I have designed a new type of puzzle that is a twist on the Classic SOMA cube puzzle. This puzzle has the same challenges as the original SOMA cube puzzle plus many more. Where the classic SOMA cube has 7 solid parts SOMA's Revenge has 14 parts that are wireframe outlines. The 7 inner parts are smaller and will fit into the 7 outer parts in various ways. You can use the inner parts to interlock multiple outer parts together. This is different from the classic SOMA cube which did not have any interlocking pieces. The ultimate challenge for this puzzle is to build a cube with the outer parts, with the inner parts forming a cube inside of them, and with all the parts interlocking.

This is a new puzzle and no one has ever found an interlocking cube solution. To make this fun, I am starting a prize contest for the first person to come up with an interlocking cube solution. The first prize is a $50 gift certificate for Shapeways.com ( Thanks Shapeways for helping to sponsor the contest). You can also enter with partial solutions since there is a 2nd place prize drawing from these entries. This prize is any model from my Shapeways shop.

The contest starts today; August 10, 2012 and runs till the end of January 2013. Full contest details and rules are on my "SOMA's Revenge" Shapeways shop page at the link below. There you will also find more information about the puzzle.

http://shpws.me/d69H

You enter the contest by submitting a Youtube video with your solution as a video response to my "SOMA's Revenge" Puzzle Cube Solution Contest video. You can see this at the link below:

http://youtu.be/05q3gA_WhbQ

Feel free to post some comments on what you think of this new type of interlocking SOMA puzzle.

Good Luck with the Contest

Very clever design! like it. I will buy this, but right now it takes Shapeways ages to log me in....

for EU-buyers: amazom.co.uk sells the clear boxes only as six-pack (GBP 9,99)
This will give me an excuse to buy some more

please: keep those puzzles coming!

Maarten,

I'm glad you like it and I appreciate your posting.

I found another display case the is available from Amazon UK for 5.30 pounds with Free UK shipping! Here is the link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/GOLF-BALL-DISPL ... =8-3-fkmr2

This will fit "SOMA's Revenge" as it is the same width as a golf ball. This looks like a nice sturdy Acrylic case, just a little different than the BCW.

If someone gets this case please post here with the inside width in millimeters. I want so see if this will also fit my "Bare Bones" puzzle, which is a little wider, to fit snugly in the BCW case.

Thanks for the heads up on the BCW case availability in the UK. I will update my shop page with the case from Amazon UK.

Thank you for thinking with me Steve.

Amazon is acting as a reseller for Quantum Leap, I just found out Amazom does not ship to the Netherlands, but qleap.co.uk themselves do:
http://www.qleap.co.uk/product.asp?pID=4479&cID=19

Again, I could only spot the sixpack for GBP 7.99 (and GBP 3.95 shipping in the EU). Anyway: I need three cases now, so I bought the sixpack. I'll post the measurements when it gets here.


Btw: I've got the Fan-Way Park Ball puzzle (IPP26 exchange puzzle from Stan Isaacs, manufactured by George miller). It came in such a box (50.06 mm outside, 44.43 mm inside, official golf ball = 42.67 mm diameter). I guess there aren't that many different golf ball cases around, might this be the dimensions of your cases?

Maarten

Brilliant! I'll have to add this next time I make a shapeways order.

Maarten,

Thanks for posting the link for the cases for the Netherlands! Another good source for puzzlers to use.

I measured my BCW cases and I got 44.2mm inside, and 50.1mm outside. So it looks like the Fan-Way Park Ball puzzle probable uses the BCW case also.

Best Regards

Wow, this is really nice! I'll have to add it to the list of Shapeways puzzles I'm going to buy when I have oodles of money.

How about a 3-depth version? It'd almost be like a 3x3x3x3 Soma hypercube.

Jared,
I like the hypercube designation. Thanks for the 3x3x3x3 idea, I will have to think on that one.

So I guess I can also call "SOMA's Revenge a 3x3x3x2 hypercube; I like it!

Best Regards

Hmm....this puzzle does look interesting! A very different take on such a classic design.

So the standard Soma Cube pieces have 240 distinct ways in which they form a 3x3x3 cube (minus rotations etc.). So that number would be the same for both the external and internal pieces, except that would only be possible if the external pieces were less restrictive than they currently are in this model.

I think I'll have a play around later and see what I can come up with solution wise, however I reckon some of the more interesting solutions will include a few rotational moves.

Hybrid424,

Yes, the outer parts of "SOMA's Revenge" do have selectively placed rods along the outline of the cubes that make up the part. This makes the ways that the inner parts can slide into outer parts more restrictive. That is what makes coming up with an Interlocking Cube Solution an interesting challenge, and why I started the prize contest.

I designed the puzzle so that rotation is not needed for a solution. I am not sure if there are any solutions that could only be done using a rotation. Maybe someone will discover this?

Would others also like to try to figure out the number of ways that you could try to put a cube formed of the inner parts inside of a cube forming the outer parts?

Happy Puzzling

Hi Steve,

The six pack BCW cases from quantum leap just arrived. They are the exact same size as yours and slightly smaller than my Fan-way park ball case.

Can't wait for my shapeways order to arrive!

I had some inquires about different colors for the parts so decided to try a color scheme with each inner part a different color. This turned out very nice. I used Testors enamel spray paint for plastic models. This absorbs nicely into the Shapeways SWF material with no hint of running.

What do you think?

Reminder: The Puzzle Solution Prize Contest is running the rest of the year.

I had a request to extend the contest to allow people getting "SOMA's Revenge" as Christmas presents time to enter. So I have extended the contest to the end of January 2013. The drawing prize for partial solutions will be done shortly after. Also no one has come up with a fully interlocked solution yet, so the Grand prize is still up for grabs.

Good Luck and Best Regards

First and update on the contest: There is still no winner yet. You still have plenty of time to order a puzzle for yourself, or for a Christmas gift and have time to be in the contest.

Next and update on the colors of SOMA's Revenge. Shapeways changed over to new colors for their WSF (White Strong and Flexible) material. This results is that you can only get the new red, purple, blue and pink colors in polished. Unfortunately the polishing process grinds away material, and for my puzzle the parts would fit to loose in these colors. So I will not be offering these colors for SOMA's Revenge. There is no change in the White or Black colors, so those fit fine. So now I have options on my Shapeways shop to order the parts in White or Black. Or you can get the outer parts in White and the inner parts in black. If you want your parts in a different color you can order in white then spray paint using enamels for models. That is what I have done for the puzzles pictured in my posts above.

I have attached pictures of SOMA's Revenge in the polished blue strong and flexible, with white outer parts. If you order white and black you will get a nice contrasting puzzle that will look very similar.

G

Congratulations to George Bell, the Grand Prize winner. He submitted this Youtube video of the first fully interlocked solution. George teamed up on this with Ken Johnson, who found the solution. Ken's solution is also different than the solution I designed the puzzle around, so there are now two known fully interlocking solutions. I assembled Ken's winning solution to verify it and attached a picture.

Who knows how many more... The prize contest is still running until the end of January for the drawing prize, so still plenty of time to order a puzzle and enter.

Nice teamwork Ken and George
Best Regards
Steve Winter