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Sam Loyds Most Successful Hoax

Martin Gardner called Sam Loyd Americas Greatest Puzzlist. And Loyd is famous for the numerous wonderful puzzles that he invented,

Figure 1. Two Great Puzzles and the Cyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles by Sam Loyd such as the Trick Mules (above left), Get Off the Earth Puzzle Mystery (above center) and the thousands of delightful puzzles included in his Cyclopedia (above right) as well as the engaging stories he used to pose his puzzles. However Loyd also has a reputation for taking credit for puzzles created by others. Henry Dudeney complained numerous times that Loyd did not give him credit for puzzles that Dudeney had created. And sometimes his delightful stories accompanying his puzzles were beyond a mere exaggeration, they were a hoax, completely false. Loyds book about the Tangram puzzle called, The 8th Book of Tan, included a extensive, but bogus history of the puzzle that claimed that it was 4,000 years old. In fact the puzzle is actually about 200 years old.

Figure 2. The 8th Book of Tan by Sam Loyd

2 Although Sir James Murray, Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, exposed Loyds false Tangram history in 1910, 7 years after the book was published, Loyds hoax is still occasionally reported in publications and web sites An interview with Sam Loyd in the Lima (Ohio) Daily Times on January 13, 1891, provided Loyd an opportunity to plug a new Puzzle of his, named Blind Luck. Loyd also mentioned in the interview, for the first time that he was the inventor of: Pigs-in-Clover, which had been a puzzle craze in 1889, just 2 years earlier. He also claimed that he invented the popular game Parcheesi, and the 14-15 Puzzle. Lets look at each of Loyds claims of invention. From Mid-February to May 1889 Pigs-inClover was a huge puzzle craze in the United States. Three weeks after it came out, The Waverly Free Press reported that the Waverly toy works were turning out 8,000 a day and they are 20 days behind in their orders. The puzzle reached the US Senate by mid-March and became a metaphor for politics, as we see on the right. Mark Twain mentioned it in his book, The American Claimant. The question of who invented the puzzle was, at that time, not in dispute. Charles Crandall was reported to be the inventor in numerous newspaper articles in 1889. And Sam Loyds name was never found in connection with the puzzle at the time of the craze.

Figure 3. The Pigs-in-Clover Puzzle

Figure 4. Judges Political Pigs-in-Clover cartoon

Figure 5. Charles Crandall, inventor of Pigs-in-Clover

3 We checked further and found that Crandall applied for a patent in February 1889 and he signed an oath shown on the left that he was the sole inventor.

Figure 6. Crandalls Oath of Invention

Figure 7. Crandalls Patent for Pigs-in-Clover

The patent shown on the right for the puzzle was issued to Crandall on September 10, 1889. It is surprising that Loyd had the audacity to claim that he invented Pigs-in-Clover less than 2 years after the puzzle craze ended and with all the newspaper reports that Crandall had invented it. And it is even more surprising that he succeeded in making the world believe his claim. We also checked on Loyds claim that he invented the Game Parcheesi. The Chicago Tribune reported in May 1893 about an exhibit on the History and evolution of games at The World Columbian Exposition being held in Chicago. One of the games exhibited was Parcheesi and the game was described as coming from India where it had been played since the 4th century. The game company Selchow & Righter bought the rights to Parcheesi in 1870 and obtained a trademark for it in 1874. There was no evidence of any involvement by Sam Loyd.

Figure 8. Hindu Parchessi Players, 18th century

Now lets examine Loyds claim that he invented the 15 Puzzle. According to newspaper reports, the first commercial 15 Puzzle was made by Matthias J. Rice in Boston and first sold in Boston and Hartford Connecticut two weeks before Christmas 1879. It was called The Gem Puzzle.

Figure 9. Matthias Rices Gem Puzzle was the first commercial 15 Puzzle Notice that the 15 blocks are not constrained in the box and the instructions are very simple: Place the blocks in the box irregularly, then move until in regular order. Rice said in an interview that once he succeeded in having a store in Boston sell the puzzle, he could never keep up with orders! By mid-February 1880, sales took off from Boston & New York and by mid-March the entire Country was involved in an enormous 15-Puzzle Craze.

Figure 10. The Daily Graphic at the peak of the Fifteen Puzzle Craze, March 3, 1880

From the beginning, the Craze was initiated and fueled by the phenomenon that one time when you tried, you could solve it - and the next time it seemed impossible. The big problem was when you were able to get all the numbers correctly placed except the numbers 15 & 14 which were reversed - the only ones not in regular Order. Still there were many people that claimed it was always solvable. During March the puzzle craze generated songs, theatre productions, and political cartoons. Americas dominant political satire magazine, PUCK published a full page color political cartoon about the selection of candidates for the 1880 Presidential Election featuring the 15 Puzzle. To get a feeling for how the 15 Puzzle craze started and spread in the US, lets look at the timeline below showing the start of 15 Puzzle sales and how the puzzle craze that it created rapidly spread and enveloped the whole Country.

