Puzzles & Word Games

Resources in this category:

Animal Names & Words
http://www.ipl.org/div/farq/animalFARQ.html

Names for groups or gender of animals.

Body-Mind Queendom
http://www.queendom.com/

Tests of all kinds-IQ, personality-along with mental challenges, word and image puzzles. Engaging entertainment.

FunTrivia.com : the Trivia Website
http://www.funtrivia.com/

A collection of trivia fun, including an encyclopedia of trivia, thousands of quizzes, hundreds of crosswords, links to interactive trivia public competitions, questions for designing your own trivia tournament, and user forums. FunTrivia.com bills itself as the "World's Largest Trivia and Quiz Site."

Internet Anagram Server (I, Rearrangement Servant)
http://www.wordsmith.org/anagram/index.html

A form-based resource which will create anagrams ("a word or phrase made by transposing the letters of another word or phrase"). Fun but also revealing: includes an FAQ on how it works, fun facts about anagrams, and a Hall of Fame submitted by users. Also supports an email-based service: "Send a blank message to the wordserver at wsmith@wordsmith.org to get the instructions on using Anagram/by/Mail."

Jigsaw Puzzles
http://www.crea-soft.com/online-jigsaw-puzzle/

These online jigsaw puzzles can be made easier or harder by selecting the difficulty level you want. You will need Flash loaded on your computer before you begin. This site may take a long time to load, especially if you are on a dial-up connection.

JigZone
http://www.jigzone.com/

"The place on the internet for free online jigsaw puzzles." Choose your level of difficulty. And, you can even recieve and new jigsaw puzzle by e-mail everyday.

Nick's Mathematical Puzzles
http://www.qbyte.org/puzzles/

"The puzzles presented here are selected for the deceptive simplicity of their statement, or the elegance of their solution. They range over geometry, probability, number theory, algebra, calculus, and logic. All require a certain ingenuity, but usually only pre-college math." Each puzzle contains hints and a solution. New puzzles are added regularly.

Once in a Blue Moon
http://www.ipl.org/div/farq/bluemoonFARQ.html

What does the phrase "once in a blue moon" really mean?

OneAcross
http://www.oneacross.com/

An oneline help resource for finding answers to crossword puzzle clues. It not only pattern matches, but analyses the clue as well. Also has help for cryptograms and anagrams.

Oneword.com
http://www.oneword.com/

One word supplies a new word every day and you have 60 seconds to write a response. Don't think, just hit Go. "[T]he real purpose of this exercise is to alleviate our natural tendency to edit everything and learn to flow."

Party Ideas for Easy Party Planning
http://www.easy-party-ideas-and-games.com/

Need to throw a party? Need some party game ideas? There are lots of party ideas for adults, parents, teens and kids here. Includes activities, themes, recipes and party planning for the holidays, birthdays or whenever.

Puzzability
http://www.puzzability.com/index.shtml

Puzzability, created by three former editors of 'Games' magazine, features free online crossword puzzles, word searches, and other games.

Puzzle World
http://www.johnrausch.com/PuzzleWorld/default.htm

"Puzzle World contains information about many of the finest handcrafted mechanical puzzles in the world. Most of the puzzles presented here are not the mass-produced variety found in stores, but limited production puzzles designed by the foremost puzzle designers in the world and produced by craftsmen (often the designers themselves) working primarily in wood. However, to provide representative examples of all the different puzzle categories, mass produced puzzles are often the only ones available and will be included." Search, or browse by puzzle type. also includes articles and other information about geometrical puzzles.

Slide Puzzles
http://www.crea-soft.com/online-slide-puzzles/

These are online jigsaw puzzles solved by sliding the pieces from one spot to another using the arrow keys on your keyboard. You can make them easier or harder by choosing how many pieces to the puzzles you want. Be sure you have Flash loaded onto your computer before you begin. This site may take a long time to load, especially if you are on a dial-up connection.

Sudoku
http://www.sudoku.com/

Fun, challenging, and addicting, Sudoku is a test of reasoning and logic using numbers and grids. Try this site with games, tips, forums, and solutions.

Sudoku Collection
http://www.sudokucollection.com/

Printable Sudoku puzzles from beginner to expert, giant sudoku, daily Sudoku and online Sudoku puzzles.

The Word Detective
http://www.word-detective.com/

The headline on this page is sure to capture your attention: "Puzzled by posh? Confounded by cattycorner? Baffled by balderdash?" If this describes you, then the Word Detective-something of an "ask the expert" service on word origins-might be just what you need. Word expert Evan Morris writes a weekly column on the origin of words and phrases based on questions e-mailed from the public. An archive of old columns is also available.