Four Marble Puzzle
Get this well crafted puzzle from Creative Crafthouse here:
From Amazon: BUY NOW Crossroads Four Marble Puzzle
From Etsy: BUY NOW Four Marble Puzzle
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Four Marble Puzzle: physics brain teaser- move all four marbles to their corner locations simultaneously. Each slot slopes down towards the center such that the marbles tend to stay at the center- so, how would one get them to roll outward at the same time? The solution to this puzzle (like others featured here) relies on some fun basic physics principles. Answer below and swipe to reveal solution. A beautiful and well-made puzzle from Creative Crafthouse.
Two Marble Puzzle
Great versions of the puzzle avaliable:
From Amazon: BUY NOW: Two Marble Puzzle, or get this set of puzzles
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Two Marble Puzzles
Similar 4 marble version of this puzzle available here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW Four Marble Puzzle
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Two Marble Puzzle: physics brain teaser- move both marbles to their top locations on each side simultaneously. The solution to this puzzle relies on some fun basic physics principles- can you figure out which ones? Swipe to reveal solution. Found this well made version of this classic physics puzzle at a gift shop in San Francisco (note Golden Gate Bridge motif).
Coin Escape Puzzle
Available here:
From Grand Illusions: BUY NOW: Coin Escape Puzzle
Another coin escape puzzle (fits US Dollar), the YOT:
From Amazon: BUY NOW Silver Dollar Escape Puzzle
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Coin Escape Puzzle: physics brain teaser- remove the coin without breaking the container or using any tools other than your hands. Of course you spin it to get the quarter out- but exactly how? The solution to this puzzle (like others featured here) relies on some fun basic physics of spinning things. Answer below and swipe to reveal solution.
Impossible Card Case
Get this fun card case here and support this amazing museum:
From the MoMath Store: BUY NOW: Rollover Card Case
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Impossible Card Case: this business card carrier has a special double hinge that allows it to be opened from either side, and transforms from stripes of white and silver to black and silver. I use this to carry @physicsfun bling diffractive stickers. Sometimes called a magic or flip case, the ribbon construction is similar to the famous Jacob’s Ladder toy I’ve featured and dscribed.
Impossible Threads
Available here:
From Crux: BUY NOW: Impossible Threads
Impossible Threads: a classic project for learning machinist skills on a metal lathe where threads are made in the middle of a rod with solid ends- how then where the nuts placed on the threads? The ends are indeed the same piece of metal and where never detached. Swipe to reveal the method that takes advantage of how precisely metal can be machined.
Wooden Trapped Sphere in Cube
(out of production)
Trapped Sphere in Cube: a surprising aspect of the geometry of spheres and cubes- carved from a single block of wood is a sphere trapped within a cube frame. A classic folk woodworking novelty reconceived here with precision machining to create this seemingly impossible object.
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Impossible Caged Golf Ball
Some nice versions of this impossible object available here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Golf Ball in Wood Cage
See more of these thought puzzles in my collection here: Impossible Objects
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Impossible Caged Golf Ball: Here a regular off-the-shelf golf ball is somehow trapped within a cage made from a solid piece of hardwood walnut. Neither the ball nor the wood were cut or glued in the fabrication process. The puzzle aspect is to consider how this object was produced (I have some theories- but I do not know the secrets of this artist).
Aperiodic Monotile
Learn more about this recent math dicovery here: An aperiodic monotile (arXiv)
Althogh the math says they can tile the plane, getting them to do so is more challenging than one might think!
Get a set of laser cut hat tiles here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: "the Hat" monotile set
See other aperoidic tilings in my collection.
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Aperiodic Monotile: this newly discovered 13 sided shape, named “the hat”, will tessellate a plane to infinity, similar to how squares or hexagons can tile out with no gaps. However the hat tiles the plane aperiodically- if one tries to shift a part of a hat tiling, the shifted part will not align or match up with any other part of the same tiling- all the way out to infinity! The fact that aperiodic tessellations exist at all is pretty amazing, and Sir Roger Penrose (Nobel prize in physics 2020) is also famous for discovering a pair of regularly shaped polygons that tile in this aperiodic way. However it was not clear until a few weeks ago if a single shaped tile could tessellate aperiodically when the hat was described in a paper by Smith, Myers, Kaplan, and Goodman-Strauss uploaded to arXiv March 20.
Jack in the Box Puzzle
Order this amazing puzzle here:
From Craighill & Art of Play: Order Now: Jack in the Box
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Jack in the Box Puzzle: eight solid aluminum pieces form a textured cube when carefully stacked- yet the same eight pieces can also be packed around a six pronged “jack” to form a second smooth silver cube that is barely larger that the first. Similar to the 2D Matsuyama’s paradox puzzle, a small square is centered on each face of the cube in the second solution. Some stages of assembly shown here under rotation to emphasize the beautiful symmetries in the design and avoid spoilers to the challenge. Created by Rod Bogart and engineered into existence by the talented folks at @craighillcompany, and I send a hearty thank you to my friends at @artofplay for sending me this unique and special puzzle.
