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Walter Randelshofer's Pretty Patterns collection (for Rubik's cubes up to 5x5x5) is one of the nicest twisty puzzle sites going. It's based on his CubeTwister software, which you can download (including a lovely OS X standalone). If you really want a treasure trove of twisty polyhedra, check out gelatinBrain's enormous collection of java applets (which unfortunately don't do so well on macs). Are those things even physically possible? Really? Mini bonus: Randelshofer also hosts an archive of fondly-remembered Amiga animations.
posted on Mar 31, 2008 - View this thread

Chess Problems has hundreds of problems in six difficulty classes from novice to fiendish [java]
posted on Feb 16, 2008 - View this thread

Created by flash artist and graphic novelist Mateusz Skutnik, Submachine is one of the class acts of the point-and-click Web-game genre. Mesmerizing, layered and absorbing, the latest chapter in the series has just been released.
posted on Feb 1, 2008 - View this thread

Interactive mathematics miscellany and puzzles, including 75 proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem, an interactive column using Java applets, and eye-opening demonstrations. (Actually, much more.)
posted on Dec 1, 2007 - View this thread

A virtually unlimited supply of randomly-generated logic puzzles, in a variety of sizes and difficulties: Nonograms. Slither Link. Nurikabe. Bridges. Light Up.
posted on Nov 28, 2007 - View this thread

Spot the Five Differences. It is fun. [flash]
posted on Oct 10, 2007 - View this thread

National Geographic Magazine is all about the photos. Check out the Editor's Choices. Other goodness includes the Daily Dozen, a jigsaw puzzle generator, and user-generated photo galleries.
posted on Oct 1, 2007 - View this thread

Bored on your summer vacation? Well, the US government has lots of fun stuff for kids to do on line. Learn fascinating facts about cows (and agricultural marketing!) from the Department of Agriculture. Take a ride to Money Central Station with the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. If you live in a federally-funded housing project, HUD wants you to learn more about being a good citizen. Want something more action-packed? Help FBI Special Agent Bobby Bureau go undercover, or become one of America's Crypto-Kids at the NSA. Play thrilling puzzle games or visit the world's most secret museum at the CIA. Play more games or become a Disaster Action Kid at FEMA! And no list of government kids' pages would be complete without revisiting the children's art contest from the ATF, which I've linked to before...
posted on Jul 25, 2007 - View this thread

Puzzability is a puzzle writing company created by three former editors of Games Magazine. Start with their puzzle sampler and come back for a set of regularly updated games. Puzzability is also responsible for creating the New York Times' intricately crafted Op-Ed Puzzles. Unlike the Times' daily crosswords, these wonderfully elaborate puzzles are available in a free archive.
posted on Jun 26, 2007 - View this thread

SlitherLink - a little spatial-numerical puzzle. Here's a better exposition of the rules from the puzzle's inventors, and another collection of puzzles. Oh, and a little survey of other sneaky, snaky puzzles.
posted on May 31, 2007 - View this thread

Rush Hour is a sliding block puzzle invented by Nob Yoshigahara and manufactured by ThinkFun. The goal of the game is to get the red car out of a six-by-six gridlock of vehicles by moving the other vehicles out of its way (youtoob). There are several online versions in Java/Flash (bottom of link)- my favorite has the first 2 complete sets from the board game. It's a gentle warm-up for your brain.
posted on Jan 25, 2007 - View this thread

Since Wordplay has come out, crossword puzzles have been on the rise. If you want to join in on the fun, read this primer by Will Shortz to get started, then download Across Lite, head to Cruciverb, and do free puzzles in the right-hand sidebar. Will Johnston's page contains a huge repository of Across Lite puzzles. If you get stuck, can't figure out why an entry is correct, or just want to chat about a grid's brilliant construction, try reading the crossword blogs. The best two are Diary of a Crossword Fiend and Rex Parker Does the New York Times Crossword Puzzle. (Caution! Spoilers abound!) And, if you want to try your hand at constructing some crosswords of your own (submission guidelines for various papers here), Crossword Compiler is an outstanding piece of software. [Via this AskMetafilter question]
posted on Jan 22, 2007 - View this thread

Labor Intensive is a new online puzzle extravaganza in the style of the MIT Mystery Hunt and the aforelinked Puzzle Boat. Appease the Gods by performing twelve puzzly labors. Good luck!
posted on Sep 22, 2006 - View this thread

Surviving Sudoku. Matt Gaffney, a crossword puzzle designer, examines the crossword community's ambivalent relationship with the phenomenally successful number puzzle. Meanwhile, it's high time to resurrect Done in Pen: The Poems of New York Times Puzzle Editor Will Shortz.
posted on Aug 2, 2006 - View this thread

