Help me find again this long lost Socratic Solid toy / puzzle
October 25, 2020 1:00 PM Subscribe
Hi fellow mefiters,
When I was a teenager (30 something years ago), I received a very curious and strange, yet intriguing gift. It was a Socratic solid 3D puzzle made of plastic sticks with strings attached to them, forming a dodecahedron with a plastic brown translucent sphere inside. I have been trying to find this for more than 20 years without success. More after the jump...
There were two possibilities to play with it: one was to extract the sphere without disassembling the dodecahedron at all (which was possible just sliding the tips of the sticks along the strings to create enough space to get the sphere out) and the other, far more challenging, was to disassemble the figure and re-assemble it again. It was packed in a white box (the toy / puzzle came assembled). I remember spending more than two days the first time we tried this with a cousing until we succeeded. When assembled, it was a wonderful decoration to put on a table or something similar.
The sticks came, in addition to the strings, with and indentation at both ends, to be able to insert the strings in them and maintain the figure assembled. They were brown, resembling wood, but as I mentioned, they were made of plastic.
Somehow I misplaced it when I moved out of my parents' house and the puzzle was discarded or given away, I'm not sure. The thing is I would like to have it again but as I said, I've had no luck trying to find it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
There were two possibilities to play with it: one was to extract the sphere without disassembling the dodecahedron at all (which was possible just sliding the tips of the sticks along the strings to create enough space to get the sphere out) and the other, far more challenging, was to disassemble the figure and re-assemble it again. It was packed in a white box (the toy / puzzle came assembled). I remember spending more than two days the first time we tried this with a cousing until we succeeded. When assembled, it was a wonderful decoration to put on a table or something similar.
The sticks came, in addition to the strings, with and indentation at both ends, to be able to insert the strings in them and maintain the figure assembled. They were brown, resembling wood, but as I mentioned, they were made of plastic.
Somehow I misplaced it when I moved out of my parents' house and the puzzle was discarded or given away, I'm not sure. The thing is I would like to have it again but as I said, I've had no luck trying to find it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I believe the principle holding your toy together is Tensegrity -- maybe that will help with your searching.
posted by Rash at 1:18 PM on October 25, 2020
posted by Rash at 1:18 PM on October 25, 2020
It's not clear from your question if "Socratic Solid 3d" is a brand name or something? Or if this is just some words you are using to describe what the object looks like?
If not, you might be thinking of the Archimedean solids -- but a dodecahedron is not an Archimedean solid, it is a Platonic solid.
There are some instructions out there on how to make tensegrity dodecahedrons, you will find many more with google. You could add a sphere to the model.
If the shape was something other than a dodecahedron and you are not recognizing it online, I recommend the book Polyhedron Models, it is aimed at constructing paper models but does have images of 119 different models plus a great deal of discussion on polyhedra.
posted by yohko at 1:23 PM on October 25, 2020
If not, you might be thinking of the Archimedean solids -- but a dodecahedron is not an Archimedean solid, it is a Platonic solid.
There are some instructions out there on how to make tensegrity dodecahedrons, you will find many more with google. You could add a sphere to the model.
If the shape was something other than a dodecahedron and you are not recognizing it online, I recommend the book Polyhedron Models, it is aimed at constructing paper models but does have images of 119 different models plus a great deal of discussion on polyhedra.
posted by yohko at 1:23 PM on October 25, 2020
Best answer: Rob's Puzzle Page - Interlocking Puzzles then Ctrl-F for "Plato's Secret." Looks like several different variations have been released by different companies but at least one appears to match your description.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:18 PM on October 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:18 PM on October 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks a lot! I finally found it (It has been produced under different names: Plato's Secret, Plato's Plight, Philosopher's Knot, Cobweb, Knit Wit or Merlin's Stone) with the help of @moonmilk and @DevilsAdvocate. So far, it has been very difficult to track it down to purchase (there's a variation available on eBay, but it is kind of expensive). It seems it is a toy patented in 1971. Appreciate your interest and effort!
posted by Matrod at 11:17 AM on October 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Matrod at 11:17 AM on October 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
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posted by moonmilk at 1:12 PM on October 25, 2020 [5 favorites]