by David Singmaster

Last revised on  4 Aug 1996.

This includes relevant history texts and all items in the Sections:
Abbreviations; Common References; Some Other Recurring References; 2; 3.A and many items in 3.B of my Sources in Recreational Mathematics.  Names of problems are generally those used in my Sources, or close approximations thereto.

        Note that ‘first’ means ‘first known (to me)’.

        In Greek mythology, Palamedes was the inventor of dice.

-2700?	Carved Stone Balls show all regular polyhedra and cubo-octahedron.
-2300?	Geometric progressions on tablets from Nippur.
-1800?	Old Babylonian tablet – first Sliding Spear.
-1700?	Phoenician Puzzle Jugs in Cyprus.
-1650	Rhind Papyrus – our main source for Egyptian Fractions, a kind of St. Ives Problem.
-1400	Early Morris boards at Kurna, Egypt.
-1200?	Sophocles claimed dice were invented by Palamedes during the siege of Troy. Herodotus attributed them to the Lydians in the reign of Atys.
-650	Shu Ching – first? mention of the Lo Shu (River Plan) which may refer to the magic square of order 3.
c-500	Confucius (= K’ung Fu-Tzu): Analects XVII,xxii – perhaps the earliest reference to the game of go.
-500	Lun Yu – mentions the River Map.
c-450	Pingala uses Fibonacci numbers in the study of prosody. (Date uncertain – cf -200.)
-340?	Aristotle (attrib.): Mechanical Problems – Aristotle’s Wheel Paradox
-330	Eubulides – first Liar Paradox and other logical paradoxes: The Heap; Have You Stopped Beating Your Wife?
-325	Euclid – first Ass and Mule Problem.
-300	Ta Chuan – gives an association of numbers and concepts which led to an identification with the River Plan, but this may be spurious.
-300	Chang Tzu mentions the Lo Shu.
c-300	Meng Tzu (= Mencius): Works IV, ix refers to the game of go as well-developed. Cf -500.
c-300	Demotic Mathematical Papyri.
-285	Philetas of Cos – died from considering Liar Paradox.
c-280	The Stoics invent The Crocodile and Baby Paradox.
-200	Archimedes – first description of the Loculus of Archimedes; first Archimedean Polyhedra; first Volume of Intersection of Two Cylinders; first Archimedes’ Cattle Problem.
c-200	Pingala describes Pascal’s Triangle. (Date uncertain – cf -450.)
c-150	Chiu Chang Suan Shu – first Cistern Problem; first Men Buy a Horse; first Overtaking and Meeting Problems, including first Hound and Hare; first Broken Bamboo.
-50	Roman Lex Falcidia leads to inheritance problems, particularly Posthumous Twins Problem.
-19	Virgil: Aeneid – mentions isoperimetry.
-1 & 10	Ovid mentions a game thought to ba a form of Three Men’s Morris.
50	St. Paul: Epistle to Titus I, 12 – mentions All Cretans Are Liars.
75	Celsus – first example of Posthumous Twins Problem.
80	Josephus: De Bello Judaico.
80	Ta Tai Li Chi – first? clear reference to a Magic Square.
1C	Nagarjuna – first order 4 Magic Square, in India.
100	Nicomachus: Introduction to Arithmetic.
130	Theon of Smyrna: Biblion … – natural square often erroneously cited as magic.
c150	Heron: Peri Metron – Cistern Problem; Aristotle’s Wheel Paradox.
190??	Xu Yiu (= Hsu Yo = Xu Yue): Shu Shu Ji Yi (= Shu Shu Chi I) (Memoir on Some Traditions of Mathematical Art) – first? description of order 3 Magic Square. However, current belief is that this text was written by Zhu Luan (= Shuzun) of c570.
200	Lå Kå.
c220	Legendary invention of the Chinese Rings by Hung Ming.
c250	Diophantos: Arithmetica – first Each Doubles Others’ Money; first Men Find a Purse.
280	Sun Tzu: Sun Tzu Suan Ching – first Chinese Remainder Problem; first Conjunction of Planets.
290	Pappus: Collection – describes Archimedean polyhedra.
325	Iamblichus: On Nicomachus’s Introduction to Arithmetic – first mention of Casting Out Nines; first description of the Bloom of Thymarides; first Amicable Numbers.
450	Proclus: A Commentary on the First Book of Euclid’s Elements – first Lines Approaching but not Meeting.
468	Chang Ch’iu-Chin [= Zhang Qiujian]: Chang Chhiu-Chien Suan Ching[= Zhang Qiujian Suan Jing] – first 100 Fowls Problem.
499	Aryabhata I: Aryabhatiya – first general solution of ax – by = c.
c500	Invention of chess, probably in northwest India.
5-6C	Chinese culture is transmitted via Korea to Japan, probably including the games of go, shogi (oriental chess) and backgammon.
505	Varahamihira II: Brhatsamhita.
c510	Metrodorus, ed.: Greek Anthology.
c550	Chess reaches Persia.
628	Brahmagupta: Brahma-sphuta-siddhanta.
629	Bhaskara I: Laghu-Bhaskariya, a commentary on the Aryabhatiya.
c640	Ananias of Shirak: Arithmetical Problems.
7C	The Game of Promotion – a Chinese version of Snakes and Ladders.
c7C?	Bakhshali Manuscript – 100 Fowls Problem; first Present of Gems; first Dishonest Butler; first Snail Climbing out of Well.
780	Jabir ibn Hayyan.
c800	Possible Irish origin of the Josephus Problem with 15 and 15 soldiers, led by Black and White. The earliest MS versions are 9C. Verse mnemonics already exist by mid 12C.
c800	Alcuin: Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes – first River Crossing Problems (3 types); first Explorer’s Problem; first Division of Casks; first Apple-sellers’ Problem; first Collecting Stones; unusual solution ofPosthumous Twins Problem; first Three Odds Make an Even; first Strange Families.
802	Earliest Byzantine reference to chess.
c820	al-KhwÉrizmå. Untitled Latin MS of 13C known as Algorismus or Arithmetic.
c840	al-Adli – earliest known chess master.
850	Mahavira: Ganita-sara-sangraha – first 100 Fowls Problem with four types; first Monkey and Coconuts Problem; first Selling Different Amounts atthe Same Prices; first Sharing Cost of Stairs.
860	Chaturveda: Commentary on Brahmagupta.
875	Thabit ibn Qurra.
c875	al-Ya`qñbå – first Chessboard Problem.
c890	Rudrata: K_vy_lank_ra – first Knight’s Paths.
c900	Abu Kamil: Book of Rare Things in the Art of Calculation – first 100 Fowls Problem with five types.
c900	Sridhara: Patiganita.
913	Oldest known Japanese book on go: Go Shiki (The Rules of Go).
c920	as-Suli – early chess master.
943	el-Masudi: Meadows of Gold – first Chessboard Problem.
950	Aryabhata II.
10C	Europeans learn chess from north Africa, probably via Moorish Spain. The word ‘mate’ is recorded in Latin before 1000.
