# I want a puzzle that is really, really hard



## Hadley4000 (Dec 27, 2009)

I want a new puzzle that will totally stump me. I have never had a puzzle that has taken me more than 5 days to solve(I don't use tutorials at all). I really want the ISIS puzzle, but that costs ~$150. 

I am just trying to find a puzzle that will take me a really long time to solve, and will totally mess with my mind. Any ideas for twisty/mechanical puzzles that will be a SERIOUS challenge?


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## Anita09 (Dec 27, 2009)

There are these things called cast puzzles. They are the ones that you have to try to untangle the medal parts without bending them or just removing the pieces from each other. The hardest ones are level 6. The one my friend has is called a Cast Enigma. They are pretty hard


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## Hadley4000 (Dec 27, 2009)

Eh, those have never been super intriguing to me.


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## Tim Major (Dec 27, 2009)

I checked your WCA profile, and you haven't competed in square-1. You may have one, but if not, buy one, and don't look for any help on it. Try to solve it completely yourself. Don't even look into the steps, though I'm guessing you may have already, just browsing through this forum.

Or, buy a puzzle that isn't used in the WCA speedsolving. Buy something that isn't mass produced. For example, rainbow cube. However, I don't know how challenging this is. Try something that's different. For example, shape shifts.


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## Anita09 (Dec 27, 2009)

lol they are cool i guess. They make the time past by quickly.


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## Ethan Rosen (Dec 27, 2009)

http://users.skynet.be/gelatinbrain/Applets/Magic Polyhedra/octa_e4.htm

enjoy


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## Hadley4000 (Dec 27, 2009)

ZB_FTW!!! said:


> I checked your WCA profile, and you haven't competed in square-1. You may have one, but if not, buy one, and don't look for any help on it. Try to solve it completely yourself. Don't even look into the steps, though I'm guessing you may have already, just browsing through this forum.
> 
> Or, buy a puzzle that isn't used in the WCA speedsolving. Buy something that isn't mass produced. For example, rainbow cube. However, I don't know how challenging this is. Try something that's different. For example, shape shifts.



Took me about 2 hours or so to get the Square-1, no tutorial. Pretty fun, mine is broken now, though. 

Things like the ISIS puzzle, Revomaze Extreme Puzzle, and Kuku ball are the style I'm really interested in getting now.


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## Stefan (Dec 27, 2009)

5-dimensional cube


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## Hadley4000 (Dec 27, 2009)

Ethan Rosen said:


> http://users.skynet.be/gelatinbrain/Applets/Magic Polyhedra/octa_e4.htm
> 
> enjoy





I mean a physical puzzle.


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## joey (Dec 27, 2009)

Do NOT get a rainbow cube.


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## blade740 (Dec 27, 2009)

Golden Cube? FTO?


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## michaellahti (Dec 27, 2009)

Ethan Rosen said:


> http://users.skynet.be/gelatinbrain/Applets/Magic Polyhedra/octa_e4.htm
> 
> enjoy





I usually don't use the word "impossible," but that seems to fit this very well.


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## Catalyst (Dec 27, 2009)

These drove me insane, 2 weeks for the mini conundrum X2 
http://www.maxton.com/maxtongallery.shtml

btw these are pretty expensive


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## Johannes91 (Dec 27, 2009)

Anita09 said:


> There are these things called cast puzzles. [...] The hardest ones are level 6.


That's the intent, but for some puzzles the levels are really off. A few level 6 ones are surprisingly easy and some level 4-5 ones are fricking hard...

@Hadley4000: If you want hard twisty puzzles, try some subgroups like <r,U> on 4x4x4. It's easy to come up with insanely hard ones.


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## tlm1992 (Dec 27, 2009)

if you want a hard puzzle, you should check out this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMCMScomc6g
it's granite..!


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## gpt_kibutz (Dec 27, 2009)

What about a super square 1?


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## TemurAmir (Dec 27, 2009)

Flip an edge piece on a 3x3 and try to solve it without taking it apart, . Or: http://popbuying.com/detail.pb/sku.26351


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## V-te (Dec 27, 2009)

Find a girl

There's your puzzle


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## spdqbr (Dec 27, 2009)

along the same lines as isis you have this and this. Neither are that much less expensive. You could win some cash if you solve them though!


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## Carson (Dec 27, 2009)

V-te said:


> Find a girl
> 
> There's your puzzle


He said really really hard... not IMPOSSIBLE.


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## qqwref (Dec 27, 2009)

Carson said:


> V-te said:
> 
> 
> > Find a girl
> ...



Haha! Yeah, I think that is a puzzle many people never truly master, even with instructions!

