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8 Bats Halloween Puzzle

Looking for a fun and challenging Halloween puzzle? The Eight Bats Puzzle puts a seasonal spin on a classic chess puzzle from the 1800s.

eight bats halloween puzzle with 8 bat pieces on edge of puzzle.
Chess themed puzzles and activities for the classroom.

Looking for more chess-themed activities and puzzles for your classroom? Here’s a few examples of the other chess-related activities I have created.

Instructions

Place eight bats on the checkerboard below so that no two bats are on the same line, either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.

screenshot of puzzle board and instructions for 8 bats halloween puzzle.

Each student or group of students will need a copy of the puzzle page as well as a set of eight bats.

eight bats halloween puzzle supplies.

I created a page of bat pieces for the teacher to print on colored paper, laminate, cut out, and distribute to students.

page of bat pieces for 8 bats puzzle for halloween.

If you have checkerboards or chessboards in your classroom, it might also be fun to grab a set of Halloween Mini Erasers and have the students solve the puzzle on an actual checkered board.

Puzzle Inspiration

This puzzle was inspired by the classic Eight Queens chess puzzle that was first published by Max Bezzel in 1848.

This puzzle involved placing eight queens on a chessboard so that none of the queens were attacking one another.

Partially Solved Eight Bats Halloween Puzzle.

If you are not familiar with the rules of chess, a queen is able to attack any piece that is in the same row, column, or diagonal.

This Halloween version is a bit more accessible to students because even though the puzzle is set on a chessboard, students do not need to know anything about the game of chess in order to solve the puzzle.

There are 92 different solutions to this puzzle.

If you want to use this year-round, I suggest checking out my printable version of the chess-based version of this puzzle.

Using this Puzzle in the Classroom

I am using this puzzle in my classroom this week as one of my Puzzles of the Week. We are tackling three puzzles including this Halloween logic puzzle, a Pentomino Mammoth Puzzle that I have not blogged about yet, and the U Sums Puzzle.

My students really excelled about being able to place the bats so they were not in the same row or column. It was much more of a struggle to not place the bats in the same line diagonally.

hands of child working to solve 8 bats halloween logic puzzle .

I put my copies of the laminated puzzle in one of my magnetic pockets from Charles Leonard. Then, the magnetic pockets hang on the dry erase board so that students can easily grab a copy of the puzzle and a bag of bats and take it to their table to work on.

eight bats halloween puzzle hanging on dry erase board under sign which reads "puzzle of the week."

My students typically work on the puzzle of the week before class starts or after they finish their assignment for the class period.

Puzzle Solutions

Puzzle solutions are available on a password-protected solution page. I do not openly post the puzzle answer keys because one of my goals as a resource creator is to craft learning experiences for students that are non-google-able. I want teachers to be able to use these puzzles in their classrooms without the solutions being found easily on the Internet.

Please email me at sarah@mathequalslove.net for the password to the answer key database featuring all of my printable puzzles and math worksheets. I frequently have students emailing me for the answer key, so please specify in your email what school you teach at and what subjects you teach. If you do not provide these details, I will not be able to send you the password.

Not a teacher? Go ahead and send me an email as well. Just let me know what you are using the puzzles for. I am continually in awe of how many people are using these puzzles with scouting groups, with senior adults battling dementia, or as fun activities in their workplace. Just give me enough details so I know you are not a student looking for answers to the puzzle that was assigned as their homework!

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