Skewb

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The Skewb in solved state
The Skewb in solved state
The four turning planes of the Skewb bisect it as shown in this figure.
The four turning planes of the Skewb bisect it as shown in this figure.

The Skewb is a magic polyhedron—that is, a mechanical puzzle in the style of Rubik's Cube—invented by Tony Durham and marketed by Uwe Mèffert. Although it is cubical in shape, it differs from Rubik's construction in that its axes of rotation pass through the corners of the cube rather than the centres of the faces. There are four such axes, one for each space diagonal of the cube. As a result, it is a deep-cut puzzle in which each twist affects all six faces.

Mèffert's original name for this puzzle was the Pyraminx Cube, to emphasise that it was part of a series including his first tetrahedral puzzle Pyraminx. The catchier name Skewb was coined by Douglas Hofstadter in his Metamagical Themas column, and Mèffert liked it enough not only to market the Pyraminx Cube under this name but also to name some of his other puzzles after it, such as the Skewb Diamond.

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