969	Emperor Mu-tsung is reported to have played cards with his wives – the earliest reference to playing cards. However, it is evident that these were the ‘domino’ cards still in use in China. Cf. 1120.
c980	al-B_zaj_n_: Arithmetic – first Lazy Worker.
c983	Ikhw_n al-Saf_’: Ras_’il (Encyclopedia) – first examples of order 5 and 6 Magic Squares.
c1000	Beginning of Rithmomachia.
c1000	Chain Code used as mnemonic in Sanskrit poetry.
1000	al-Biruni.
1000	Ibn al-Haitham.
1010	Earliest European mention of chess – the Count of Urgel (in Spain) leaves his rock crystal chess set to a convent. By 1200, the game has spread over most of Europe, reaching as far as Iceland, the Baltic and Bohemia.
c1010	al-Karkhi (= al-Karagi): Alfakhri – first Robbing and Restoring; Lazy Worker.
1020	Avicenna.
11C	False dice, with two ones, were made.
c1060	Shao Yung: Fu-Hsi diagram – first diagram of the 64 I-Ching hexagrams in binary order.
1061	First known mention of chess in Italy – a cardinal complains to Pope Alexander II about a Florentine bishop who spent most of a night playing chess.
c1075	Tabar_: Mift_h al-mu`_mal_t – first Use of 1,3,9,… as Weights.
1100	al-Ghazzali.
1120	Emperor Suen-ho has playing cards made for his wives – probably the Chinese ‘domino’ cards. Cf 969. They are also recorded in 12C Arabia (I’ve forgotten this source – it may refer to the following facts). There is a fragment of a 12 or 13 C card and an almost complete early 15C deckfrom Egypt which show that the 52 card deck came to Europe from Egypt (orthereabouts). Indian cards and games are such that it is conjectured that cards originated in Persia or central Asia and that the Arabic/Egyptian and Indian forms are derived from a common ancestor rather than one from the other. John Scarne says there is an 11C card from Chinese Turkestan.
c1140	The Josephus Problem is said to have been in a lost work of Michinori Fujiwara.
1141	Abu Ishaq: first recorded Arabic Knight’s tour, possibly due to al-Adli or as-Suli.
1150	Bhaskara II: Lilivati & Bijaganita.
1150	ibn Ezra. Various works, including a poem about chess.
Late 12C	Gretti’s Saga mentions Fox and Geese.
1193	Eustanthius, Archbishop of Thessalonica, says dice should have opposite sides adding to 7 to prevent cheating.
c1200	Latin squares used on amulets in medieval Islamic world.
1200	al-Buni.
1202	Fibonacci: Liber Abaci – first Western appearance of Fibonacci Numbers; first Use of 1,2,4,… as Weights; first Western version of Selling Different Amounts at the Same Prices; first If A is B, What is C?; first Divination of a Permutation; first Well Between Two Towers; first algorithm for expanding into Egyptian Fractions; first inheritance with ith getting 1 + 1/7 of the rest and all getting the same amount; first Sharing Unequal Resources; first use of 1,2,4,8… to pay rent.
1225?	Fibonacci: Flos; Epistola.
1228	Fibonacci: Liber Abaci, 2nd ed.
c1240	Abbot Albert, in Annales Stadenses – first Jug Problem.
c1240	Maze laid in Chartres Cathedral.
1247	Ch’in Chiu Shao: Shu Shu Chiu Chang (Mathematical Treatise in Nine Sections) – first complete analysis of the Chinese Remainder Problem.
1250	al-Lubbudi.
1253	Earliest recorded Japanese game of go, supposedly played between Nichiren (founder of the Nichiren sect of Buddhism) and a 9-year old disciple named Nisshomaru.
1256	Ibn Khallikan.
c1260	al-Qazwini: (KitÉb) `AjÉ’ib al-MakhlñqÉt wa GharÉ’ib al-MawjñdÉt ((The Book of the) Wonders of the Creation and Unique [Phenomena] of the Existence = Prodigies of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing = The Cosmography) – first Man Digging a Well and Stopping Short.
c1275	Jacobus de Cessolis’s sermon based on chess is one of the first works on chess. It was one of the first books published by Caxton in 1475.
1275	Yang Hui – preserves various Magic Squares; first Magic Circles.
c1275	Nicholas de St. Nicholai (attrib.): Bonus Socius collection of chess problems.
c1275	Oldest extant MS of Fibonacci – L.IV.20 in Siena.
1283	The Spanish Treatise on Chess-Play (the Alfonso MS) produced for Alfonso X of Castile.
c1305	Byzantinisches Rechenbuch (BR).
1315	Moschopoulos – first Western discussion of Magic Squares.
1327	Gherardi: Libro di ragioni; Liber habaci.
c1350	Munich 14684. (Possibly 13C.)
c1350	Oresme first considers Date Line Problem.
14C	Japanese Binary Divination is said to date to this time.
1356	N_r_yana Pandita: Ganita-kaumud_.
c1370	Columbia Algorism – first? Snail Climbing Out of Well with end effect.
c1370	ShihÉbaddån Abñ’l-`AbbÉs Ahmad ibn Yahya ibn Abå Hajala at-TilimsÉni alH-anbalå: KitÉb ‘anmñdhaj al-qitÉl fi la`b ash-shatranj (Book of the examples of warfare in the game of chess) – first Blind Abbess and Her Nuns.
c1370	dell’Abbaco(?): Trattato d’Aritmetica – first? Snail Climbing Out of Well with end effect.
1371	First mention of playing cards in Europe, in a Catalan document in Spain, where cards are called ‘naip’. (But I have a source that says cards were mentioned in 1275, that they are mentioned in German MSS of 1286 to 1384 and were used in Italy in 1299.)
1377	First (allegorical) description of playing cards in Europe, in a Swiss MS by John of Rheinfelden, describing a deck of 52 cards – theoriginal MS is lost and the oldest version is a 1429 copy. Within a short time, they are widespread in Europe, but they are not mentioned in severallists of games of the previous decade. They are also not mentioned in the general literature before this time, even by authors such as Petrarch, Boccaccio and Chaucer with an interest in games. A Paris ordinance regulating gaming in 1369 makes no mention of cards, but the equivalent ordinance of 1377 mentions them. By 1380, cards are recorded in Florence, Basel, Regensburg, Brabant, Paris and Barcelona, and several of the records describe cards as new or having arrived this year.
1380	Problem of Points in Italian MS.
c1390	Lucca 1754 – notes a circumference increases by 44/7 times the increase in the radius.
1392	Three packs of cards made for Charles VI of France.
15C	First associaiton of Magic Squares with planets.
c1450	Civis Bononiae collection of chess problems formed.
c1450	Gerhardt(?): Algorismus Ratisbonensis (AR) – first Horseshoe Problem.
c1450	Tarot cards added to the card deck.
1460	Benedetto da Firenze.
1478	Treviso Arithmetic.
1478	Muscarello: Algorismus.
c1480	P. M. Calandri: Tractato d’Abbacho.
1483	Wagner(?): Bamburger Rechenbuch.
1484	Pietro Borghi: Arithmetica.
1484	Chuquet: Triparty – gives inheritance problems of the form ith gets i + 1/7 of the rest which lead to fractional numbers of children.
