SOMA Crystal
SOMA News 18 Jan 1999 - 31 Aug 2017
E-Mail.


The 4 Issues of SOMA Addict

The SOMA Addict Magazine

In 1969 the small booklet that followed each SOMA from Parker Brothers carried a message on page 54.
Any questions? We will be glad to answer inquiries concerning these rules, if we can.
If you would like to contribute puzzles or proofs including impossibility proofs to a periodical for addicts
of this game, just write to:

Then in 1970 Parker Brothers Inc. Salem. Mass. started issuing the magazine, dedicated to the SOMA puzzle.

And in the 1970 booklet this text on page 54 changed to:
ADDICTED? Write for your Free copy of THE SOMA ADDICT; a periodical for Soma lovers
which publishes new problems and proofs and answers questions about the Soma puzzle.
Material for the Soma Addict comes from Piet Hein and Soma-ites everywhere, so be sure
to send us anything which you feel might be interesting and you may see your question or idea in print.
Write to:
In total they published 4 issues. The SOMA Booklets can be seen in detail here.

NOW - The Original SOMA Addict Magazine

Now 2017.08.29 I received a letter from Clyde Ankenbauer The letter contained 4 Original issues of the SOMA Addict.

I hurried to try scanning them on my home scanner, it looked super fine.
Although my scanner is for the European A4 (21,0 x 29.7 cm) [8,6" x 12,1"] whereas the Addicts were (28,7 x 44,4 cm) [11,7" x 18,1"]
Fortunately at my work (Aarhus TECH) I had ready access to an A3 scanner. (29,7 x 42,0 cm) [12,1" x 17,1"]
So - the Addict was 2,4 cm longer than my scanner. I had to scan each page twice, and then use my image program to combine the two scans.
The result is that we now have a very pretty scan in high resolution of the Original SOMA Addict.

Ps.The European 'A' system is that each step of paper is √2 smaller than the previous.
      So the long side of A3 = 2 x the short side of A4, Long A4 = 2 x Short A5, and so on.
You will notice that I have chosen to keep the scan in the original tinted version of the paper.
I did try changing the view to nice white background to see how it looked, but these documents
are 48 years old, so I feel that the best scans are those showing the documents as they are.
When you open the PDF's then try zooming in all the way, to see all details of the scans.

All Addict
All 4 Addict issues

  All 4 issues of the SOMA Addict are now scanned in high resolution from the original letters.
  The issues are:
      1970. Vol 1. No 1.
      1970. Vol 1. No 2.
      1971. Vol 2. No 1.
      1972. Vol 2. No 2.



  The scanned version is available in two sizes of PDF files.

  A Full scan version 3384 x 5244 pixels (25 MByte).

  A Smaller version 1692 x 2622 pixels (19 MByte). My preferred version.

  The 'Old' 2016 version the 4 SOMA Addict's (12 MByte).



Did you know. The SOMA Addict scans have changed over time.?


All Addict
All 4 OLD Addict issues
  In 1999 the scans were   600x  898 pixels, and difficult to read.   1999-2003.
     Note that most browsers allow you to zoom in on an image

In 2003 the scans were 1637x2323 pixels, more readable but a poorer copy.   2003-2016. The right edge is missing

In 2016 the scans were 2135x3260 pixels, the best scans ever.     Although still from a photocopy.   2016-2017. With the shadow of "Addict".

In the 2016 scans, I observed what appear to be a shadow in the SOMA Addict header,
I have seen it many times before, but now I realized that it must be the remains of a faint writing.

Barely visible

A shadow

Visible
So instead of a header "SOMA", the header is "SOMAAddict".
Normally I feel that a copy should be unaltered, as it comes with the stains and marks of time.
However this time I felt that it gives a positive edge to the magazine scans.
So ... I took the liberty to insert the "Addict". BUT ... Only on the FIRST page.
The remaining 3 volume frontpages are still unaltered, but check the Vol 2. No 1. to see the shadow text for yourself.

Now the 2017 scans are available, This time I had access to the Original papers, So I could produce a high resolution color scan with all details visible
Here   2017. we see the 50% reduced version. (This saves space - but the full size PDF is awailable at the top of this Newsletter.




Written by Thorleif Bundgaard <thorleif@fam-bundgaard.dk>
Newest scans were done from the Addict Originals borrowed from Clyde Ankenbauer <clydeank@fuse.net>

BACK to news index