60 Alpha Puzzle | Wooden Math & Word Brain Teaser Gift

Give the puzzle lover in your family two puzzles to crack on one set of wooden rings. The 60 Alpha Puzzle is a maple and cherry math and word brain teaser: turn the rings until every column of numbers adds up to 60, then turn them again until every column of letters spells a word. The number puzzle goes back to an 1890s sewing machine advertisement, and the word puzzle is our own, added in 2019 by Dave Janelle, who founded Creative Crafthouse in 2003. We make every 60 Alpha in our family workshop in Hudson, Florida.

The number half has a real history behind it. In the 1890s the White Sewing Machine Company of Cleveland, Ohio printed the number puzzle on a paper disk as an advertisement, the White Sewing Machine Sixty Puzzle, with directions to arrange the figures in seven columns so they would all add to 60 at the same time. Our four rings of numbers match that old card ring for ring, in the same order. The card broke up its outer ring of numbers with the words of a sales slogan. We put letters between the numbers on every ring instead, and that is how a puzzle from the 1890s became two puzzles in one.

The 60 Alpha has an engraved base and three rotating rings stacked in steps around a cherry center cap. The base and each ring carry seven numbers and seven letters, so reading out from the center you get seven columns of four numbers and seven columns of four letters. There are 343 ways to line the three rings up against the base, and only one of them makes all seven number columns total 60. The word answer uses a different setting, so solving one gives you no head start on the other. Both objectives are laser engraved on the back of the puzzle, and a printed instruction and solution sheet comes with it for the day you want to check your work.

The 60 Alpha is 4.4 inches across and fits in the palm of your hand, so you can take the challenge anywhere, and it suits a desk or coffee table rather than a big display piece. One reviewer found it "a bit smaller than I thought" and added, "I think lettering is big enough for older eyes." The large and small rings are maple and the middle ring, cap and base are cherry, so the layers alternate light and dark, and every number and letter is laser engraved into the wood rather than printed on. On our five-level difficulty scale it is rated Hard, the middle level. We call it a Goldilocks puzzle: not too hard and not too easy, yet a good and fun challenge. One buyer put it this way: "Difficult, but not impossible to solve."

Christmas is the occasion that comes up most in our 60 Alpha reviews, where buyers bought it for a husband, a son-in-law, a son and a grandson, and more than one reviewer used it as a stocking stuffer. Because the target number is 60, it also makes a fun 60th birthday present; one customer gave it for exactly that and wrote, "He loved it." Left out on a coffee table, desk or game room shelf, it gets picked up by guests, and teachers can use it as a hands-on math challenge in the classroom. We can laser engrave a name, date or short message on the back, up to 45 characters, so it arrives as their own puzzle. Standard orders ship from our Florida workshop within 1 business day, and personalized orders within 2.

Want a bigger number hunt? The Safecracker 50 has five rings and 16 columns that must each total 50. You can also browse all of our wooden math puzzles.

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