LA HIPERCARTA IMPOSIBLE

por Stephany Cayo

sta es una presentacin novedosa del viejo juego de la

Hipercarta Imposible. Los orgenes de esta carta estn el

artculo de Martin Gardner Juegos con la cuarta dimensin,
publicado en Investigacin y Ciencia en junio de 1986, All
Gardner propone la versin ms 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 latn 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
dimensin entonces se cubre la puerta con una saco de culo
(cul de sac en el original) y se dan los chasquidos mgicos, al
levantar el saco aparece la escultura como se muestra.
Escultura que solo puede ser realizada si se accede a al cuarta
dimensin.

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 impossiblelooking 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.