Kate was invited to the 28th annual International Puzzle Party of puzzle collectors and designers, held in August 2008 in Prague, the Czech Republic. This was the first IPP to be held in Central Europe and attracted a record attendance of puzzle designers and collectors from every European country, Asia and America. It was great to see far-away friends and colleagues in person again and to meet at last people known only by name.
The hard-working international committee arranged several entertaining outings and walking tours for attendees, both before and after the Puzzle Party itself. Here's a page of Kate's and Dick's stories and photos of A Prague Summer.
The Party included one day for exchanges and one day for buy and sell. Here's Kate at a little table with her Prague Czecherboard puzzles, exchanging with Václav Obivac and his wife, Dagmar, who are in traditional Czech garb. Theirs was an unusual interlocking burr puzzle. Note the roomful of hubbub behind them. The great fun of the exchange is getting a personal explanation from each designer of their unique new puzzle. A checklist helps keep track of all 100 encounters. Of course, the solutions are not revealed until the following year.
Dagmar and Václav Obivac explaining their burr puzzle. Photo by Dick Jones, 2008.
Kate's display (below) during the buy-and-sell day of the Puzzle Party included some new puzzles (Intarsia had its first showing here, center table) and some of our hardest, as these expert solvers deserve. The display space was so tiny that Kate improvised shelves with fabric-covered cartons and ended up spreading a panorama on the floor. A couple of easels had to be borrowed from the hotel room. Only two visitors tripped on the corner box!
Morning—floor-level panorama solves space shortage. Photo by Dick Jones, 2008.
Afternoon—Kate with slightly reorganized display. Photo by Dick Jones, 2008.
The puzzle aficionados spent a lively day of animated conversations and explorations into the ingenious constructions filling the room. Once a year these folks gather for a weekend of unrestrained playfulness and curiosity. In real life they're mathematicians, engineers, professors, computer wizards, artists, rocket scientists. This is geek chic!
A visitor checks out the Leaves puzzle. Photo by Dick Jones, 2008.
See lots of pictures here from our Prague Summer.
