Jerry Slocum is an American historian, collector and author specializing on the field of

mechanical puzzle A mechanical puzzle is a puzzle presented as a set of mechanically interlinked pieces in which the solution is to manipulate the whole object or parts of it. While puzzles of this type have been in use by humanity as early as the 3rd century BC ...

s. He worked as an engineer at Hughes Aircraft prior to retiring and dedicating his life to

puzzle A puzzle is a game, Problem solving, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together (Disentanglement puzzle, or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at th ...

s. His personal puzzle collection, numbering over 40,000 mechanical puzzles and 4,500 books, is believed to be the world's largest. In 2006, the Association of Game & Puzzle Collectors awarded Slocum with the

Sam Loyd Award Samuel Loyd (January 30, 1841 – April 10, 1911), was an American chess player, chess composer, puzzle author, and recreational mathematics, recreational mathematician. Loyd was born in Philadelphia but raised in New York City. As a chess com ...

. In 2006, Slocum donated over 30,000 puzzles to the

Lilly Library The Lilly Library, located on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, is an important rare book and manuscript library in the United States. At its dedication on October 3, 1960, the library contained a collection of 20,000 boo ...

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

: marking the first time a major collection of puzzles was made available in an academic setting. Slocum's first book, ''Puzzles Old and New'', published in 1986, was the first comprehensive book to include all types of mechanical puzzles with hundreds of color illustrations of antique puzzles. In the introduction

Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lewis ...

predicted that the book would "remain a classic for decades." Slocum has appeared on ''

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' was an American late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson on NBC, the third iteration of the ''Tonight Show'' franchise. The show debuted on October 1, 1962, and aired its final episode on May 22, ...

'', ''

Martha Stewart Living ''Martha Stewart Living'' is a magazine and former television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of ...

'', and eight other nationwide TV shows.

Slocum Puzzle Foundation

In 1993, Slocum founded the Slocum Puzzle Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public on puzzles through puzzle collecting, exhibitions, publications, and communications.

International Puzzle Party

Slocum also founded the International Puzzle Party in 1978. The first eight International Puzzle Parties (an event dedicated to discussing, showing, and trading mechanical puzzles) were held in Slocum's

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...

living room and evolved into an annual by-invitation-only event rotating between North America, Europe, and Asia.

Works

Slocum has authored or co-authored more than a dozen books on the topic of puzzles. * ''Puzzles Old and New'', with Jack Botermans (1986) * ''The Puzzle Arcade'' (1996) * ''The Tangram Book'', with Dieter Gebhardt, Jack Botermans, Monica Ma, Xiaohe Ma 2003 Sterling Publishing Company (Comprehensive, illustrated history, 1,756 problem figures) beautiful photos of historic Tangrams from Asia, Europe and America * ''The 15 Puzzle'', with Dic Sonneveld, 2006 Slocum Puzzle Foundation. * ''The Cube: The Ultimate Guide to the World's Bestselling Puzzle'', with

David Singmaster David Breyer Singmaster (born 1938) is an emeritus professor of mathematics at London South Bank University, England. A self-described metagrobologist, he has a huge personal collection of mechanical puzzles and books of brain teasers. He is mo ...

Wei-Hwa Huang Wei-Hwa Huang (born 1975 in Eugene, Oregon) is an American puzzler, member of the US Team for the World Puzzle Championship, and game designer. Huang was a member of the United States International Math Olympiad team in 1992 and 1993, where he was ...

, Dieter Gebhardt, Geert Hellings, and an introduction by

Ernő Rubik Ernő Rubik (; born 13 July 1944) commonly known by his nickname, "Little Man", is a Hungarian inventor, architect and professor of architecture. He is best known for the invention of mechanical puzzles including the Rubik's Cube (1974), Rubi ...

, 2006 , Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc. Covers the history of the

Rubik's Cube The Rubik's Cube is a Three-dimensional space, 3-D combination puzzle originally invented in 1974 by Hungarians, Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. Originally called the Magic Cube, the puzzle was licensed by Rubik t ...

, with solutions to the 2x2 and 3x3 puzzles.

References

Sources

Appearance on Martha Stewart Living

External links