Cast Elk was designed Yoshigahara Nobuyuki, commonly known as Nob. Nob was one of Japans' most well-known and celebrated inventor of puzzles. Despite having a successful career in high polymer engineering, Nob quit to become a high school teacher of chemistry & mathematics and an avid puzzle inventor and columnist. Britian experienced a huge puzzle craze at the end of the 19th century. Cast Elk was one of the puzzles that Nob revived from the puzzles that were famous during that period in the flea markets.