Growing up on the remote island of Kastellorizo in the 1970s, Pantazis Houlis attended a small school struggling with shortages of teachers and basic educational resources.
Decades later, those childhood experiences would inspire him to create a festival that brings mathematics and science to children across Greece, using puzzles and games to make learning more engaging.
Houlis, a mathematician, puzzle enthusiast and founder of Meduseum, the Megisti Puzzle Museum, has organized the Kastellorizo Puzzle Festival – Science Games since 2021, together with Eleni Grammatikopoulou.
The festival’s latest edition, held October 16-18, was the sixth on Kastellorizo and the 10th overall, including events hosted in other parts of the country.
“I wanted to do something unique. Instead of us, the people of Kastellorizo, envying the schools of Athens and Thessaloniki, I wanted them to envy ours,” Houlis said..
Born in Australia in 1970, Houlis moved to Kastellorizo in 1976, when the island had a small population and its school faced significant challenges.
“There were very few children at the school. The island had very few residents, and there were many shortages, not only in materials but also in teachers. I experienced all of that,” he said.
His academic career took him from the University of Crete to the University of Western Australia, where he completed postgraduate and doctoral studies and worked as a university professor.
It was there that he discovered the potential of puzzles as a teaching tool, earning teaching awards for incorporating them into his classes.
“Mathematics is innate in all of us. What we need is to find a way to make it understandable and enjoyable,” he said.
For Houlis, puzzles are more than a recreational activity. They can introduce students to concepts in statistics, probability, algebra and geometry without making them feel they are facing a difficult lesson.
“A puzzle will never replace the textbook. But a puzzle together with the textbook are powerful tools for mass creativity,” he said.
That philosophy underpins Meduseum, which serves as the base for his educational and creative work.
One of his most distinctive creations is the “Dodecathlon,” a game in which animals compete in 12 different sports. In a race, a tortoise, a cat, a hare and an eagle move using different dice.
Although the dice are designed to produce the same average movement, the animals do not necessarily have equal chances of winning.
Houlis said he had to work through the mathematical variables to make the game genuinely fair.
“When we had the same number of steps, there was equality in speed, but there was no fairness,” he said.
The game offers an opportunity to explore probability while also raising broader questions about equality and fairness.
“A game can teach statistical mathematics, but also something much more philosophical,” he said.
Flowers, butterflies and hidden numbers
A highlight of this year’s festival was a new creation called “puzzle flowers,” which combines the island’s flora with mathematics.
Inspired by his love of nature and walks in Kastellorizo’s mountains, Houlis photographed and studied local flowers and plants before turning them into a game.
“I have photographed many flowers and plants on Kastellorizo. I studied them and turned them into a game,” he said.
The activity draws on the Chinese remainder theorem, using simple arithmetic to create increasingly complex challenges.
Players move butterflies or bees across a board containing 100 numbers, trying to identify a hidden number. Each new clue narrows the possible answers until the solution emerges.
“We have to become detectives. We don’t know the number, and we gradually try to discover it,” Houlis said.
The game can be solved through different mental processes, including memory, data analysis or mathematical formulas.
“It allows someone to exercise their mind in different ways before arriving at a particular solution,” he said.
The activity proved so popular that Houlis plans to incorporate it into other educational events.
From the island to the mainland
The festival’s reach has expanded well beyond Kastellorizo, with events held in Patra, Athens, Xanthi and Vamvakou, a village in the Peloponnese.
An event in Athens attracted about 3,000 visitors over three days, Houlis said.
“We were exhausted. I don’t remember ever being so tired. But so many children had a wonderful time,” he said.
The initiative continues to receive invitations from schools and other educational programs, while communities across Greece have expressed interest in hosting similar activities.
Access to knowledge remains a central principle of the project. Admission to Meduseum is free.
“Knowledge must be shared with everyone. That’s why admission to the museum is free,” Houlis said.
The challenge of screens and artificial intelligence
Houlis also sees puzzles as a way to encourage children to engage creatively in an era increasingly dominated by smartphones and tablets.
“How do we get children away from tablets and phones? Let’s start with puzzles, to strengthen creativity rather than destroy it,” he said.
He does not consider technology inherently harmful, however.
“Tablets and phones are extremely beneficial if we use them correctly,” he said, while expressing concern about uncontrolled screen use among very young children.
His approach to artificial intelligence is similarly pragmatic.
“It’s a fantastic tool, but it is a tool,” he said.
AI can accelerate scientific research and help researchers tackle problems that until recently required considerably more time, Houlis said.
“With targeted use and a little programming, we can get results at a speed that, two or three years ago, we couldn’t even imagine,” he said.
Asked whether he fears AI could diminish the role of mathematicians, he was unequivocal.
“No, it won’t take my job. It will help me develop new fields,” he said.
A new scientific discipline?
Houlis credits support from local and national authorities, including the Municipality of Megisti, the South Aegean regional administration, the Culture and Defense ministries and the Greek Parliament, with helping the festival grow.
Each year brings new participants and increasingly ambitious projects, he said.
His ambitions extend beyond the festival itself. Houlis believes Greece should establish new scientific fields devoted to puzzles and their creation.
“An entirely new branch of science should finally emerge from Greece, called puzzleology and puzzle-making, so that we can conquer the world with our culture,” he said.
The ambition began on one of Greece’s most remote islands, but its message is increasingly reaching students, teachers and families across the country: Geography need not be a barrier to creativity, education or the pursuit of scientific knowledge. [AMNA]
