Considering that Oskar seems to break the laws of physics with a new "impossible" puzzle concept each week, I thought that he might be getting a little bored applying his genius to solve such trivial engineering challenges. So this thread is to post any puzzle concepts and ideas that should be virtually impossible to design and make, or that would absolutely amaze you if it was done, in order to give Oskar (and anyone else brave and bright enough) a bit more of a challenge.

PS. I'm talking about *impossible new puzzle concepts*, NOT ridiculously large and complicated versions of existing puzzles like oskar's 17x17 cube.

Let your imagination go wild...

Here's an example to start off:

A 3x3x3 sliding block puzzle with no external frame, and only a hidden internal mechanism that keeps the puzzle together and allows all translational moves.

A FF Siamese 3x3x3 with a 1x1x2 connection instead of 1x1x3. Every piece would need to be identical (except the core).

Those are Bishop Cubes.

Oh snap!

Fine: a Big Chop.

Interesting link, thanks, though I meant something like Peter's Black Hole where 26 cubes are constrained and allowed to slide within a 3x3x3 frame/box, but without the frame/box. I think the Bishop Cubes could be extended beyond the box and even taken apart, no?

a mixup cube with proportional face pieces.

... or a void mixup.

+1

A 3x3 that has explosives in it, so that you can give it to someone that you don't like (that can solve a rubiks cube) and... you get the idea.

A crazy 17x17x17 Saturn cube.

A Mixup Gear Cube! This way it will allow quarter-turns for massive insanity!!

Actually, I've always wanted someone to make this. Please?

Like this?

EDIT:



I believe that leaves just a Big Chop as suggested here. But, Oskar has never been known to make a predictable puzzle. Why should he start now?

How about a 2x2x4, but on the bases, a 3x3x2, soas to have a tower alike an hourglass or vase.

Big Chops aren't impossible. They are just highly impractical and are very hard to design. That said I do have a few concepts to make the design a little easier, although it would require extreme precision when making.

Vertex-turning tetragonal pyramid (with all 5 vertices turning, all 8 edges interchangeable).
This geometry seems impossible, but curved surfaces and some fudging might help. I gave up after some tries

Am I becoming some twisty Chuck Norris, or so?

Face turning Snub Cube?

Don't be silly Oskar. You aren't becoming the twisty Chuck Norris. The twisty Chuck Norris is becoming you.

Well, considering that you've *already made* most of these so-called "impossible" ideas that people have only been able to dream up here, like the big chop and mixup gear cube, ... I guess the answer is yes!

PS. try to make this, but internalize the external frame/cage.

If you can make a design that leads to a mass produced 3x3x3x3... I don't think there will be any distinction between Oskar van Deventer and Twisty Chuck Norris.

Carl

Void 4x4x4.
Elite Pentultimate.
Proportional 7x7x7.
proportional 4x4x1.
Skewb+helicopter+2x2x2.
proportional 5x6x7.

How about a cube with a musical solution- you have to time the turns or it messes up more.

That sounds more like an electronic than a "manual" puzzle
Also, whoever said elite pentultimate, it's already been made...I think

The Royal Pentultimate has, the elite is a lot harder to build.

A TRIPLE FUSE VOID PETAMINX. Someone had to say it

Really though, a 3x3x3 that could turn the edge pieces on an axis that runs through the middle of the edge and the centers of the opposite faces of the corners adjacent to the edge.

That sounds to me like a 3x3 + helicopter cube? Sounds like a fun puzzle

How about a geared circle cube? outer layers are locked together like a gear cube, and when you turn the outer layer by 90 degrees the inner circle turns 90 degrees in the opposite direction.
Or a geared circle 2x2x2 with eight center segments, whenever you perform a turn the inner segment moves 45 degrees in the direction of the turning. (I'm pretty sure this is on gelatin brain but for whatever reason I can not access it right now...)

Nice idea

This isn't a challenge for Oskar, in the sense that it's impossible, but I have a couple of ideas that I believe are possible to make and would be very cool indeed. The first one is a Master Gear Shift. This would resemble a 3x3x3 in the same way that a normal Gear Shift resembles a 2x2x2. You would also be able to pull apart an axis into three seperate portions, and turn each of them.