1488	HB.XI.22.
1489	Widman: Beh_de und hubsche Rechnung.
1491	Calandri: Arithmetrica – printed arithmetic, first with printed illustrations.
1493	Kalendrier des Bergers – Date Line Problem.
1494	Luca Pacioli: Summa de Arithmetica – first printed version of Problem of Points.
c1500	Calandri: Aritmetica; Una Raccolta di Ragioni.
1500	Pacioli: De Viribus – first One Pile Game; first Binary Divination; first European Blind Abbess and Her Nuns; first Rearrangement on a Cross; first River Crossing with bigger boats; Explorer’s Problems. 1503,1534 References to a possible Nim-type game.
1513	Blasius: Liber Arithmetice ….
1514	DÅrer: Melencholia – famous Magic Square.
1514	Kobel.
1521	Ghaligai: Practica D’Arithmetica.
1522	Riese: Rechnung auff der Linien und Federn.
1522	Tonstall; De Arte Supputandi – the first arithmetic printed in England.
1524	Riese: Die Coss. early 16C First connection of Fibonacci numbers with j.
1525	Riese: Rechenung nach der lenge.
1525	Durer: Unterweysung der Messung … – first Nets of Polyhedra.
1526	Rudolff: Kunstliche rechnung … – first Clock Striking.
1539	Cardan: Practica Arithmetice Generalis – first connection of Josephus Problem with Josephus.
1540	Gemma Frisius.
1541	Rocha: Libro Dabaco.
1544	Stifel.
1545?	Serlino: Libro Primo d’Architettura – first Vanishing Area.
1545	Cardan: Ars Magna.
1546	Tartaglia: Quesiti.
1546	Cataneo: Le Practiche.
1550	Cardan: De Subtilitate – first European publication of Chinese Rings; first False Balance.
1556	Tartaglia: General Trattato – first River Crossing with four couples; first Two Fathers and Two Sons Make Only Three People.
1557	Cardan: De Rerum Varietate – first Staircase Cut; Nets of Polyhedra; first Loop Puzzle (Alliance or Victoria Puzzle).
1559	Buteo: Logistica.
1561	Ruy Lopez: Libro de la Invencion liberal y Arte del Juego del Axedrez.
1566	Trenchant: L’Arithmetique.
1568	Jamnitzer: De Perspective Corporum regularum – first Great Dodecahedron.
1562	Baker: The Well Spring of Sciences.
1571	Gori: Libro di Arimetricha.
1578	Champenois: Les Institutions.
1582	Wecker: De Secretis Libri XVII.
1583	Clavius: Epitome Arithmetica Practica.
1598	First go tournament in Japan, sponsored by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
1597 or 1599	Palomino: Liber de mutatione aeris ….
c1604	Harriot discovers Binary Arithmetic but does not publish it.
1605	Cervantes: Don Quixote – gives Sentinel Paradox.
1603/1615	Tokugawa Ieyasu unites Japan under his rule as Shogun. The Shogunate lasts until 1868. He systematises the games of go and shogi by establishing bureaus to regulate the game and provide semi-hereditary houses of professional players.
1650	Bacon’s 5-bit binary code.
1608	Clavius: Algebra.
c1610	Shakespeare: Midsummer Night’s Dream – mentions Nine Men’s Morris.
1611	Kepler: The Six-Cornered Snowflake.
1612	Bachet: Problemes, 1st ed. – first Divination of a Pair of Cards from its Rows.
1617	Napier: Rabdologia – first publication of Binary Arithmetic.
1619	Kepler: Harmonices Mundi – first systematic presentation of Archimedean Polyhedra and Tessellations; first finds the two stellated dodecahedra and the rhombic dodeca- and triaconta- hedron.
1624	Bachet: Problemes, 2nd ed.
1624	van Etten: Recreation Mathematique – first Pigeonhole Recreation; first Silhouette Problems; first Trick Purse.
1628	Ens: Thaumaturgus Mathematicus is a Latin editon of van Etten and
Alcuin.
1628-30	van Etten is extended by Mydorge and Henrion.
1631	Mersenne first asks about Multiply Perfect Numbers.
1632	Galileo: Dialogo … sopra i due Massimi Sistemi del Mondo … – first solution of Falling Down a Hole Through the Earth. Newton seems to be the first to determine the time taken.
1633	van Etten in English.
1634 or 1641	Yoshida: Jink_-ki – first extant Japanese version of Josephus Problem, with additional feature of skipping last of first group; first extant Japanese Binary Divination.
1636	Schwenter: Deliciae Physico-Mathematicae.
1640	Frenicle: letter to Mersenne mentions a Magic Triangle and a Magic
1640	Fermat – first mention of Magic Cubes.
1641	van Westen: Mathematische vermaecklyckheden is a translation of van Etten into Dutch.
1647	Mersenne.
1651-53	Schwenter expanded to 3 vols. by Harsdorffer.
c1660	Frenicle finds the 880 Magic Squares of order 4.
1660	Wecker: Eighteen Books of the Secrets of Art & Nature, translatedby Read.
1663	Cardan: Opera Omnia.
1672	Leibniz discovers Binary Arithmetic but does not publish on it for about twenty years.
c1678, 1698	Leibniz MSS about Solitaire, first published in 1992.
1682	d’Aviso: Trattato della Sfera – first Knotting a Strip to Make a Regular Pentagon.
1685	Wallis: De Algebra Tractatus – first publication of Prince Rupert’s Problem.
1694	Wm. Leybourn(e): Pleasure with Profit.
1694	Ozanam: Recreations Mathematiques et Physiques – False Balance; first Clock Problem.
1694	Hyde: De Ludis Orientalis.
1697?	Berey – first depiction of Solitaire.
c1700	St. Ives rhyme is well known.
1702	Whiston’s Euclid discusses Rope Round the Earth problem.
1707	Newton: Arithmetica Universalis – Newton’s Cattle Problem.
1708	Remond de Montmort: Essai d’Analyse sur les Jeux de Hasards, 1st ed. – first? publication of Derangements.
1708	Ozanam in English.
1710	Sauveur finds first magic cube and invents(?) Latin squares.
1710	Leibniz – first published mention of Solitaire.
1713	N. Bernoulli – first mention of St. Petersburg Paradox.
1714	Remond de Montmort, 2nd ed. – first? publication of Derangements.
1725	Ozanam expanded to 4 vols. by Grandin. (Probably 1723??) First appearance of many topological problems: Scissors on String; People Joined by Ropes at Wrists; Cherries Puzzle; Solomon’s Seal. First mention of Knight’s Tours outside the chess literature. First orthogonal Latin Squares. First Cutting a Card so One can Pass Through It.
1726	Colson first describes negative digits.
1727	Kanchusen?: Wakoku Chie-kurabe [Japan Wisdom Competition] – simple Tangram-like puzzle; Staircase Cut; first to see that one can count out either group first in the Josephus situation by using different starting points and/or counts.
1728	D. Bernoulli first solves general linear recurrences, assuming distinct roots, and obtaining Binet’s formula for Fibonacci Numbers. First solution of xy = yx in integers.
1730	Colson invents Negative Digits.
1733	Buffon invents Buffon’s Needle Problem.
1735	North Pole problems were well known.
1736	Euler on Euler circuits.
1740	Sa(u)nderson: Elements of Algebra.
1742	“Ganriken”: Sei-Shonagon Chie-no-Ita – Japanese version of Tangrams, very similar, but with different pieces.
