What twisty puzzles do you keep on your desk at work to interest and entertain visitors? My office gets a lot of visitors and my desk/resource area is part of the tour even when I'm not there. I think that the criteria for desk puzzles would be: sturdy, attractive and self-explanatory. A 3x3 cube seems perfect, but what other puzzles can you suggest? As an example, my Classical Tuttminx is a candidate but I'm concerned someone would drop it or let it roll off the table. My idea is to have a few puzzles on display stands around my desk and a little sign "play with me".

Place a 2x2x2 by the 3x3x3. Then people will say, "I've never solved the Rubik's Cube, but I can definitely solve the 2x2x2". After an hour of embarrassment, you can pull out a 2x2x1 from a drawer and tell them "this is for you".

I work in an operating room and my "desk" is an anaesthetic machine! I regularly have all sorts of cubes around for people to play with. My colleagues all think I'm crackers and the medical students I teach don't know which way to take me! None of them can resist having a play - sometimes to my own detriment - one med student twisted my Dayan gem 4 and had a massive explosion! All I knew about it was when I heard the scrub nurse in theatre shout "Oh my God!" whilst I was anaesthetising the next "customer"! I later went into the OR and saw this very large student on all 4's desperately collecting the pieces! He was mortified!

I have to say that the puzzles that go down best are not the twisty puzzles. I often bring in wire disentanglement puzzles or Hanayama cast puzzles and give them to my patients who I do with nerve blocks or epidurals. They all absolutely love it and my repeat customers ask for a different puzzle each time! Recently, i got a request from a colleague to provide a puzzle to a patient who was a bit upset not to see me with a new puzzle!!

However, they still all think I'm nuts!

Classic Tuttminx might be neat to boggle peoples minds. I brought my curvy Tuttminx to a family get-together and that was a VERY bad idea. It got "jumbled" and jammed so much I couldn't turn anything and had to take it apart when I got home. My skewb has stumped many people in that they can't ever figure out how to properly turn it It's been dropped a lot because of that though.

Gear Pyraminx
4x4x6
3x3x3
4x4x4
5x5x5
Mirror 3x3x3
Two Layer Super Square-1
Crazy cube 2x3x3
Witeden 3x3x8

The Gear Cube always boggles people's minds. Very fun to see their eyes light up when they first turn it!

I have a 2x2x2 - 7x7x7 on my desk, plus a helicopter and Starminx for flavor.

In my drawer I have a Gigaminx, Gear Shift and a few Hanayama puzzles.

Long ago I took anything valuable from work, it just wasn't worth the risk of someone breaking something important. But for years I had my whole collection at work.

Dave

This. Pretty much anything with gears is always a crowd pleaser. Also any higher order puzzles.

-Doug

To me twistypuzzles for office desk got 2 requirement. One is it should be strong enough for the risk of dropping or pop out. Second is it shouldn't be too valuable. I Current just got a 3x3 &a 4x4 on my desk. But I think the gear cube is very suitable for this situation.

Instead of twistys I also think the hanayama metal puzzles is good for office desk too. They're strong, not so expensive and good looking too. Should be a very neat decoration for office!

I've got a 3x3x3 for twisty puzzles. I also have a wrench with a chain and a ring on where you remove the ring. Then there is a wooden slice of cake and a wooden egg that I keep at work since the climate is better controlled than at home and it could be ruined if it's too humid or hot. The wrench puzzle boggles everyone. The wooden ones no one really plays with, I think they can see that those are valuable and would hate to break them.

-d

My desk is a mess.


My book case is as well.


Photos courtesy of Otis when he came for a visit October 2011. He made a nice little trip report over on Mf8 that shows some of the puzzles in close up. I'm not sure if you can see them though but here's the link.

Those sit there all the time. The puzzles in the windows are there to test the colorfastness of the stickers for Uwe. Others? I play, my coworkers play. I need something to do to stop the boredom of marking.

I don't have a desk where people visit but if I have to let someone play with one of my puzzles, I give them my gear cube or my speedcubing pyraminx, both of which I can't even pop it when I'm trying!

As a non-member I can't see the pictures (until I figure out a way to sign up), but the report on all of your office puzzles was interesting.

I've always had various puzzles on my desk at work, usually the ones that I happen to be trying to solve at the time.

