One of the most recognisable puzzles around and yet the history of the MM puzzle is unclear and often disputed so we decided it was our mission to try to set the record straight.

A puzzle collector friend of ours, Nanco Bordewijk from The Netherlands, was instrumental in introducing puzzle collectors to the MM puzzle back in 1993 when he gave a puzzle he then called “The Sao-Paulo Puzzle” as his exchange gift at the IPP13 event held in Breukelen in The Netherlands in August of that year. Nanco told us that a pilot friend of his had bought him the puzzle after a trip to Sao-Paulo, Brazil, hence the name.

There was no information with the puzzle and the designer of the puzzle was not known. Nanco and his friend tried many times but unsuccessfully to find the designer and so the person remains unknown to this day. Some have claimed to have invented this puzzle but unless they were in Brazil before 1993 it is highly unlikely.

Separate and rejoin the pieces