1743	Nakane: Kanja-otogi-soshi – first appearance of Tait’s Counter
Puzzle.
c1744	Dilworth: The Schoolmaster’s Assistant – first Four Fours.
1745	Simpson: A Treatise of Algebra – first Times from Meeting to Finish Given.
1747	Alberti: I Giochi Numerici.
1748	Ladies’ Diary gives a Tethered Goat Problem.
1748	Euler: Introductio in Analysin Infinitorum – general solution of xy = yx
1749	Les Amusemens – first Quadrisection of an L-Tromino; first Dissection of a Cross into Zs and Ls; first Octagram Puzzle; first Dissection of Five Squares to One; first Rearrange a Cross of Six to Make Two Lines of Four; first type III Age Problem.
1749	Philidor: Analyze du Jeu des êchecs.
1750	Franklin’s elaborate Magic Squares.
c1750	Edmond Hoyle active.
1751	Walkingame: The Tutor’s Assistant.
1757,1759	Euler on knight’s tours.
1770	Euler: Algebra.
1771	Vandermonde on Knight’s Tours – first 3D version.
1773	Lessing first publishes Archimedes’ Cattle Problem.
1774	Hooper: Rational Recreations. First discussion of a card shuffle; first form of Polyaboloes; first Geometric Money (3 x 10 to 2 x 6 & 4 x 5); first mnemonic for Divination of a Pair of Cards from its Rows (MUTUS DEDIT NOMEN COCIS).
1775	Euler on Josephus Problem – first to find the recurrence for the last person.
1778	Euler on Curves of Constant Width.
1778	Ozanam-Montucla, dropping the topological problems. First Shortest Route via a Wall.
1780	Utamaro depicts Tangram-type puzzle.
1782	Euler on Latin Squares.
1782	Bonnycastle: Introduction to Algebra.
1784	Watt’s Linkage.
1788	Pike: A New and Complete System of Arithmetic – first motion with and against current problem.
1789	Bullen: A New Compendium of Arithmetic.
c1790	Fox invents Thirty-One Game.
1790	Catel: Mathematisches und physikalisches Kunst-Cabinet – first Six-piece Burr; first Imperial Scale; first Circle, Square, Triangle Silhouette puzzle; first 6×6 into Zs and Ls; first Puzzle Box.
1794	Eadon: The Arithmetical and Mathematical Repository.
c1800	A French dice game was introduced to New orleans and develops into craps.
1801-03	Bestelmeier: Magazin von verschiedenen Kunst- und andern nÅtzlichen Sachen …. [catalogue] – Six-piece Burr; Imperial Scale; Circle, Square, Triangle Silhouette puzzle; 6×6 into Zs and Ls.
1801	Strutt: The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England.
1803	Earliest Chinese Tangram book.
1803	Ozanam-Hutton.
1800-10	Tangram craze in Europe and China.
1807	Bestelmeier catalogue for this year shows a Tangram.
1810	Poinsot discovers Great Dodecahedron and Great Icosahedron.
1812	Laplace: Theorie Analytique des Probabilities.
1816	Nieuwland finds largest Cube which will Pass Through a Cube.
1817	Colebrooke: translation of the Arithmetic and Algebra chapters of Brahmagupta’s Brahma-sphuta-siddhanta and Bhaskara’s Lilivati and Bijaganita.
c1818	Endless Amusement.
c1819	Laplace: Essai Philosophique sur les ProbablitiÇs (A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities) – first to discuss Attempts to Modify Boy-Girl Ratio.
c1820	Babbage is first to write about Tic-Tac-Toe and first to attempt analysis of a game.
1821	Jackson: Rational Amusement for Winter Evenings – first Configuration Problems; first Missionaries and Cannibals problem; North Pole problems; first Dissect Circle into Two Hollow Ovals.
1822	Babbage observes a form of the Prisoners’ Dilemma.
1822	Minguet e Irol: Engamos … – first diagram of the pieces of a Six Piece Burr.
1826	Steiner first studies number of regions determined by n planes.
1826?	A Sequel to the Endless Amusement.
1828	[Clarke, ed.]: Boy’s Own Book – first Heart and Ball Puzzle.
1829	First US ed. of Boy’s Own Book.
1834	First mention of poker in the US.
1835	M. Ohm: Die reine Elementar-Mathematik, 2nd ed. – first use of ‘goldene Schnitt’.
1835	The Riddler; A Collection of Puzzles.
1836	First chess journal – La PalÖmede, founded by La Bourdonnais in
Paris.
1840	Lehmus poses Steiner-Lehmus Theorem to Steiner.
1840	Ozanam-Riddle.
1843	Crambrook’s Catalogue – mentions Puzzle Boxes.
1843	Binet gives his formula for Fibonacci Numbers, but it was alreadygiven, much more clearly, by D. Bernoulli in 1728.
1843	Fuss: Correspondance Mathematique et Physique.
1844	Boy’s Treasury of Sports, Pastimes, and Recreations – first That Man’s Father.
1846	Schachzeitung starts.
1846	Walker: The Art of Chess-Play, 4th ed.
1847	Beverley finds first Semi-magic Knight’s Tour.
1847	The Illustrated Boy’s Own Treasury. May be the same as the 1860 version??
1848	Bezzel proposes Eight Queens Problem.
1849	Family Friend starts.
1850s	Matchstick puzzles begin.
c1850	Gorham develops Plaiting of Polyhedra.
c1850	Jacob’s Ladder toys appear.
1850	Nauck gives first complete solution of Eight Queens Problem.
1851	Howard Staunton organizes first international chess tournament, at the St. George’s Club in London, in association with the Great Exhibition. Anderssen wins.
1853	Sarrus invents Straight Line Linkage.
1854	First Multiplying by Shifting.
1855	British Chess Association develops from northern and midlands clubs. First congress in Manchester in 1857.
1857	First American Chess Congress and founding of American Chess Association in New York.
1857	D. W. Fiske starts Chess Monthly.
1857	The Magician’s Own Book – first Dead Dogs.
1857	Uncle George [George Frederick Pardon?]: Parlour Pastime – first Passing Over Counters; first Place Four Points Equidistantly.
1857	Early version of Spots on Foreheads.
1857-62	Boncompagni publishes Fibonacci.
c1858	Loyd claimed to have invented the 8×8 to 5×13 Vanishing Area about this time.
1858	The Sociable – first Number of Cuts to Make N Pieces.
1858	Kirkman notes Hamilton Circuits of the Dodecahedron.
1858	Listing and Mobius independently discover the Mobius Strip, but don’t publish until 1861 and 1865, respectively.
1858	Landells: The Boy’s Own Toy-Maker.
1859	The Secret Out.
1859	Hamilton: Icosian Game.
1859	Book of 500 Curious Puzzles – first Mitre Puzzle; first Unfair Division; first combination of 1,2,…9 to make 100; first Use of Counterfeit Bill; first Probabilistic Truthtellers and Liars Problem; first Removing Loop From Arm.
1859?	Indoor and Outdoor Games for Boys and Girls.
