Henry Ernest Dudeney/Puzzles and Curious Problems/334 - A Little Match Trick/Solution

Puzzles and Curious Problems by Henry Ernest Dudeney: $334$

We pulled open a box of matches the other day, and showed some friends that there were only about $12$ matches in it.

When opened at that end no heads were visible.

The heads were all at the other end of the box.

We told them after they had closed the box in front of them that we would give it a shake, and on reopening,

they would find a match turned round with its head visible.

They afterwards examined it to see that the matches were all sound.

Hide the match inside in the manner shown by the dotted lines in the diagram,

so the head is just over the edge of the tray of the box.

In closing the box you push this extra match forward with your thumbnail and it falls into place.

The fact that there are now more matches in the box than when you first showed it does not matter, because nobody actually counts the matches.