History Main / FifteenPuzzle

* ''VideoGame/HeroinesQuest'' has one similar to the Castlevania example above. In Svartelfheim a cavern complex is dictated by the layout of a boardgame in a residential inventor's home.

* The flash game ''VideoGame/{{Continuity}}'' is pretty much exactly this puzzle combined with a PlatformGame (ie. you can change the level by moving screens about in the style of sliding blocks).

* ''Series/{{CSI NY}}'' featured a large scale sliding puzzle as part of the floor in the apartment of inventor. It is already solved and turns out to be [[spoiler:part of a DeathTrap]]

[[caption-width-right:230:Aw, crap.]]

The puzzle traces back at least to Noyes Palmer Chapman in 1874; later on, Sam Loyd claimed to have invented it. One guy sold a lot of them by offering a huge prize each week in a newspaper advertisement for the product, for those who solved a certain puzzle, not telling anyone that the way the numbers were inserted it was physically impossible to get the combination that would solve the puzzle, and thus nobody ever won the huge prize he offered.

* ''Literature/TheCaliforniaVoodooGame'' throws out one of these in a timed situation. The trick is that it's a word-version and there are two R's: "RATE, YOUR, MIND, PAL". Put them in the wrong place and the puzzle is uncrackable.

** There is a variation which has no open space, but instead allows sets of four adjacent pieces to be rotated around their point of intersection. Also, the picture you need to reconstruct is shown only [[spoiler:on the game's menu page]].
** There's a safe which plays this straight. The strategy guide even gives you a cheat to have the game solve it for you. [[spoiler:(Hold 'Alt' key whilst clicking the handle)]].

* Forced upon you early on in ''VideoGame/FinalFight Streetwise'' in order to progress and get some clues or something, then playable afterwards whenever you go back to the building and feel like playing it.

* The PC game ''SecretsOfDaVinciTheForbiddenManuscript'' has one of these; after you've sketched a copy of the ''Mona Lisa'', you have to slide the different parts of the drawing around until they are in the correct placement. In terms of the story, this is the most illogical puzzle in the entire game, as there is no plausible reason why you would have drawn it that way in the first place. (It's also one of the most difficult puzzles in the entire game, and many players have taken advantage of a glitch which forces the game to solve it for you.)

* ''ProfessorLaytonAndTheCuriousVillage'' has a version of this puzzle with an interesting twist: [[spoiler:Two pieces whose positions cannot be swapped are identical]].

* The ''Literature/DreamPark'' novel ''The California Voodoo Game'' throws out one of these in a timed situation. The trick is that it's a word-version and there are two R's: "RATE, YOUR, MIND, PAL". Put them in the wrong place and the puzzle is uncrackable.

** A quest which has one of those is Monkey Madness. For extra difficulty, two of its pieces are nearly identical to each other. People were getting so desperate, they paid vast sums of ingame money to an NPC to not have to solve it! [[spoiler: A Void Dance]] also has a 3x3 version.

* One of the puzzles in ''VideoGame/AmberJourneysBeyond'' is this, here in the case of assembling a telegram that one of the ghosts tore up [[spoiler: in shock of realizing her husband had died before returning from [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the war.]] ]]

** There's a safe which plays this straight. The strategy guide even gives you a cheat to have the game solve it for you. [[spoiler: (Hold 'Alt' key whilst clicking the handle)]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Ripper}}'', two cyberspace locations - the WebRunners' Archive and Falcon Eddie's personal well - are protected by these puzzles. [[spoiler: However, the game has cheat codes for all the puzzles in cyberspace.]] A woman who gives you the former well's address unintentionally [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this.

* In ''VideoGame/WarioWare D.I.Y.'', [[spoiler: Orbulon]]'s boss stage is a 3x3 variant of this.
* In the second game of ''VideoGame/{{Drakensang}}'' there's such a puzzle in the depths of the old Efferdian Temple on the Forgotten Island. You have to move the blocks in order to form the picture of a water nymph, but all the tiles are numbered. [[spoiler: You also need the sixteenth tile from the Water Dragon's lair to complete the puzzle and reach the innermost chamber.]]

* One shows up in ''VideoGame/TheNightOfTheRabbit'', though the player can't make Jeremy do any specific moves (clicking on the puzzle just has him cycle through positions, and the player can't even see the puzzle clearly). To solve the puzzle [[spoiler: [[CuttingTheKnot Jeremy must cast a spell on it, blowing it up.]]]]

The "fifteen puzzle" or "slide puzzle" is a sort of StockPuzzle where one has to arrange a set of scrambled numbers so that they are all shown in ascending order. One spot is always open, allowing pieces to be moved around, but it is designed in such a way that no piece can ever be removed from the board. More sadistic versions will be bigger than fifteen squares; these larger versions are called "''n''-puzzles", where ''n'' is the number of scrambled numbers (always a square number minus one).

