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English Pages [228] Year 1997
PRESENTS
MIGHTY VISUAL PUZZLES Over 300 puzzles to your powers of reasoning n
test
Digitized by the Internet Archive in
2012
http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780760708477
MENSA VISUAL PUZZLES
This edition published by Barnes
& Noble Inc.,
by arrangement with Carlton Books Limited. Barnes
& Noble Books
Text copyright
©
British
Mensa Limited 1997
Design and artwork copyright
©
Carlton Books Limited 1997
ISBN 0-7607-0847-9
Printed and
bound
in Great Britain
Puzzle Checker: David Ballheimer Puzzle Design: Pauline Hoyle
MENSA VISUAL PUZZLES Over 200 test
optical challenges to
your powers of reasoning
John Bremner
Barnes ILNoble
BOOKS NEW YORK
1
Contents Mensa worldwide
7
Introduction
9
Visual puzzles
1
Visual puzzles answers
102
Your puzzle notes
117
More
visual puzzles
119
More
visual puzzle answers
210
MENSA WORLDWIDE Mensa
is
a worldwide organization that originated
in
barrister
and a psychologist, met by chance on a
train
England
in
1946. Two men, a
and struck up a conversation
The first name they chose was Mens (the Latin for "mind"), but even in those days this had unwelcome echoes of a certain type of magazine! So they abandoned it in favour of Mensa, the Latin for "table", a reminder that theirs was a round-table society in which all were equal. At first Mensa had its headquarters in Oxford and consisted of a tiny group of enthusiasts. Later, however, it spread around the world and is now found in well over 100 countries and has an international membership of about 110,000. The US has played a large part in Mensa and now has a very active membership of some 50,000; the UK has around about the need for a society for highly
intelligent people.
40,000.
What does Mensa do? It is, quite simply, a very good social club. Intelligent people need each other's company to exchange ideas and discuss issues that, to many people, would appear rather obscure. Mensa provides a forum for such discussion and, because of its international character and the growth of email and the internet, it allows its members to contact fellow Mensans around the world. Mensa even has its own version of the United Nations (Mensa International) and its own travel organization (SIGHT).
How do you in
The only
join?
qualification
a recognized intelligence test.
pretty
good
at solving
If
you
is
that you score
like
the puzzles
in
in
the top
this
2%
of the population
book and
them, then there's every chance that you could
think you're
join
Mensa. Why
not try?
You can contact Mensa
American Mensa Inc., 201 Main Street, Suite 1101, Fort Worth, Texas 76102 USA. American Mensa also have an email address: in
America
at
[email protected] and
if
you would
like
to join via the internet, the
web
site is
http://www.mwm.org/membform.htm/ You can contact
British
Mensa
Square, Wolverhampton,
If
you don't
15 The
live in
in
WV2 4AH
USA
Mensa
England
(tel
Limited,
Mensa House,
St John's
01902 772771).
or Britain, you can contact
628 Northampton touch with your own
Ivories,
to put you
the
at: British
Mensa
International,
London Nl 2NY, England, who national Mensa. Street,
will
be happy
INTRODUCTION Visual puzzles have always
They do not
rely
your native wit rely heavily
had a special significance for puzzle addicts everywhere.
on learned
in
most
the
on what they
as do verbal and numerical conundrums, but test
skills,
direct
call
way
possible.
It
is
"non-verbal reasoning"
not coincidence that psychologists
when
it
comes
to assessing
They have discovered that people who may be at a disadvantage when rely on school learning, can shine forth when allowed the freedom provided
intelligence.
forced to
by visual puzzles.
The way we tackle such puzzles is also interesting. They lend themselves particularly to sudden flashes of insight so that you find you "know" the answer even before you have worked out logically why it must be so. This is a valuable ability and one that can be
encouraged by practice. Of course, as the logic involved in the puzzles gets tougher you will find that you still have to do quite a bit of thinking but, even so, get in the habit of having a hunch about these puzzles first - you'll be surprised how often you will be right.
These puzzles are the work of one of Mensa's highly inventive members, John Bremner. Preparing this book entailed not only stretching his extraordinary powers of creativity to the limits, but also involved hours of painstaking checking on the part of our regular puzzler, David Ballheimer, and of course the invaluable contribution of our illustrators and designers.
