Mechanical Puzzles Day

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH

PREREGISTRATION IS NOW FULL -- WE WILL DO REGISTRATION ON-SITE AS ROOM PERMITS

Mechanical Puzzles Day will take place on Tuesday, February 19 at Dartmouth College, following an historic Minisymposium on Design of Mechanical Puzzles at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for the Advancement of Science in Boston (see link below).
Here is a poster for the Dartmouth conference.

Speakers will include:

Stewart Coffin, inventor and designer of polyhedral puzzles
Bill Cutler, writer of software for analysis and solution of puzzles
Oskar van Deventer, inventor and designer of combinatorial puzzles
Jerry Slocum, puzzle collector, writer and connoisseur
George Hart, sculptor, geometer and puzzle designer
Tom Lensch, puzzle maker extraordinaire

Quick Links:

Please preregister: Email puzzles@math.dartmouth.edu
Program
Driving Directions to Dartmouth
Campus Maps
Accommodations
Restaurants
The Minisymposium in Boston

General Information:

The meeting will begin at 1:30 pm with a series of talks, to be followed by a reception and puzzle party.

The talks will take place in Kemeny Hall Room 008, beginning at 1:30 pm. The reception and party (limited to registered participants) will begin at 7:00 pm in Kemeny 300. There will be lots of puzzles at the party and on exhibit.

There is no registration fee for this conference, but preregistering is strongly encouraged so that we may estimate attendance. To preregister, send email to the organizers (). Dartmouth students are warmly invited to attend---and to preregister as well!

Directions, Parking, Accommodations, and Restaurants:

Here you can find Driving Directions to Dartmouth, and Campus Maps where you can find Kemeny Hall.

The closest parking lot to Kemeny Hall is on Maynard Street, across from the Moore building (see the map).

Here are some suggested accommodations; the first is on campus, the others about two miles away.

· Hanover Inn. Special rate: $197/night. Phone # 603-643-4300.
Some rooms have been reserved for the conference. Mention “Mechanical Puzzles Day at Dartmouth” when you make the reservation.

· Residence Inn Hanover Lebanon. Rate: $189/night. Phone # 802-649-1143.

· Norwich Inn. Rate: $109 to $209/night. Phone # 802-649-1143.

· Sunset Motor Inn. Rate: $55 to $99/night. Phone # 603-298-8721.

Here is a link to a list of some recommended downtown restaurants.

About the "Design of Mathematical Puzzles" Minisymposium in Boston:

The AAAS Annual Meeting will be a gigantic affair, occupying a conference center and several hotels in downtown Boston from February 14-18, 2008. Among the many activities will be a minisymposium devoted to the design of mechanical puzzles. This will expose many members of the public (and lots of science reporters) to the art of puzzle design, for the first time.

The minisymposium itself will run from 3:30 to 5:00 pm on Saturday, February 16, and will feature talks by Stewart Coffin, Bill Cutler, and Oskar van Deventer.

The AAAS does charge a hefty registration fee (even for one day's attendence), but for this attendees will gain access to a huge panorama of science minisymposia and displays of all kinds. Information on the Boston meeting, including registration, hotels etc., can be found here.

Organizers of Mechanical Puzzles Day at Dartmouth:

Sergi Elizalde, Giulio Genovese, and Peter Winkler.

The organizers are greatly indebted to Dartmouth's Albert Bradley Third Century Professorship in the Sciences and to the Mathematics Department at Dartmouth for their financial and personnel support.