12-Part Puzzle

George W. Hart


Other Puzzles



This puzzle is composed of twelve identical components, which assemble and interlock. It is harder than it looks. Each part is a kind of a starfish shape. The above version is made of laser-cut transparent acrylic, which is very attractive, but brittle. So I don't disassemble it.



Above is a version made of laser-cut plywood, which is robust enough to disassemble and reassemble repeatedly.




Above is a version made of yellow acrylic plastic.  Again, it is pretty, but I don't want to take it apart.




And above is a version made of  vikureen plastic, which is less brittle, so safe to repeatedly assemble and disassemble.




I first prototyped this sculpture in foamcore as a workshop at Mathcamp.

Thank you George Miller, who did the laser cutting of the two yellow versions.
Thank you to Chris Palmer who cut parts for the red acrylic and the wood version.