If you're looking for a very very difficult physical twisty puzzle, the hardest I know of is the Big Chop which can be bought for roughly $300 (keep in mind it's not mass-produced). This is a real-life analogue of one of the most difficult Gelatinbrain puzzles; the best solve ever done on the computer took 3.5 hours and 1904 moves, and that's from someone who knew the whole method before he started. This one is even harder to do than the Gelatinbrain one, though, because you can't do a turn at a simple click of a mouse, but only by using the cage (which takes a few seconds per turn and might be disorienting). In short, this puzzle is probably impossible to solve (without disassembly) faster than an hour or two, and finding a solution by itself is definitely no easy task.


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## Hadley4000 (Dec 27, 2009)

spdqbr said:


> along the same lines as isis you have this and this. Neither are that much less expensive. You could win some cash if you solve them though!



I looked at those, but they are just too much money.


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## PEZenfuego (Dec 27, 2009)

If only the hexaminx was mass-produced...


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## blah (Dec 27, 2009)

Gordian's Knot.

Or what Stefan said.


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## xbrandationx (Dec 27, 2009)

get a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle, and solve it flipped over


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## LSDJ (Dec 27, 2009)

Get A Revomaze. If you want hard start with bronze or silver but beware they become very addictive. The best puzzles I own!


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## shelley (Dec 27, 2009)

If you can get your hands on a ghost cube, that should keep you busy for an hour or two. You'll also have a ready retort for the people who say "I used to peel the stickers off/take it apart" regarding the Rubik's cube. Just put a scrambled ghost cube in front of them and say "Good luck with that strategy, then."


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## Hadley4000 (Dec 27, 2009)

LSDJ said:


> Get A Revomaze. If you want hard start with bronze or silver but beware they become very addictive. The best puzzles I own!



That's one I'd like, but I can't afford it.


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## ElderKingpin (Dec 27, 2009)

void cube?


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## hyunchoi98 (Dec 27, 2009)

ElderKingpin said:


> void cube?



I think that's too easy.

If you want long to solve, custom make a 20x20 cube.

Try making custom puzzles from shape shifting puzzles!
That I think would be hard to make and solve.


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## V-te (Dec 27, 2009)

World Hunger? Global Warming?


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## DcF1337 (Dec 27, 2009)

Void 1x1?


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## Zubon (Dec 27, 2009)

I am also always looking for harder puzzles to solve. The more you solve, the better you get at solving new puzzles the less you see puzzles that challenge you. There are a lot of puzzles I don't own but have already figured out a solution to.

A lot of puzzles that are just bigger versions of the original ones (large cubes, super square-1, 3x3x4, gigaminx) and are not really harder than the original ones except you may have to do it twice. Sometimes there are some interesting parities like in the "crazy 4x4" which can be interesting.

I think that the most difficult puzzles for me are shape mods of existing puzzles. Sometimes it is really hard to get it into your head that puzzles like pillowed mastermorphix are just a 3x3.


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## xXzaKerXx (Dec 27, 2009)

A gigaminx o.0? and i think there's something called a terraminx out already correct me if i'm wrong but i THINK that's what it's called


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## kinch2002 (Dec 27, 2009)

StefanPochmann said:


> 5-dimensional cube



+1. The 3x3x3x3 took me about 10 hours (spread across a week) so I can imagine that you won't manage the 6x6x6x6x6 within a week


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## Hadley4000 (Dec 27, 2009)

Zubon said:


> I am also always looking for harder puzzles to solve. The more you solve, the better you get at solving new puzzles the less you see puzzles that challenge you. There are a lot of puzzles I don't own but have already figured out a solution to.
> 
> A lot of puzzles that are just bigger versions of the original ones (large cubes, super square-1, 3x3x4, gigaminx) and are not really harder than the original ones except you may have to do it twice. Sometimes there are some interesting parities like in the "crazy 4x4" which can be interesting.
> 
> I think that the most difficult puzzles for me are shape mods of existing puzzles. Sometimes it is really hard to get it into your head that puzzles like pillowed mastermorphix are just a 3x3.



Yea, that's my problem. That's why for my huge challenge I might want to stray away from twisty puzzles and go for something like the Isis or Kuku or Ramisis, or something to that liking. They're just so damn expensive!


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## Owen (Dec 27, 2009)

To bad the Praxis cube is not mass produced,...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vWtkd6svaA


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## LSDJ (Dec 27, 2009)

Revomaze also has a plastic version available known as the Extreme series, they are the same puzzle as it's big brother counterpart but does not include you in the Competition they are having but instead gives you a code to a prize site. Worth checking out.


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## Stefan (Dec 27, 2009)

Hadley4000 said:


> Isis or Kuku or Ramisis, or something to that liking.
> *They're just so damn expensive!*


Put 'em on your Christmas wishlist? 

