Here's a puzzle "classic". I call it the infamous brick puzzle, and you'll see why.
There are actually two variations on this puzzle.
Variation 1:
Draw a curve without lifting your pencil such that you pass exactly once through the top, bottom, right, and left sides of each of the five rectangles. No passing through corners.
Variation 2:
Draw a curve without lifting your pencil such that you pass through each line segment exactly once. Note that the lower left and lower right rectangles each have 4 line segments surrounding them, while all the others have 5. Again, no passing through corners
There are a lot of stories I've heard of people obsessing over this puzzle, trying to find the solution. Once I read a story by this guy who was given this puzzle in elementary school, and he obsessed over it well into adulthood. This puzzle is pure evil, I tell you. I don't even know why I'm posting it--I guess I must have an evil streak. It's the kind of puzzle whose author probably deserves to have his hand cut off. Well, I guess it's not that evil, since no communication tricks are involved.
Oh man, speaking of the -gry puzzle, that one's even worse. Supposedly, it first appeared on a radio show, and it got repeated everywhere, only when people repeated it, the words got mixed up in a way such that it was unsolvable. Um, yeah... these are the sort of stories you pick up when you're a puzzle enthusiast.
Anyways, it's actually a pretty easy puzzle. See the solution here in the comments.
don't post the solution yet, i don't have enough time to look at it right now, i have too much work.
ReplyDeleteok, i looked at it, I'm stuck, can you show me the solution?
ReplyDeleteIt looks impossible
Yes, I'm definitly sure that I think it's impossible...
ReplyDeleteSolution time!
ReplyDeleteVariation 1:
There are two bricks on top, and three on bottom. Therefore, the total number of times you must pass through the horizontal line must be both three and two. Last I checked 3 isn't equal to 2, so this puzzle is impossible.
Variation 2:
For each rectangle, unless you started or ended the line within the rectangle, there must be exactly one exit for every entrance. So except for the starting rectangle and ending rectangle, you must enter and exit each rectangle an even number of times. However, there are three rectangles that require an odd number of entrances and exits. Therefore, this variation is impossible as well.
So, I hope no one has wasted too much time thinking that there must be a solution.
It can be done but you have to start on the out side and you will finish inside turn it upside down, start by going Up through the bottom of the first rectangle, then left, then Circle right, then down, Circle back up and then the left and out the top, go straight right then up circle around the far right side then down and right, circle around the bottom and come up through to both lines then circle around down, and right
DeleteHAH! I knew it!
ReplyDeleteMy husband has been trying to figure this out for 17 years or so. He told me about it today, I tried it a couple of times, said "screw it" and googled it. THANK YOU for setting me straight so I don't spend eons over it! Shhh....don't tell my husband though!
ReplyDeleteMy law teacher said that his teacher solved this puzzle in grade 6, but he didn't write it down. Whether this is true or not, I'm not sure, but everytime I try, It's one line that always gets missed!
ReplyDeleteIm just throwing this out there but i found a solution to this puzzle...
ReplyDeleteits REALLY stupid but i did find a solution to it
I dont believe you found a real solution but let me see your spin on it anyway
ReplyDeleteOff and on for 20 years I've tried to solve this puzzle. Thanks for setting me free. My 6th grade math teacher should be punished for giving this out, saying there was a "solution" and never letting us know that the solution was that it is impossible. Just pure evil.
ReplyDeleteActually there is a solution to the five brick puzzle, proposed by the German mathematician Euler. He maintained that since a line has only one dimension (length), it can be FOLLOWED without CROSSING it. Try this "route": Draw the five bricks and number each line segment for reference purposes, starting with the horizontal line segments, working left to right from the top left hand segment. There are 9 horizontal segments. Then starting with the upper left vertical segment, number the vertical segments. There are 7 vertical segments, for a total of 16 line segments in all.
ReplyDeleteStart inside the upper right-hand brick and exit through segment 2; re-enter across 12; enter the lower right-hand brick across 6,and exit across 16; re-enter the lower right brick across 9 and exit (thereby entering the centre-lower brick) across 15; continue across the brick and exit across 14, thereby entering the lower left hand brick; exit the brick across 7, re-enter across 13, and exit across 3, thereby entering the upper left hand brick; exit the brick across 10 and re-enter across 1 and exit again across 11, thereby entering the upper right hand brick; note there are only three line segments not crossed yet: 4, 5, and 8; exit the brick across 5, thus entering the lower centre brick and exit across 4 thus entering the upper left hand brick; now comes Euler's solution: FOLLOW line segment 14 from the top (inside th eupper leeft hand brick) to the bottom thus exiting the puzzle and then cross segment 8 from the outside, thus re-entering the lower centre brick. You have completed the puzzle.
