What educational games (toys) were there in ancient China?

Puzzle is one of the ancient educational toys in China, the most famous of which is jigsaw puzzle. Known as "Tangram" in foreign countries, it is a masterpiece of China's excellent intellectual games. The ancients were still seven, and it was just right to use seven boards to puzzle.

In the puzzle family, there are four puzzles, five puzzles, nine puzzles, ten puzzles, twelve puzzles, fourteen puzzles, sixteen puzzles and one hundred puzzles. These drawing boards have different numbers and shapes, which adds infinite brilliance to the drawing board family and fun to the game.

The Chinese Ring

China's ring toys are collectively referred to as "China rings" abroad, and the nine-ring toys are the representatives of all kinds of clever ring toys. There are many kinds of toys with smart rings in China, ranging from solving one ring to solving more than nine rings. There are countless toys with different shapes and materials, but their theoretical basis is the topological principle in mathematics.

There are many kinds of serial toys, which can be divided into six categories: sleeve-off, ring-off, rope-off, staggered, flower-turning and synthesis. The way to remove a set of toys is to remove the cover from the ring. Removing a ring toy means taking the ring out of it. Untie the rope toy is to untie the ring in the knot. Interlaced toys are intertwined parts, and the way to play them is to separate them. It seems complicated to solve the nine-ring chain, but it is not difficult to solve the nine-ring chain as long as you master the tricks. As for the calculation method of the number of steps in solving nine chains, as early as in the book "Clever Rings" published by 1958, the formula was summarized: Rn = 3 (2- 1), where n represents the number of rings and Rn represents the number of steps.

Luban lock

According to legend, during the Spring and Autumn Period, Lu craftsman Lu Ban made a detachable toy out of six pieces of wood for his son to open. My son was busy all night and finally opened it. This kind of toy was later called Luban Lock. In fact, this is just a legend. Lubansuo is also known as Kongmingsuo, Bieshuzhi, Zilianfang, Mocher Pusi, Nanmu, etc. It originally originated from the tenon-mortise structure pioneered by ancient architecture in China.

In the book "Goose Fantasy Collection" written by the owner of the Taohuaxian Pavilion in Qing Dynasty, the "six-son couplet" was introduced in detail. The book calls it "an educational tool, just like jigsaw puzzles and nine-ring chains." Its source is from the dramatist. "Six dwarf trees are crowned with six arts respectively, and there is a gap in the middle, which is combined with the gap to form a cross double cross shape.

Qin, an expert in intellectual games, is committed to the innovation of Lubansuo. He improved the traditional six-column Luban lock into seven, eight, nine, 10,10, 12, or even 15, and thus obtained the national patent. Ruban locks together and becomes a new combination.

Huarong Road (a traditional puzzle, including sliding wooden blocks, based on the plot in Romance of the Three Kingdoms)

Huarong Road is a moving picture toy. Because the process of playing with this toy is consistent with the story of the Three Kingdoms "Cao Cao defeated Huarong Road", this very appropriate name "Huarong Road" came into being. The toy layout of Huarong Road is varied and tortuous, and the play involves many disciplines such as graph theory and operational research in mathematics. There are dozens of ways to deal with Huarong Road, such as "cross the knife at once", "close at hand", "going through five customs to kill six generals", "packing" and "Xiaoyan leaving the nest" and so on. The general game is to let Cao * walk to the exit with the least steps. The general way of playing is to let Cao Cao walk to the exit with the least number of steps, and the optimal way of 8 1 step of the layout of "horizontal knife immediately" is verified by computer.