And here's another new puzzle from the jadeclub/meffert's and Oskar. The gear ball, bascly a gear cube in spherical shape, but that can be put on the christmas three :

Nifty! Love the colored plastic. Looks kinda steampunk-ish.

Looks very nice.
The Gear Cube is on my whish list, but I think now I'll get this one. I like that it has full-colored pieces instead of stickers.

Plays nicely too

Wow, it looks amazing!

That does look very nice... I typically don't pick up shape mods as I generally feel one of each type of mechanism is enough considering I can't even afford all of them but this is very tempting.

I'm curious... was this specific Shape designed by Oskar or was it Mefferts? Its much more interesting looking then just a simple sphere.

Carl

Awesome

Shape-modding is not my thing. I have contributed only the gear mechanism. The shape-mod result looks really good!

Oskar

This may be a very stupid question, but, is the picture different from when you first made this thread? Anyway, very cool looking puzzle.

Yeas some one changed it .

When will the puzzle of the year be released. This is just a ball gear cube. Not a new puzzle?

just for Jade Club?

AW

Puzzles are rarely ever just for Jade Club members. It's available on the Meffert's site and for preorder from HKNowStore.

Just got mine in the mail yesterday. I remember reading that it could be hung on a Christmas tree so I was looking for a loop on one of the corners and didn't find it. So I had to go back and check that first email. There I found this picture:



So I went back to my puzzle. And sure enough there is a little hole through the bump at the base of one the ridges leading up to the bump on 5 of my 8 corner pieces.



My orange/green/purple corner, my orange/purple/blue corner, and my purple/blue/yellow corners however don't have any holes in them. It doesn't really have a nice loop on one corner like I think I was expecting but yes it can be hung as an ornament. But I am surprised with the hole hidden away as it is, why not make all the corners the same? It appears Mefferts went to the expense of making two nearly identical molds for the black portion of the corners. And what happens if the people assembling the cubes forget to make sure to include at least one corner with a hole in it? If you are going to make two types of corners why not add on a nice loop to one?

Carl

Golden Gearball

Erm.....why?

I mean it looks lovely, but then doesn't it cease to be a puzzle entirely?

It doesn't cease to be a puzzle entirely. I'll let you work out why.

*keeps mouth shut, but knows what Tony Fisher means*

It's funny to see how little spelling errors can survive Sounds familiar, right?

EDIT: I preordered it anyway.

Im sorry, I must have missed this. How does this version of the gearball have any difficulty to solving? It looks great but how is it a puzzle Tony?

Chris

The gears do have an orientation to them, but that's it as far as this being a puzzle.

I'm passing on this. I didn't even bother with the standard full color version since it is essentially the same as a gear cube and I'm getting kind of tired of gear puzzles these days.

I hate to say anything bad of one of the founding fathers of the twisty puzzle world but this Golden Gear ball is absolutely hideous!!

It will have some gear orientation and so will still have a minor puzzling element to it but is otherwise a fairly trivial puzzle. If used much, then the gold plating will wear off.

As far as I can see the only reason to purchase one is as an investment in the hope that scarcity in the future would make them valuable! Not for me I'm afraid - I want a good puzzle not a bauble!

I don't agree with you guys. I think this puzzle has a great purpose. It's pretty and shiny!
Seriously, any collection needs some beautiful elements to make it look good so I'm ordering one for the display.
(and maybe one to play with)

I think that the Golden Gear Ball is a beautiful puzzle and I can see that the 3-orientation gears would make it a modest solving challenge. I don't have the Gear Ball (yet), so I have to ask if the logo centres would give it super-cube properties? This variant is probably best for collectors; I'd just ruin it by throwing away the box and wearing off the finish.

I am so glad that someone else has said it! I am also geared out.

Chris

Regarding the concept and its solution, this is correct.
But the mechanism is really outstanding. Compared to the other gear puzzles, the Gear Ball is turning absolutely smooth. While it is not really fun to solve some of the other Gear Puzzles, this one is worth buying. If you need the golden version, well, this is really a different question. Having only one colour reduces the puzzle to the different angles of the turning cogwheels. If there is an additional parity challenge having only golden pieces I cannot say right now.

Okay, so there is the gear orientation. But that's practically the same as handing someone a Rubik's Cube with each layer partially turned a few degrees.

.........
seems that the JadeClub has become a GoldenClub

the original concept of jade version puzzles was great, j-pyra and j-cube are brilliant with symbols in relief and painted...
but these new golden monochrome expensive versions.......
come on Uwe, back to the ancient

They are limited edition runs aimed mainly at collectors (as I see it), nothing wrong with that.

Personally I think it's great, as I do the Golden Chopsticks & Nautilus.

Thank you Uwe.

People buy puzzles for a number of reasons. To solve, to collect, to cut up, as an investment, because they look pretty etc etc. So it seems unlikely that every puzzle released will appeal to all. If I was buying a Gear Ball I would definitely get this one because I have no intention of solving it or cutting it up and it looks nice and has that "real gold" thing going for it. When people say it's not really a puzzle then what about all the other stuff in the world which aren't really what they claim to be? Like the Golden Boot in football for example.

Good point, Tony

I wish that electronics such as desktops came out in gold. It's been like Model T Fords for over a decade now, any colour you want as long as it is black (or garish nightmare of shape and colour for the gamer market).

Some type of display enclosure for this would be nice...does anyone know if something like a clear globe bubble type thing would work, maybe similar to something like a masterball would fit in?