Dad's Puzzler - Humdinger

Circa 1930's.
(cardboard box and 9 wood pieces, 4" x 3.25" x 1/2")

Move the 2x2 piece from the lower right to the upper right (without picking up pieces). Turn the puzzle upside-down and it is identical to the Dad's Puzzler except that the 1x1 pieces are shifted right 2 units. The inside of the cover has a 5 page pamplet glued to it:



Humdinger Box Front & Back, and Center Page


Humdinger Other Pages


A Humdinger Solution
Since the first two moves of the solution presented for Dad's Puzzler are to move the two 1x1 pieces right, a Humdinger solution can be formed by skipping positions 0 and 1 of the Dad's Puzzler solution, giving 60 straight-line moves that can be converted to 57 rectilinear moves by combining steps 4/5, 25/26, and 56/57:


(one move = sliding one piece any number of units in one direction)

Other Versions of Humdinger

U Try It, circa 1930's.
(cardboard box and 9 wood pieces, 5" x 4" x 3/4")

Here is what the directions on the box say:


"Place the blocks as per the above chart and, by
sliding without removing or turning them,
you must get No. 9 to the position of 7 and 8."

Other Versions of Humdinger, Continued


Unknown age (sleeve with directions added by J. Storer 2007).
(cardboard sleeve, stained pine tray, 9 walnut pieces, 5.5" x 4.75" x 1.25",
the 2x2 piece is made by gluing two 1x2 pieces together,
the 2x2 has a metal tack on each side and the other have on in the middle,
pencil markings on the tray show a Humdinger start position,
sleeve also has directions for Nine Block, Quzzle, and Quzzle Killer)

Other Versions of Humdinger, Continued


New Deal, circa 1930's.
(cardboard box and 9 wood pieces, 3.4" x 4.1" x 1/2")

Further Reading
New Deal Wikipedia Page, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal