Origin of Klotski
The origin of Klotski, the sliding puzzle game, has always been mysterious, and likely remains so in the future. So many legends are involved that, people from quite a few countries are claiming Klotski as invention of their beloved ancients.
Dig into the whole mess to find the truth can be really difficult and possibly fruitless; nonetheless significant spare time have been spent, and here I attempt to dispute various claims and analyze information available on web, possibly giving a conjecture about its true origin in the future.
Most of my research has been written down on English Wikipedia page, thus readers may discover that a large portion of this text is merely repeating what is said in Wikipedia. But just don’t leave yet 
Wikipedia has strict rules, so some claims and facts can’t possibly be shared there, while I can freely express everything within this little space. They are not rants, like what I have written in the past about Chinese claims of Klotski origin [1] [2].
This article is divided into several topics:
- Comparison of various cultural variations
- Refutation of Polish origin, and discussion on where the name ‘Klotski’ comes from
- Refutation of Chinese origin
- Situation in Japan
- Patents and copyrights in Europe and America
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