A good place to start is with a history of puzzles. From there your interest could take you to impossible bottles, rubiks cube, puzzle jugs or mathematics.

 

Ten years have psssed since we used the above Festive Card. Click to see if you can solve it before 2032 is past.

 

For a quick glance at a couple of hundred puzzles showing the scope of the collection look at the Index of "Puzzles of the Month" these are sorted according to the Hordern-Dalgety Classification.

Click on the Mobius Logo at the top left to be taken to some random puzzle page, then click the back button and do it again.

 

Current Status of the main collections.

News 2022.

The puzzle collection will be returning to Europe in 2023 [more

]

 

Meanwhile in Devon, between the tidying and housekeeping, our elegand ladies continue to metagrobologize in style. Here seen playing with an early 19th Century set of mosaics based on 16 sets of Tangrams. Note the correct dress for puzzling and the modest jug of Devon cider.


 

The sections below introduce some of the collections within the museum.

Samples of Puzzle Ephemera

A tiny selection for you to puzzle over. [more]

Sorrento Boxes

These boxes are amongst the most common antique puzzle boxes found. They were made in Sorrento in Italy from around 1860 to 1960s. [more]

Sculptures of Miguel Berrocal

The work of Miguel Berrocal has been well known and greatly appreciated in the Art World for many years.

However many of the world's puzzle enthusiasts seem to know very little about him and his works. Most know that he has produced the "Ultimate" in 3D puzzles, a few think that they are expensive but they tend to be unaware of the amazing technical achievements of some of the sculptures [more]

Harry Eng's Impossible Bottles

Harry Eng the Master Bottle Filler.

Harry was born in 1932 and died in 1996. He was a school teacher, educational consultant, inventor, and magician. [more]

Solitaire

Solitaire is one of the great classic puzzles.

There are two basic layouts, the English 33 hole and the French 37 hole versions. Moves are made by jumping a piece over a neighbouring piece into a vacant hole. The jumped piece is removed.[more]