A Group of Six Polycube Puzzles, Known as Impuzzables
date: label: date made
content: ca 1975
notes: label: Description
content: 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:
label: Description
content: 2012.0091.01.01 - brown
label: Description
content: 2012.0091.01.02 - green
label: Description
content: 2012.0091.01.03 - blue
label: Description
content: 2012.0091.01.04 - yellow
label: Description
content: 2012.0091.01.05 - red
label: Description
content: 2012.0091.01.06 - orange.
label: Description
content: All six puzzles have the mark: MADE IN HONGKONG
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: [Advertisement], <I>The Hartford Courant</I>, November 12, 1970, p. 27.
label: Description
content: [Advertisement}, <I>The Chicago Tribune</I>, February 24, 1982, p. C8.
label: Description
content: Kevin Holmes and Rik Van Grol, <I>A Compendium of Cube-Assembly Puzzles Using Polycube Shapes</I>, Suffolk, England: Trench Puzzles, 2002.
label: Description
content: Martin Gardner, <I>Knotted Doughnuts and Other Mathematical Entertainments</I>, New York: W. H. Freeman, 1986, p. 41.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: China: Hong Kong, Hong Kong
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematical Recreations
label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Education
label: Subject
content: Women's History
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Women Teaching Math
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Dr. Judy Green
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2012.0091.01
label: accession number
content: 2012.0091
label: catalog number
content: 2012.0091.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Puzzle
label: Object Name
content: puzzles, group of six
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: 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
label: Measurements
content: 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