About

The Trillion Puzzle is a flat circular frame with 17 round coloured pieces in it which are arranged in the shape of a cross - one piece in the centre and four arms with four pieces each. The five centre pieces lie in a disk which can be rotated. The next two pieces of each arm of the cross lie in a ring which can also be rotated, as can the outer ring containing the other 4 pieces. There is a spring loaded plunger on one arm of the cross which allows the 9 pieces to slide along by one place. While this plunger is pushed in, it blocks the outermost ring from moving. There is one colour of which there is only one piece, and this belongs in the centre. The 16 remaining pieces are divided equally over four colours. The normal solution has the pieces arranged in rings of the same colour, matching the ring design on the base of the puzzle. There are different versions of the puzzle, which differ in the colours that are used. The one shown above is black, and the colour of its rings from the outside inwards are green, orange, blue, yellow, and finally red in the centre. I have one that is dark red, with ring colours blue, green, yellow, orange, and white. It is unclear who invented the puzzle, but it may have been inspired by figure 19 in the patent (US 4,376,537) of the Nintendo Billion Barrel which is very similar. If your browser supports JavaScript, then you can play Trillion by clicking the link below: