Kadon Enterprises, Inc., Celebration of Mind 2017

Celebration of Mind 2017— at Ye Olde Gamery

Kadon's lively and spacious gallery of playable art and recreational math puzzles, Ye Olde Gamery, once again hosted one of the many official events world-wide honoring Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914-May 22, 2010) on or around his birthday. It was an unusually warm and sunny day for late October in Crownsville, Maryland.

For the final weekend of the 2017 Maryland Renaissance Festival season, we dedicated the entire two days as a Celebration of Mind for Martin Gardner and his legacy. A special banner and Martin's picture adorned the large wall. The medieval decor, chandeliers and costumes all add to the atmosphere. Here's a closer look at this year's scene. All photos by Art Blumberg.

Ye Olde Gamery's Celebration of Mind banner and Martin Gardner's portrait

Martin's writings on recreational mathematics had directly inspired Kadon's founding, work and mission. Our theme for this event was Dissection Puzzles—The Art of Combinatorics.
Hundreds of visitors came and played and heard the story of Martin and math and puzzles. Customers also received souvenir copies of the award-winning 40-page Renaissance catalog Kate had designed and written in Shakespearean verse to suit the Renaissance theme. They also received a special gift, a copiously illustrated fact sheet about dissection puzzles, highlighting the Tricolor Stomachion (Archimedes' Square) and the thoroughly researched Monograph about its 1072 solutions (that doubled the essential 536 solutions by adding 3 colors). Click on covers to view full documents.

As we like to say as often as possible, Ye Olde Gamery represents the intellectual side of the Renaissance — an oasis of thinking, logic, math, geometric tilings, the fun of discovery and solving of beautiful challenges.
All day long, large crowds of visitors engaged in eager play, instructed by the Gamery's well-costumed expert crew. We particularly enjoy watching our youngest players deep in thought.
Here are some snapshots of the action inside the Gamery, captured by Art Blumberg. (Hover over images for descriptions.)
Young squire Adam Criswell explains game strategies to avid players

Elegantly costumed couple ponder strategy playing Void.

Mistress Eileen Shaivitz and Lady Sue Bare (in red) entertain and instruct young players in the many ways the puzzles can challenge.

The long game counter offers spellbinding play as Thomas Atkinson, Kate Jones, and Seth Bonder explain how.

Our newest crew member, Alex Streif, explains Colormaze, a great family game, while other players strategize intensely with Nine Men's Morris.

Young puzzler concentrates on finding that elusive solution while Dad and brother watch.

A young couple play Squint, a famous challenge with the Quintillions blocks, our Number One product.

Adam (left) and guest concentrate on Manoover strategies.

Sir Thomas explains the finer points of Power of Two, invented by Art Blumberg. See Martin Gardner's Game of Solomon to the left.

Mistress Eileen engages a young visitor in a game of Tara, forming Celtic knot patterns to build kingdoms.

A merry crowd having serious fun, playing or just looking in amazement at the beautiful playable art. Often it's standing room only, full of good cheer.

Challenge game masters Alex Streif and Hans Weidig study deep strategies of Game of Y.

Happy birthday, Martin Gardner!

See also:

Celebration of Mind 2012: "Polyform Puzzles—Combinatorics of World and Mind"
Celebration of Mind 2013: "Polyform Puzzles—Portals to World and Mind"
Celebration of Mind 2014: "Polyform Puzzles—Gateway to the Universe"
Celebration of Mind 2015: "Polyform Puzzles—A Renaissance in Puzzle Art"
Celebration of Mind 2016: "Polyform Puzzles—A Renaissance in Puzzle Art"
Celebration of Mind 2018: "When are you?"—humorous time travel to historical games
Celebration of Mind 2019: "Birthday Cakes—Pentomino/Sudoku"
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