Get Off The Earth

Created by Samuel Loyd in the 1890s, 'Get off the Earth' became a bestselling puzzle, selling over 10 million copies.

There are initially 13 characters, but when the disc moves one of them disappears. How is this possible?

Source: murderous maths

William Poundstone, in Believer magazine, writes:

Thousands of explanations for “Get Off the Earth” were submitted to Loyd’s puzzle column. Some writers carefully numbered the figures and singled out a specific man as the one who vanishes. A few offered implausibly precise destinations for the missing man. (St. Petersburg, Russia, according to one contestant who looked very closely at the printed globe.) One entry was in verse, several took swipes at Chinese immigration, and one writer felt that the puzzle had something to do with his conviction that all Chinese men look alike. The winning entries were published in Loyd’s January 3, 1897, Brooklyn Daily Eagle column. They were accompanied by Loyd’s own explanation, a peevish, long-winded rant that withholds as much as it reveals.

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Alex - Sat Feb 22, 2020
Category: Games | Nineteenth Century

Comments

I remember this puzzle from childhood, but only now do I look at and say, whoa, how racist was that. Happens to me a lot these days. Ah, innocence.

Posted by Dr. Fian on 02/23/20 at 10:10 AM

plenty of 'disappearing' puzzles here. You can print them out too:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/gallery/2014/apr/01/vanishing-leprechaun-disappearing-dwarf-puzzles-pictures

https://www.archimedes-lab.org/page5b.html

Posted by S. Norman on 02/24/20 at 08:01 AM

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