Could the maze – a confusing network of winding pathways, with one or more blind alley, through which one has to find a way – be the oldest type of puzzle? Although little remains of the structure today, an Ancient Egyptian maze near Crocodilopolis dates back to around 700 BC.

Always start with the corner pieces. Oh hang on...

The oldest hedge maze in the UK was designed in 1690 for William of Orange, although there is evidence that it replaced an earlier version, perhaps designed for Henry VIII. These days, finger mazes appear in puzzle books and newspapers, and even on the walls of the London Underground, but if you really want to test yourself head to Ningbo in China. The Butterfly Maze – the largest permanent hedge maze in the world – covers 33,564.67 m² and has a total path length of 8.38 km. A-mazing!

2. The Sudoku

A Sudoku is a logic puzzle in which the objective is to fill a 9 by 9 grid with digits so that each column, row, and 3 by 3 sub-grid contains all of the numbers from 1 to 9.

Each puzzle has a single solution and, let’s face it, they're addictive. We think of the Sudoku as a modern phenomenon, exploding in popularity in recent years (travel by train and you’re bound to see someone frowning at their paper, pencil in hand) but, in fact, French newspapers featured variations of the puzzle in the 19th century – until they disappeared around the time of World War I.

The modern version of the puzzle became popular when a Japanese company introduced it, branding it the Sudoku, meaning ‘single number’. It appeared in The Times newspaper in 2004 and looks set to stick around…