The Gyrobifastigium is a puzzle that I designed while searching for unique ways to build puzzles using the geometry of the Johnson Solids. The Gyrobifastigium, the 26th Johnson Solid, appears to be two triangular prisms joined at their sides, with one rotated 90° from the other.



The puzzle has a few different types of moves:

1. The main bisector where the two triangular prisms connect. When turned 90°, the puzzle takes the shape of a rhombus prism.
2. A second bisector, which only turns when the puzzle is in the shape of a rhombus prism
3. The four oval-shaped knobs, which only turn when the puzzle is in the shape of a Gyrobifastigium
4. The almost-trivial tips on the top and bottom of the puzzle, which function like the extensions of a 1x2x3

Solving the puzzle is more difficult than it might appear. Due to the fact that the oval-shaped pieces can only be rotated in the Gyrobifastigium form, often the solver will run into cases where the pieces can not be inserted into their correct positions as expected.

Personally, I have solved it three times without using algorithms, and have encountered very difficult cases each time which provide a challenging, but fun solving experience.



PM or contact me through Shapeways for details on how to assemble, sticker, or order a pre-assembled/dyed puzzle.

Video
Assembly Video
Shapeways

The puzzles name is so cool it alone makes this puzzle worth to exist.

Why did you decide for this color scheme? If you replaced orange with red then you would highlight the fact that the Gyrobifastigium is the puzzle's solved shape.
Can you post a image showing the midturn state of the first type of move?
What are the puzzle's edge lengths?
What does it weigh?

Interesting. Ignoring the ovals, the puzzle is a 1x2x4. The oval quarters are in two chiral orbits (one orbit if quarter turns of the ovals are allowed, which I suspect), an orbit consisting of one piece of every color. Am I right?
In other news, yes the name is awesome and the puzzle (and the background ) look nice. Though, I agree with Andreas that having a 4-color scheme could highlight that the puzzle is solved in it's gyrobifastigium shape, but still keep each piece unique.

Woah, lots of questions! I'll try to answer them to the best of my ability.


I chose 8 colors because if I hadn't, many of the oval pieces would be identical. With this stickering scheme, all the pieces are different. I was considering using an alternate 8-color scheme where each pair of triangle and square faces would have two colors bisecting them. The colors would still all be different, but the solved state would be easily distinguishable. Perhaps I'll resticker it like that to see how it looks.


All of the edge lengths are about 39 mm (1½ inches) and the weight is exactly 1 ounce (~28 grams).


I think so... they are definitely in two different orbits, and quarter turns are impossible. Not sure what you mean about one piece of every color...

Andreas, I'll have some new pictures and some edited versions for you after I eat dinner and solve the puzzle again.

Great puzzle! I love strange geometries being used in new puzzles like this. I'd love to have a crack solving it. Exactly why is the name what it is?

The puzzle is simply named after the Johnson Solid that it's built inside. I liked its name, so I kept it.


I made an assembly video for anyone who'd like to have a look at the mechanism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m26y9Wo58Lc

Because of this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrobifastigium