Martin Gardner was fascinated by tessellations, as am I. This year I have decided to share a 3D printed model of a fun math tile that we have been using in our Math Carnivals in the Republic of Panama, organized by the Panamanian Foundation for the…
This is a physical item, but the item is a piece of paper. My Celtic knot generator will create 200 unique randomly generated knots, that all spell out Martin Gardner's name. I will provide a printout of the rendered knot and the instructions on how…
Martin Gardner wrote changed the lives of thousands of people with his writings. But even he felt powerless to bring joyful mathematics into classrooms. In this article, I discuss the barriers to the widespread adoption of recreational mathematics…
This map was designed by a ten-year-old Math Circle participant, Aurie Smith, in a course that studied the Four-Color Theorem, Martin Gardner, and the McGregor Map. Smith challenges people to completely color the map in four colors, to determine…
Martin Gardner's November 1971 "Mathematical Games" column in Scientific American was titled "Advertising Premiums to Beguile the Mind." My gift is a reproduction of a Scotch Whiskey advertising card that Martin referenced as follows: "From…
My exchange gift will provide information on the 30 Color Cubes Problem. I expect to include materials relevant to making a set of these cubes, e.g., folding paper cubes, color stickers, labels, etc.
Moscow Puzzle 196 requires that the puzzler build a gadget and then use the gadget to solve the puzzle. We are providing the gadget parts for you to build.
Solomon's Trinity is a game and puzzle played on a modified Star of David gameboard, including activities to be played with 15 game pieces. Recipients can add a nickel, dime, quarter, and 15 or more pennies as game pieces. Formal game pieces can be…
When you spin a penny on a smooth tabletop and let it fall heads or tails, is there a bias toward one side? Or is it a 50/50 expectation? Martin Gardner claimed over the years that there is a heads bias, or a tails bias, but didn't explain why he…
This set of 36 cards is for word-based games (e.g., Just One, 25 Words or Less, Password, Poetry for Neanderthals). The words on the cards come from the titles of Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games column in Scientific American and his Wikipedia…
My contribution to the gift exchange is a 5 X 7 inch, four-color, tri-fold glossy card with photographed imagery of my 11 X 12 X 9 inch multifaceted-portrait-sculpture of Martin Gardner. My painted, kiln-fired, stained glass and…