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Cube counting puzzles

A cube counting puzzle shows a stack of cubes drawn in 3D and asks how many there are in total. The catch is the cubes you cannot see: every cube rests on another, so a tall column tells you what is underneath it. Generate a puzzle, print it with its answer, and count layer by layer.

Puzzle type

How many cubes make up the stack, including the hidden ones?

Difficulty
Shape

One dense solid stack.

Two pages: the puzzle and its answer. Every figure is checked before it prints, so the answer is never wrong, by the same engine as our KDP studio.

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This makes one puzzle. Sign up to turn this puzzle type into a full 3D spatial book for Amazon KDP: hundreds of puzzles at any trim, as print-ready PDFs. We carry your puzzle type and difficulty into the studio.

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Preview

3D to a number

Count the cubes

A stack of unit cubes drawn in 3D on a faint floor grid, and one question: how many cubes make up the figure, including the ones you cannot see?

How to solve it

  1. 1Count what you can see, from the bottom up. Work one layer at a time. Count the cubes in the base, then the next layer, and so on to the top.
  2. 2Add the hidden cubes. A cube sitting high up must have cubes underneath holding it up. Those supporting cubes count too, even when you cannot see them.
  3. 3Check the base is solid. Wherever a tall stack stands, every cube below it is there. Add those in and you have the total.
The one rule that makes it solvable
Every cube rests on another, so nothing floats in the air, and the whole figure is one connected piece. That is how you know a hidden cube is really there.
What the answer page shows
The answer page repeats the figure with the total printed beneath it.
How the grades differ
Easy is a 3 by 3 by 3 stack of 4 to 14 cubes. Medium is 4 by 4 by 4 with up to 26. Hard is 8 by 8 by 8 with up to 130 cubes and at least 40 hidden. Expert is 12 by 12 by 12 with up to 260 cubes and at least 70 hidden.
Good for
A first spatial puzzle for children, reasoning-test practice, and adult solvers at the hard and expert grades.

The other two puzzle types

Making a whole puzzle book?

This page makes one puzzle. To publish a book on Amazon KDP, the KDP spatial puzzle maker generates hundreds of graded puzzles at any trim, as a print-ready 300 DPI interior and answer-key PDF. Generate once, export unlimited sizes.

More printable spatial puzzles

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Questions

Are these cube counting puzzles free to print?
Yes. Generate the puzzle above and print it with its answer, at no cost and with no sign-up. It is free for classroom, home and personal use.
Do the cube counting puzzles come with answers?
Yes. Every puzzle prints as two pages: the puzzle on page one and the total cube count on page two. The answer is drawn from the same figure as the puzzle, and every figure is checked before it prints, so the answer is never wrong.
Can I make a spatial puzzle book to sell on KDP?
Yes. The free tool makes one puzzle. Publisher Studio generates hundreds of graded puzzles of one type, with an optional how-to-solve page, at any KDP trim, as a print-ready 300 DPI interior and answer-key PDF, so you can publish a book.

Publish a spatial puzzle book

Hundreds of graded puzzles, any KDP trim, print-ready PDFs. Start free.