For me late December may be a problem because I am attending my sister-in-law's wedding on the 22nd, but if it is between Christmas and New Year that would be a possibility

Seeing as David Pitcher lives in the Boston area as well, I think a gathering in Massachusetts would make sense. Depending on how shipping works out, the MIT Fall 2012 competition could work as a possible time and place to meet. If the puzzle doesn't arrive on time for the competition, another possible venue would be Faneuil Hall Marketplace, which we've used for twisty puzzle meetups in the past. What does everyone else think?

I have had many great meet ups in conjunction with speed solving competitions.

I would caution, however, that not everyone attending such events has a proper understanding or respect for the handling of custom puzzles. So I might recommend if you bring it that you are careful about how it is shared, usually only to individuals you can keep in sight. At past events I have had multiple puzzles broken and passed quickly from one person I might be comfortable handling it to others I have never met. The PAW is designed rugged of course, but no sense testing it

Now when I bring custom puzzles I am very open to show them but a bit more guarded about who I let handle them. I think the purpose of the PAW is best served by sharing it as openly as possible, with perhaps the restriction that it be with those who will appreciate it.

Dave

See this thread for SF meet up details.

Dave

Do you know that your talking to yourself?

Thursday night we held a San Francisco Meetup which was a good idea on general principal but generally inspired by wanting to share the PAW before it started its journey.
I posted a link to the flickr set in that thread, but here is a picture of the group with the PAW:

Left to right:
dlitwin, Melinda, schuma, acjj, io, Bram, bmenrigh, Aleh

Enjoy,

Dave

Sending a puzzle around the world isn't a small thing, not with 23 different recipients. By now we have had three of us (as well as a number of other locals to enjoy it) and it hasn't yet been touched by the postal system.

The path of the PAW is generally East, from California all the way around the world and back. The last leg, from Australia to California, is pretty far across the lonely pacific. What if we could give the PAW a chance to visit a mid-pacific timezone? Perhaps, say, on the lovely island of Kauai?




Think of this as backing up a bit before a long running jump, or perhaps pulling back a sling shot.

Enjoy,

Dave

I love that the puzzle went to Hawaii!

By the way, this version of the Pentultimate is buttery smooth. It's as perfect as I've ever seen a printed puzzle turn. I'm proud of my pent v2.5, but this one actually cuts corners, a big benefit of shells I suppose. So congrats to those who designed and made it. Definitely the best version of the Pentultimate I've seen to date!

Wow. Enjoying PAW on a Hawaiian island is a perfect reward for organizing a great meetup.

Dave Litwin visited me for lunch at Lucasfilm, and it seemed like a good time for the Puzzle Around the World project to get some pictures!

The pictures are great. I can't wait to see more!

To encourage participants to scramble and try to solve the puzzle, I have made a video:

How to solve a physical Pentultimate (video)



For a physical solve I'm advocating simple, repetitive routines rather than efficient complex ones. This should cut down on the number of mistakes that require you to start over.

For the video I used a print of TomZ's 30mm Pentultimate.

Thanks to Nan for sharing solving ideas with me last night, the solution I suggest in the video is easier because of his input.

I'd love to participate in a gathering and get a chance to meet more fellow puzzlers. Let's keep in touch as the arrival time for the PAW puzzle gets closer.

Hi Brandon and all who are interested in solving a Pentultimate,

thank you for making this video!
I find it very clear and very enjoyable!

I consider it interesting that the 2-2 swap that you are explaining so thoroughly is the very same move sequence I had used originally. In the twistypuzzle notation for Faceturning Dodecahedra I would write (R2 L'2 R'2 L2)x3.
My current method is similar:
1. Surround the white face by five correct corners (identical to your video)
2. Place the five centres between the white corners (identical to your video)
3. Place the remaining six centres (identical to your video)
4. Place the remaining corners using 3-cycles (different move sequences)

I'll elaborate a bit on step 4:
Almost two years ago, I got TomZ's Mini.
When I looked around for a more efficient 3-cycle for Pentultimate corners, I found one in the Gelatinbrain thread.
It was posted by Brandon and if I'm not mistaken Brandon had found it with a computer program.
I'll use the TP Dodecahedron notation for Faceturning Dodecahedra:

