Conway puzzle

Pieces used in the Conway puzzle, one of each kind.

Conway's puzzle is a packing problem using rectangular blocks, named after its inventor, mathematician John Conway. It calls for packing thirteen 1 × 2 × 4 blocks, one 2 × 2 × 2 block, one 1 × 2 × 2 block, and three 1 × 1 × 3 blocks into a 5 × 5 × 5 box.

Solution

A possible placement for the three 1×1×3 blocks.

The solution of the Conway puzzle is straightforward when one realizes that the three 1 × 1 × 3 blocks need to be placed so that at least one of them appears in each 5 × 5 × 1 slice of the cube.

See also

• Slothouber–Graatsma puzzle