Why
not join us at
Mensa
is
Mensa?
a unique social club. There
is
only one criterion for entering
Mensa and
that
is
two per cent. We have well over 100,000 members in countries throughout the world. The members meet for social and intellectual stimulation and soon find themselves part of a true "intelligence network" which spans the globe. What is more, with the internet, they find contact with other Mensans throughout the world has never been easier. Details on how to join
the ability to pass an intelligence test within the top
Mensa are on page 7
f.e$ 4»v
A
this series?
B see answer 25
Which pattern below can be used to make the box
A
in
the middle?
A
A y?
B • • •
m #
J C
:•
•
V
fc>
•
•• see answer 4
41
V
D
Which
of the following
is
the odd one out?
see answer 15
Mark the 12 differences
in
picture B.
.
see answer 36
42
Wh.it
comes
next
in
this series?
)GOO \oo/
\oJ
B see answer 57
Draw three
straight lines that divide this puzzle into four sections with, respectively, 4, 5, 6
snakes, drums and clouds
in
each section. The
lines
S£N^J
^v^J s^g^J
and 7
do not have to go from one edge to another.
seJ^J
-€^^
^^
W^^ S£j?KJ
^e^=J
S^J^J
W^3>
^4£&
-^S^J
^^^J^c-r
see answer 101
43
Each
like
animal has the
same
value and the bear, horse, fish and bird
values. Which of A, B, C, D, E or F
is
all
have different
the total value of the single column above the
question mark, and what are the lowest possible values of the animals?
see answer 123
44
As park ranger on
this safari
the risk of getting killed or of your
body
if
you have to collect as many rattlesnakes as possible without
maimed by them
or other creatures.
The wildcats
will
eat a part
you step onto a sector which they have scent marked and the bears
will
hug
you to death. The bears and wildcats have marked one segment next to the one they stand on, but you have no
way
of
knowing which one. You may not go back over your tracks.
Start on the shaded sector and finish on the snake facing the other way.
Finish
see answer 145
45
Which
of the following
is
the odd one out?
c
W
W A$ Af see answer 166
Which one
of these strings leads
you to the diamond:
see answer 172
46
Which
tile is
missing from the following panel?
ft >x
%
/
/
ft
/
z
X
s Q ft
ft
9 $< p
?
/
z
/
f %
:
• r
A
I
V
1
V
L
A
>:
r i
V Li
:•:
o
:•:
V
V L
I
w
V
A
L
r k.
A
V Li
w
1
•A
9
>:
>: :•:
A
S
see answer 47
What comes next
%
in
D
c
B
this series?
^^^f
^^
*i # *i
^%
%
#
A
# *W± •># 1 I* D
>
^#
*V m* *W ^*
in Mil /
?\
.-A- .J^^
^ B
~^^ E
see answer 26
49
C
i »#ii F
Which
of the following
is
the
odd one out?
B
see answer 37
^^H
Which
A
of the following
is
the
odd one out?
B see answer 79
50
Which set should the replace the question mark to complete the pattern?
% A
A VA V < T < < TV < > V4T< T T < T< V TV T T >A < < T >A< < V >V T T < T > < V > T< T t> < T t> < M A A. A < T vl < A [> A T < >T < > < > V >V < T >< V 1
> k
P A
*0^—0' F
B-oo
®U=-00
M
Si
22
28
26
22 2
1
5
7
1
24
eJfe csae
B
CT
W
Lrr
OO
G
C THB
H
D
E
WW I
J
see answer 129
98
Find the 18 differences
in
picture B.
169
B
see answer 151
Which
of the following
is
the odd one out?
170
H see answer 161
99
Complete the analogy.
..i.. j.. j.. j.. j.. j.. j.. j..
j
..J-.4..4..J..J..J-.J..4..J . .
is
to
J..
A. . J.
.J^^.l-.J.
..J-.J-.i.. J-. J.
J.
J
J.. J-
.
J.
.
-J. .J
J. .
X.J
->.
::::;:;::
. . J- .
.
. J. . J.
. J
..J..J..J...J..J...J..X.X..J I
as
I
I
I
I
I
I
(
I
^^^
c?
c?
c?
c?
ist0
& &
& £& £ D
B
see answer 118
100
Which path
will
the
bomb
take
when released from
this
moving fighter-bomber on a calm day?
_
B
M
i
i
D
i
see answer 96
Which
of the following
is
the odd one out?
174
see answer 74
Which of the following
is
the odd one out?
175
B see answer 175
101
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