Math Monday: 12-Card Star Puzzle

Craft & Design Paper Crafts Science
Math Monday: 12-Card Star Puzzle

By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics

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Here is a challenging star construction you can make from twelve playing cards. The underlying geometric form is the third stellation of the rhombic dodecahedron. However, there is a twist in this design that makes it somewhat tricky (but fun) to assemble.

star

To make your own copy, cut four slits in each of twelve cards, as indicated by solid lines in the template below.

template

Fold each on the diagonal shown as a dotted line. Try assembling them by connecting long slits to short slits, guided by the image above.

star

No tape or glue is needed; it all locks together when the final piece is inserted. If you give up, you can find detailed instructions here.

8 thoughts on “Math Monday: 12-Card Star Puzzle

  1. nualan says:

    great!

  2. Goli Mohammadi says:

    So cool and simple! Totally gonna try this one. Thanks George!

  3. Brian Givens says:

    Made it! This was a timely post for my star-a-day project:
    http://bgivens.tumblr.com/post/20446754702/89-playing-cards-it-took-a-while-to-wrap-my

  4. lmm says:

    I not only made this one, but I made one using 30 pieces cut using the template for this one. The cards were a little heavy and I had to cheat to keep the weight of the star from pulling pieces apart as I got near the end. This is one of the few stars that I needed glue for.

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Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. His free weekly-ish maker tips newsletter can be found at garstipsandtools.com.

View more articles by Gareth Branwyn

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