AcceleRacers: Track Mod is a fun little Pipe-Dream-esque Flash game in which your object is to manipulate sections of track in order to get each of your six racecars to the finish line inside the time limit. Gets a lot harder as you go up in levels and more obstacles are added. Yes, it is a HotWheels game.
posted on Jul 19, 2006 - View this thread

"King Anfortas currently owns this magic stone, schmooze him, take him surprise, how ever you will get it, but bring me this stone! As award I promise you my daughter and a place on the crown!" -- The Mystery of Castle Wildenburg, a slightly goofily-translated game that combines point-&-click with classic text adventure gameplay, and photos of the lovely German countryside. Read the "Prehistory," mouseover everything, save often (though you lose your accumulated points on loading a saved game), and be careful not to die of thirst.
posted on Jul 17, 2006 - View this thread

Tangram House
posted on Jun 17, 2006 - View this thread

It's Friday, waste some time: Iron Sudoku, a daily sudoku challenge from the makers of Babble. (Free) registration required.
posted on Mar 31, 2006 - View this thread

Dumb: The Game is an extremely addictive puzzle game, with the added addictiveness of a "world rankings" scoreboard to prove to the world just how smart you are. If you get stuck, the forums contain a LOT of hints. [More inside]
posted on Mar 23, 2006 - View this thread

Cityscape. (Flash game) Build a city with 18 available components. The order in which those components are employed determines how they'll interact and how far the city will develop. There's one correct order that will score the full amount of points. (via)
posted on Mar 10, 2006 - View this thread

More point-n-click Flash puzzles, this time in a series: Escape to Obion, episodes one, two, three, and four.
posted on Feb 27, 2006 - View this thread

Inspector Wombat, a point-and-click Flash puzzle game somewhat clumsily translated from the German. Inspector Wombat has a seemingly-bottomless sack in which to store all the random crap he picks up, like banana peels, his lady friend's stereo system (dude, she's standing right there. Ever try asking?), and tasty foodstuffs somebody left in the street. Your object is twofold: Find and apprehend the kooky blackmailer who's messing with the museum director, and fix the museum's paintings which have mysteriously gone all wonky (hint: it's because of evil, unhappy bacteria).
posted on Feb 25, 2006 - View this thread

Tetrod is a jigsaw puzzle and a four-sided domino game mixed together. -- Java puzzle game; choose 3x4, 4x4, 5x4, or 5x5.
posted on Feb 24, 2006 - View this thread

Flea Circus! It's just like Lemmings! Only tinier! And faster! And you can only make three moves: Block, ramp, and other ramp! (java)
posted on Feb 17, 2006 - View this thread

Attic Escape is another little "escape the locked room" Flash game along the lines of Crimson Room, Viridian Room, White Chamber, The Doors, and MOTAS. Also by the creator of Attic Escape are Nightmare Escape and, er, Cannibal Escape (which is worth clicking for the lovely, cello-heavy strings music if nothing else). Click everywhere in Attic Escape; important items are hidden behind, above, and under everything.
posted on Feb 4, 2006 - View this thread

A Case of the Crabs, and its sequel, The Goat in the Grey Fedora, are a couple of point-and-click black-and-white Flash games that parody the old Sam Spade-type noir films. You are Nick Bounty, private detective, and it's up to you to solve the mysteries of the counterfeit crabs and the miniature goat statue, respectively. Very, very jokey; guaranteed to induce eyerolling. Look at everything, talk to everyone, and pick up everything that's not nailed down. Hints are available, but they're crammed with jokes too.
posted on Jan 29, 2006 - View this thread

The Flowering Nose in Slugland adventure game. As a goblin with a flower for a nose, your ultimate goal is to find the lost sprout. Defeat enemies by throwing flowers at them; power up with hearts; teleport from level to level with such esoteric trinkets as donuts and cherries. (Java.)
posted on Jan 27, 2006 - View this thread

"You awaken from an uneasy dream.You are in a small, bare apartment. You are alone. You have no idea how you got there. You don’t even know who you are." Fans of Franz Kafka may appreciate Kafkamesto, a bleak and bizarre point-and-click Flash game.
posted on Jan 20, 2006 - View this thread

Cubeoban -- Arrange the colored blocks so that they cover the colored dots. (Flash.)
posted on Jan 19, 2006 - View this thread

Yet another Flash puzzle game: Shift. Very beautiful, with low-key music.
posted on Jan 10, 2006 - View this thread

Things Came Up To My Brain...Museum? A little Flash game, from the same Samorostian/Goldbergian mind that brought us Find The Treasure. Warning: There doesn't appear to be any way to toggle the sound off.
posted on Jan 9, 2006 - View this thread