1860	Boy’s Own Conjuring Book.
1860	Illustrated Boy’s Own Treasury. May be same as 1847??
1860	Landells: Boy’s Own Toy-Maker.
1862-63	de Jaenisch: Traite des Applications de l’Analyse Mathematique au Jeu des êchecs, 3 vols.
1864	First Cryptarithm, in American Agriculturist.
1865	Charades, Enigmas, and Riddles. Collected by a Cantab.
1865	Sylvester first asks for the Probability of a Triangle being Acute.
1867	First appearance of Frogs and Toads, in American Agriculturist.
1868	First appearance of 8×8 to 5×13 Vanishing Area.
1868	Pardon: Parlour Pastimes.
1869	G. Cantor gives a general treatment of mixed base number systems.
1871?	Cremer: The Secret Out.
1871	Cremer: The Magician’s Own Book, UK ed., quite different from US 1857 book.
1871	Loyd: Trick Ponies.
1871	First appearance of a Bug Problem, in a Cambridge Tripos.
1872	Cremer: Hanky Panky – first Division (of 17 elephants) into Half + Third + Ninth; first Jacob’s Ladder used as Chinese Wallet.
1872	Elliott: Within Doors.
1872	Gros: Theorie du Baguenodier – first analysis of Chinese Rings and hence first Gray Code.
1873	Lemoine considers Probability that Three Lengths Form a Triangle.
1874	Labosne’s edition of Bachet’s Problemes. Reprinted 1879, 1884 and since.
1874	van der Linde: Geschichte und Literature des Schachspiels.
1875	Reuleaux: Theoretische Kinematik – discusses Reuleaux Triangle.
1875	Diagonal Six Piece Burr.
1875	Grunwald invents Negative Bases.
1876	Fechner: Vorschule der ésthetik – formalises aesthetic aspects of golden ratio.
1876	Child: The Girl’s Own Book, new ed. [First appeared, c1830, but earliest extant copies seem to be 6th ed., 1833.]
1877	Kamp: Danske Folkeminder ….
1878	Kinsey patents 6×6 sliding piece puzzle and makes first mention of use of non-square pieces.
c1878	Baudot uses Gray Code in a printing telegraph.
1878	Lucas: Theorie des fonctions numeriques simplement periodiques begins modern theory of recurrences.
1879	First publications on Fifteen Puzzle. (Possibly 1880?)
1879	First Ring Maze.
1879	Mittenzwey: Mathematische Kurzweil – first A Right Angle is Obtuse; first Place an Even Number in Each Line; first Bridge a Moat with Planks; first Number of Buses Met.
1880	Fifteen Puzzle craze.
1880	Tait proposes Sliding Cube Puzzle.
1880	Otto Korschelt publishes “Das japanisch-chinesische Spiel Go” in Mitteilungen der deutschen Gesellschaft fÅr Natur und Volkerkunds Ostassiens (1880-81) – the first extended description of go in a Western language.
1880	Luers patents first Dissected Chessboard.
1880	van der Linde: Erst Jartausend.
1880-81	Marre publishes Chuquet’s Triparty.
1881	Simon Newcomb observes the First Digit Problem and derives Benford’s Law.
1881	Milne: The Inductive Algebra.
1881	General Four Fours problem appears in Knowledge.
1881	Cassell’s Book – first Removing Waistcoat without Removing Coat.
1881	Tissandier: Les RÇcrÇations Scientifiques – first Packer’s Secret.
1881	British Chess Magazine starts.
1870-95	Carroll active – first Water in Wine versus Wine in Water Problem; first Pawning Money.
1882	Lucas: RÇcrÇations MathÇmatiques, vol. 1. Gives De Fontenay’s idea of couples crossing a river with an island.
1883	Proctor finds Largest Parcel One Can Post.
1883	Lucas invents Tower of Hanoi.
1883	Lucas: Recreations Mathematiques, vol. 2 – first Dots and Boxes; first Shunting Puzzles.
1883	Hunter and Squirrel problem discussed in Knowledge.
1883	Ward patents first Rolling Piece Puzzle – with tetrahedra.
1884	Sylvester poses(?) and answers the Postage Stamp Problem for two values.
1880s	Wire puzzles appear.
1885	GrÅnwald introduces negative bases for number systems.
1886	Ring and Spring Puzzle appears.
1886	Peck & Snyder catalogue.
1887-88	Pauwels patents squared Trick Dovetail Joint.
1888	Hoernle first describes the Bakhshali Manuscript.
1889	Bertrand: Calcul des Probabilites – first Box Paradox; first Chord Paradox.
1889	Rice patents a 2x2x2 Sliding Cube Puzzle.
1889	von Haselberg finds first Magic Hexagon.
1889	Lucas first mentions Tower of Hanoi with More Pegs.
1890	Thurston patents matching puzzles.
1890	Lemon: Everybody’s Illustrated Book of Puzzles – Use of Counterfeit Bill.
1890	Altekruse patents Altekruse Puzzle.
1890	Der Gute Kamerad: Kolumbus-Eier – first Tumble Rings.
1890	1089 Problem, with English money giving ú12 18s 11d, appears.
1890-93?	Tom Tit: La Science Amusante – shows square trick dovetail joint.
1891	Hutchison, ed.: Indoor Games and Recreations – first Cube Made from Six U Pieces.
1891	Lucas: ThÇorie des Nombres – first Folding a Strip of Stamps problem.
1891	Hoffmann: Magic at Home – an annotated translation of Tom Tit: La Science amusante, vol. 1.
1891	Smith patents a Triangular Solitaire.
1891	Everett patents Loony Loop.
1892	Ball: Mathematical Recreations and Essays, 1st & 2nd eds. (MRE) – first Fore and Aft Puzzle; first Every Triangle is Isoceles.
1892	Berkeley & Rowland: Card Tricks & Puzzles.
1893	Lucas: RÇcrÇations MathÇmatiques, vol. 3.
1893	Hoffmann: Puzzles Old and New – first Cube Dissection Puzzle; shows Three Piece Burr; first publication of Dissected Die; first Interlocked Nails; first Horseshoes Puzzle; first Caught Heart.
1893	Sylvester proposes Sylvester’s Problem of Collinear Points.
1893	MacMahon & Jocelyn patent MacMahon Pieces.
1893	Lewis Carroll’s Monkey Problem.
1894	Carroll prints his Barber Paradox.
1894	Lucas: RÇcrÇations MathÇmatiques, vol. 4.
1894-98	Gomme: Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1890s	Walker analyses Celts = Rattlebacks.
1895	Culin: Korean Games.
1895	Curtze publishes Munich 14684.
1895	Lucas: L’Arithmetique Amusante.
1896	Ball: Mathematical Recreations and Essays, 3rd ed. – first Salary Puzzle.
1896-97	Loyd: columns in Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
1896-98	Loyd & Dudeney: columns in Tit-Bits.
1897	von der Lasa: Zur Geschichte und Literatur des Schachspiels.
