3D Pentominoes
The set I used for this video is called Pocket Katamino and is available here
From Amazon: BUY NOW Pentominoes
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3D Pentominoes: the 12 possible arrangements of five identical squares, joined edge to edge, form the set of all pentominoes. Since 12x5=60, the pentominoes can tile a 6 x 10 rectangle with no gaps (2339 ways to do this- yet even finding one solution is a challenge). This set of colorful pentominoes is made so that the height of each piece is the same as the width of the constituent squares, such that 3D constructions can be made. Since 3x4x5=60 one can build a box with these dimensions (amazingly, 3940 ways to do this- but again, finding one is still a fun challenge).
Matsuyama's Paradox
Get this and other amazing math puzzles here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Missing Square Puzzle
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Matsuyama’s Paradox: dissect a large square in to four equal quadrilaterals, rotate and reassemble- to find a small square is missing! Where did the additional area come from? Fun math involved in the design of this puzzle, which illustrates how the concept of area can often challenge our intuitions. Swipe to compare the two assemblies. A precision crafted puzzle by Jeux Efcé game shop. Wikipedia has good details: Missing square puzzle.
Anamorphic Harry Potter Puzzle
No longer in production but available on eBay:
From eBay: BUY NOW: Harry Potter On Reflection Puzzle
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Mirror Anamorphic Harry Potter: the conical mirror of the silver container reflects and reveals the distorted scenes in this 200 piece jigsaw puzzle of the famous wizard and school. The shape of the mirror allows for a mathematical operation, a type of affine transformation, to map the distorted image of the puzzle to the restored image reflected by the mirror. Real magic!
TrueBalance
Get the full version (8 disks made of wood) or the mini (6 disks, blue or red plastic):
From Amazon: BUY NOW TrueBalance Coordination Puzzle
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TrueBalance: coordination challenge puzzle- get the six disks, connected by bearing swivels, into a vertical stack by only tilting the handle. Harder than it looks to get each disk’s center of mass above the one below at the same time into the unstable equilibrium final state. The swivels constrain the system, limiting the degrees of freedom, and allowing strange and interesting motion. Kinetic art as a toy!
The Magic Octagon Coin
Get this new amazing coin here:
From Shire Post Mint: BUY NOW: Magic Octagon Coin
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“Magic Octagon” Challenge: introducing a beautiful copper coin version of this puzzle of successive rotations. Which way will the light arrow point after left and right rotations of the dark arrow? No trickery here- just the math of geometry, symmetry, rotations, and reflections and how our intuitions often fail us upon first attempts. Swipe twice for second challenge. In collaboration with my friends at @shirepostmint
Pentominoes
Get this set here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW Hardwood Pentominoes
Many versions available here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW Pentominoes
The book by mathematician Solomon Golomb that started the polyonomo recreational math craze:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Polyominoes
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Pentominoes: The 12 possible arrangements of five identical squares joined edge to edge. Since 5x12=60, the pentominoes can tile a 6 x 10 rectangle with no gaps (2339 ways to do this- yet even finding one solution is a challenge). I love this beautiful set from artist/woodworker Ron Moore where each pentomino is made from a different kind of hard wood.
Raketti Puzzle
Versions of this puzzle avaioable fron these sources:
From Etsy: BUY NOW Raketti Physics Puzzle
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Raketti Puzzle: a favorite physics brain teaser in my collection- the challenge is to remove the cone topped cylinder from the hole without touching the bottom container (no fair using sticky tape). It can be done in a matter of seconds! The solution to this puzzle (like others featured here) relies on some fun physics principles.
Puzzle in a Puzzle: Extra Square
Get this and other amazing math puzzles here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Extra Square Puzzle
See also: Matsuyama's Paradox
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Puzzle in a Puzzle: 12 pieces fill both large square areas- but the bottom has 5 tiny squares in its center compared to 4 in the top. All 9 tiny squares are identical in size, and the large square areas are also identical. So where did the extra square go? Some fun math involved in the design of this puzzle, which illustrates how the concept of area can challenge our intuitions. Another precision crafted puzzle by Jeux Efcé game shop.
Square Dissection Puzzles
Get these and other well made disection puzzles here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Square Dissection Puzzles
These puzzles are expertly laser cut and sold by GamesEfce. I spray-painted the pieces of mine to better show the shapes and relationships for the video.
