“Look before you scramble!”
Released in 1970 by Milton Bradley, Drive Ya Nuts was an edge-matching puzzle/game with a single solution.
The all-plastic playing surface housed seven large hex nuts locked in a place via spindles built into the game board. Each nut had a number between 1 and 6 on its edges. The numbers in clockwise order on each nut were 162453, 143652, 123456, 164253, 165432, 146235, and 165324.
GAMEPLAY
Single players were challenged to scramble the nuts then place them back on the spindles so all the sides touching the newly formed hexagonal arrangement had matching numbers. Despite the multitude of possible positions and rotation combinations, Drive Ya Nuts offered puzzlers only a single, correct solution.
The task was so challenging that Milton Bradley allowed consumers to send a SASE to the company requesting the solution, which can be downloaded here (spoiler alert!).
In addition to the tabletop version, a travel version of Drive Ya Nuts was released in 1987, complete with a cover for ease of portability.
IN THE BOX
A complete Drive Ya Nuts game included the plastic game tray and seven hex nuts. Instructions were printed on the box.
COLLECTOR CONSIDERATIONS
A copy of Drive Ya Nuts is very easy to find on the secondary market. Collectors looking to amass key versions of the game should focus on the original 1970 release, a reissue in 1980, and the 1987 travel version.
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