Looking for other info on 'puzzle' effect

[David Mitchell]

https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/close-up-magic/magic-blocks-deluxe/

I know I've seen other variations on this type of effect but I'm at a loss as to figure out what search terms I should be using to find this information. Does anyone out there have any information on this type of effect, it's history and where it might have been published. Heck, a name would be awesome at this point so I can search as well.

Thanks in advance.

[katterfelt0]

https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/close-up-magic/magic-blocks-deluxe/

I know I've seen other variations on this type of effect but I'm at a loss as to figure out what search terms I should be using to find this information. Does anyone out there have any information on this type of effect, it's history and where it might have been published. Heck, a name would be awesome at this point so I can search as well.
Thanks in advance.

Look for Winston Freer's "Perpetual Puzzle". Information on it can be found in the Nov 2016 Genii, pg 58.
There was a similar effect published in Genii using a playing card. It's "Warp 9" by Masao Atsukawa. It's in the May 2000 issue.
There's also a thing called "The Infinite Chocolate Bar". A video of that can be found here.

[Dave Le Fevre]

I'm at a loss as to figure out what search terms I should be using to find this information

I believe that they're often called vanishing-area puzzles

[Dave Le Fevre]

There was a similar effect published in Genii using a playing card. It's "Warp 9" by Masao Atsukawa. It's in the May 2000 issue

It's also in Richard Kaufman's Japan Ingenious. I painstakingly coloured it, printed it, manufactured it. I should perform it more often.

[David Mitchell]

Look for Winston Freer's "Perpetual Puzzle". Information on it can be found in the Nov 2016 Genii, pg 58.
There was a similar effect published in Genii using a playing card. It's "Warp 9" by Masao Atsukawa. It's in the May 2000 issue.
There's also a thing called "The Infinite Chocolate Bar". A video of that can be found here.

I'll start there, thank you.

[katterfelt0]

I'm at a loss as to figure out what search terms I should be using to find this information

I believe that they're often called vanishing-area puzzles

Yes sir. There's some fun information on the geometry of those here.

[Richard Kaufman]

It's called the Principle of Concealed Distribution and goes back, I think, to the 1700s. Tenyo recently put out a new version that has a clever addition.

[El Mystico]

In Gardner's Mathematics Magic and Mystery there is a chapter - The Checkerboard Paradox - on this effect.
See https://www.conjuringarchive.com/list/category/2120
There was a particularly fine version in Magic Magazine... but can't easily find a reference. It is worth searching for.

[Ian Kendall]

I would suggest that Warp 9, while a fun thing to do, does not fall into the same world as the vanishing space puzzles.

There's also a version in Pallbearer's, but the exact reference escapes me at the mo.

[Chris Aguilar]

If one wants a true "Freer" experience, TCC sells a very nice wooden version. My preference is an inexpensive "Puzzling Chocolate" bar version which can be purchased from SEO Magic for around $25.

In full "Freer" fashion, both versions allow you to either magically add or remove 3 pieces.

Ian is correct that "Warp 9", while awesome, is not the same effect at all (i.e. there is no adding or removing of pieces, while conserving the total area of the puzzle.)

[Philippe Billot]

It's called the Principle of Concealed Distribution and goes back, I think, to the 1700s. Tenyo recently put out a new version that has a clever addition.

The first example seems to be in Il Primo Libro di Architettura by Sebastanio Serlio published in 1551.

It's a rectangle of 30 squares which become 31

[Dave Le Fevre]

Warp 9, while a fun thing to do, does not fall into the same world as the vanishing space puzzles

That was my thought too. But I didn't want to start that discussion.

[EdwinCorrie]

Hi Dave, fancy seeing you here!

Mariano Tomatis has some material on these that includes details of some of the references already given:

https://www.marianotomatis.it/blog.php?post=blog/20110715&section=english
https://www.marianotomatis.it/blog.php?post=blog/20110707&section=english

I believe the Winston Freer puzzle first appeared in Sam Dalal's "Mantra" magazine (July 1976). And a good book on this and other folding puzzles (maybe you have it already) is https://www.amazon.co.uk/Impossible-Folding-Mathematical-Paradoxes-Recreational/dp/0486493512.

I can send you a couple of other things too.

[Ian Kendall]

I found the Pallbearer's entry; it's called Triangulation by L Vosburgh Lyons (who surely wins some kind of prize for Best Name).

[El Mystico]

Useful thread here viewtopic.php?t=33737

[AJM]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_square_puzzle