The sequence in this notation is F2 L' R U2 L' U'2 L R' F'2 L (in Gelatinbrain notation: A2, F', C, B2, F', B'2, F, C', A'2, F; you can cut and paste it into 1.1.7)
I find it strangely regular and easy to remember. It is not a commutator, though.
The advantage is that it is short (10 turns) and only 4 of them are double-turns (by 144°).
As Brandon has said in his video, double-turns are a bit more dangerous in case the physical puzzle is catching.
You can easily forget, if your double-turn was completed or not.
My new 30mm Pentultimates do not catch so often as the Mini, but still I can loose concentration in case of a catch.
Fortunately, this happens not so often.
I use the sequence above and its inverse but do never need the mirrored version. I just hold the whole puzzle differently.
Here is the inverse:
L' F2 R L' U2 L U'2 R' L F2
And here is a Gelatinbrain image showing a situation that can be solved by the inverse version:

The arrows show how three corners will be cycled around by L' F2 R L' U2 L U'2 R' L F2.
I find this visually nice, because the three corners are in two faces only (F and DR) and the orientation of the corners does not change. I'm looking at three stickers that will arrive in the taret face.
It gives me still a lot of freedom to do setup moves.
Usually, I try to place corners correctly orientated. Especially the corner in the D layer (at D-DR-BR) can be orientated by easy to remeber setup moves: D BR turns it clockwise on its location and BR' D' countercockwise.

I find thinking in 3-cycles easier than using 2-2 swaps and with the 12 move sequence in the video a 3-cycle is 26 moves long where 24 of them are double-turns.
I admit that the 12 move sequence is more regular, but I'm very well trained using the 10 move sequences and I make errors very rarely.
While I do it, I think of the first five moves having one direction - up(R, L') or clockwise (F2, U2) - and the last five moves having the opposite direction - down (R', L) or counterclockwise (U'2 F'2)

For those who like my photo sequences, here is an example with a simple one move setup (BR'):

The purple arrows on the upper left photo show the 3-cycle needed to solve the puzzle.

Of course, there are much more commutator based 3-cycles. Elwyn has given me one (Gelatinbrain notation):
A, C, B, C', B', A', K,
A, B, C, B', C', A', K',
And Burgo uses a pretty nice [7,1] commutator based on a Sune like sequence.

EDIT: I corrected a typo in my example picture and improved it slightly.

I'm in NYC. I'd love to go!

-Doug

I had a wonderful red box appear on my doorstep last week. I didn't post anything because I scrambled it and wanted to wait till I had it solved. I started trying to solve it without any help and I totally recommend to anyone else getting the PAW or any pentultimate that you try to solve it on your own a bit before looking up hints. I didn't manage to solve it all by myself, but the first half that I did get was a blast. Here's what I did:

My first stab at solving was pretty useless. Decided to ignore the corners completely and managed to solve all the centers in a minute or two. Then I stared at the puzzles for a while and decided I completely had the wrong strategy.

I started over (again without reading any hints) I ended up on the same track as bmenrigh and Konrad.
1. I started by solving the white corners around the white centers (super simple).
2. Next I solved the 5 centers nearest the white face (super simple again).
3. Not ready to give up and revert to commutators just yet, I continued. I started to look for moves to solve the remaining corners in the white hemisphere. The first one I found worked pretty well, though it has the problem that it can only solve 4 of these 5 corners (C,B',C',B2,C,B',C'). I was stuck on having 9 of the 10 corners in the white hemisphere solved for a while. Then I found another algorithm that could insert them one at a time (C,B,C',B,C,B'2,C'). Both of these algorithms require you to fiddle with the piece to get it in the right spot to insert it. I don't really have a plan for how to do that, just keep fiddling with sune like moves until it's in place.
4. Time to move on to the remaining face before submitting to commutators for the corners. I quickly found this 3-cycle for the remaining centers and it doesn't touch the white hemisphere. (C,B',C',B',A',B2,A,B,C,B',C',B')
5. At this point I had to give up and peek at Brandon's tutorial video. I was surprised how easily I was able to permute the corners. I think I was a bit lucky or something. When I was doing the [1,1]x3, I was watching some TV. To save myself some sanity, I counted out the x3 on my legs by sitting on them and extending them. I'm really surprised I didn't mess that up even once. Setup moves were mostly just 1 turn. When I got down to rotating the last few corners, I had to write them down.