Figure 11. Puck Magazine cartoon about the 1880 Presidential Election

Figure 12. Timeline of the 15 Puzzle Craze in the United States

As you can see the craze spread from New York to San Francisco in about 3 weeks and ended in most of the United Stated by Mid-April, 1880; but an equally big 15-Puzzle craze in Europe had just begun. Now lets look at Sam Loyds involvement in the 15 Puzzle. As described earlier, Sam Loyd first mentioned that he invented the 15 puzzle in an interview published in January 1891, more than 10 years after the 15 Puzzle Craze had ended! He continued to make the same claim for the next 20 years in at least 23 articles, ads and interviews that we found, before his death in 1911.
Date January 13, 1891 February 1891 1892 May 11, 1893 October 14, 1893 July 1894 January 4, 1896 March 22, 1896 May 31, 1896 June 24, 1896 Publication Lima Daily Times Manufacturer & Builder Mag, Title He Invents Puzzles Note about Blind Luck

Ad for Piper Heisdick Tobacco Our 93 Challenge Indana Country Gazette Tit Bits Our Illustrated Press Illustrated American Brooklyn Daily Eagle New York Sun Sam Loyd Letterhead Charity Fund request Sam Loyd Puzzle Loyds Our Puzzle Corner The Famous 15 Block Puzzle Loyds first puzzle column Loyd interview Loyd letter to Mr. Raynor

Figure 13. Sam Loyd articles and interviews that credit Loyd for the invention of the 15 Puzzle. We looked but did not find any Loyd articles, interviews or publications that mentioned any Loyd involvement with the 15 puzzle during the 1870s or 1880s.The list above shows a sample of the articles and interviews that credited Loyd with the invention. We will discuss the two highlighted in red a bit later. After his death in 1911, 9 of the 11 obituaries that we found mentioned his invention of the 15 Puzzle including all of the ones shown below - and 8 of 11 credited him with inventing Pigs-in-Clover as well. Date April 12, 1911 April 12, 1911 April 12, 1911 April 22, 1911 May 1911 June 7, 1911 June 23, 1911 Publication New York Times Chicago Tribune Mansfield News Scientific American The American Magazine Gettysburg Compiler Stevens Point Journal Title Sam Loyd, Puzzle Man, Dies Puzzle King Sam Loyd Dies Noted Puzzler Dies Samuel Loyd Sam Loyd The Puzzle King is Dead The Pigs in Clover Man

Figure 14 Obituaries of Sam Loyd

And after his death many books, biographies and encyclopedias credit Loyd for the 15 Puzzle invention, including the 2005 Encyclopedia Britannica.

Figure 15. Articles credit loyd with the 15 Puzzle invention

Figure 16. Books credit loyd with the 15 Puzzle invention

Sam Loyds own letterhead - at least from 1896 until 1903 claimed that Loyd was the Author of the 15 Block Puzzle, Pigs-inClover and the game Parcheesi! Figure 17. Sam Loyds Letterhead, June 1896

Now lets look at the first article by Sam Loyd where he challenged readers to solve the 15 puzzle. Sam Loyds article in The Illustrated American on January 4, 1896, shown below, included a sketch of a puzzle solver drawn by Loyd - and it was the first time Loyd challenged his readers to solve the 15 -14 Puzzle. He offered a $1,000. reward for the solution!

Figure 18. Sam Loyds first article where he challenged readers to solve the 15-14 problem and offered a $1,000. reward, to be divided among the solvers.

Figure 19. Loyd claims he posed the 15 Puzzle in 1872

Loyd wrote, I give it as originally promulgated in 1872. The board is reproduced just as originally drawn, with the numbers marked on the fifteen squares, showing how the blocks must be arranged at the commencement. (Authors italics)

Figure 20. Loyd defines the block positions at the start, with reversed positions for the 15 and 14 blocks And a reward of $1,000. was offered to be divided equally among all who send in correct answers. Loyds instructions are: The object of the problem is to move the blocks one at a time, and bring about an absolutely perfect sequence of figures, with the 14 and 15, as well as all other numbers, in regular order. Considering that Loyd was a professional puzzle designer that had a lot of experience challenging readers, it is obvious that he had never proposed this problem to readers in 1872 or at any other time because the problem as he posed it - was indeed -- Solvable!