Recently though I bought a Calendar Cube from Smaz specifically to be left on my desk at work. It's great fun changing it every day, and it's a good talking point for visitors.


Calendar Cube (Smaz) by Puzzleparadox, on Flickr

Most people know that I'm a high school teacher, I keep a bunch of puzzles at the front of the room for the more kinesthetic learners. They actually serve many funtions.. calming for some, challenges for others, something to do after completing a task for others. You would think they would be abused (by my clientelle), but I've found it's a bit like strawberry pickers and strawberries.. it's unusual for them to be overused or abused in the classroom setting, after the initial introduction (in my experience anyway).

I keep 222-555, 332, Skewb, Pyraminx, Scramble Cube 331, Fisher's Cube and: one special 333 (with all the stickers jumbled.. to the point where one edge piece even has 2 yellow stickers). I have more than one 222 & 333 and I often have a slightly bandaged 333 (with masking tape).

The scramble cube is the most loved, the skewb gets the most surprises, the higer order cuboids get more twists than expected, people always think the bandaged cubes are broken, and the incognito `special 333` never gets its cover blown. The Pyraminx is another one that gets regular use, it often has end caps in the wrong place.. I have some really talented scramblers .

When I solve them I find a lot of them in impossible states, but that's not noticed by many people other than myself. The `special 333` is an old Shengshou where all the piece types are capped, someone dropped it and quite a few caps came off, and that's just how they put it back together.. and I just decided to keep it like that for a laugh. The Fisher's I keep there as a challenge for the few that can solve a 333. The skewb pops `a lot` but I just put it back randomly most times, no-one will solve it anyway.

They are rarely in a solved state, and definately never all solved at once.
Cheers,
Burgo.

@Rox: is that your brain sitting on top of your monitor? Is it trying to make a break for freedom?

I once left a twisty puzzle unattended on my desk. It was the curvy Tuttminx, unstickered, and when I found it someone (my pointy haired manager) had managed (pun intended) to force it into the jumbled state and I had to disassemble it to fix it because the truing was so bad

Quicksolver sent me not one, but two brains last Christmas! You will notice, the other is stapled to the backboard.
Escape? No way, those are my spares. Just add water and it quadruples in size! For brains for the price of one.

These get mucked up constantly, but the ones my colleagues really like are those giant Tangles. Tangle-size in the afternoons any one? (usually after we finish one of those bottles of wine that is under my desk-note the empty one on top-that was the real reason we were there. Rox wanted some wine )

Yes I noticed that you possessed a really tiny brain, but I was too much of a gentlemen to mention it

As a coach driver, i don't have a desk

But i do often take puzzles with me to work, especially when i expect to be waiting around for some time. It's become quite a popular pastime for the kids. It's not uncommon for me to have a crowd of them around me while waiting to leave the school as they get a look at the latest puzzle

The 4x4x6 had them all convinced that it was completely impossible to solve.

Any that aren't too fragile i'll allow them to play with if they ask me nicely, and sit right at the front of the bus, so i can keep an eye on them, and there's never any shortage of requests. Since they have seen them many of them bring their rubik cubes now to show me - so I hope I'm helping to spawn a new generation of twisty puzzle fans!

I should get a 2x2x1 one of these days for them

I still go to school, but bring any puzzle that wont fall appart easily. Because somehow some people can pop puzzles that are basicly impossible for ous to pop, but very easy for them. Once at school, someone made my zhanchi explode with on trying to pop it, and it never pops on me ... So bring stable puzzle, skewb is nice, but normaly people don't know how to turn it and drops it... So if the puzzle is loose don't bring it or if it can jumble and you don't want it to get it jumbled, DON'T BRING IT . Big cubes always have nice impression, but cast puzzle are nice to.

My "Bare Bones" Maze Puzzle would be a good choice. It is protected my a clear plastic display case so it is very durable for lots of handling. The intricate internal structure is an intriguing piece of 3D artwork, and people can't resist picking it up and trying to get the ball to one of the goals. Only $9.99, and cheaper if you buy a 2 pack, or 6 pack.

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Happy Holidays

Thank you for all of the suggestions! My coworkers thought this was a great idea and they set up a special area beside my desk for the puzzles I brought in:

If I had a desk at work I would put a 3x3x3 and a "Evil Twin" 3x3x3.