Get My Goat is a wooden sliding block puzzle for anyone who likes a real brain teaser, and a funny gift for the goat lover in your life. The design goes back to 1914, when John I. Wiley patented it [US patent 1,112,746]. We saw a picture of the original puzzle and loved the look and the concept, so we make our own version at Creative Crafthouse, our family-owned wooden puzzle and game shop, cut from raintree hardwood in Hudson, Florida with every pattern deeply laser engraved.

To start, you lift out the one block engraved "REMOVE THIS BLOCK TO START GAME," which leaves a single empty square. From there every move is a slide into the gap. Getting the goat to the middle of the board is the easy part. To win, the goat has to finish inside the engraved octagon with the octagon closed up around it, and the blocks that draw the octagon are the same ones you keep moving to get the goat there. One block is twice as wide as the others and can only slide side to side, so much of the puzzle is working around it. As one customer put it, "The double tile adds an element of difficulty to it that makes it interesting." It is moderately difficult and takes careful planning to get through without a mistake; it took us about an hour and a half to solve.

It's a beautiful puzzle to look at and should last forever. The board measures 6 by 4.5 by 1 inch, a nice size to leave out on a desk or coffee table between tries. In the box you get eleven laser engraved blocks in a fitted base, a wood cover, and a printed instruction and solution sheet. The starting layout is engraved on the cover, so you can reset any time, and the cover keeps the pieces in place if a game has to wait until later.

Most of the reviews we get on this one come from people who gave it as a gift: to a husband who loves a good puzzle, a grandson, a niece who loves brain games, a friend who loves goats. One customer called it a "Perfect Christmas present for puzzle and goat lovers." We can also laser engrave a name or a short message on the cover.

For another sliding puzzle, try the Great Dog Escape, which has nine starting layouts from easier to tough, or browse all of our Logic Puzzles.