The second idea is a Gear Shift Dodecahedron. While the geometry doesn't really work, you managed to make a Gear Megaminx, and that puzzle can only be harder to make. I would love for both of these puzzles to exist.

4th-order megaminx, aka myriaminx.
Functional Lament configuration
A 3x3x3 cube that rescrambles itself 1 move away from solution. There would be a correlation between the algorthmns just applied and the scramble that results.
Has anyone invented a puzzle where internal and external pieces exchange.
Just a few ideas, I have more.

Once again, this may have already been done, but: a circle cube where when one face is turned, every circle (but not every face, obviously) turns in the same direction.

Peter's Black Hole which has already been mentioned in this thread I believe fits this description. Also the Twisted Starminx has pieces which are internal and which can become surface pieces through scrambling. See this post.

Carl

A face turn cuts through the circles on the 4 adjacent faces so I fail to see how they could turn too.

If you made the circles on a circle cube small enough such that they didn't touch the neighboring face turns then you'd have a circle inside the face cubie on each face. You could make all of these turn in the same way Oskar did on his Polo Gears puzzle if that counts.

Carl

How about a master Dino cube, but deeper cut so some of the cuts overlap to create edge pieces? If this has already been made, I haven't seen it yet.

This is physically impossible. The four faces that touch the face being turned can't have their circles turn. If the opposite circle turns with the face you get a strange looking 3x3x3 where the pieces in the circles are attached to edges and corners on the opposite side of the puzzle. See Gelatinbrain's 3.1.24 for an example of this.

I thought that suggesting impossible puzzles was the whole point of the thread.

You may well be right, but the whole point of this thread is to come up with "impossible" ideas. As we have seen with most of Oscar's ideas, nobody really *knows* what is possible and what is not. So please, don't shoot down ideas in this thread, let people run with their imaginations, without constraints of what you think should be possible. Only time will tell...

Correct!

then a 3x3x3 the size of the sun, I think that's impossible enough.
Or just ALL of the gelatinbrain puzzles

Qubami variation of a Black Hole... but I guess that's a variation of an existing puzzle. How about Tetrahedral Brain Twist but with 5 sets of strings?

(p.s. that smily is a link)

I don't like what this thread has become, a wishlist of every unbuilt puzzle.

How about we keep it to puzzles that shouldn't be possible, not just haven't been made yet. OK?

YES.
this is really a good idea. We should make a thread about this!



these aren't bad for starters.
every good joke someone comes up with could be in that thread.

I know this post is off topic.

So here is my idea: A super floppy kind of puzzle, that has 2 rows of 3x3 cubies but the rows are 1. and 3. of a cube.
meaning a 3x3x3 cube where one middle layer is missing but the top and bottom layer, that do not touch in any way are still bound together and pieces are sliding like there was nothing wrong.

The famous dancing style "the twist" took its name after Oskar's twisty puzzles came alive
and started jumbling and fudging (p.s. they only come alive when we are not around!).




Pantazis

I just had another puzzle idea!
So Oskar already made a cube that has hinges and is a box.
But he could also make a 3x3x3 cube that cannot only be opened, but completely unfold and fold back into the other direction. so it's scrambled again. Sort of inside out. both are a 3x3x3 in a different permutation.

to make things more interesting the inside is scrambled not just the same (corresoponding) way that the outer cube is turned. so when you solve one side and turn it inside out, everytime you'll have a different permutation. Maybe on the inside tiles can even slide around. So when turning inside out, there's impossible situations. You have to go back and solve it differently or going through certain cycles that don't change the outside but create possible standart perms on the inside.

Ok I'm finished for the time being.

How about one of the overlapping puzzles from Gelatin Brain's site? I have been thinking about whether that would be physically possible or not and this seems to be the perfect thread. Here's a picture of 3.1.31, which seems to be a 2x2x2, but it has three layers due to the overlapping. I'm no engineer, but that seems pretty impossible to design to me. What do you guys think? Maybe most importantly, what do you think, Oskar?

Rubik's "make the cube"(magic)+ master skewb. Or rubik's snake + cornerless 3x3.(Make it into a ball and it twists like a 3x3.)

The strangest thing happened to me today. I accidentally dropped my Illegal Cube in water. However, it did not get wet! Instead, I noticed the water getting fudged.

Oskar

Haha
An other example: An OH cube that turns like a usual 3x3x3, too. (Is this completely impossible?)