SOMA Crystal
SOMA News rev.10 Apr 2010
rev.29 Jul 2009
26 Oct 1999
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The MANY faces of SOMA

2010-04-10

This puzzle seem to keep amazing me. Now again - almost 1 year since my last update to this newsletter.
Patrick Parrish ( Newsletter 2010.04.02 ) wrote to me, that he had found one more SOMA.

At first I thought - "Havent I already seen them all.? Wood, marble, knitted. ... etc."
Well as soon as I saw Patrick's new acquisition, I must admit that My eyes grew large.



I had always thought that SOMA was sold exclusively as a puzzle of 7 pieces, and that fancyfull puzzlers bought two sets (or 4 sets) to puzzle larger figures.
But here it was - A Box containing a Dual set of soma pieces. 14 parts !.
Take a look at this box. In contrast to the traditional boxes, this one comes in a dis-assembled order, and all the 14 pieces are systematically scatteret throughout the box floor.
Each seated in a precut hole in the inside cardboard.


Strangely though, the illustration sheet shows only single set (7 pieces) puzzles.
Maybe the designer had never puzzled a doubleset figure and simply reused the folder from a standard SOMA.
By the way - here is the whole papersheet.


2009-07-29

Some 10 years have passed, since this newsletter was written, but now is the time for an update.
From Pat Ashforth I have received a link to this beautifully knitted version of SOMA.
http://woollythoughts.com/mental/puzzles.html
This shows how pretty it can be done, in yet one more material. The shown version is filled with small polystyrene beads which makes it very nice to handle, but it also means that the corners are not perfectly square. It is a very tactile puzzle. So if you (or your girlfriend/wife) like knitting, this is certainly a possibility. - The knitting instructions can be purchased through Pat's web page.
Thank you to Pat, for this nice link.

Knitted version of SOMA.

1999-10-26

The original SOMA is a Rosewood type. But for many people, SOMA is a synonym for the old Parker Brothers version, made in solid plastic, Blue, Red or Gold.
SOMA however exist in MANY different versions, some are homemade and some come from factories. Most versions include a booklet with pictures of various objects for the user to duplicate.
In this Newsletter I present just a small number of the various types.
Thank you to all those who supplied fotos, and a special thanks to Lluis who gave me the dice versions as a present

Here is my own Rosewood SOMA.

This is the red plastic version produced by Parker Brothers, This particular one (Where each cube is 3cm.) belong to the "University of Waterloo's Museum of Games".


From Lluis Pazos, I have received these pretty SOMA's made of dices.
Lluis also made this miniature dice-SOMA.
( Note the centimeter ruler [1cm=0.39"] )


Also paper can be the basis for making your own SOMA pieces. This ORIGAMI-SOMA is the property of Krystyna and Wojciech Burczyk.
SOMA can be made from many materials. This version is made from foam cubes, cut from a foam sheet with 2 centimeter thickness. This foam was covered with adhesive on one side, which made assembly easier.

The compagny "Binary Arts" produce this SOMA which is sold under the name "Block by Block". This is Another release of "Block by Block" in a new package

This is Jay Jenicek's homemade SOMA.


A beautiful example of a two colored SOMA set.
Available at $13.00 from:
http://www.dstoys.com/SA.html
Jürg von Känel's Wooden SOMA.

Soma in the shape of animals
This particular figured SOMA belong to John Rausch.
The puzzle was made by Trevor Wood in 1989. and the figures show; (Swan, Bird, Cat, Octopus, Seal, Squirrel and Goffer)


- submitted by Thorleif Bundgård.

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