About

Row by Row is a puzzle manufactured by Tomy. It consists of an array of 6 rows which each can contain 7 round pieces. There is one blank space, so there are 6·7-1=41 pieces. Tilting the puzzle left or right causes the pieces in the row containing the blank space to slide to the left or right. The pieces cannot slide up and down because the rows are separated by thin walls. The left or right column of the puzzle can be moved up one row, or down one row (so both columns have three positions - up, centre, and down). Shifting these columns allows the pieces and the blank space to change rows, and mix the puzzle up completely. There are 6 pieces of each of the colours brown, green, blue, yellow, red, and orange, and 5 uncoloured (transparent) pieces. In the solved position the transparent pieces are in right (or left) column, while the remaining parts of the rows have one colour each. The puzzle was invented by Mizunuma Masanori and Watanabe Hiroyuki, and patented by Tomy on 13 November 1984 (filed 7 May 1982), US 5,389,063. That patent also covers Tomy's Rack 'em up puzzle. If your browser supports JavaScript, then you can play the Row by Row by clicking the link below: