Skewb

The Skewb (/ˈskjuːb/) is a combination puzzle and a mechanical puzzle in the style of the Rubik's Cube. It was invented by Tony Durham and marketed by Uwe Mèffert.[1] 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.

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

Mèffert's original name for this puzzle was the Pyraminx Cube, to emphasize that it was part of a series including his first tetrahedral puzzle, the Pyraminx. The catchier name Skewb was coined by Douglas Hofstadter in his Metamagical Themas column. Mèffert liked the new name enough to apply it to the Pyraminx Cube, and also named some of his other puzzles after it, such as the Skewb Diamond.[2]

Higher-order Skewbs, named Master Skewb and Elite Skewb, have also been made.[3][4]

In December 2013, Skewb was recognized as an official World Cube Association competition event.[5]

Mechanism

Despite a simple appearance, its pieces are actually divided into subgroups and have restrictions that are apparent upon examining the puzzle's mechanism. The eight corners are split into two groups—the four corners attached to the central four-armed spider and the four "floating" corners that can be removed from the mechanism easily. These corners cannot be interchanged i.e. in a single group of four corners, their relative positions are unchanged. They can be distinguished by applying pressure on the corner—if it squishes down a bit, it's a floating corner. The centers only have two possible orientations—this becomes apparent either by scrambling a Skewb-alike puzzle where the center orientation is visible (such as the Skewb Diamond or Skewb Ultimate), or by disassembling the puzzle.

Records

The world record time (single) for a Skewb is 0.81 seconds, set by Zayn Khanani of the United States on 9 July 2022 at the Rubik's WCA North American Championship 2022 in Toronto, Canada.[6]

This Skewb features concave sides for improved grip when turning.

The world record average of 5 (excluding fastest and slowest) is 1.53 seconds, set by Carter Kucala on 15 July 2023 at the Canadian Championship, with times of 1.89, 1.14, 1.55, 1.14 and 4.15 seconds.[6]

Top 5 solvers by single solve
Solver[7]Fastest solveCompetition
United States Zayn Khanani0.81sCanada NAC 2022
Spain Manuel Prieto de Antón0.88sSpain Baztan Open 2023
Australia Andrew Huang0.93sAustralia WCA World Championship 2019
Canada Leo Min-Bedford0.97sMalaysia Selangor Cube Open 2019
Poland Maksymilian Kulas0.98sPoland Cube4fun Bełżyce 2023

Top 5 solvers by Olympic average of 5 solves
Name[8]Fastest averageCompetitionTimes
United States Carter Kucala1.53sCanada Canadian Championship 20231.89, (1.14), 1.55, 1.14, (4.15)
United States Zayn Khanani1.56sUnited States Pretzel Mania 20221.30, (1.20), 1.79, 1.60, (4.89)
Spain Carlos Méndez García-Barroso1.91sSpain Nhood Alcalá Mystery Open 2023(4.10), 1.90, (1.83), 1.92, 1.91
United States Simon Kellum2.01sUnited States Get To The Point 2022(1.56), 1.98, 2.12, (2.91), 1.92
Poland Łukasz Burliga2.03sPoland CFL Santa Claus Cube Race 20172.48, 1.91, 1.71, (1.39), (4.98)

See also

References
  1. "Tony Durham Mechanical Puzzles". The Metagrobologist. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  2. "Jaap's Puzzle Page, Skewb Page". Jaap's Puzzle Page.
  3. Master Skewb
  4. Elite Skewb
  5. "Add Skewb. Resolves issue #102. · thewca/wca-regulations@66d6da9". GitHub. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
  6. World Cube Association Official Results - Skewb
  7. World Cube Association
  8. World Cube Association
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