DaYan Gem Cube I

DaYan Gem Cube I

DaYan Gem Cube I is the first puzzle in the Gem series, DaYan's line of puzzles shaped like cut gemstones. It takes the form of a truncated octahedron with 14 faces: eight hexagons and six squares. It was designed by Daqing Bao, the founder of DaYan, and released in 2011. Gem I is an edge-turning puzzle, so it turns around axes that pass through the edges, not around the faces as on a classic 3x3 cube.

How this puzzle works

The mechanism has the same axis layout as the Helicopter Cube. The shape is different, so different pieces are visible on the outside. Its key feature is jumbling. If you turn a layer by a partial angle and immediately make a move with an adjacent edge, some pieces jump to a different orbit. The puzzle then loses its regular shape, and some moves are no longer possible. That is why Gem I belongs to the shape-shifting puzzle category. If you avoid jumbling moves, solving is fairly relaxed. A full scramble with jumbling raises the difficulty considerably.

Solving and turning

You don't need to know any ready-made algorithms to solve Gem I. An intuitive approach is enough. If you know the Helicopter Cube or the Curvy Copter, you'll grasp the idea quickly. Opinions on how it turns vary. Some users praise its solid build, few lockups and no popping. Others say that out of the box the puzzle feels fairly rough and only turns noticeably smoother after lubing. So it's worth keeping some lube at hand.

Who is it for?

For puzzle collectors and anyone who wants to try something other than NxN cubes. It's also a good first step towards jumbling puzzles. Gem I isn't a puzzle for setting speed records. It's for figuring out the mechanism at your own pace. Among the Gem puzzles, it's one of the easier models to understand, and it looks great on a shelf.

Specifications

• Type: edge-turning, shape-shifting puzzle (jumbling)
• Shape: truncated octahedron, 14 faces (8 hexagons, 6 squares)
• Manufacturer: DaYan
• Series: DaYan Gem
• Dimensions: approx. 97 x 95 x 80 mm
• Weight: approx. 176 g
• Plastic colour: black (Black)