About

Uriblock, also known as Mix Box, is a type of sliding piece puzzle. It consists of 16 tiles in a 4×4 square. Each row and each column has a slide which can move the 4 tiles in that row or column one square. The top row slide can only move to the right, one square (and then back again), the second row slide only to the left, the third to the right, and the bottom one only to the left. Similarly the columns can only move in alternate directions up and down. Note that this arrangement is symmetric - it looks just the same after a quarter turn of the puzzle. When a slide has been moved, part of the slide has entered the 4×4 area, and so blocks the movement of the nearest perpendicular slide. The 16 tiles are coloured, four of each of the colours red, yellow, green, and blue. The aim is to arrange them in rows (or equivalently columns). The puzzle is somewhat similar to the Rubik's Fifteen and Tsukuda's Square (a.k.a 'It'). Uriblock was invented by and named after Dario Uri. It was made in the mid eighties. It is mentioned in Cubic Circular Issue 7/8, p19. If your browser supports JavaScript, then you can play Uriblock by clicking the link below: