The Story of Mag-Nif
William W. Knox founded the Mag-Nif company in 1963 in Ohio. He was president/CEO from 1963 to 1997. It seems that the first product was the Pixie Bow Making kit, but they expanded to puzzles, games, and coin banks. In 1976, they were listed as manufacturer of Adult Games, Puzzles, Plastic Flowers, and Bow maker & Ribbon Items for Gift Wrapping. They seem to still be in existence but concentrating more on animated coin sorting banks. Their hay day for puzzles was between 1969 and 1990. They operated in Painsville, Ohio for a short time before moving operation to Mentor, Ohio around 1966.
Logos and Taglines
The original logo was a pixie with a bow, a tie to their bow making products. Later they used the Mag-Nif name. Around 1989, they started displaying the name as Magnif, as opposed to Mag-Nif. They often used the tagline “Mag-Nif makes it!”
Puzzles and Games
In the 1960s, they made two games: Numble (1965) and Tumble Numble (1966). Numble appears to be a Scrabble-like game except with numbers rather than letters. The first puzzle I was able to find from them was Magic Box, from 1969. The 70s seems to be a time of greatest expansion into puzzles. Many of the puzzles they produced throughout the 80s were first produced in the 70s, including their most well known and loved puzzle - The Brain, first produced in 1973. Mag-Nif would periodically update the packaging of their puzzles. The Brain, for example, has 7 different packages, spanning over 30 years, pictured below.
Evolution of The Brain packaging through the years.
List of Puzzles and Games
Here is a list of Mag-Nif puzzles and games, at least all the ones I could find. I’m only listing games and puzzles, even though they made other products like banks and coin sorters. I also included the copyright on the packaging, since many puzzles were in production throughout several years. If the puzzle was part of a series, I included that as well.
| Name | Series | Type | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Numble | Game | 1965 | |
| Tumble Numble | Game | 1966 | |
| The Magic Box/Cube | The Big Game Chest | Puzzle Box | 1969, 1973 |
| Switch | The Big Game Chest | Rearrangement | 1970, 1972 |
| Psyche Generator | The Big Game Chest | Do Nothing Machine | 1970 |
| Psyc Out / Flip Out | The Big Game Chest | Game (Nim) | 1970, 1973 |
| Pharaoh’s Dilemma | The Big Game Chest | Tower of Hanoi | 1970 |
| Luck Out | Game | 1970, 1972 | |
| Happy Cubes | Pandora’s Box | Folding SOMA | 1970 |
| Astro Logic/Astrologic | Pandora’s Box | Interlocking | 1970, 1989 |
| Curious Cross | Pandora’s Box | Interlocking | 1971 |
| Count Down | Mental Hang Ups | Peg Solitaire | 1971 |
| Double Cross | Mental Hang Ups | Assembly | 1971, 1981 |
| Drop Out | Mental Hang Ups | Dexterity | 1971 |
| Outer Limits | Mental Hang Ups | Dexterity | 1971 |
| The Great Escape | Mental Hang Ups | Disassembly | 1971 |
| Score 3 | Mental Hang Ups | Game | 1971, 1981 |
| Plato’s Plight / Plato’s Secret | Tensegrity | 1971, 1982 | |
| Levitation | Dexterity | 1971 | |
| Even Steven | Pattern | 1971 | |
| Tuts Tomb | Assembly | 1972, 1989 | |
| Rex | Game | 1972, 1982 | |
| Running Wild | Kinetic sculpture | 1972 | |
| Labyrinth | Laybrinth | Dexterity | 1972, 1979, 1989 |
| Palm Reader | Game | 1972 | |
| Third Dimension I | Third Dimension | Interlocking | 1972, 1989 |
| Third Dimension II | Third Dimension | Interlocking | 1972 |
| Third Dimension III | Third Dimension | Interlocking | 1972 |
| The Brain | Puzzler | Sequential Movement | 1973, 1979, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1989, 2010 |
| The Idiot Stick | Dexterity | 1973 | |
| Four Square | Interlocking | 1973, 1989 | |
| Far Out | Dexterity | 1973 | |
| Concentricity | Dexterity | 1973 | |
| Orb | Tensegrity | 1973 | |
| Turnabout | Game | 1973, 1982 | |
| Torus / On The Level | Puzzler | Pattern | 1973, 1982, 1987, 1989 |
| Scrambled Egg | 3d jigsaw | Assembly | 1974, 1982, 1989 |
| Woodn’t Die | Woodn’t | Pattern | 1974 |
| Woodn’t Count 15 | Woodn’t | Pattern | 1974 |
| Woodn’t Cross | Woodn’t | Interlocking | 1974 |
| Woodn’t Center | Woodn’t | Dexterity | 1974 |
| OP 1 | Dexterity | 1974 | |
| OP 2 | Dexterity | 1974 | |
| OP 3 | Dexterity | 1974 | |
| Gyrus I | Gyroscope | 1974 | |
| Computer Loops | Sequential Movement | 1975, 1980 | |
| Labritation | Dexterity | 1975 | |
| Inca’s Dilemma 1 | Inca’s Dilemma | Interlocking | 1975 |
| Inca’s Dilemma 2 | Inca’s Dilemma | Interlocking | 1975 |
| Inca’s Dilemma 3 | Inca’s Dilemma | Interlocking | 1975 |
| Laybrinth II | Laybrinth | Dexterity | 1975 |
| Tri Logic | Assembly | 1975 | |
| Sir Staunton | Game (chess) | 1975 | |
| Chrono Logic | Tower of Hanoi | 1975 | |
| The Love Puzzle / The Love Cube | 3d jigsaw | Assembly | 1975, 1989 |
| Low Score (I) | Game | 1976, 1979 | |
| Moon Probe | Puzzle Works | Dexterity | 1977 |
| Space Station | Puzzle Works | Dexterity | 1977 |
| 3 Moons of Saturn | Puzzle Works | Dexterity | 1977 |
| Constellation | Puzzle Works | Dexterity | 1977 |
| Galaxy | Puzzle Works | Dexterity | 1977 |
| Adam’s Apple | 3d jigsaw | Assembly | 1977, 1979, 1982 |
| Time Machine | Kinetic sculpture | 1977 | |
| The Family Jewel | 3d jigsaw | Assembly | 1978, 1982, 1989 |
| Deluxe Dominos | Game (dominoes) | 1978 | |
| Mental Case | Puzzle box | 1978 | |
| Down & Out | Game | 1979 | |
| Odyssey Kaleidoscope | Kinetic sculpture | 1979 | |
| Minute Maze | Maze | 1979 | |
| Disco Dime | Interlocking? | 1979 | |
| Low Score I | 1979 | ||
| Gravi-Tease 1 | Water Puzzle | Dexterity | 1980, 1989 |
| Gravi-Tease 2 | Dexterity | 1980 | |
| Gravi-Tease 3 | Water Puzzle | Dexterity | 1980, 1989 |
| Gravi-Tease 4 | Dexterity | 1980 | |
| Texas Gravi-Tease | Dexterity | 1980 | |
| Brain Trust | Set of Curious Cross, Astrologic, 3rd Dim I | Interlocking | 1980, 1982 |
| Roller Coaster Puzzles | Dexterity | 1982, 1984 | |
| Illusions | Puzzler | Assembly | 1983, 1987, 1989 |
| Alien Invaders | Star Shooters | Dexterity | 1983 |
| Laser Wars | Star Shooters | Dexterity | 1983 |
| Space Shuttle | Star Shooters | Dexterity | 1983 |
| Spaceshot | Star Shooters | Dexterity | 1983 |
| Space Probe | Star Shooters | Dexterity | 1983 |
| Orbiter | Star Shooters | Dexterity | 1983 |
| Top Attraction | Gyroscope | 1984 | |
| Cerebral Rings | Puzzler | Disassembly | 1987, 1989 |
| Saturn | Puzzler | Rearrangement | 1990 |
| Money Maze | Maze | 2007 |