Flippe Puzzle Ball
Get this puzzle ball here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Flippe Puzzle Ball
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Flippe Ball Puzzle: this ball is a puzzle that explodes and flies apart when spun. The puzzle is made of three identical pieces and a ball bearing which mysteriously locks the pieces together only to release them after a period of spinning. The main challenge is to fully explain why this spontaneous disassembly occurs. A slow motion “instant replay” of it coming apart reveals how conservation of momentum has each of the three equal mass pieces fly away on equally spaced trajectories (120°) with the ball bearing remaining stationary at the center and falling straight down. A product of puzzle master George Bell.
Hexiamond Snowflake
Get this 3-color laser cut acrylic version here:
From Kadon Enterprises: BUY NOW: Hexiamond Puzzle
Noce woood versions available here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Hexiamond Puzzles
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Hexiamonds Snowflake: this symmetric puzzle is comprised of the hexiamonds- the shapes that represent the 12 ways for which six equilateral triangles can be attached side to side- where we find a hexagon and a skinny parallelogram among the dozen interesting shapes. 55 different solutions can fill this snowflake shape, but only one solution separates the colors. This tri-colored puzzle, made from laser cut acrylic, is the creation of Kate Jones of Kadon Enterprise.
Perspective Puzzle 2
Vintage puzzles in this series are sometimes available on eBay:
From eBay: Search NOW Virtual Illusion 3D Puzzle
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Perspective Puzzle: twelve flat images, when ordered and spaced correctly, combine to produce this 3D illusion of structure and depth. This vintage toy by Mattel was sold as “Virtual Illusion 3D Puzzle” where the challenge is to scramble/shuffle the 12 sheets and then place them in the correct orientation and order to complete the image. A fun application of the math and physics of anamorphosis and perspective.
Magic Octogon Paradox
Get this new amazing coin here:
From Shire Post Mint: BUY NOW: Magic Octagon Coin
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Magic Octagon Paradox: flip the coin and the arrows on each side point in opposite directions- however, after a small shift, the same coin has these two arrows pointing in the same direction! A brain teaser that can be explained via geometry, symmetry, rotations, reflections, and how our intuitions often fail us upon first attempts. See my post two weeks back for another fun way to present this challenge. These beautiful copper coins are minted in collaboration with my friends at @shirepostmint and are available now.
Chiral Aperiodic Monotile Puzzle
Get this amazing puzzle set here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Specter Tile Set by Nervous Syestem
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Read the published paper: A chiral aperiodic monotile
Chiral Aperiodic Monotile: these puzzle pieces are all identical in shape, based on special family of forms called “specters”, and are key to a major mathematical discovery in May of 2023. Specters will tessellate a plane to infinity, similar to how squares or hexagons can tile out with no gaps. However specters are identically shaped tiles which fill the plane aperiodically- if one tries to shift a part of a specter tiling, the shifted part will not align or match up with any other part of the same tiling- all the way out to infinity! The fact that aperiodic tessellations exist at all is pretty amazing, and Sir Roger Penrose (Nobel prize in physics 2020) is also famous for discovering a pair of regularly shaped polygons in the 1970s that tile in this aperiodic way. Specters were discovered by the same team of mathematicians (Smith, Myers, Kaplan, and Goodman-Strauss) who discovered “the hat” aperiodic monotile in March 2023, but the hat needs its mirror image to complete the tiling whereas the specter does not. An amazing development found only two months after the initial major breakthrough. Credit to the @nervous.system design team for modifying the specter into an interlocking puzzle piece form- and assembling these without gaps is a fair challenge!
Impossible Bottle with Arrow
Get an impossibe object from this artist here:
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Impossible Bottles and Objects
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Impossible Bottle with Arrow Sculpture Puzzle: a new seemingly impossible object in my collection- Created with clever engineering, this “impossible” syrup bottle contains a wooden arrow that should not fit through its neck. The wood of the arrow is notably one uncut piece, and yet a metal washer is also somehow trapped on the shaft of the arrow. The puzzle aspect is to consider how the bottle was produced (I personally have some theories- but I do not know the secrets of this artist). I can tell you with high certainty that the bottle was never cut or altered in anyway, and it was not somehow formed around the objects. This bottle by Brad Byers is an expertly crated example of the impossible object genre.
Vortex Pyramid Fidget
Get this kinetic object here:
From ETSY: BUY NOW: Vortex Pyramid Passthrough Fidget
or use these files to print it uourself:
From Printables: Download Now: Pyramid Passthrough Fidget
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Vortex Pyramid Fidget: a four sided pyramid is dissected by a spiral cut in the shape of an eight petal flower (as seen from the bottom) in this math inspired kinetic toy. The interesting behavior stems from the connection between translational motion and rotational motion and the precision manufacturing allowed by the 3D printing process. An amazing creation by RJ Design and expertly printed by my friend Jason Veatch.
Magnetic Seal & Ball
These vintage magnetic toys often available from these sources (dog or seal):
From Etsy: BUY NOW: Magnetic Spinning Ball Toy
From eBay: BUY NOW: Magnetic Spinning Ball Toy
Note: this site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated
Magnetic Seal & Ball: as the seal nears, the ball spins and moves away- the physics challenge is to explain how can magnets produce rotation of the ball? Hint: clever placement and orientation of magnets in the seal and ball are at the root of this design. A vintage toy from Germany. I love the extra magnet in the seal’s nose to store and display the ball.