Hi Twisty Puzzles fans,

Plug & Play was a suggestion by Frank Tiex and Carl Hoff to take a Minimal Twist puzzle and then to shape mod by plugging some or all of the holes.

Hollow Skewb is the result of plugging the triangular holes of Minimal Twist. It has a cubic shape and it is quite similar to Tony Fisher's Holey Skewb.

Hollow Diamond is the result of plugging the square holes of Minimal Twist. It has an octahedron shape and it is similar to a Skewb Diamond.

If you would plug all holes, then you would end up with a Skewb Star, but nobody would know that it is hollow.

Poll: as how many different puzzles should Plug & Play count? Your answer may provide Rentlix some guidance when he/she enumerates the puzzles of November.

Watch the YouTube video.
Buy a Hollow Skewb.
Buy a Hollow Diamond.
Buy just the plugs.
Buy a Minimal Twist.
Read more at the Shapeways Forum here and here.
Check out the photos below.

Enjoy!

Oskar

P.S. This post should explain the black Minimal Twist.

There are 2 puzzles demoed here, but the concept lends itself to so many puzzles.

Sure, the skewb mech produces a ton of puzzles (skewb, skewb diamond, hex skewb, golden cube, kite skewb,...), but they are all marketed separately and counted as different puzzles.

Your mech can do the same. Sure they are based on a skewb and a skewb diamond, but they are clearly as different to them as an edges only cube is to a standard 3x3. There might be only 3 puzzles here, but the potential is for so many new puzzles.

They look great, btw.

Awesome! Simply awesome Oskar! the TRUE void skewb is born (Tony )

By any chance could a hollow master skewb be made?

Could you find me a $200 sponsor for such a production?

Oskar

I cannot promise you anything at this time Oskar! But I will let you know when I can!

Thank you!

Nice!!! They look great Oskar.

Carl

Very nice. I'd really like to see how far back the Minimal Twist centers could go, to see how void it could be. Then it would be a genuine Void Skewb.

Ya, this would make a great candidate for mass production, since you'd never be done buying new puzzles! Plus, it's a simple design, so it wouldn't be unbelievably hard to produce...

Awesome idea!

Although I get the humour of your comment it still isn't a true void Skewb according to the rules a few people (not me) set. It is more "voided" than mine but still not totally voided. Your comment should read "A voider Skewb is born".

Would it be possible to make a plug and play fisher's cube? If you could I would definately buy it! Also a plug and play pyraminx would be nice too!

Nice concept although I agree with tony that a true void skewb is impossible.

I look forward to the many uses of this idea

I wouldn't say it's impossible. I think if you made the corners smaller, that could allow a space for the center pieces to go in there and could still be cut back to basically nothing. I think I'm just rambling now.

Correction, Frank Tiex and Carl Hoff independently came up with the Plug & Play idea around the same time.

Looking at the poll, over 60% of the 31 voters seem to prefer that Rentlix documents Plug & Play as three or more puzzles.

Oskar