Figure 21. Solution to Loyds stated problem This solution was first mentioned in an article in the Worcester Evening Gazette of January 29, 1880 and the same solution by MAME and J.D. Warner was published in the Rochester Democrat and Register on February 23, 1880. (16 years before Loyds article) W.W. Rouse Ball published this solution in his book, Mathematical Recreations and Problems in 1892.

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And Perisor Frazer presented 48 solutions for the 15 Puzzle to The American Philosophical Society on March 19, 1880.

Figure 22. Persifor Frasier presented 48 Fifteen Puzzle solutions to The American Philosophical Society on March 19, 1880. Of course all of these solutions comply with the instruction that the blocks must be placed in Regular Order - but not the Regular Order that Loyd had in mind. The key aspect of the problem that Loyd was apparently not aware of was that the location of the empty space must be specified when posing the 15 Problem! So what did Sam Loyd discover about his 15 problem and his $1,000. reward for a solution?

Figure 23. Loyds response to readers solutions to his 15 Puzzle problem.

11 He was a bit surprised! Loyd wrote: it is safe to say that the thousand-dollar prize would have to be divided into the smallest coin of the realm to be portioned among all who have worked out solutions of some sort. But did he pay the $1,000. reward for the solutions? Of course not! He wrote: Many succeeded in getting the correct position, but failed to record the sequence of plays. Was he the first to offer a financial reward for a solution for the 15 Puzzle? Far from it! The first financial reward for a solution to the 15 puzzle was offered by Dr. Pevey, a dentist in Worcester, Mass on January 20, 1880 as shown below.

Figure 24. The first reward for solving the 15 Puzzle was a set of false teeth and $100. offered by Dr. Pevey in January 1880 Notice that Pevey defined the finished state, When finished the blank must be after the No. 15. to avoid Loyds error. Three weeks later he upped his reward to $1,000. for the solution, beating Loyd to the $1,000. reward by about 16 years.

12 Why did Dr. Pevey offer rewards for the solution to the 15 Puzzle? Dr. Pevey Explains. (Worcester Evening Gazette, January 31, 1880) The reason why I wanted you all to help me work out the puzzle was to convince that girl. You see she said she worked it out; she knew she did, and if I said she did not, I simply doubted her veracity. Now to doubt the word of a young lady is high treason and of course should be punished as such, so I stopped to think how I could convince her (without putting it into words) that she did not do what she said she did. From her looks I made up my mind it was no easy task and would probably require the whole population of Worcester to help me. For she knew she did it! And that you know would ordinarily settle it, but take what it would or cost what it would, she must be convinced, but now that we have all given the matter a weeks careful study, and without a single favorable result. Probably she will no longer contend that she did it. At first some of us, as you know, rather held to it that it could be done, and that perhaps she was right. But now that we are all of one mind, that it can not be done, and that we were mistaken, we will laugh over our weeks fun and proceed to business again. Respectfully, Chas. K. Pevey Peveys Dental Rooms, cor. Main and Pleasant Streets, Worcester, Mass.

The timeline below summarizes the key dates in Loyds hoax:

Figure 25. Timeline of key dates in Sam Loyds hoax.

-- 1880 15 Puzzle Craze worldwide ended by July 1880 -- 1891 Loyds first claim that he invented the 15 Puzzle -- 1896 Loyds first article challenging readers to solve the 15 puzzle -- 1911 Loyds death

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Conclusions about Sam Loyds 15 Puzzle hoax:

Sam Loyd did not invent the 15 Puzzle He had no role in the 15 Puzzle Craze Loyds campaign to take credit for the invention began in 1891 - 10 years after
the 15 Puzzle Craze ended

At least 23 articles & interviews repeat Loyds claim of invention of the 15

encyclopedias 94 years later falsely credit him with inventing the 15 puzzle Since Martin Gardner has written that Sam Loyd invented the 15 Puzzle, I thought it would be interesting to get his reaction to our findings - so I sent a galley proof of The 15 Puzzle book to him. Martin Gardners comments: Did Sam Loyd, Americas greatest puzzle maker, invent the notorious 14-15 sliding block puzzle? He claimed he did but the claim was a total lie. Loyd had nothing whatsoever to do with either the puzzle or its popularity.

Loyds campaign was very successful After his death in 1911, obituaries, books, articles, web sites & even

This article is based on findings reported in The 15 Puzzle book, by Jerry Slocum and Dic Sonneveld and was first presented in lectures at the Seventh Gathering for Gardner, March 2006, The Convention of the Association of Game and Puzzle Collectors, March 2006.