Nice, but in my statement of the problem, I ruled that you can't go through corners. In your solution, you've gone through the corner at the intersection of 3, 4, and 14 (as well as another corner at 7, 8, and 14). Anyways, if we were allowed to go through corners, why not just go through the intersection of segments 10 and 1? That would also solve the problem just as well.
ReplyDeleteBut I don't mean to steal away any sense achievement you got out of it. I say take what you can get from this evil puzzle and run.
I have a solution to this one. It involves 1 horizontal fold of the paper and an unfold during the moving of the pen. Just be sure not to lift the pen! :)
ReplyDeleteThis is impossible!! My grandfather gave it to me and said he would pay me $500 if i solved it
ReplyDeleteyou guys are all freaks for trying this out it doesn't even work DONT GIVE UP YOUR DAY JOBS
ReplyDeleteFootball's beta why bother ya self with dat problemo
ReplyDeleteOnce again, not impossible. Fold the paper over the horizontal line (actually, it's a Z fold) and you can then figure out how to do it by unfolding after crossing one line. You've got to think outside the box, or in this case, the brick!
ReplyDeleteMy math teacher said that she has been trying to solve this puzzle for 50 years- every since her elementary school math teacher showed it to her, saying it was impossible. But my math teacher didn't believe her and is still trying to figure it out...
ReplyDeleteHas no one tried my way yet? It is definitely NOT IMPOSSIBLE, and VERY POSSIBLE!
ReplyDeleteMark and Cari,
ReplyDeleteI'm happy you found a solution you like, but please, no all-caps nagging. Personally, I think it is just as satisfying, and involves just as much thinking outside the box to figure out that the puzzle is indeed impossible (given a few implicit assumptions, such as no folding paper). Most people would consider folding the paper to be cheating. It's hard to cheat oneself into self-satisfaction!
In short, I appreciate your attempts to help the escapees of this mindtrap, but I don't think it will work!
In my opinion, there can be no assumptions in a mind-teasing puzzle. The instructions were very clear, and I've never seen a version with different instructions. But I'll agree that "assuming" no folding, it is impossible. The folding bit is where the thinking outside the box comes into play!
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has written puzzles, I must respectfully disagree that there are never any implicit assumptions. When I write puzzles, I always expect people to give me the exact same answer I thought of, regardless of whether there are any other valid solutions! (I kid, I kid.)
ReplyDeletehello im a 15 yr old boy been trying to do this puzzle for 2 years my art teacher done this puzzle in front of me and i was really shocked then he tore it up and said he would give any pupil £25 if they could do it and he gave me a clue a butterfly and sliced bread so use them clues and try to find out how to do it
ReplyDeleteA butterfly and sliced bread? Why didn't I think of it earlier!! It's all clear. Starting in the top right exit through segment G2. Re-enter through segment A1. Complete a small horse-shoe shape through segments a thru e covering sub-segments 1-6. With this covered, it should become obvious that you are left with two segments reachable through a straight line.
ReplyDeleteHope this helps (p.s. in my 58 years of puzzle writing, I have never managed to find anything so intellectually refreshing.)
Remember, there is no charge for awesomeness.
yes, 17 years is my count on trying, please tell me there is a solution. please? please? I am obsessed! ahhhh!
ReplyDeletewell me and a couple family members have been trying to figure it out for the past 2 an a half hours, so finally i said why not just look it up on the coputer because there has to be a way, come to find out... it is impossible!
ReplyDeletecan some one like draw up the answer and like post it on google pictures or something coz the whole number thing is super confusing
ReplyDeleteCant you just put the picture up there and let me copy it!!!
ReplyDeleteI mean it is alot more complicated when you type it like that. D;<
wtf this puzzle is gay. my math teacher says he knows its possible without cheatiing. there are 2 billion 900 thousand ways to do it wrong and 1 way to do it right. so if u say its impossible email james hughs or LMB
ReplyDeleteThis is they gayest thing ever. I tried some of the solutions on here but they are just all garbage. You people are dumb and can LMB.My Math teacher it going to give us 50$ if we do this thing, so why doenst some one just post a dang picture of it so we can copy it and i can get some money.