Fsaturday Flash Fun: CryptoQuote. Other word games featured at East of the Web are the Tetris-like PopWord (and its multiplayer companion [beginner and advanced, respectively]), the MasterMind-like CodeWord, and the vaguely Scrabble-ish 8 Letters in Search of a Word.
posted on Jan 7, 2006 - View this thread

Friday Java Fun - Junk's Hanoi, a cool puzzle for this lovely Festivus.
posted on Dec 23, 2005 - View this thread

Exercise your music muscle Someone marked a Day in Green ink. Then I eyed a Queen holding Sex Pistols. There are 71 other bands hidden in this street scene: you can download a higher-res version at Virgin's Web site. (Via Bifurcated Rivets). By the way, this is a contest (you can win a new computer and a year's worth of free music), but the site's interface is obnoxious and ad-strewn, so I moved the contest linkage down here.
posted on Nov 29, 2005 - View this thread

Memory - 36 cards. Turn two over. If the pictures match, both get eliminated. Else turn them back and select another two. Repeat till field is cleared. Post the number of moves you took. [via]
posted on Nov 13, 2005 - View this thread

For those who tire of the usual paper and pencil-based puzzle, try Websudoku.
posted on Nov 10, 2005 - View this thread

Puzzle Boat: Enjoy the island as long as you want. If you want to know where to go, try looking for some helpful individuals. Flag them down, and they'll not only show you the hottest spots on the island, but help you decide what to do next.
The Puzzle Boat is an online puzzle extravaganza, similar to the MIT Mystery Hunt or Microsoft Puzzle Hunts. It can be solved entirely online.
posted on Nov 4, 2005 - View this thread

What do you get when you mix a fiendishly difficult and addictive puzzle game with the feel of a hack & slash RPG set in a cartoonish, slightly tongue-in-cheek fantasy world? That would be Deadly Rooms of Death (DROD for short). The game is freakin' huge, with 25 levels filled with unique rooms, and it also happens to be free.
posted on Sep 22, 2005 - View this thread

Puzzle: If you a sour fruit transpose, a very sweet one 'twill disclose. (answer here)
Courtesty of the Old Farmer's Almanac, which has a puzzle a day on its home page along with gardening tips, advice, weather history, daily questions, and other old-timey stuff for non-flash Friday fun. Don't forget to check out the riddles in the puzzle archives, especially if you have a five year old that needs entertainment.
posted on Jul 29, 2005 - View this thread

Go problems database with a slick web interface. Go is one of the most rewarding games I've ever played. You can play games at ItsYourTurn.com, who also have a nice rule summary.
posted on Jun 1, 2005 - View this thread

The puzzle that ate the world?! It's called Su Doku. It came from Japan. It's deceptively simple, but a brief tutorial reveals hidden depths. It's spreading like gangbusters through the puzzle-obsessed British public, where it is making major news and being rapidly added to the country's newspapers. Fortunately, archived puzzles and free software are out there to provide puzzle addicts their latest fix. C'mon... give it a try. It's only *one* little puzzle. (Heh, heh.)
posted on May 10, 2005 - View this thread

Research at Purdue University yields answers to one of the world's largest unsolved mysteries.
posted on Apr 21, 2005 - View this thread

Braingle
posted on Mar 16, 2005 - View this thread

There is an island where all the inhabitants are either knights or knaves. Knights always tell the truth, and knaves always lie [PDF]. Can you tell which is which?
posted on Mar 15, 2005 - View this thread

Ponder This. 'You are cordially invited to match wits with some of the best minds in IBM Research.' Monthly puzzles, with solutions, going back to 1998.
posted on Mar 7, 2005 - View this thread

Sam Loyd's Cyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles, Tricks, and Conundrums (With Answers) I hereby put this version of Sam Loyd's 1914 work into the public domain. (Ed Pegg Jr, 2005) Who is Sam Loyd? Remember the Donkey Puzzle? The 15 Puzzle? These and 4,998 more...
posted on Jan 10, 2005 - View this thread

The Dark Room is one of the best puzzles I've seen in a long time. (Flash, via Little Fluffy.)
posted on Dec 20, 2004 - View this thread

Reflex is the game responsible for a significant drop in the scores of my final exams. (Friday Flash)
posted on Dec 17, 2004 - View this thread

Have you ever wanted to be a repressed homosexual suicidal genius? Now's your chance. The UK's GCHQ has set up a series of codebreaking challenges to try and attract your attention in the hope it gets you interested enough to apply for a job. This is the latest. A previous challenge here. Plus some other puzzles they've set. GCHQ: It's not all about selling out your fellow man/woman.
posted on Dec 16, 2004 - View this thread