Monday 8 June 2015

Cube+

Cube+ is my first experience with this sort "shape forming" puzzle. This puzzle came to me courtesy of David Goodman during the IPP34 Puzzle Exchange in London last year.


I am not sure what the wood used is, but it looks pretty well made by Gaya Game (this is the first time I have come across this online seller and they have a pretty decent catalog of products). 
Challenge #1 - Use all 7 pieces

The puzzle contains seven pieces comprising three congruent pairs. Each piece per pair consists of five units. The seventh piece is two units long. There are two challenges here; the first is to use all seven pieces to form a typical "burr" shape and the second is to find six pieces to form a 3 x 3 x 3 cube. As of late, there are quite a number of these designs from various puzzlers the goal which is to form a 3D symmetrical shape of one type or another.

Challenge #2 - Use 6 of the 7 pieces

For some strange reason I started off with the second challenge and oddly enough, I managed to solve the puzzle rather quickly within twenty minutes or so of fiddling. However I took well over forty five minutes for the first challenge which I thought would be the easier challenge since all seven pieces have to be used. 

I won't say the puzzle is by any means easy but its not that overly difficult either. And I am happy to report I didn't have to resort to Burr Tools! There must be only one unique solution to either challenge also, I would assume. For both challenges, especially the first, some logical thinking rather than random assembly would certainly help with the solve.

6 comments:

  1. You don't have a Soma cube? All puzzlers should have one in their collection. It was my second experience of a shape forming puzzle with the Tangram having been the first! Don't tell me you don't have one of those either? ;-)

    Kevin
    Puzzlemad

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    1. Kevin, believe it or not, I really don't own a Soma cube...hmm, maybe I should start looking for one

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    2. I bought this one but Dave has quite a few others:
      Soma craftsman edition

      Kevin
      Puzzlemad

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    3. Rather than just a Soma, you might want to check out the Zobrist Cube set - IMHO lots of value for about $40.
      Regards,
      Rob

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    4. Thanks Kevin and Rob for your suggestions

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    5. Gaya Game has a coin release puzzle called Coin Problem that also looks intriguing. But looks like they don't ship outside Israel. Perhaps some special pleading will work.



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