Jigmaze Puzzle

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When I ran across this Jigmaze Puzzle in a vintage issue of Games & Puzzles Magazine, I knew it was destined to be one of my Puzzles of the Week.

Jigmaze Puzzle

I found the Jigmaze Puzzle in the May 1976 issue of Games & Puzzle Magazine. One of my hobbies is looking through old puzzle books and magazines in search of new (new to me, at least) puzzles that I can use with my students.

My students prefer puzzles with pieces that they can move around as they solve the puzzle, so this jigmaze puzzle was perfect for them.

jigmaze puzzle

The goal of the Jigmaze Puzzle is to arrange the nine cards into a three-by-three square so that a maze is created. The maze will begin in one corner and end in the opposite corner. There will be several loose ends, but no part of the line will be completely detached from the rest. Additionally, no line will go off the edge of the large square.

Jigmaze Puzzle

I recreated the Jigmaze puzzle cards in Microsoft Publisher, and I formatted them in two different sizes: nine cards which print on a single page and jumbo sized cards which print on their own individual pages.

Jigmaze Puzzle

I printed the large cards to add to my puzzle of the week board in my classroom.

Jigmaze Puzzle

I printed the jigmaze cards on regular copy paper, laminated them, cut out the squares, and added magnets to the back of each piece. I use ceramic disc magnets with all of my puzzles. I buy the magnets in bulk from Amazon.

MATH = LOVE RECOMMENDS…

drawing of laminator machine with text "laminating recommendations"

A laminator is a MUST-HAVE for me as a math teacher! I spent my first six years as a teacher at a school with a broken laminator, so I had to find a way to laminate things myself.

I’ve had several laminators over the years. I currently use a Scotch laminator at home and a Swingline laminator at school.

I highly recommend splurging a bit on the actual laminator and buying the cheapest laminating pouches you can find!

They are reasonably priced and strong enough to hold things up without them sliding down the dry erase board. I’ve used almost 400 of these magnets in the past year or so.

Jigmaze Puzzle

The magazine claims that there is only one solution to this puzzle (ignoring rotations of the given solution.) One of my students found what appeared to be another solution, but I’m thinking now that he must have misinterpreted the line of instructions which reads “the maze will begin in one corner and end in the opposite corner.”

To be honest, I’m not even entirely sure what that means. Does opposite refer to diagonally opposite? Or opposite as directly across from?

I’m not too worried about it. I think as long as students can create a valid maze that doesn’t have disconnected pieces/lines going off the edge that I will count it as a solution.

Puzzle Solutions

ANsWer key link

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!

Sarah Carter teaches high school math in her hometown of Coweta, Oklahoma. She currently teaches AP Precalculus, AP Calculus AB, and Statistics. She is passionate about sharing creative and hands-on teaching ideas with math teachers around the world through her blog, Math = Love.

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28 Comments

  3. Hello, we have been working to solve this, but nobody has solved it yet! Do you have the solution? Thank you!

  6. This kept the my 8th graders busy for the entire Math Club meeting. PRICELESS!!!
    Thank you so much for sharing all of your hard work with us!

  7. I have been working on your puzzles with my students but this one was impossible for us!
    Thanks for your puzzles, they are amazing.

  9. Thanks for all the hard work you put in and for sharing your fab resources.
    Many thanks, Stewart (Ayrshire, Scotland).

  10. My middle school kids have been loving every puzzle I put up on the board for them. One of their favorites? The Playing Card Challenge. A student who was doing after school work with me, and has to work hard on learning, was the one who figured out the cards were not in a line… She is still smiling and pleased with herself for solving a real “puzzler.”

  13. I have been trying to solve this puzzle for weeks now with the kiddos – without being able to solve it!

  16. My students are convinced this is impossible. I assured them there is a solution – even if I don’t know it…

  17. Hi Sarah! I am just starting to work through some of your puzzles and challenging my students with them. This Jigmaze has got me stumped! Thank you for all your work – your resources are amazing!

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