ReplyDeletehey anonymous i am in james hughses class to ind i think your freakin riight
ReplyDeleteguy who said somthing about a butterfy and horse shoe should just post the freakin answer why hasnt any one thought of it? yet they are all just gay. and who are you? this is S. B. those are my anitials post yours or just tell me who you are if you realize who i am
i am obsessing over this thing an james said there is an answe so just post it already!
ReplyDeleteLadies, gentlemen, settle. And please, cut the homophobic slurs.
ReplyDeleteIf you are so convinced that it's possible, consider this: Some people say it is possible, but they never provide evidence. I say it's impossible, and I showed you the full proof.
There's perhaps a lesson in all this: Question all authority.
im soru miller but i think that anounoumas in augusst at 1 57 was right i think thats the way
ReplyDeletedoes any body know what the actul name of this puzzle is called. I need to know
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know, this puzzle does not have an official name. Most puzzles don't.
ReplyDeleteSome body should try and find a name for this puzzle because it will help me so much.
ReplyDeleteWheres the picture of it done at
ReplyDeleteMy name for it, "The infamous brick puzzle" is just as good as any.
ReplyDeleteThere is no picture of the solution, because the solution is that it's impossible.
Dude that aint the name. Somebody told me there was a specific name but they wont tell me so i need to know the specific name.
ReplyDeleteI wasted 15 years and $5000 on beating i could do this puzzle PLZ let there be a way to solve this puzzle PLZZZZZZZZZZZ
ReplyDeleteits too hard i do it and one line is always left!!!!
ReplyDeleteCan be done. can be done.
ReplyDeletedraw the bricks very small and get a huge marker pen and draw one huge line over the entire thing. simple.
ReplyDeleteThey have this puzzle at the bottom of the Patrona Towers in Kula Lumpur, I went away annoyed I couldn't solve it. However it was a fixed wooden structure with pegs in the corners and string, so a fold was impossible, therefore rendering the solution impossible also.
ReplyDeleteCan I tag another puzzle that I've been struggling with on this thread?:
ReplyDeleteYou are given 6 identical sized wooden blocks to fit into a box. The 6 wooden blocks are 2x2x1 in size (like a square shaped book) and the box inside area is 3x3x3 (like a Rubix Cube). Can it be done? I don't have a solution, can anyone help?!!
That's the first I've heard of a physical implementation of this puzzle. I bet most people in Kuala Lumpur would try to tell you it was possible (keeping the legend alive).
ReplyDeleteThe six wooden blocks puzzle can be done. No unusual block orientations are required, but the solution is difficult to describe without a picture.
I solved this last night with the parameter; that each of the 16 segments must be crossed only once with a single line of any shape. The friend who showed me this last night has not found anyone in 15 years that could solve the puzzle. Took me about 2 hours of playing with to figure out that could be solved. Another 1 1/2 hours to get close. Prayed and asked the Big Guy to make me smart enough to get it and I did get it with his helpafter about another 1/2 hour. The
ReplyDeletesolution is quite simple and elegant once you see it. Involves a 3/4 circle in the centre intersection and another 3/4 circle in the bottom 2nd vertical bar and the baseline. That should be a decent hint for someone else to get it.
Clive cliveapps@gmail.com
why can people not just post a picture of the solution instead of trying to describe it
ReplyDeleteYep you guys there are a few possible ways here. Really one that hasn't been mentioned thus far.
ReplyDeleteTake a big sheet of paper and draw our diagram, and do it witha small pencil. Then poke the whole pencil through, and it's pretty darn easy.
:). It is impossible to do for the reasons shown by Miller... without manipulating the paper, that is.
If you go straight up the vertical line between the two top bricks you can do it, If that is against the rules then you cant.
ReplyDeletemy mum has been tryin to do this 4 26years after her maths teacher mr lewis at oakbank school give her it she has onli to this day found it its impossible (idiot)
ReplyDeleteThis torture device is impossible to solve. There are about 15 million different combination's. Its simple there are not enough exits to achieve the solution, with how many entrances your required to pass through. Math it out, its fact. A colleague of mine wrote a computer program to try and find a solution to this, it is impossible to solve according to the rule set provided. But it is an excellent method for exercising the mind in unusual ways, find your own solution and know that with the given parameters this is not solvable.