I think my method saves a few extra moves over Brandon's and Konrad's by solving a few corners quickly without taxing the brain too much on memorize new algorithms. I certainly had a lot of fun playing with it finding new moves. I'm glad my first solve on the pentultimate was a physical one and not on gelatin brain.

Notes about my notation. I'm using gelatinbrain notation. K is the white face and I memorize them based on how I move the D face thoughout the algorithm.


*END SPOILERS*

If there's any twisty puzzle members in the area, I'd love you meet you but I fear I'm on a virtual twisty puzzle island. I live in Vancouver, Washington, across the river from Portland.
I'll probably go take a few pics around town tomorrow if I can (and not too busy with Borderlands 2 ).

Aha, the first shipping of PAW was successful! Thanks for sharing the solving experience. Looking forward to more pictures!

Time for pics.

Me on campus at Washington State University in Vancouver where I went to school. Normally (or rather abnormally) you can Mount Saint Helens in the background but you can't because of the weather.
Ah, that beautiful northwest weather. Earlier in the week it was sunny and in the 80s. Brought a smile to my face to see the clouds again. The only notable thing in the area that came to mind was Fort Vancouver. The site as it is today is a replica of the original. Here's the main bridge that crosses the river over to Portland. It's not as famous as the Golden Gate Bridge, but um... our bridge is older so HA! (well, half of it is).

I'm going to do a few more solves and share with some friends before sending it on it's first international trip on Monday.

Great cannon shot!

Dave

Shoot the Pentultimate!

It will baffle the enemy into submission.

Looks more just like a garden fence than a fort - and it isn't even the original fence!

(p.s., I know, it's just the entrance sign. )

Did my first timed solve

00:00.01 : White center solved
01:00.ish : 5 white centers solved
02:00.ish : 5 faces around white centers solved
06:00.ish : White hemisphere solved (5 corners since last time)
07:20.ish : All faces solved
23:50.ish : All corners placed
30:00.ish : All but yellow corners solved
35:03.21 : Completely solved

Probably could have rotated corners a little more efficiently, but I'm happy with my time. This was my 3rd complete solve. Doing just one hemisphere is more fun because the algorithms are really easy and semi intuitive (at least for me).

For the last corners, I use Brandon's (R2' L2 R2 L2')x3. To keep track of the x3, instead of mentally repeating (down down up up)x3 and counting up, I mentally (or out loud) say (down down up up) (strange strange charm charm) (bottom bottom top top). I find this much easier to keep track of instead of counting 2 things at once.

My mom insisted that I post one more image that no one else will/can do.
Off to the post office now. Delayed because of customs forms.

Wow, I didn't notice anything wrong with the photo until I read this line. The pose looks pretty natural. Maybe you can try putting both legs behind your neck and solve the puzzle by feet, which is essentially blindfolded....

Step 1 complete.It's been a long time since I could easily do this. It seems I've grown a gut since high school that gets in the way and it's incredible uncomfortable now (I know you think it could never be comfortable).

Whoa man you're more twisty than the puzzle!

How can you do that gesture!!!???

Now I'm jealous of you for two reasons.

Acknowledged.
Quote of the day!

Slight understatement. Those *can't* be your legs. How do you keep your spine attached?

I'm next! I've had the puzzle for about a week now. I've only managed to solve half of it at this point, and since it's past time for me to be sending it along, I'll be using some of the above posts to get it back to a solved state.

Here are few photographs.

The CN Tower in downtown Toronto. Was the world's tallest free-standing structure and world's tallest tower for 34 years from 1976-2010 when the Burj Khalifa superseded it in both categories:


Autumn in southern Ontario can be very colourful thanks to our abundance of maple trees:


Concentrating on posing for the photo while pretending I'm concentrating on the puzzle. If you can see past my hair, you may notice a bit of my collection:


It'll be on its way to DKwan tomorrow.

Sandy

Hello Canada! It's nice to see the puzzle again. For several days I was wondering where it was. The maple leaves look more colorful than the puzzle!

