LA HIPERCARTA IMPOSIBLEpor Stephany Cayo

Esta es una presentación novedosa del viejo juego de la

Hipercarta Imposible. Los orígenes de esta carta están el artículo de Martin Gardner Juegos con la cuarta dimensión, publicado en Investigación y Ciencia en junio de 1986, Allí Gardner propone la versión más simple del juego que consiste en sacar del bolsillo una tarjeta de visita y luego de colocar la tarjeta a la espalda junto con unas tijeras lograr el modelo que era imposible de realizar por el espectador.

En este caso he realizado mi hipercarta con latón de 3mm y luego lo he pintado al duco, he usado dos colores remarcando el anverso y el reverso. El juego empieza mostrando una escultura de una puerta y se dice es la puerta a la cuarta dimensión entonces se cubre la puerta con una saco de culo (“cul de sac” en el original) y se dan los chasquidos mágicos, al levantar el saco aparece la escultura como se muestra. Escultura que solo puede ser realizada si se accede a al cuarta dimensión.

TRAPDOR CARD

Puzzle-enthusiasts and magicians have played with intriguing or counter-intuitive folds for many years. According to the best information I have, the story begins with an article by Martin Gardner in his 'Mathematical Games' column in Scientific American. Gustavus J. Simmons, an engineer at Rolamite Inc., Albuquerque, sent Gardner a curious topological problem faced and solved by his engineering group. I do not have a date for this column. Bob Neale, a magician and topologist, was the first to take the principle involved and play with it.

In 1983, Karl Fulves published 'Robert Neale's Trapdoor Card'. This manuscript contained the index card with a door model, 'Streamlined Trapdoor', and the "Trapdoor" model of an impossible-looking playing card. Bob Neale now calls the latter item 'Framed', as a small frame frames the large frame. You can see a simple Trapdoor Card here.

British ventriloquist and magician Terri Rogers used the same 'Trapdoor' principle for her effect 'StarGate', which featured in her book 'Top Secrets' published by Martin Breese. Martin Gardner also used the principle in his effect 'Parallax'.

Meanwhile the 'Hypercard' has featured in the writings of Martin Gardner, among others, and is very familiar to puzzlers all over the world.

In the early 1990s Finnish puzzle enthusiast Matti Linkola showed the 'Trapdoor' card to British puzzle expert Tim Rowett. Rowett, in turn, showed it to Angus Lavery, another very creative puzzle enthusiast. Rowett also showed Angus a different but related construction called the 'Hypercard' by Harry Eng (quite different from the 'hypercard' referred to above). Angus was thus inspired to explore the theme of "impossible" playing cards made by slitting and folding. He devised several variations, although many relied on well-concealed joins. It was Angus who introduced me to this subject.

I have tried to build on the work of all these pioneers in several significant ways.

First of all, I have refined the process of making the cards so that I can achieve richer detail, greater accuracy or greater consistency than was previously possible.

Secondly, I have tried to create new designs which are are more complex than anything that has gone before, or which embrace more advanced ideas. I often use my favourite computer graphics software (the mighty Corel Draw) to help me plan and prepare new ReFlexions. The software allows me to experiment with angles, rotations, reflections, symmetry and precise curves, so I can plan how the new ReFlexion will (or should) work. I find this process is one third purposeful endeavour, one third making room for happy accidents to occur, and one third utterly fruitless. I don't use the computer all the time. Sometimes I spend far too many hours just 'doodling' with pieces of paper!

Thirdly, I make a clear distinction between cards which just involve slit-and-fold (Card ReFlexions) and those which involve... a little more work (FLinks). The FLink process for creating impossible links is original with me, and the result of many hours experimentation.

Why do these things fascinate me? Hard to say. I love the challenge of exploring this strange world of 'impossible' folds, and doing so on such a small and constrained canvas. I am fascinated by the way there is always one more fresh possibility to explore, one more variation on every theme. Another motivation is that now and again, perhaps after many hours work and in the early hours of the morning, I hatch a new design which (as far as I know) I'm the first person in the world to see. This is very satisfying!

(Thanks to Bob Neale and Tim Rowett for assistance with this page. If you have any further information to add, please let me know. It would be nice to give the right credit to all the right people).

TRAPDOOR CARD

By Robert Neale

Here is an example of a "Trapdoor card". It is also known as the "Spade card", and many other names besides. Like the Hypercard, it is made from a single card (in this case a playing card) which has been slit and folded - no joins, no glue or adhesive of any kind.

There is a limit to how much a photograph can convey about this bizarre creation. Essentially, it is clear that a square (with its centre missing) has been cut out of the upper half of the card, and folded downwards. However, the stem or strut which connects this square to the rest of the card is

on the "wrong" side. Any attempt to simply unfold the square back to its original position will fail for this very reason. Which leaves the question, how was it made? (Thanks to Tim Rowett for this particular example.)

Here are two different views of what is known as a "hypercard". It was made from one single piece of card, without glue or adhesive of any kind. The problem is to figure out how it was made. Some people grasp the idea fairly quickly, while others wrestle with it for weeks! For a variation along the same lines, see here.