* These are given out all the time in party favor bags and the like.

!!Examples

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' featured a large scale sliding puzzle as part of the floor in the apartment of inventor. It is already solved and turns out to be [[spoiler:part of a DeathTrap]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* This is the premise of the minigame "Puzzle", which shipped with early versions of AppleMacintosh from the original to System 7. Later revisions of Mac OS replaced "Puzzle" with a jigsaw puzzle.
--> '''Puzzle''': (upon completion) "Ta-da!"

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* Sam Loyd, who claimed (probably falsely) to have invented the puzzle in the 19th century, offered a $1,000 reward. The puzzle conserves parity and cannot be solved if the numbers 14 and 15 are swapped, which was the configuration he provided it in. Rumor has it that Loyd couldn't patent the puzzle because it was unsolvable, though "because he didn't invent it" is another plausible reason. ''PerplexCity'' has a card based on Loyd's version of the puzzle.

[[quoteright:230:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/imagesCA7V02FV_8715.jpg]]

* One of the puzzles in ''VideoGame/AmberJourneysBeyond'' is this, here in the case of assembling a telegram that one of the ghosts tore up [[spoiler: in shock of realizing her husband had died before returning from [[WorldWarTwo the war.]] ]]

* The interactive fiction title ''VideoGame/NotJustAnOrdinaryBallerina'' slaps one of these on a door lock.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' had a 3×3 version. Once the picture is oriented properly, you have to use a key item to fill in the empty spaces to open the door.

* ''[[VideoGame/TheSeventhGuest The 11th Hour]]'' includes this puzzle as rearranging the surface of a mirror to its previous state. However, since the missing tile is always randomized, it's possible for this puzzle to be set up in a way that leaves it unsolvable, forcing you to refresh it.
** The original ''7th Guest'' also featured this kind of puzzle.

* A variation in ''VideoGame/{{Safecracker}}'' has no open space, but instead allows sets of four adjacent pieces to be rotated around their point of intersection. Also, the picture you need to reconstruct is shown only [[spoiler:on the game's menu page]].
** There's a safe which plays this straight in the original ''Safecracker'' from DayDream Entertainment. The strategy guide even gives you a cheat to have the game solve it for you. [[spoiler: (Hold 'Alt' key whilst clicking the handle)]] And let's not forget that you have only 12 hours to beat the game proper.

* Sam Loyd, who claimed (probably falsely) to have invented the puzzle in the 19th century, offered a $1,000 reward. The puzzle conserves parity and cannot be solved if the numbers 14 and 15 are swapped, which was the configuration he provided it in. Rumor has it that Loyd couldn't patent the puzzle because it was unsolvable, though "because he didn't invent it" is another plausible reason.
** ''PerplexCity'' has a card based on Loyd's version of the puzzle.

* At least [[OncePerEpisode once per series]] in ''TheCrystalMaze''.

* Such a puzzle also appears in the LethalLavaLand course of ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''. It solves and scrambles itself, though. Whenever it reaches the solution, coins pop out of all the panels. Oh, did we mention that the puzzle was the only thing standing between Mario and hot molten lava?

** That's a clue. A quest which has one of those is Monkey Madness. People were getting so desperate, they paid vast sums of ingame money to an NPC to not have to solve it! [[spoiler: A Void Dance]] also has a 3x3 version.
*** The Monkey Madness puzzle is particularly infamous, as two of its pieces are nearly identical to each other.

** Appears as a minigame in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker''. However, Link is explicitly told that solving it gives no reward beyond money, and since money is much more easily obtained thanks to Treasure Charts, the mini-game serves little purpose aside from distraction should you like this kind of puzzle.
** In the final dungeon of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', there's a variation. In several places, there are consoles with these puzzles, but each piece corresponds to a certain room, and you have to move them into varying positions to be able to traverse the dungeon.
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' had a 3×3 version. Once the picture was oriented properly, you had to use a key item to fill in the empty space to open the door.
** Made easier than most because you're able to slide two pieces at one time.

* ''FreddiFish 2: The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse'' has one of these on the ceiling above a statue, with three difficulty settings: one normal puzzle, one with a rectangular piece, and one with two rectangular pieces. Solving it is completely optional--the only requirement is to get the empty square directly above the trident the statue is holding, which you will then be able to remove.

* ''{{CSI NY}}'' featured a large scale sliding puzzle as part of the floor in the apartment of inventor. It is already solved and turns out to be [[spoiler:part of a DeathTrap]]

* Appears as a minigame in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker''. Link is explicitly told that solving it gives no reward beyond MoneyForNothing, so that saves some wasted time... Except for the fact that completing it [[TheComputerIsALyingBastard nets you a piece of heart.]]