ReplyDeleteits verry simple. the solution is imposible 2-d but maybee posible 3-d. thats what my geography teacher said and he will prove it at the end of the year. also I am copying off a dude who he says is on the last layer. Put dots where all the line segments end and dashes in the middle of the line segments. then remove the lines. thats how far i got. He also said something about morse code.Im not sure though he's crazy.
ReplyDeleteIf the solution is possible prove the possibility. email:jessiebee123@yahoo.com
ReplyDeletethe only way it can be done is to move the top brick over to 1 size bigger that's the only way
ReplyDeleteall i have to say is me and my two little sisters my uncle and my grandpa have spent a lot of time trying to figure it out so we looked it up and it dosent say anything
ReplyDelete* So back to the drawing board
the answer is, for example if u want to pass through each line segment once through the puzzle, u cant , there are an odd number of line segments if there were 8 10 12 etc. u would be able to do it its like the puzzle with 17 door ways and u r supposed to go through the house inside and out and go through all dorr ways without going through one twice, it's impossible, there has to be and even # of lines of whatever, really simple really
ReplyDeleteokay, here's one thing the author forgot to post. you CAN NOT go through the same line twice. Once you enter you may not exit through the same opening. It is possible but you just have to be creative
ReplyDeleteok so like the other one said alot of people say it can be done....but there is no prof. so until i see the solution it is false.
ReplyDeletep.s Vampires rule!!!
I obsessed with this problem for months. Finally wrote a computer program to run all iterations... took many weeks of keeping my spare laptop running in the closet to finish... had to rewrite several times because my status indicator would predicts many months to complete... no solution.
ReplyDeleteLOL. That story sounds so fake. It would not actually take that long for a computer to run through all possibilities for this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteIt was written in uncompilable BASIC... my one and only language. It was executed on a 2002 Dell Laptop. You write something faster in BASIC and run it on the same laptop...
ReplyDeleteThere are many iterations.
If you challenge me, I'll go find the code...
Miller, you said that variation 2 is impossible 'unless if you started or ended the line within the rectangle'. Does that mean it's possible if you start or finish inside a brick, while doing variation 2? If so, wouldn't it count as a valid solution, seeing as there's no indication of where you're allowed to start/end and it didn't seem implied? If there's no solution with this method either, it'd be nice to know. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteNo, that's not what I said. I said for each rectangle, unless that rectangle was your starting or ending point, there must be an even number of times you cross the edge. Unfortunately, there are three rectangles that need an odd number of crossings, and you can only start in one and end in another. Therefore, it's impossible.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely possible. I solved it. Check this out: Start in the bottom middle, go left, up, then back down to bottom middle, top left, down to bottom left, out left side, up to top right(through left side), up through the top left, back down through top right, out top right side, in bottom right side, out bottom right, in bottom middle, go left and then go down.
ReplyDeleteSolved. Easy as pie.
http://lolpics.se/20202-impossible
ReplyDeleteHere is a pic to prove everyone that tried to say it's impossible is absolutely retarded.
That explanation is utterly unreadable, and that picture is missing a door. But thanks for trying!
ReplyDeleteMy teacher assigned my class a brain teaser and with a little internet searching I found this "infamous brick puzzle." The only difference is that the one my teacher gave us was a circle rather than a rectangle, giving it 12 separate line segments. Is this equally as impossible as the brick, my teacher swears he knows the answer.
ReplyDeleteI've been wanting to show this puzzle to a group that I help mentor, but I would like to present the formula which explains why this is impossible after their attempts. Educational aspect.
ReplyDeleteOkay folks, since 1956 from my math teacher; that's like 56 years. Just showed it to my grandson on Sunday the 6th; then I found your Blog this Tuesday the 8th, in the morning. There are some great ideas amongst you.
ReplyDeleteYes, I have tried to find a solution, for 56 years, a little scribble now & then, but... no proper solution yet.
And then... My just found, this Tuesday morning, 8th of May, a most probable solution: Since it is called the 5 Brick Puzzle, so be it; draw 5 bricks, do not let bricks touch, leave room for the mortar; all lines can now be crossed, as each brick has 4 line segments.
