Bedlam cube
The Bedlam cube is a solid dissection puzzle invented by British puzzle expert Bruce Bedlam.[1][2][3]
Design
[edit | edit source]The puzzle consists of thirteen polycubic pieces: twelve pentacubes and one tetracube. The objective is to assemble these pieces into a 4 x 4 x 4 cube. There are 19,186 distinct ways of doing so, up to rotations and reflections.
The Bedlam cube is one unit per side larger than the 3 x 3 x 3 Soma cube, and is much more difficult to solve.
History
[edit | edit source]Two of the BBC's 'Dragons' from Dragons' Den, Rachel Elnaugh and Theo Paphitis, were to invest in the Bedlam cube during the 2005 series. They offered £100,000 for a 30% share of equity in Bedlam Puzzles. Danny Bamping (the entrepreneur behind Bedlam cube) finally chose a bank loan instead of their investment, as seen in the relevant "Where Are They Now" episode of Dragons' Den.[4]
Records
[edit | edit source]According to Guinness World Records, the uncontested world record for assembling the Bedlam Cube is 11.03 seconds by Danny Bamping on 9 November 2006.[5] The blindfolded record is 27.21 seconds by Aleksandr Iljasov on 25 February 2008.[6]
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ^ GB patent 2183166, Leslie James Heaton, "Puzzle cubes", published Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)., issued Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)., assigned to Leslie James Heaton
- ^ [1]: "Bruce Bedlam the Cubes inventor is putting all his royalty fees into his company 'Stonehenge Limited'"
- ^ Bruce's Theories Archived 2020-02-23 at the Wayback Machine — Stonehenge Ltd website
- ^ [2] Archived 2013-03-02 at the Wayback Machine: "A review on where are they now"
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
External links
[edit | edit source]- The Official Site of Bedlam Puzzles (as was, 2011: last valid archive copy)
- Bedlam Cube solver
- All 19,186 Bedlam Cube Solutions
- Bedlam Cube Demonstration Software
