Martin Gardner is probably best known for the Mathematical Games column he wrote for Scientific American from 1956 to 1981 and for his books on recreational math. His influence on several generations of mathematicians and computer science researchers is hard to overstate and in 1993 his fans started a bi-annual Gathering 4 Gardner conference in his honor. The 14th gathering, G4G14, is currently under way here in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s a multi-day event filled with mostly six-minute presentations on topics that, broadly speaking, align with Martin Gardner’s interests: recreational math, close magic, and Lewis Carroll.
In addition to the presentations, G4G also features a gift exchange. I couldn’t resist the temptation and decided to participate using a puzzle design of Bruce Patterson’s who has kindly given me permission. It is the vertex version of his tetrahedral shell-puzzle to which I made some small modifications, including the addition of an internal chamber for holding a (fake) pearl. I’m calling it “Pearl Vault”. I want to be careful not to give any spoilers so if you want to learn more about its design (and thereby its solution), you can read the puzzle description I submitted for the gift exchange. It’s a little over 2″ on each edge and looks like this:
It was a fun little project and if I end up with some extras I will put them up for sale on my Etsy store (and I will update this page with a link).
April 20th, 2022 UPDATE: I have some extras which Bruce Patterson has given me permission to sell. (Thanks, Bruce!) Here‘s the link.
I don’t have the skills to free the pearl! It’s making me crazy! Do you have a solution?
I’ll email you directly – I don’t want to post a solution here and accidentally spoil it for others who read this.