1897	Loyd or Dudeney uses symmetry in a game analysis.
1897	Loyd or Dudeney introduces No Three in a Line Puzzle.
1897	Loyd or Dudeney introduces Counting Routes in a Word Diamond.
1897	Loyd introduces Chain Cutting and Rejoining puzzles.
1898	Ball-FitzPatrick, 1st ed. – first 1089 Problem.
1898	Schubert: Mathematische Mussestunde.
1899	Carroll: The Lewis Carroll Picture Book, ed. by Collingwood – first Lowering from Tower problem.
1899	Segerblom describes Three Piece Burr with identical Pieces.
1899	Pick gives Pick’s Theorem.
1899	Fourrey: Recreations Arithmetiques.
1896-1903	Dudeney’s Puzzles & Prizes column in the Weekly Dispatch.
c1900	Russell invents his paradox.
c1900	Archimedes’ letter on Loculus of Archimedes is discovered.
1900	Bräckner: Vielecke und VielflÑche – first rotating ring of polyhedra.
1900	Hilbert’s Problems. He asks about tessellating space.
1900	Schubert: Mathematische Mussestunde, 2nd ed. in 3 vols.
1900	Schossow (US) and Moffatt (UK) patent Instant Insanity Puzzles.
1900-02	Suter: Die Mathematiker und Astronomen der Araber ….
1901	Ahrens: Mathematische Unterhaltungen und Spiele, 1st ed.
1902	Dudeney: Lady Isabel’s Casket begins development leading to Squaring the Square.
1902	Dudeney’s Square to Triangle Dissection.
1902	Workman: The Tutorial Arithmetic – first Skeleton Arithmetic Problems.
1902	Bouton: Nim: A game with a complete mathematical theory – first mention of Nim.
1902	Tropfke: Geschichte der Elementar-mathematik, 1st ed., 2 vols.
1903	Loyd: Chinese Tangrams.
1903	Cox’s edition of Strutt: The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England.
1903	First Dissected T.
1903	Dudeney’s four side Spider and Fly Problem.
1904	Berry invents Visitng Card Paradox and Berry’s Paradox.
1904	Dudeney: Great puzzle crazes, in Strand Magazine.
1904	Benson: The Book of Indoor Games ….
1904?	Ahrens: Mathematische Spiele, in Encyk. der Math. Wiss.
1905	Dudeney’s five side Spider and Fly Problem.
1905	Ball: Mathematical Recreations and Essays, 4th ed. – popularises Chessboard Placing Problems.
1905	Fiske: Chess in Iceland.
1905	Zermelo is first to analyse games in general.
1905	Ice in a Full Glass of Water appears.
1906	Dudeney’s No Three in a Line Problem.
1906	Laisant: Initiation MathÇmatique – first Fly Between Trains; first Limited Means of Transport.
1907	Berwick: Seven Sevens Problem.
1907	Pearson: Twentieth Century Standard Problem Book – first Counting Triangles problem; first Ladder Over Box; first pan-digital fractions; first Push a Bicycle Pedal.
1907-08	Loyd: Our Puzzle Magazine.
1907	Dudeney: Canterbury Puzzles (CP). Broken chessboard is first use of all 12 pentominoes.
1907	Loyd’s Columbus Egg Puzzle – join all points of a 3×3 array with a four segment line.
1907	Fourrey: Curiosities Geometriques.
1907-09	Ball-FitzPatrick, 2nd ed.
1908	Scrutchin patents a Polyiamond puzzle.
1908	Greeling invents his paradox, about Heterological.
1908	Morley’s Theorem.
1908	Dudeney: Puzzles from games; Some much-discussed puzzles; The world’s best puzzles – all in Strand Magazine.
1908	First modern Crossed Ladder Problem.
1908	Dudeney: The broken chessboard – first depiction of pentominoes.
1908	W. F. White: A Scrap-Book of Elementary Mathematics.
1909	First Western journal on go – Die Abonnente – founded by L. Pfaundler of Graz, Austria.
1910?	Goldston: More Tricks and Puzzles – first description of Loyd’s Pencil Puzzle.
1910	Dudeney starts his Perplexities column in Strand Magazine. It runs to c1931??
1910	Witting – first Illegal Cancellation.
1910	Bullivant: Home Fun.
1911	Lewis first discusses Multiplying by Reversing.
1911	Ball: Mathematical Recreations and Essays, 5th ed.
1911	Manson: Indoor Amusements.
1912	Morley Adams, ed.: The Boy’s Own Book of Indoor Games and Recreations.
1913	21 Dec: Arthur Wynne’s first crossword puzzle for New York World Sunday Magazine.
1913	Dudeney: first publication of Gas, Water and Electricity Problem.
1913	R. Journet patents first Centrifugal Puzzle – Spoophem.
1913	Mikami: The Development of Mathematics in China and Japan.
1913	A. C. White: Sam Loyd and His Chess Problems.
1913	Murray: History of Chess.
1914	Ball: Mathematical Recreations and Essays, 6th ed.
1914	Loyd: Cyclopedia – Mrs Perkins’ Quilt; first Selling, Buying and Selling Same Item; first Bookworm’s Distance; first Circling an Army problem.
1915	Watts patents device for drilling square holes.
1915	Rausenberger discovers the convex Deltahedra.
1917	Ball: Mathematical Recreations and Essays, 7th ed.
1917	Dudeney: Amusements in Mathematics (AM) – first 2592 Problem.
1917	Licks: Recreations in Mathematics – first Moving Round a Corner problem.
1917	Smith: On the origin of certain typical problems.
1910-18	Ahrens: Mathematische Unterhaltungen und Spiele, 2nd ed. (MUS).
1918	Tom Tit – Knott: Scientific Amusements.
1918	Ahrens: Altes und Neues aus der Unterhaltungsmathematik (A&N;).
1919	Dudeney: Fly Between Trains.
1919	Ball: Mathematical Recreations and Essays, 8th ed.
1919	Smith: Number Stories of Long Ago.
1920	Daily Mail World Record Net Sale puzzle.
1920	Dudeney’s Damaged Measure starts Ruler with Minimal Number of Marks problem.
1920	Ball: Mathematical Recreations and Essays, 9th ed.
1920	First Resistor Networks problems.
1919-23	Dickson: History of the Theory of Numbers.
c1920	Bartl magic catalogue.
c1920	Five Brick Puzzle develops into standard form.
early 1920s	Polyiamond puzzles used for promotions.
1921	Heath: History of Greek Mathematics (HGM).
1921	MacMahon: New Mathematical Pastimes.
1921	Blyth: Match-Stick Magic.
1921-24	Tropfke: Geschichte der Elementar-mathematik, 2nd ed., 7 vols.
1922	Ball: Mathematical Recreations and Essays, 10th ed.
1922-23	Langley poses his Adventitious Angles problem.
1923	Coffin proposes Card Piling Over a Cliff Problem.
1923	Smith: History of Mathematics.
1924	2 Nov: First Brtiish crossword appears in The Daily Express.