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Square Dissection Puzzles: a square can be cut (dissected) into polygons and then reassembled into other regular polygons. Shown here: an equilateral triangle, a pentagon, and a hexagon. These are the record holders for smallest number of pieces needed: triangle (4 pieces by Henry Dudeney 1902), hexagon (5 pieces Paul Busschop 1870s) and pentagon (6 pieces Robert Brodie 1891). Fun fact- It is not known if any of these records are the smallest possible, no mathematical proofs yet exist on this question.
Anti-Gravity Puzzle
This particular puzzle by puzzlab.com is no longer in production.
However (spoiler), it's possible to creat a version of this puzzle with these:
From Educational Innovations: BUY NOW Growing Spheres
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"Anti-Gravity" Puzzle: a physics brain teaser- what's the trick here? Four glass marbles can move but stay separated in this liquid filled tube no matter the orientation- why do they not touch?
Stomachion Puzzle
Get this 3-color laser cut acrylic version here:
From Kadon Enterprises: BUY NOW: Stomachion Puzzle
Also a very nice multicolor acyrlic version here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Stomachion Puzzle
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Learn about the 1998 discovery of the lost writings of Archimedes (and the technology used to recover them) in this TED talk.
Ancient Stomachion Puzzle: the oldest known puzzle, discovered in the writings of the great Greek physicist and mathematician Archimedes from some 2200 years ago. The puzzle is a dissection of a square into 14 polygons, where the areas of each piece are integer multiples of each other (a curious way to slice it up). In 2003 Bill Cutler showed that there are 536 district ways to configure these pieces to make the square (five are shown here), ignoring simple rotations and reflections. Swipe to see the most famous solution, attributed to Archimedes himself, that was found in an ancient manuscript discovered only in 1998- before this date historians knew the name of the puzzle, but no one knew what it looked like. Kate Jones, the maker of this particularly aesthetic version, found that when using only three colors for the polygons, there are only 6 solutions where no two pieces of the same color touch (four solutions shown here).
Pickagram Puzzle
Get this well made puzzle here:
From Art of Play: BUY NOW: PIckagram Puzzle
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Pickagram: an innovative update on the classic Tangram puzzle- magnets added! With pieces that cling together with a satisfying snap, the 2D puzzle formations become 3D abstract sculptures that can stand on their own. From the mind of designer and architect Gilryong Song, with inspiration from the golden ratio in its proportions and angles.
Shashibo Puzzle Dissected
Get this cube puzzle (in a variety of colors and patterns) here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Shashibo Cube
From Art of Play: BUY NOW : Shashibo Geometric Art
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Shashibo Puzzle Dissected: I cut apart one of these puzzles to better understand the geometry: it is indeed a cube dissected into 12 equal irregular tetrahedra as seen here. The embedded magnets still allow construction of the cube. Of course the symmetrically placed hinges (along with strategically placed magnets) creates the real magic of the Shashibo puzzle- a device with more that 70 geometrically interesting and aesthetic configurations including a rhombic dodecahedron as well as the cube.
Ambiguous Circles and Squares
Get these and amny other designs here:
From Shapeways: BUY NOW: 3D printed Illusions
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Ambiguous Circles and Squares: two more examples of the Sugihara ambiguous object illusion, with “impossible” mirror reflection. Thanks to Gerardo Ortega for sending me these 3D prints of his designs.
Rhombic Blocks Mathematical Puzzle
This beautifully made puzzle available here::
From Etsy: BUY NOW Rhombic Blocks
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Rhombic Blocks Mathematical Puzzle: There are 9 possible ways three rhombuses can be joined together along a common edge, and similar to pentominoes, these 9 tri-rhombs can tile a polyhedron, in this case a hexagon. There are 14 solutions to this puzzle, and one where no same-colored pieces touch. A beautiful math discovery by puzzle master Stuart Coffin.
Magnetic Cube
Many colors to choose from:
From MagneticCube.com: BUY NOW Magnetic Dice Cube
See also the original indestructibles post: Magnetic Acrylic Rubik's Cube
Magnetic Cube: a twisty Rubik’s Cube puzzle made from 27 dice and 108 neodymium magnets. This cube includes the scrambled states and solutions of the original 3x3 Rubik’s Cube but is held together only by magnets! The magnets, in this special configuration, lock the dice together with a satisfying click upon rotation. This beautiful cube was produced by Owen Lillywhite of magneticcube.com and is based on a gfixler design posted on instructables.