A free historical puzzle library
Identify the puzzle. Try a hint. Reveal the solution.
Explore wooden brain teasers, puzzle boxes, metal disentanglement puzzles and 3D jigsaws from the original shop and the expanded reference library. The shop has closed, but the photographs, specifications and solutions remain available.
98solution pages
47archived products
21history pages and guides
Start here
Find the right puzzle page
Search by a remembered name, use a guided visual questionnaire or compare several photographs side by side.
01
Search names and aliases
Search Soma Cube, Chinese Cross, Snowflake and other alternative names.
02Guided puzzle finder
Narrow the archive by material, shape and visible features.
03Compare photographs
Select up to four possible matches and compare their details.
04Explore puzzle boxes
Find sliding-panel boxes, secret safes and interlocking wooden chests.
05Help recover instructions
See which discontinued puzzles still need a verified solution.
Popular starting points
Featured puzzle solutions
Discover the stories behind the puzzles
Puzzle history and reference
History
A Brief History of Puzzles
Follow the development of puzzles from ancient riddles and dissection puzzles to jigsaws, mechanical brain teasers and modern twisty puzzles.
History
The History of Jigsaw Puzzles
Discover how eighteenth-century dissected maps developed into wooden, cardboard and three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles.
History
A History of Puzzle Boxes
Explore secret-opening boxes, Japanese himitsu-bako, Hakone yosegi marquetry and the development of modern puzzle boxes.
About this website
From online shop to verified archive
Crafty Puzzles began trading in 2004 and specialised in unusual wooden, metal and three-dimensional puzzles. Product sales have ended. The rebuilt website preserves established page addresses, original instruction material and product photographs while adding modern accessibility, search and print features.
Every solution now includes source and verification information. Where a written guide has been added, it is an original summary designed to accompany rather than replace the surviving diagram or video.
New ways to explore
Play, learn and investigate
Interactive
Play puzzles online
Try Tower of Hanoi, the fifteen puzzle and a sequence-memory challenge.
Free resourcesPrint puzzle activities
Tangrams, pentominoes, matchstick challenges and a history quiz.
Teachers and clubsClassroom lessons
Algorithms, coordinates, decomposition, design and testing.
ResearchArchive detectives
Follow attempts to recover discontinued instructions and identify lost puzzles.