Turns out my puzzle solving skills are embarrassingly rusty. I'm even finding following the various online solutions challenging to grasp and prone to start-all-over errors. It's well past my bedtime, so I'm tempted to keep it for one more day... either that or ship it pre-scrambled (it's a feature, not a bug!). I'll see how I feel in the morning.

Sandy

Beautiful maple leaf picture! I'm glad you still have some collection after your selling spree.

I'm glad the puzzle made it safely on an international journey. How is the box holding up?

As for solving, I'm embarrassed to say I really underestimated the number of folks that would attempt to solve the puzzle. So far we're 100% which is great!

First time to see Sandy~Oh of course he is not Sandy I just mean it~

edit: I just realized that it is the real Sandy....Sorry.

Does anyone know where PAW is? It was sent from Sandy into Sandy, right?

Indeed it was. Daniel Kwan has it safely though and Eric Vergo will have it soon .

It was my honor to be a participant in this community project. I have scrambled/solved it a bunch of times over the past couple of weeks, and it was quite a pleasure to play with because of how incredibly smoothly it turns.

Here are some pictures of the PatW:

Darwin Martin House: A historic Frank Lloyd Wright house from 1905



University at Buffalo North Campus: the school I currently attend



Niagara Falls: pictures from the Canadian side





The hand-off to Eric at Jay's Diner in Rochester

Do I see a Little Chop in that box?

I have received the PAW. It will be going to Florida along with it being here in CT.

I received the puzzle on Friday. Being more of a puzzle designer, I haven't attempted solving the puzzle, but I can tell you that the quality of this puzzle is amazing. I probably would've thought it was mass produced if I didn't know it was printed, as the surface finish is completely smooth, turning is excellent, and all of the pieces feel completely solid.

I took the puzzle to North Bridge in Concord, MA, where the first shots of the Battles of Lexington and Concord were fired in 1775, marking the start of the Revolutionary War.





Since this was the site of the "shot heard 'round the world," I thought it would be appropriate to bring the Puzzle Around the World Pentultimate here.

Nice pictures! Will you take it to Boston and take some pictures with the landmarks there?

It looks like I won't have time to go out and get more pictures before I have to ship it off, but maybe I'll let David Pitcher do that since he also lives a few miles outside of Boston.

Alright, here are my pictures with the PAW:

PAW takes to the skies.


Florida:





And back to CT:
Snow!

It's great to see the PAW going places and having fun! I think I should have asked Eric to design a little jacket for it to survive the New England cold .

But today was warm! It reached 41°F.

David Pitcher and I have decided that we will be exchanging the puzzle and holding a small gathering this Saturday. We'll meet at the central seating area in Quincy Market, part of Faneuil Hall Marketplace at around 10:00-10:30 AM. We're opening this up to other members to come if anyone is interested or available, and we'd appreciate it if you can let us know if you plan on coming so we know if we should be on the lookout for others.

How was the Faneuil Hall meetup going? Any picture? I stayed in Boston for several years, and love that city!

I only got one picture, and it didn't turn out so great, but I think Dave got a few good ones. We were the only two members there, probably because I had to post about it on pretty short notice, but it's still always nice to meet someone else from the community.

Hi Everyone,

I was lucky enough to spend a week with the PAW as it traveled through the Boston area recently. Will and I met at Faneuil Hall (Quincy Market) for the handoff. Of course, we each brought a bunch of puzzles to play with too...
Once we were ready to go our separate ways we stopped in front of Faneuil Hall for a photo with PAW...
Then I introduced PAW to Sam Adams, signer of the Declaration of Independence, patriot, brewer, and puzzle aficionado?
After that PAW and I made a quick stop at the Old State House. This was the site of the Boston Massacre, which was one of many sparks that helped ignite the American Revolution...
Then it was back up north to my hometown of Swampscott, where PAW took in a view of Boston across the water...
I spent a week with PAW, and did manage to get through one solve. While I wasn't being befuddled by the puzzle, PAW spent some quality time with friends...
Then it was off to the post office, and PAW is now on it's journey across the pond to begin it's adventures in Europe!

Bon Voyage!
Dave