Do I really need an excuse to cross the state border into Wisconsin? Besides eating a lot of cheese and doing a little dance because everything’s so cheap, there is always another weird attraction worth visiting. One of those unique museums happens to be the Logic Puzzle Museum in Burlington. For those with patient and sensible brains, get ready to spend hours trying to solve over sixty hands-on puzzles from mechanical pieces to vintage brain twisters. Ones that sound the most interesting include Sam Loyd’s Famous “15” Puzzle and the Chicago Checker Taxi Company Checkerboard from 1924. And like Build-A-Bear, you can make a set of two puzzles to take home with you.
The Architect’s Puzzle:
An ancient king once called for his architect and, presenting the ground plan for a new dungeon, stated that he wished to have the plan so modified that the gaoler, who occupied one of the corner cells, could make the rounds of the prison by the most direct route. The royal architect picked up a pair of scissors and, remarking that he had been unfamiliar with the interior of the gaols during his early life, cut the plan in two pieces, which he fitted together, saying, “By this arrangement the same amount of ground is covered, the doors are placed in the center of the walls of each cell, so as to give an unobstructed view of the entire length of the cells, and an opportunity is afforded of passing through the whole building back to starting point without visiting any cell more than once.” Show the improved plan and suggested tour of the warder.
