Sam Loyd

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Sam Loyd (January 30, 1841 – 1911) was an American chess player, puzzle creator, and recreational mathematician. He was born in Philadelphia and grew up in New York City. Loyd became one of the best chess problem composers in the United States and was ranked about 15th in the world. He played in the strong Paris 1867 tournament but did not do well.

Loyd wrote many famous puzzles and chess problems. His style mixed wit and humor, and he loved clever twists. He also stirred controversy at times, with critics calling him a hustler and sometimes accusing him of stealing others’ ideas.

He popularized many kinds of puzzles. He created rotating vanishing puzzles, such as Get Off the Earth and The Disappearing Bicyclist, where turning a disc changes what you see. He designed the famous 8x8 chessboard puzzle that seems to hide a 5x13 rectangle, explained by a tiny gap. He also made the Trick Donkeys puzzle, where pieces rearrange to make riders appear on donkeys.

One of his best-known chess problems is “Excelsior.” White must mate in five moves against any defense. A famous story behind the problem involves a siege and a trick mate, which helped make the puzzle popular.

Loyd loved Tangrams and helped popularize them with The Eighth Book of Tan, a collection of 700 Tangram designs and a made-up story about a god Tan who invented them. This blend of fact and fiction is now seen as Loyd’s famous hoax.

He cooperated with puzzle writer Henry Dudeney for a time, but Dudeney later accused him of copying puzzles. Loyd also claimed he invented the “fifteen tiles in a box and one space” puzzle, but the inventor was actually Noyes Chapman.

In 1896 Loyd patented rotary vanishing puzzles, and published versions like The Disappearing Bicyclist. He also created a famous paradox where a square can be cut and rearranged into a larger rectangle, but a tiny gap makes it possible.

After his death, his son Samuel Loyd Jr. published Cyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles in 1914, collecting many of his father’s works. Loyd was inducted into the US Chess Hall of Fame in 1987.

Martin Gardner called Loyd “America’s greatest puzzler,” and The Strand named him “the prince of puzzlers.” Loyd’s contributions helped make puzzle and game culture popular in America. The Sam Loyd Award, given by the Association for Games & Puzzles International, honors people who promote mechanical puzzles through design and creation.