Or, draw the 5 bricks in perspective 3-D.
Thanks for your ideas,
Nailbreak
lol, my science teacher offered 50 extra credit points to the first person to get it... i bet he knew the solution
ReplyDeleteI started working on this puzzle when I was 12 yrs old. There was a professor from Washington state offering $300,000.00 to the person that solved it. He said that it was mathematically possible. And with that I have now been working on this puzzle for 24 yrs. I have hundreds of notebooks filled with failed attempts . I just passed this curse onto my 12yr old son. So far he is obsessed with it, like I was. What have I done.......
ReplyDeletePoor bastard!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI Just found a solution!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://i.imgur.com/cztZL.png
Found using MSPaint for easier "erasing" of mistakes
9/29/2012
Do I get that $300,000 you talked about?
ReplyDeleteNo, you went through the upper right horizontal wall twice.
ReplyDeletemy teacher gave us a VERY similar puzzle, basically the exact same thing, but the 4 outermost corners are rounded out to form a circle. one of my classmates claims to have solved it, but refuses to show me the answer. is it possible?
ReplyDeleteMy ex-gf gave this to me to solve... she never told me it was impossible... oh, the irony...
ReplyDeleteIf this is bricks why look at it in these dimensions?
ReplyDeleteso in a third dimensional for it would have two bricks with 12 sides each on top and 3 bricks with 12 sides each on bottom - sry if this is not very smart im only 15 yrs old
ReplyDeleteand i was wondering if you could use the line as representing the forth dimension? time
ReplyDeletefor me the butterfly represented the theory of the butterfly effect which of course had a huge involvement in time, and the bread being not in 2 dimensions representing the 3rd dimension needed
ReplyDeletemy main question is when does the 5th dimension come into play?
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I don't understand the question.
ReplyDelete5th dimension....space.
ReplyDeleteand i of course am speaking of the bricks as being objects in the real world as literal bricks and the line being time passing through them as they would indeed have more sides, perhaps making it more mathimatically possible.
ReplyDeletebut remember im only 15 so my math and physics and whatever arent the best and i kind of dont agree with most science yadda yadda yadda. just giving it a fresh thought
ReplyDeletethe closest i get to liking science is liking asimov.
ReplyDeletebut of course his science is just as real as our science.
ReplyDeleteLeave fewer, longer comments, please, or I'll have to trash them as spam.
ReplyDeletedo you understand it though?
ReplyDeleteThey are not literal bricks, they are rectangles.
ReplyDeleteI was given this puzzle in middle school. I have been obsessed with it since then.
ReplyDeleteGot my kids hooked. Stumped my brilliant husband.
I even tried finding the teacher who first showed it to me....
I will spend the rest of my days trying to figure it out.
This was given to me in school also in geometry explained one continous line through all segments once with out missing any. Took six months and was told answer a friend and i came up with was correct. Sheet up paper with drawing represents 1 2d plane punch holes threw each segment and feed string (one continuous line ) through holes thus crossing the lines from different planes never crossing same line twice twice in the single 2d plane. Solved second solution could be bending the 2d plane so that all lines in brick puzzle line up in different planes then pass a single line through all lines more of a bending space time answer anyways tjays my take on it.
ReplyDeleteNo thats not solution :/ i have the real one..
DeleteDone! I did it it's really was hard, but i did it :) i could tell you solution, but then everyone would know it and i would not be interesting :) and i only did it in 132 days :) but it is not easy...
ReplyDeletewrong on both counts............
ReplyDeleteIts impossible guys don't be stupid: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_room_puzzle
ReplyDeleteI think it's physically impossible !
ReplyDeleteThe corners aren't lines.(:
ReplyDeleteEuler trail that's your answer
ReplyDeleteIt is
ReplyDeleteYou have to draw it on a donut or bagel with the hole of said pastry food in the centre of 1 room only.
ReplyDeleteSo I did it in one go...
ReplyDeletehttp://imgur.com/X10cr28
You missed a couple line segments in the middle. Try again!
ReplyDeleteI have a solution, how can I post the picture
ReplyDeletePictures can be e-mailed to me at skepticsplay at gmail dot com, although they won't appear publicly that way. To post publicly you'd have to use an image hosting service and link to it.
ReplyDelete