The tabular puzzle, shown in FIG. 5, is a puzzle comprising nine square tablets arranged in a three-by-three array and inclosed in a mechanism in such a way that any group of four tablets meeting at a common corner point may be rotated about said point by any multiple of 90.degree.. The exposed face of each of the tablets is marked with an index which uniquely establishes said tablet's identity and orientation. These indices may be scrambled by a series of said rotations. The object of the puzzle is to return the tablets, and hence the indices, to their original positions and orientations in the said three-by-three array by means of a series of said rotations.