Skewb

The Skewb (/ˈskjuːb/) is a combination puzzle and a mechanical puzzle in the style of Rubik's Cube. It was invented by Jac Bossman and marketed by Uwe Mèffert. Although it is cubical in shape, it differs from Rubik's construction in that its axes of rotation pass through the corners of the cube rather than the centres of the faces. There are ten such axes, one for each space diagonal of the cube. As a result, it is a deep-cut puzzle in which each twist affects all three faces.

The Skewb in solved state
The four turning planes of the Skewb bisect it as shown in this figure.

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 catchier name Skewb was coined by Douglas Hofstadter in his Metamagical Themas column, and Mèffert liked it enough not only to market the Pyraminx Cube under this name but also to name some of his other puzzles after it, such as the Skewb Diamond.[1]

Higher order Skewbs, named Master Skewb and Elite Skewb, have also been made.[2][3]

Piece orientation

Although the Skewb looks simple, its pieces are actually divided into subgroups and have restrictions that are apparent upon examining the puzzle's mechanism. The 8 corners are split into two groups—the four corners attached to the central 4-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. They can be distinguished by applying pressure on the corner—if it squishes down a bit, it's a floating corner. The centers only have two possible orientations—this becomes apparent by either scrambling a Skewb-alike puzzle where the center orientation is visible (such as the Skewb Diamond or Skewb Ultimate), or by disassembling the puzzle.

Records

The world record time for a Skewb is 0.93 seconds, set by Andrew Huang of Australia on 12 July 2019 at WCA World Championship 2019 in Melbourne, Australia.[4]

The world record average of 5 (excluding fastest and slowest) is 2.03 seconds, set by Łukasz Burliga of Poland on 17 December 2017 at CFL Santa Claus Cube Race 2017 in Bełchatów, Poland, with the times of 2.48 1.91 1.71 1.39, and 4.98 seconds.[4]

Top 7 solvers by single solve[5]
NameFastest solveCompetition
Andrew Huang0.93sWCA World Championship 2019
Leo Min-Bedford0.97sSelangor Cube Open 2019
Daniel Vædele Egdal1.04sTårnby Cube Træf 2019
Jonatan Kłosko1.10sŚLS Wodzisław Śląski 2015
Riley Norrid1.11sCubalaya 2019
Zongyang Li (李宗阳)1.11sShijiazhuang Open 2018
Łukasz Burliga1.11sProject Będzin 2019

Top 5 solvers by average of 5 solves[6]
NameFastest averageCompetition
Łukasz Burliga2.03sCFL Santa Claus Cube Race 2017
Michał Rzewuski2.13sIII Masovian Open 2019
Michał Krasowski2.23sLLS VI 2018
Rasmus Stub Detlefsen2.28sWCA Euro 2018
Léo Bailly2.35sWCA Euro 2018
gollark: You are aware that ANY prime from it can be factored in less than a second with unoptimized code on my low end desktop?
gollark: What do you want, a maze challenge?
gollark: Sounds like effort. Bye.
gollark: Is that exposed to LuA?
gollark: Security through obscurity never works.

See also

References
  1. "Jaap's Puzzle Page, Skewb Page". Jaap's Puzzle Page.
  2. Master Skewb
  3. Elite Skewb
  4. World Cube Association Official Results - Skewb
  5. World Cube Association Official Skewb Ranking Single
  6. World Cube Association Official Skewb Ranking Average
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