Stick puzzle

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Stick puzzle" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Part of a series on
Puzzles
Types Guessing Riddle Situation Logic Dissection Induction Logic grid Self-reference Mechanical Combination Construction Disentanglement Lock Go problems Folding Stick Tiling Tour Sliding Chess Maze (Logic maze) Word and Number Crossword Sudoku Puzzle video games Mazes Metapuzzles
Topics Brain teaser Dilemma Joke Optical illusion Packing problems Paradox Problem solving Puzzlehunt Syllogism Tale
Lists Impossible puzzles Maze video games Nikoli puzzle types Puzzle video games Puzzle topics
v t e

Stick puzzles are a type of combination puzzle that uses multiple sticks or 'polysticks' (which can be one-dimensional objects) to assemble two- or three-dimensional configurations.

Polysticks are configurations of joined or unjoined thin (ideally one-dimensional) 'sticks'. The sticks may be; line segments on paper, matchsticks, pieces of straw, wire or similar.

A special class of stick puzzles are 'matchstick puzzles', where all parts used are sticks (usually matchsticks) rather than polysticks. Some trick puzzles can only be solved when one assumes that the sticks actually have measurements in more than one dimension. Three-dimensional arrangements like tetrastix can also be made from matchsticks^[1].