Hi Twisty Puzzles fans,

Fractal Cube is a fractal twisty puzzle. Whereas the H-Cube and Grid Cube concepts are not easily extensible to higher orders, Fractal Cube is! Its core is a regular 1x2x2. Dovetailed pieces are added to build a 1x2x4. At both ends, more dovetailed pieces are added to construct a 1x2x6 at each end. And at each of the four new ends, even more dovetailed pieces are added in a 1x2x4 way. This turns the puzzle into a third-order fractal. From a design point of view, it would not be too difficult to build a higher order Fractal Cube. It is just that every next higher order doubles the number of pieces and hence the cost of the prototype.

Fractal Cube plays like a transformer. You can build all kind of standing and walking shapes. The "Robocop" shape is my favourite. But it is a twisty puzzle too, where all of the 16 end pieces and other pieces can be interchanged with eachother. Scramble and solve, which is quite a complex logistic operation.

Watch the YouTube video.
Buy the puzzle from my Shapeways Shop.
Read more at the Shapeways Forum.
Check out the photos below.

Enjoy!

Oskar

Lol, Robocop.

That's quite the unique puzzle, Oskar.

This thing is quite brilliant.

Alex

I am confused! Awesome Job Oskar, Great puzzle!

"Unlucky Twist meets Spektra" = Robocop


Spectra

I guess, "binary twist operations" (I guess you know, what I have in mind, if you see the Spectra) will be the key to solve this puzzle.

Nice concept again!

Awesome as usual Oskar!

Out of curiosity, how thin are those inner dovetail connections?

-π (Eitan)

They are 2 mm thick. Or actually 1.8 mm, as I offset all faces by 0.1 mm to enable smooth turning.

Oskar

I think we need to redefine the word "cube"

Brilliant work Oskar, you never fail to amaze. I really want to own one of your puzzles one day

WOW this is great to play with!

Just being curious: when are you going to create a twisty Menger Sponge?

It's a transformer! It got bored by all the vehicle transformers and felt that it couldn't keep up with them due to its small size. A remote controlled car transformer like thingy seemed also not cool enough. so it became an ultimate twisty puzzle! Good job finding this one Oscar. And it told you that it's name is Fractal Cube? Ha that's cool.
Make sure it doesn't turn on you. It has lots of cubies to fire. Make sure it doesn't develop it's own computer mind to far. You better resticker it as soon as you get the impression it could be up to something bad. And most important: Don't lube it! Or it will get to strong. Or maybe spill all over your carpet or something.

great puzzle! It's probably hard to even tell how to turn it back. Or scramble it furter. without braking anythin. Really cool!

Man Oscar! You always blow my mind with all of these puzzles you produce! Do you ever try to solve them?

I was thinking Transformers.

There was some discussion on YouTube how the Fractal Cube is self similar. I hope that the pictures below provide sufficient clarification. Order 1 is the well-known 1x2x4.

By the way, I would be happy to build some higher order Fractal Cubes if someone would be willing to sponsor. You can calculate the approximate price with the following equation.

Price for order N Fractal Cube = (Price for order 3 Fractal Cube by Shapeways) * 2^(N-3)

Oskar

Ah, but Oskar, shouldn't the main axis of the puzzle become a 2x6 instead of a 2x4? The other axes change from 2x4 to 2x6 when you add on pieces. If you look at the number of pieces added the same pattern happens: order 2 adds 8 pieces, order 3 adds 24 pieces, order 4 adds 48, etc. I guess what I'm saying is that order 2 should add 12 instead of 8 - or, order 1 should be just the 2x2 puzzle and not the 2x4, so that 12 pieces are added from order 1 to order 2. Either way would work, although I'd prefer to start with the 2x4 because then each long axis in the fractal has 6 'layers'.

Anyway, I think this puzzle is much prettier with the fractally elongated pieces and with the gaps. The structure is nowhere near obvious on a solved Fractal Cube (with the original design), but with these pictures it is much more clear, and the puzzle is correspondingly more beautiful

How much would it cost to get my kitchen floor done with this?

Probably more than it cost to put the marble down on my kitchen floor!

Well, the true fractal pattern would probably start with a 1x2x2. In that case, your calculation would be correct.
-Order 2 = Order 1 + 12 cubies
-Order 3 = Order 2 + 24 cubies
-Order 4 = Order 3 + 48 cubies
etcetera.


Which order Fractal Cube would you need? As mentionned, I am open to sponsors who are willing to finance a higher order Fractal Cube.