This is my latest puzzle. It is the Face Turning Pyritohedron. A Pyritohedron is a nonregular dodecahedron. I followed the mf8 megaminx color scheme.

It has an inside-out core like Oskar's Futtminx to allow for the strange turning of the puzzle. Most puzzles turn around the middle of the center pieces but this puzzle turns on an axis thats almost on the edge of the center piece. I explain this better in the video.

The puzzle turns very well! It can even cut corners some.

Here is a link to the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsFSkOd98W8&feature=youtu.be

Awesome, what a strange geometry. It looks like a really hard one to solve despite the quick blockage.

David Pitcher used the "backwards screw" trick on his Jumble Trap puzzles because there wasn't enough room for the screw head on the small center pieces.

Very weird puzzle! Would it be possible to add stored cuts to it? I'd love to see an unbandaged version.

It almost looks like someone took a megaminx, and stretched it out!
I love it!

-Doug

INCREDIBLE!!!

A great and unusual puzzle, I thought only the likes of Oskar and David P designed puzzles with strange geometries. I guess this would be a beast to solve if only one colour sticker was used.

Indeed a very strange geometry, incredible that iron pyrite crystals of this form grow naturally given the simple cubic geometry of its other crystal form. This means it should be possible to make a simple 3x3x3 mod with this shape, where each cubic face comprises a pair of irregular pentagons...

And conversely, the cuts of this puzzle could be applied to a regular cube.

Nice, a truely amazing little puzzle with such interesting properties. Two thumbs up .

The strangest thing happened last night... I dreamt that I was solving this puzzle! Of course, it was extremely entertaining.

Is this related to this by any chance?

Looks great! I didn't expect it to scramble that well...

The more I read about this shape, the more I am fascinated: As you will see here and below, it is a general and intermediate form combining a cube, dodecahedron, and rhombic dodecahedron, which are all special forms of this shape!



PS. The puzzle itself could be called "Fat Python".

Edge lenghts?
Weight?

There are two different angles between adjacent faces. Why have you decided for these specific two angles? Was that an arbitrary choice or was there any other reasoning?

Andreas

Andreas, if you check out my link above you will see that the edge ratios and angles are actually very specific, as it's a very special shape, not just random.

With curved cuts and maybe a bit of fudging, the long pieces could probably move around more...

Hi, Thanks for all the comments!
I will look into changing this puzzle into a cube and unbandaging it.


Edge lengths 1.25 in and 1.82 in
Weight 2.625 oz



I belive the pyritohedron has some geometric leniency. There is a special angle that can be used to make a special pyritohedron but the pyritohedron can use a range of angles.

The angles on this puzzle are pretty much arbitrary. I wanted to make sure it lookes different from the Megaminx and if the angle got too wide I didnt like the look because it became more like a rhombic dodecahedron.

OK, I guess I was referring to the specific geometry of the Weaire–Phelan structure.

It does look like quite a random shape from the photos, but I was really impressed when I saw the symetry of the shape on the video, and then saw the properties of the puzzle specifically. Anyone who hasn't watched the video should watch it for sure. Thanks for your animation KelvinS that just makes me more impressed with this puzzle.

This is really great, I love the shape. I love your designs.

Looking at it some more, it looks like there would be some blocking/ overhang bandaging. It's amazing how there isn't any, however.

-Doug