A Group of Six Polycube Puzzles, Known as Impuzzables

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A Group of Six Polycube Puzzles, Known as Impuzzables, in Cases
A Group of Six Polycube Puzzles, Known as Impuzzables, without Cases
A Group of Six Polycube Puzzles, Known as Impuzzables, with Cases

Object Details

Description

Each of these six colorful plastic puzzles is made up of groups of small cubes that can be arranged into a larger cube. The puzzles fit into clear plastic boxes. The objects have been assigned the following subindex numbers:

2012.0091.01.01 - brown

2012.0091.01.02 - green

2012.0091.01.03 - blue

2012.0091.01.04 - yellow

2012.0091.01.05 - red

2012.0091.01.06 - orange.

All six puzzles have the mark: MADE IN HONGKONG

The puzzles belonged to Rebecca Coven, the mother of the donor, who was a mathematics teacher in Brooklyn, New York. The donor dated the objects to about 1975. A mark on one of them gives the copyright date 1969.

According to Martin Gardner, Lakeside Industries, a division of Leisure Dynamics of Minneapolis, sold this series of six polycube puzzles from 1969. The puzzles ranged in difficulty from the easiest (yellow) to the hardest (blue). California game inventor Gerard D’Arcey designed the puzzles. Recent websites list a similar set of puzzles, although the colors are different.

Single examples of this puzzle (with six different versions available) were advertised as on sale in 1970 for forty-nine cents each. A 1982 advertisement lists individual puzzles at $1.99, reduced from a regular price of $2.99.

References:

[Advertisement], The Hartford Courant, November 12, 1970, p. 27.

[Advertisement}, The Chicago Tribune, February 24, 1982, p. C8.

Kevin Holmes and Rik Van Grol, A Compendium of Cube-Assembly Puzzles Using Polycube Shapes, Suffolk, England: Trench Puzzles, 2002.

Martin Gardner, Knotted Doughnuts and Other Mathematical Entertainments, New York: W. H. Freeman, 1986, p. 41.

Location

Currently not on view

Credit Line

Gift of Dr. Judy Green

date made

ca 1975

ID Number

2012.0091.01

accession number

2012.0091

catalog number

2012.0091.01

Object Name

Puzzle

puzzles, group of six

Physical Description

plastic (overall material)

Measurements

single puzzle: 6.2 cm x 6.2 cm x 6.2 cm; 2 7/16 in x 2 7/16 in x 2 7/16 in

overall: 19 cm x 6.2 cm x 6.2 cm; 7 15/32 in x 2 7/16 in x 2 7/16 in

place made

China: Hong Kong, Hong Kong

See more items in

Medicine and Science: Mathematics

Women Teaching Math

Science & Mathematics

Data Source

National Museum of American History

Subject

Mathematical Recreations

Mathematics

Education

Women's History

Metadata Usage

CC0

Link to Original Record

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ad-9c2b-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record ID

nmah_1421997