1924	FIDE (FÇdÇration Internationale des êchecs) founded.
1924	The Week-End Book – first Impossible Exchange Rates.
1924	Dudeney, in Strand, first(?) gives SEND + MORE = MONEY.
1924	The Times refers to crossword puzzles as a menace. Cf 1930.
1925	Ackermann: Scientific Paradoxes and Problems.
1926	Dudeney: Modern Puzzles (MP) – first description of all Nets of a Cube.
1926	Dudeney: The psychology of puzzle crazes.
1926	Dudeney gives first Crossnumber Puzzle in Strand.
1926	Western Puzzle Works Catalogue.
1926	Ben Ames Williams: “Coconuts”, in the Saturday Evening Post causes popular furore.
1926	Western Puzzle Works Catalogue shows first Pick Up Puzzle.
1927	Davenport invents Birthday Problem.
1927	King: Best 100 Puzzles – first Use of Fallen Signpost.
1927	Sanford: History and Significance of Certain Standard Problems in Algebra (H&S;).
1927-33	Kaye’s stdy of the Bakhshali Manuscript.
1913-42	Perelman active – first to consider travel around a ‘square’ on the earth; first to ask for the Largest Number Expressible with Four Ones, etc.; first? to consider Nets of a Cube.
1928	Wyatt: Puzzles in Wood.
1928	Loyd Jr.: Sam Loyd and His Puzzles (SLAHP) – first Antimagic Figure, a 3×3 square; first Counting Squares problem.
1928	Collins: Fun with Figures.
1929	Smith: A Source Book in Mathematics.
1930	The Times succumbs and begins running a crossword puzzle.
1930	Sanford: A Short History of Mathematics.
1930	Kraitchik: La Mathematique des Jeux.
1930	Hargrave: A History of Playing Cards and a Bibliography of Cards and Gaming.
1931??	Dudeney’s Perplexities column ends with his death.
1931	MINOS [S. Vatriquant], in Sphinx, introduces word “cryptarithmie” and gives desireable qualities for one.
1931	Loyd Jr.: Are you good at solving puzzles?.
1931-39	Sphinx, ed. by Kraitchik.
1932	Dudeney: Puzzles and Curious Problems (PCP) – first Smith, Jones, Robinson Problem; first Mirror Reversal Paradox.
1932	Phillips: Week-End Problems Book.
1933	Read – first Missing Dollar.
1933	Abraham: Diversions and Pastimes.
1933	Phillips: Playtime Omnibus.
1933-34	Dissection of 1x1x2 to a Cube.
1934	Cohen & Nagel describe Reversal of Averages Paradox.
1934	ReutersvÑrd invents Tribar but doesn’t publish it.
1930-40	Tropfke: Geschichte der Elementar-mathematik, 3rd ed., vols. 1-4 (the MSS of the remaining volumes were lost in 1945).
c1935	Using Chain Links to Pay for a Room.
1935	Premiere Congres International des Recreations Mathematiques in Brussels.
1935	Spots on Foreheads develops.
1935-38	Datta & Singh: History of Hindu Mathematics.
1935-39	Fairy Chess Review has a number of polyomino problems.
1936	Truthtellers and Liars Problems develop.
1936	Cigarette Butts problem occurs.
1936	Phillips: Brush Up Your Wits – first Ship’s Ladder in Rising Tide.
1936	Hein invents Soma Cube.
1936	Sprague discovers Sprague-Grundy Theory.
1936	Rudin: So You Like Puzzles!
1937	Ciamberlini & Marengoni: Su una interessante curiosità numerica – first publication of the Four Number Game, attributed to Ducci.
1937	Hoppenot, in Sphinx, first asks about Numbers Equal to the Sum of Some Power of Their Digits.
1937	Deuxiäme Congrés International des Recreations Mathematiques.
1937	Phillips: Question Time.
1938	Benford: The law of anomalous numbers – popularizes Newcomb’s discovery of the First Digit Problem, generally known as Benford’s Law.
1938	Coxeter et al.: The Fifty-Nine Icosahedra.
1938	Steinhaus: Mathematical Snapshots (in Polish and English) – first Self-Rising Dodecahedron.
1939	August: The Black-Out Book.
1939	von Mises first studies Birthday Problems, but not the usual version.
1939	Ball-Coxeter: Mathematical Recreations and Essays, 11th ed. – first publication of Davenport’s version of the Birthday Problem.
1939	Depew: Cokesbury Game Book.
1939	Adams: Morley Adams Puzzle Book – first Counting Hexagons problem; first Reverse a Triangular Array of 10 Circles.
1939	First discussion of polycubes in Fairy Chess Review.
1939	Grundy discovers Sprague-Grundy Theory.
1939	Sprague finds first perfect squared square.
1939	Chowla shows Cubing the Cube is impossible.
c1939	Stone invents Flexagons and Flexatube. Stone, Feynman, Tuckerman & Tukey study them.
1939-41	Thomas: Selections Illustrating the History of Greek Mathematics (SIHGM).
Late 1930s	3D and 4D Tic-Tac-Toe played at Cambridge.
1940	Johnson patents Two Piece Dissection of the Tetrahedron.
1940	McKay: At Home Tonight.
1940	Williams & Savage: The Penguin Problems Book.
1941	Heald: Mathematical Puzzles – first Erroneous Averaging of Velocities.
c1941?	Ekboom notes Unexpected Hanging Paradox.
1942	Filipiak: 100 Puzzles – How to Make and Solve Them.
1942	Hein invents Hex.
1943	First Early Commuter.
1943	Kraitchik: Mathematical Recreations.
1943?	Origin of False Coin Problems.
1943-44	Richmond dissects 63 into 33 + 43 + 53.
1943-47	Sullivan: Problems involving unusual situations.
1944	Scorer, Grundy & Smith describe the graph of the Tower of Hanoi.
1944	Northrop: Riddles in Mathematics.
1944	Steinhaus asks How to Divide a Cake Fairly.
1944	Bagley: Paradox Pie – first Square Peg in Round Hole or Vice Versa; first 28/7 = 13; first Walking in the Rain.
1944	Bagley: Puzzle Pie.
c1945	Wayne introduces Doubly True Cryptarithms.
c1945	Hempel invents Hempel’s Rave Paradox.
1946	Wyatt: Wonders in Wood.
1946	Leeming: Fun with Puzzles.
1946	Black: Critical Thinking – first Covering Deleted Chessboard with Dominoes.
1946-47	Freudenthal & van der Waerden rediscover Convex Deltahedra.
1947	Gardner describes a hexatetraflexagon.
1950	Flood & Dresher identify Prisoners’ Dilemma.
1952	Riccardi: Biblioteca Matematica Italiana dalla Origine della Stampa ai primi Anni del Secolo XIX.
1952	Murray: A History of Board-Games Other than Chess.
1952	Schuh’s Game of divisors, isomorphic to Chomp.
1953	Littlewood: A Mathematician’s Miscellany.
1953	Tippee Tops popular in the UK.
1954	Golomb: Checkerboards and polyominoes starts geenral interest in Polyominoes.
1954	Coxeter et al.: “Uniform polyhedra”.
1955	Ransom: One Hundred Mathematical Curiosities.
1955	Hunter introduces word ‘alphametic’.
1956	Crowe observes connection between Gray Codes and Tower of Hanoi.
1956	Gardner starts his Mathematical Games column in Scientific American.
1956	Gardner: Mathematics, Magic and Mystery.
1957	Gardner describes Polyominoes.
1957	Perelman: Figures for Fun, in English.
1957	Reeve generalizes Pick’s Theorem to three dimensions.
1957	Hall: A Bibliography of Books on Conjuring in English from 1580 to 1850 (BCB).
1958	Gamow & Stern: Puzzle-Math – first Forty Unfaithful Wives.
1958	R. Penrose invents Tribar; L. S. Penrose invents Impossible Staircase.
1958	Gardner gives first description of Bridg-It.
1958	Gardner describes Solid Pentominoes, Pentacubes, Tetracubes.
1958	Gardner Describes Soma Cube.
1958	Needham: Science and Civilization in China, vol. III.
1958	Scott does the first programming of a combinatorial puzzle – Pentominoes on 8×8 with 2×2 in center.
1959	Bath: Fun with Figures.
1959	Bose & Shrikande disprove Euler’s conjecture on orthogonal Latin Squares.
1959	Gardner begins collecting his columns in books with: The Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions.
c1959	Hein’s Superellipse.
