This puzzle holds a special place in my heart. In addition to being one of my favorite puzzles, the theme revolved around a well-known celebrity who passed away shortly before the puzzle was presented, transforming it into an incredibly timely tribute. (I’ve altered the date on this listing to avoid any spoilers.)
Players receive a box of 42 square tiles. Each tile has words printed on each edge, a non-word printed in the middle, and dots of various shades on the reverse side.
The goal is to arrange the tiles so that the words on the edges relate to one another in each row and column. For (hypothetical) example, one column might hold tiles with countries printed on the right side, and the column next to it has anagrams of those countries on the left (CHINA – CHAIN, PERU – PURE, etc.)
When the grid is assembled, the non-words in the center form a path that spells out a quote by the celebrity. And for the final payoff, the tiles are flipped over from left to right to reveal a halftone portrait.
The “wow” factor was huge.
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