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Tony Fatseas, CustOMER Since 1988 and the driving force behind samuelloyd.com is a man on a mission, and that mission is to spread the word of Sam Loyd Puzzles ... three of which are now available from REMO!

Born in Philadelphia on January 30, 1841 Samuel Loyd is regarded as America's greatest puzzlist and an authentic American genius. For almost half a century, until his death in 1911, he was America's undisputed puzzle king inventing over ten thousand puzzles many of which are still popular today.

When Loyd was 17, he invented his famous Trick Donkeys puzzle which although seems easy is in fact difficult to solve. The object of the Trick Donkeys is to cut apart the three pieces and then reassemble them so that the two jockeys are riding the donkeys. The puzzle was sold by Loyd for $10,000 to the American showman P. T. Barnum creator of Barnum's Circus, and the name was changed to Barnum's Trick Mules. Now Loyd began to concentrate on similar puzzles that were of wide interest and commercial value. This was in fact what Sam Loyd enjoyed doing, making puzzles that appeared so simple to solve that people felt compelled to attempt them, only to find that they would spend hours trying to figure them out.

The Pony Puzzle was also very successful. Over the years more than a billion copies of this puzzle have been sold. You cut out the size pieces of the pony separately, and see how many ways they can be arranged to form another pony.

In 1896 Loyd patented what would be regarded as the greatest mechanical puzzle ever invented, his famous Get off the Earth Puzzle. Thirteen warriors appear around the globe. By moving the globe slightly, one warrior appears to vanish but which one is it? Millions of puzzles where distributed as give-aways in 1896. The following year another million where handed out with a variation called "The Lost Man" by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. A still later version "Teddy and the Lions" was issued in 1906.

During the 1890's Loyd wrote a popular column on puzzles for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and from the turn of the century until his death in 1911, his puzzle columns appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines.

During his later years, Sam Loyd, worked alongside his son Sam Loyd Junior and taught him the art of making puzzles. After the death of his father, Sam Loyd Junior continued publishing puzzles that were mainly compilations of his father's work and in 1914 issued the 194 page "Sam Loyd's Cyclopaedia of 5000 Puzzles, Tricks, and Conundrums", which has been called the most exciting puzzle book to have ever been published. See for yourself. You can download the 45MB PDF file from samuelloyd.com.

+ Trick Donkeys or Pony Puzzle AUD $3.00 => USD 2.68 approx

+ Get off the Earth Puzzle AUD $5.00 => USD 4.46 approx

Plus 10% GST for Deliveries to Australian Addresses