Stomachion is certainly the oldest puzzle in my collection. It dates back to the time of Archimedes and was used to study geometrical relationships. It is a simple packing puzzle made of 14 pieces. The solution to the puzzle is anything but simple. It seems the puzzle was also used as a game in the sense of Tanagrams. That is, players would take turns making animal shapes using all 14 pieces.
I've reproduced this puzzle in laser cut masonite due to the fact that it is no longer legal to make the puzzle in the original ivory. Searching the Internet for the word 'Stomachion' yields interesting information including the following quote:
'The Stomachion of Archimedes is a very challenging puzzle. A geometric diagram is provided which enables you to construct this puzzle out of cardboard and see for yourself!
As an additional challenge, you can try to construct a Mathematica program to produce the figure. The hard part of this challenge is understanding from the diagram where the lines should go! Once you understand this, the Mathematica part is easy.
Maybe someone can make a lot of money from this by creating the puzzle out of wood and selling it!'
from the Wolfram/Mathematica website. I don't think anyone will make lots of money selling this puzzle, but, you now have the opportunity at least to buy one.
