MF8 Ball Helicopter

MF8 Ball Helicopter

MF8 Ball Helicopter is a Helicopter Cube turned into a sphere. The mechanism and the way it scrambles stay the same; only the shape is different: instead of a cube, you get a round puzzle about 53 mm in diameter. The corners have small nubs that you grip with your fingers when turning. Without them, the smooth ball would be hard to turn. Some shops describe this model as a shape mod of the Curvy Copter III.

How this puzzle works

The Helicopter turns around axes that pass through the edges, not through the face centers as on a 3x3 cube. The basic move is a 180° turn that swaps two corners and the neighboring face pieces. On top of that, there is jumbling. If you turn a layer by a smaller angle, you can make moves that are impossible in the normal position. Pieces then move to other positions, and the number of possible states grows.

After jumbling, the Helicopter Cube loses its cube shape. The Ball Helicopter doesn't have this problem, because a sphere looks the same whatever the arrangement of the pieces. Scrambling works exactly the same way, but there is no shapeshifting. This makes turning easier but orientation harder: you can't judge the state of the puzzle by its shape, only by the colors.

Who is it for?

The Ball Helicopter is a puzzle for collectors and for people who can already solve a few unusual puzzles and are looking for something other than yet another NxN cube. It is not a speedcubing puzzle. It has no magnets and no tension adjustment system, and here understanding the mechanism matters more than time. It will be too difficult as a child's first puzzle. If you already know the classic Helicopter Cube, you'll recognize the same mechanism in a round shell.

When jumbling, don't force the turns. It's best to finish turning a layer completely before you start the next move.

Specifications

• Type: ball-shaped Helicopter, edge-turning mechanism with jumbling
• Manufacturer: MF8
• Size: approx. 53 mm
• Weight: approx. 58 g
• Magnets: none
• Nubs on the corners for gripping when turning
• Color variant: Primary