This kind of puzzle looks like a very good idea. I think there are communities/forums for those as well, maybe they could help you better at finding good ones with lower prices? I doubt many people here will be able to.


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## PEZenfuego (Dec 27, 2009)

How hard is the pyraminx crystal? What about the golden cube. They are both modifications of other (easier) puzzles but I imagine that without any guidance at all, these puzzles would be difficult to solve.


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## Stefan (Dec 27, 2009)

Square-1, super square-1, pyraminx crystal and even void cube and rainbow cube... why do people treat Hadley like a noob?


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## Hadley4000 (Dec 27, 2009)

StefanPochmann said:


> This kind of puzzle looks like a very good idea. I think there are communities/forums for those as well, maybe they could help you better at finding good ones with lower prices? I doubt many people here will be able to.




The problem is, you pretty much have to get a new one, and there are very few places where you can do that. Once you get the puzzle you have to register it online before you start the "Adventure", so getting one that is not NIB might be registered already.


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## PatrickJameson (Dec 27, 2009)

StefanPochmann said:


> Square-1, super square-1, pyraminx crystal and even void cube and rainbow cube... why do people treat Hadley like a noob?



Lack of knowledge of those puzzles is my guess.


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## Stefan (Dec 27, 2009)

Hadley4000 said:


> Once you get the puzzle you have to register it online before you start the "Adventure"


Sorry, with "this kind of puzzle" I meant a broader range of mechanical puzzles, not necessarily with registering and "adventures". The Dutch and German cube days for example are kinda shared but split between us twisty puzzlers and the other puzzlers, they have their take-apart puzzles and disentanglement puzzles and impossible object puzzles and stuff like that. That's what I meant, and I feel like there must be online communities for that. Or is this "adventure" aspect the only intriguing aspect of those puzzles you mentioned so you must get one of those? I admit I don't much about them.


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## driftboy_wen (Dec 27, 2009)

somehow, i remember Qubami when i see Pochmann @[email protected]

so maybe Hadley want to try that one


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## Hadley4000 (Dec 27, 2009)

StefanPochmann said:


> Hadley4000 said:
> 
> 
> > Once you get the puzzle you have to register it online before you start the "Adventure"
> ...




Oh, I thought you were talking just about the adventure puzzles. No, I'm pretty much open to anything that will be a good head scratcher. I'll try to see if there is a mechanical puzzle forum thing as well.


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## Tomk (Dec 27, 2009)

I found http://www.deathball.net/notpron/ quite interesting, the first bits are easy but it gets challenging pretty quickly, i never got past about lvl 15.


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## Hadley4000 (Dec 27, 2009)

Tomk said:


> I found http://www.deathball.net/notpron/ quite interesting, the first bits are easy but it gets challenging pretty quickly, i never got past about lvl 15.



Physical puzzle.


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## CitricAcid (Dec 27, 2009)

Hadley4000 said:


> Tomk said:
> 
> 
> > I found http://www.deathball.net/notpron/ quite interesting, the first bits are easy but it gets challenging pretty quickly, i never got past about lvl 15.
> ...


lol. Again. 

Maybe try building a Petaminx? There's a guide around somewhere


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## TheMachanga (Dec 27, 2009)

Cubic 3x3x5. You can get it at thetwistystore.com


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## driftboy_wen (Dec 27, 2009)

IMO, gigaminx, teraminx, or maybe petaminx isnt that hard.. it is just like 5x5, 7x7, or 9x9 in a megaminx shape.. it'll took a looong time to solve it, but i think (once again, because i only have gigaminx, and it is easy to play, and VERY HARD to TURN) it is not that hard


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## LarsN (Dec 27, 2009)

The nintendo barrel. That's a tricky one.

http://www.jaapsch.net/puzzles/nintendo.htm

If you can't find one I might sell you mine. I gave up on it


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## shelley (Dec 27, 2009)

Zubon said:


> I think that the most difficult puzzles for me are shape mods of existing puzzles. Sometimes it is really hard to get it into your head that puzzles like pillowed mastermorphix are just a 3x3.



That's been my experience as well. It seems like once you figure out the general strategy of twisty puzzles and the basics of how commutators work you can solve pretty much any twisty puzzle. Shape mods add a new challenge. The ghost cube makes the pillowed mastermorphix look like a junior 2x2 in comparison. The MorphEgg (not the Golden Egg, but that might be a similar challenge) from Meffert's is also a rather difficult 3x3 shape mod.


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## Owen (Dec 27, 2009)

Wait! Try a 4x4 without, algorithms or strategy. Just use logic.


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## anythingtwisty (Dec 27, 2009)

I have found the FTO VERY difficult, and it is the only puzzle that I own that I cannot solve. Have you tried it?


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