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While researching the SOMA Cube a few years ago, I ran across this Gambler’s Die Puzzle that can be made from nine rectangular blocks of wood. These nine blocks can be arranged to make a regular gambler’s die (singular of dice).
The dots must appear in the correct pattern on each face. To be a correct solution, opposite faces must also add up to seven.
I didn’t have nine rectangular blocks, so I decided to use 27 one inch wooden cubes. I had some of these leftover from crafting my SOMA Cube, 3 Immovable Pentablocks Puzzle, DIY Instant Insanity Puzzle, and Genius Blocks.
This puzzle can be found in a collection of Enrichment Student Projects from 1968. They were published by CILAMP – Central Iowa Low Achiever Mathematics Project.
I just used the abbreviation CILAMP when citing the source on the instructions since I don’t think anyone would use a name like this for any teaching project anymore.
To start building my gambler’s die puzzle, I arranged my 27 wooden cubes into a 3 x 3 cube. The original instructions suggested using notebook ring reinforcements to create the dots on the die. I chose to use dot stickers instead.
I used an actual die to keep myself from making any mistakes while creating my jumbo die puzzle.
I did have to get a bit of help from my husband to add the stickers to the bottom of the die.
Next, I used Mod Podge to seal down the dot stickers and water-proof my puzzle.
After the Mod Podge dried, I reassembled the cube and used wood glue to glue the pieces together into strips of three.
In retrospect, I probably should have done this FIRST before I put the stickers on!
While I waited for everything to dry, I typed up a set of instructions to put out in my classroom with the Gambler’s Die Puzzle.
Here’s my finished product:
It was a relief when I was able to rebuild the puzzle and verify that it worked!
Free Download of Gambler’s Die Puzzle
Gambler’s Die (PDF) (552 downloads)
Gambler’s Die (Editable Publisher File ZIP) (223 downloads)
Puzzle Solutions
I intentionally do not share solutions to the puzzles I feature on my website because I strive to provide learning experiences for my students that are not google-able. I would like other teachers to be able to use these puzzles in their classrooms as well without the solutions being easily found on the Internet.
However, I do recognize that us teachers are busy people and sometimes need to quickly reference an answer key to see if a student has solved a puzzle correctly or to see if they have interpreted the instructions properly.
If you are a teacher who is using these puzzles in your classroom, please send me an email at sarah@mathequalslove.net with information about what you teach and where you teach. I will be happy to forward an answer key to you.
