Some people hold that puzzles and games are separate from sporting events. Feeling that only sporting events make players work and sweat, but I’ve seen people sweat when intensely involved in a sedentary game. Contestants under stress do sweat.

On many occasions the player is combating only the puzzle not any other player, but the same thing can occur in a sporting event when a lone golfer takes on a course and himself when trying for a personal best. Yes, you say, but there are millions of people watching at some sporting events. But there may be millions of people concerned with a chess championship.

It appears to be very difficult to separate puzzles and games from sports. Certainly, the way a cousin of mine played the card game 500 was a sporting event. He liked nothing better when we were through with a holiday dinner than to clear the dining room table and set up the card tables. It was fun to play against Maurice for if you beat him you had accomplished something.

I researched games and puzzles on the Internet and was surprised at the number of puzzles in the world. Most of us go through life not thinking much about puzzles. If put to it, a few come to mind like crossword puzzles, Rubik’s Cube, Sudoku and others. But, there is another world out there and the number of puzzles and games that the we humans have invented is amazing. There are literally thousands and thousands, each with its own fans.

Most of us are familiar with crossword puzzles and I admire people that fill in a New York Times crossword with ink, but I’m not a big fan. It seems like a lot of work without much result. But millions of people enjoy them as well as word games like Scrabble. My wife and a friend play weekly and have a lot of fun. I guess it’s a chance to involve yourself in an activity of your choosing and your troubles disappear, (we all have troubles), for a while. Some people fish, some play games. Some do both. It’s been said that games and puzzles are good for aging brains and keep you alert. (I need to play more games!)

Mathematics are supposed to be involved in most games and puzzles. I’ll watch for that in the future and in the meantime we should ask a math teacher if he or she enjoys puzzles.

The other day I was reading a mystery novel involving a magician that arranged his murders to simulate a Tangram. The Internet, describes a Tangram as perhaps the most ancient of puzzles dating back to the Ming Dynasty in China. It was exported to Europe more than 200 years ago. The puzzle consists of seven pieces; 5 triangles, 1 parallelogram and one square.

From these seven pieces more than 300 shapes may be formed. The murderer’s name was Swann and he was placing the bodies using the city of Philadelphia’s physical characteristics, five triangles, etc., to form a picture of a swan. Certainly a gruesome use of a game. He was caught by a better game player.

When reading the novel I appreciated how the detective caught the murderer, but Tangram was not really my cup of tea. On the other hand the game sounded somewhat familiar. The use of different parts of a puzzle to form a whole. So while Tangram is unique in its use of seven pieces, it seems to me that most team games use numbers similar to Tangram. Maybe the Minnesota Twins have the need of something akin to Tangram. There are nine pieces, but they too, must fit together properly. Perhaps we can give it a go in a future column.