Description

The 15 puzzle was "invented" by Noyes Palmer Chapman, a postmasterin Canastota, New York, who is said to have shown friends, as earlyas 1874, a precursor puzzle consisting of 16 numbered blocks thatwere to be put together in rows of four, each summing to 34. Copiesof the improved Fifteen Puzzle made their way to Syracuse, New Yorkby way of Frank, son of Noyes, and from there, via sundryconnections, to Watch Hill, RI, and finally to Hartford(Connecticut), where students in the American School for the Deafstarted manufacturing the puzzle and, by December 1879, sellingthem both locally and in Boston, Massachusetts. Shown one of these,Matthias Rice, who ran a fancy woodworking business in Boston,started manufacturing the puzzle sometime in December 1879 andconvinced a Yankee Notions fancy goods dealer to sell them underthe name of "Gem Puzzle". In late-January 1880, Dr. Charles Pevey,a dentist in Worcester, Massachusetts, garnered some attention byoffering a cash reward for a solution to the Fifteen Puzzle. HOW TOPLAY : You will be given a board of 4x4 cells out of which one tilewill be missing. Your aim is to arrange the tiles in correctnumerical order. Touch on any tile to move it to the blank space ongrid. To be a maestro you have to complete the game in minimal timeand moves