This was challenging, but also fun to do. I had to remember what moves… do what… to which parts! I was also very fortunate that I didn’t run across the dreaded parity issue. If I had, this video would easily run another four minutes more, as I try to unkink it via complete morph!

Surprisingly, there really isn’t many videos of the Square 1 on YouTube. Hmmm….

Sometime last January, there was one day where I bit off more than I could chew. I didn’t know what kind of trouble I had gotten myself into that day when I clicked on the finalize button for eBay and ordered another puzzle. This time, the puzzle in question is called a Square 1. It also goes by other names, such as Cube 21 and Irregular IQ Cube (link to ThinkGeek.com). However, I have another name for it: Geometric Mindbender!

As you can see in the first two pictures, it looks like a normal cube puzzle… except for the angular cuts. Quite different from the garden-variety Rubik’s-type cube. It even has less pieces than that famous puzzle, which is very misleading as one may calculate that less pieces equals less combinations equals easier-to-solve, right? Wrong! Just try mixing it up, and this is what you may end up with:

Whereas a Rubik’s cube is more of an exercise in recreational mathematics, the Square 1 throws in a good dose of geometry! It’s very true that there’s less combinations of permutations in the puzzle, but that is not to say that it’s any easier to solve. Indeed, after watching various videos of seasoned cubers messing around with one of these, I’ve come to the conclusion that any puzzlemeister will have a harder time with this cube than any regular NxNxN cube. Even browsing the puzzle forums, most people on them agreed that this is one of the hardest ones to solve.

After mastering the 2×2, 3×3, 4×4 and 5×5 cubes, not to mention solving a 7×7x7 cube and also solving a Megaminx with little effort and no help, I thought I was ready for this. Boy, was I wrong! After a couple of days of working out most of the puzzle, I got stuck on how to do some of the switching of corners and edges, so I sought help online. Getting the Square 1 back into cube shape, and then having the top and bottom showing the same colors took some time, but I got those parts done without help. However, putting the final pieces in place is a great challenge, not made any easier by the fact that you may encounter parity issues which require “polarization” of the puzzle (BTW, that involves a complete shape morph!!).

All in all, if you love puzzles and you feel the need for a new challenge, Square 1 will not disappoint when it comes to brain-wracking aggravation and satisfaction!

Cheers… and happy puzzling!

Update!: More fooling around with the Square 1 today yielded some amusing results. I managed to make a couple of animal shapes; one bears a passing resemblance to a rhino! I’ll post a pic in my Hobbies album in the Photo Gallery, ASAP!

Did you ever have a moment where, after you recover from reconnecting with a lost part of your life, you mentally step back and wonder how things got to the way that they are now?

It’s at that point that you realise that there truly is no going back to the way things once were. Paradise lost. Innocence faded. All you can do is concentrate on the here and now, and keep in mind that you’re the one that makes things happen in your life. Nothing that anyone else is going through will matter as much as the situations that you put yourself through. Time and Life go hand-in-hand… and both are precious.

… And just take one guess as to which one won the battle…

My iPhone After Semi Ran Over It on Flickr - Photo Sharing

I posted this on my Tumblelog, but afterwards, I felt this was noteworthy enough to post here as well. Click the link and read the whole explanation (in the comments) and the person’s thoughts on the experience. This shows me yet ANOTHER reason to get an iPhone! I know my beloved LG PM-325 has taken a few tumbles, but I sure wouldn’t bet against a vehicle squishing it like a juicy techno-bug.

Cheers and happy reading!