1959-60	Mathematical Puzzles of Sam Loyd 1 & 2 (MPSL1&2), ed. by Gardner.
1955-78	Schaaf: A Bibliography of Recreational Mathematics, 4 vols.
1960	Escher: Ascending and Descending.
c1960	O’Beirne’s Steps.
1961	Escher: Waterfall.
1961	Gardner: The Second Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions.
1961-62	O’Beirne’s Puzzles and Paradoxes column in New Scientist – first describes Tetraboloes; coins word Polyiamonds.
1961-64	Recreational Mathematics Magazine, ed. by Madachy (RMM).
1962	Dresner: Science World Book of Brain Teasers.
1962	Conway and M. Guy find all solutions of Soma Cube.
1964	Duby is first to compute knight’s tours and finds all of them on the 6×6 board.
1964	First published Two Pronged Trident.
1965	Golomb: Polyominoes.
1965	Think-a-Dot introduced.
1965	O’Beirne: Puzzles and Paradoxes.
1965	Greenblatt: Mathematical Entertainments.
c1965	Li & Du: Chinese Mathematics: A Concise History, in Chinese.
1966	Madachy: Mathematics on Vacation.
1966	Taylor: The Mathematical Practitioners of Hanoverian England 1714-1840.
1966	Gardner: Martin Gardner’s New Mathematical Diversions from Scientific American.
1966-67	Johnson & Zalgaller find the Regular-Faced Polyhedra.
1967	Gardner describes Polyhexes.
1967	Gardner: The Numerology of Dr. Matrix.
1967	Schofield solves Eight Puzzle.
1967	Gardner gives first description of Conway’s Sprouts.
1967	Dudeney: 536 Puzzles and Curious Problems, ed. by Gardner (536).
1967	Trigg: Mathematical Quickies.
1968	Journal of Recreational Mathematics starts, ed. by Madachy (JRM).
1969	Simmons invents Sim.
1969	Gardner: The Unexpected Hanging and Other Mathematical Diversions.
1969	Struik: A Source Book in Mathematics 1200-1800.
1969	Parker Bros. produce Soma Cube.
1970	Smith: Rara Arithmetica, 4th ed.
1970	Hein: Pyramystery – first Ball Pyramid Puzzles, in two forms under the same name!
1970	Taylor: The Mathematical Practitioners of Tudor & Stuart England 1485-1714.
c1970	Conway invents Life; Gardner describes it in 1970.
1971	Avedon & Sutton-Smith: The Study of Games.
1971	Doubleday: Test Your Wits, vol. 2.
1972	Wieber: Das Schachspiel in der Arabischen Literatur ….
1972	Hall: Old Conjuring Books (OCB).
1973	Zaslavsky: Africa Counts.
1973	Libbrecht: Chinese Mathematics in the Thirteenth Century.
1973	Fisher: The Magic of Lewis Carroll.
1974	Ball-Coxeter: Mathematical Recreations and Essays, 12th ed.
c1974	Penrose invents Penrose Pieces.
1972-1981	Games & Puzzles, in England.
1975?	Gardner: Martin Gardner’s Sixth Book of Mathematical Games from Scientific American.
1975	Gardner: Mathematical Carnival.
1975	Golomb trademarks word ‘Pentominoes’.
1976	Biggs, Lloyd & Wilson: Graph Theory 1736-1936 (BLW).
1976	Gaffney & Steen: Annotated Bibliography of Expository Writing in the Mathematical Sciences.
1976	Gardner: The Incredible Dr. Matrix.
1976	Devi: Puzzles to Puzzle You.
1976-78	Toole Stott: A Bibliography of English Conjuring 1581-1876.
1977	Slocum: Compendium of Mechanical Puzzles.
1978	Folkerts produces first critical edition of Alcuin.
1978	Hermelink: Arabische Unterhaltungsmathematik.
1978	D. Hoffman’s Cube.
1978	Rubik’s Cube first starts to become known outside Hungary.
1978	Gardner: Mathematical Magic Show.
1978	Birtwistle: The Calculator Puzzle Book. 1975-1987 Jelliss produces Chessics. The Journal of Generalized Chess.
1979	Gardner: Mathematical Circus.
1980	Tropfke: Geschichte der Elementar-mathematik, 4th ed., vol. 1.
1980-82	Rubik’s Cube becomes greatest puzzle craze of all time.
1981	Moser: Research Problems in Discrete Geometry.
1981	Berloquin: Le Jardin du Sphinx.
1981	Gardner ends his regular Scientific american columns.
1982	Berlekamp, Conway & Guy: Winning Ways.
1983	Gardner: Wheels, Life and Other Mathematical Amusements.
1983-87	Schaaf’s 12 Vestpocket bibliographies in Journal of Recreational Mathematics.
1980s?	Knowing Sum Versus Knowing Product develops.
1985	Gardner: The Magic Numbers of Dr. Matrix.
1985	Hayashi’s thesis on the Bakhshali Manuscript.
1985	Flegg, Hay & Moss’s study of Chuquet and his Triparty.
1985-86	Strens Collection purchased for Calgary and opening conference.
1980s onward	Fraenkel: Selected Bibliography on Combinatorial Games and Some Related Material.
1986	Gardner: Knotted Doughnuts and Other Mathematical Entertainments.
1986	Slocum & Botermans: Puzzles Old & New (S&B;).
1986	Hordern: Sliding Piece Puzzles.
1986?	Sallows invents alphamagic squares.
1987	GrÅnbaum & Shephard: Tilings and Patterns.
1987	Li & Du: Chinese Mathematics: A Concise History.
1987	Ball-Coxeter: Mathematical Recreations and Essays, 13th ed.
1987	Ascher analyses Mu Torere.
1987-89	Jelliss produces Games and Puzzles Journal (successor to Chessics).
1988	Hoffmann: Puzzles Old and New, of 1892, reprinted by Hordern.
1988	Gardner: Time Travel and Other Mathematical Bewilderments.
1989	Gardner: Penrose Tiles to Trapdoor Ciphers.
1991	Ascher: Ethnomathematics.
1991	Allen: Brain Sharpeners.
1992	Rabinowitz: Index to Mathematical Problems 1980-1984.
1992	Sallows devises Pangrams and Reflexicons.
1992	Hadley & Singmaster translate and annotate Alcuin into English.
1993	Folkerts and Gericke translate and annotate Alcuin into German.
1993	Hordern’s edition of Hoffmann, with colour illustrations.