The Skewb () is a

combination puzzle In mathematics, a combination is a selection of items from a set (mathematics), set that has distinct members, such that the order of selection does not matter (unlike permutations). For example, given three fruits, say an apple, an orange and a ...

and a

mechanical puzzle A mechanical puzzle is a puzzle presented as a set of mechanically interlinked pieces in which the solution is to manipulate the whole object or parts of it. While puzzles of this type have been in use by humanity as early as the 3rd century BC ...

similar to the Rubik's Cube. It was invented by Tony Durham and marketed by Uwe Mèffert. Although it is cubical, it differs from the typical

cubes A cube or regular hexahedron is a three-dimensional space, three-dimensional solid object in geometry, which is bounded by six congruent square (geometry), square faces, a type of polyhedron. It has twelve congruent edges and eight vertices. It i ...

' construction; its axes of rotation pass through the corners of the cube, rather than the centers of the faces. There are four axes, one for each

space diagonal In geometry, a space diagonal (also interior diagonal or body diagonal) of a polyhedron is a line connecting two vertices that are not on the same face. Space diagonals contrast with '' face diagonals'', which connect vertices on the same face (b ...

of the cube. As a result, it is a ''deep-cut'' puzzle in which each twist affects all six faces. Mèffert's original name for this puzzle was the ''Pyraminx Cube'', to emphasize that it was part of a series including his first tetrahedral puzzle, the Pyraminx. The name Skewb was coined by

Douglas Hofstadter Douglas Richard Hofstadter (born 15 February 1945) is an American cognitive and computer scientist whose research includes concepts such as the sense of self in relation to the external world, consciousness, analogy-making, Strange loop, strange ...

in his '' Metamagical Themas'' column. Mèffert liked the new name enough to apply it to the Pyraminx Cube, and he also named some of his other puzzles after it, such as the Skewb Diamond. In December 2013, the Skewb was recognized as an official World Cube Association competition event.

Mechanism

The Skewb's pieces are divided into subgroups and have several constraints. The eight corners are split into two group. The four corners attached to the central four-armed spider and the four "floating" corners that can be removed from the mechanism easily. These corners cannot be interchanged i.e. in a single group of four corners, their relative positions are unchanged. A floating corner can be distinguished by squishing down when applying pressure to the corner. The centers only have two possible orientations, seen by scrambling a Skewb-like puzzle where the center orientation is visible (such as the Skewb Diamond or Skewb Ultimate), or by disassembling the puzzle.

Records

The world record single solve is 0.75 seconds, set by Carter Kucala of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

at Going Fast in Grandview 2024. World Cube Associationbr>Official Results - Skewb
/ref> Concave Skewb

The world record average of 5 (excluding fastest and slowest) is 1.52 seconds, set by Carter Kucala of the

at CubingUSA Heartland Championship 2024, with times of 1.65, 1.45, (2.57), (1.37), and 1.45 seconds.

Top 5 solvers by single solve

Top 5 solvers by Olympic average of 5 solves

References

External links