A Chinese puzzle ball, sometimes known as a devil's work ball (Chinese: 鬼工球; pinyin: guǐ gōng qiú) or the Concentric Ball (Chinese: 同心球; pinyin: tóng xīn qiú), is an artifact that consists of a number of intricately carved concentric hollow spheres carved from a single solid block that fit within one another in a way that looks impossible, often consisting of fourteen layers.

They were traditionally made of ivory. Ivory carving is a traditional art and folk craft in ancient China. On May 20, 2006, it was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list approved by the State Council of the People's Republic of China.

Following the international ban on the ivory trade, manufacturers of puzzle balls have tried using other materials, including bone. 3D imaging using computational tomography has been used to identify details of the manufacturing process.

The name "devil's work ball" likely stems from the Chinese Daoist idiom "gui fu sheng gong" (Chinese: 鬼斧神工; pinyin: guǐ fǔ shén gōng), which translates as "the demon's axe paired with the deity's workmanship," emphasizing the craft's intricate and delicate nature with supernatural connotations.

Originating from Guangdong province, particularly Guangzhou, these intricate balls were originally local tribute items and luxury export goods.

Although the production of Chinese puzzle balls reached its peak in the eighteenth century during the Qing dynasty, records indicate earlier iterations of puzzle balls during the Song dynasty and Ming dynasty. The earliest mention of Chinese puzzle balls dates back to Cao Zhao's 1338 book Gegu Yaolun (Essential Criteria of Antiques), where he describes seeing an earlier, more simplistic version of the devil's work ball (Chinese: 鬼工球; pinyin: guǐ gōng qiú) he assumed was made by an artisan at the Song dynasty court: "[t]here was a hollow-cantered ivory ball, which had two/multiple concentric layers inside it, all layers can be turned."

The appearance of a 14-layer puzzle ball was noted by Gao Lian in 1591, in Zunsheng bajian (Eight Discourses on the Art of Living), although the artifact he mentioned was made of stone: "Ancient people like to carve this type of stone into circular spheres which were similar to Chinese puzzle ball. I have seen one with twelve layers that from the outermost layer to the innermost one was diminishing in size and each layer could revolve. The innermost sphere was as tiny as a green bean. How it was made I do not know. It was 'true devil's work'."

In 1792, Wang Qishu reported seeing thirteen-layer puzzle balls being sold in Guangzhou (Canton).