Dayan Bermuda Cube Earth

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Pio2001
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Dayan Bermuda Cube Earth

Post by Pio2001 » August 2nd, 2012, 10:19 pm

Dayan Bermuda Cube Earth.jpg
Dayan Bermuda Cube Earth.jpg (97.23 KiB) Viewed 11530 times
Type : twisty puzzle (jumbling).
Estimated solving time :
Non-cubist : no way
Casual cubist : more than 10 hours
Expert cubist : several hours

The + : a real challenge to solve. An impressive mess when scrambled.
The - : ...

My rating : 5/5

I have been owning a Rubik's cube for many years. Some years ago, I got the 4x4x4 and 5x5x5 Rubik's cubes, and painfully managed to solve them.
Quite recently, I became aware of the huge variety of twisty puzzles, such as we can see in the Twisty Puzzles online museum, for example.

To begin easy, I first got Jing's Pyraminx. But I was a bit disappointed. The sides were too closely interacting, and it all seems to be a matter of algorithms... I don't like algorithms. I didn't solve it.

Then, I got Meffert's Treasure Chest, and the Megaminx. But the Treasure Chest looked a bit less impressive than I expected, and the Megaminx was easier than I thought. Actually, once you know how to solve the basic 3x3x3 cube, it is much easier to solve a Megaminx than, say, a 4x4x4 or a 5x5x5 cube.

I try, when possible, to buy the least possible puzzles because my collection is becoming too big. So I tried to be very careful about the choice of my next twisty puzzle, that would hopefully be the last.
I browsed web sites and read forums. I was looking for a twisty puzzle that would change shape when scrambled, where restoring the inital shape would be a challenge in itself, where the challenge would not only be to restore its shape, and that would not be a mere extension of the Rubik's 3x3x3.

The Dayan Bermuda Cube series seemed to match these requirements. But the series feature 8 different puzzles called Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune (not to be mistaken with the Crazy Cubes and Crazy Megaminx, also named after the planets of the solar system) plus some other with a non-cubic shape.
Which one of them should I choose ?

According to the twisty puzzle forums, Mercury and Venus are easy and can be solved adapting the solution of the 3x3x3 classic cube. That was not what I was looking for. Saturn and Uranus, on the opposite, are so hindered in their moves that some pieces cannot be scrambkled at all.
Among the remaining ones, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Neptune, I chose Earth because in addition to the Triangle sides common to all the series, it is the only one to feature a Fisher-style side (a side cut diagonally).

As it is the case with shipping from China to Europe, the delivery took one month.

The cube arrived in good shape. The stickers are shiny and nice. The quality of the mechanism seems good. But when the cube is new, the springs inside squeak a bit. Now it seems a bit more silent

The mechanism is based on a central cross with 6 arms, just like the Rubik's cube. The difference is that some sides can be turned by an amount of 45°, still allowing the next sides to rotate. It follows that some corners can become edges, and some edges can become corners !
Moreover, the two sides with a big triangle in the center prevent two or three of their neighbours to rotate, according to their orientation.

Here is a picture of the puzzle, completely scrambled :
Dayan Bermuda Cube Earth scrambled.jpg
Dayan Bermuda Cube Earth scrambled.jpg (98.13 KiB) Viewed 11530 times
I first didn't know if it was better to start the resolution with a normal side, with the diagonal side, or with a triangle side.

I quickly saw that this time, I found very interesting puzzle. The first steps could be completed intuitively, not involving some mathematical algorithms, like with the Pyraminx. But because of the triangle sides, the simple fact of moving a piece to the first layer invlolves a bit of attention and thinking. It was like if I was rediscovering the Rubik's cube for the first time, looking at the way the pieces would move if I turn this or that way. A very enjoyable experience !

I eventually came to a point where only the last layer remained unsloved. I could use what I knew from the Rubik's cube in order to arrange some pieces, but I was missing a way to swap three small pieces (not sure if I should call them corner or edges, since they jump from a position to the other all the time !).
At this point, the puzzle remained very interesting, because I could try many simple combinations that can't be performed on a classic cube, thanks to the sides with the big triangles.

But after having tried for hours, even having completely solved it once by pure chance, I could't find a reliable way to perform the operation that I needed. I enventually looked for a tutorial on Youtube, and quickly found what I was looking for. The answer was actually easier than I thought.
I can tell you, as strange as it sounds with a twisty puzzle considered as "very difficult" even by experts, that it was a kind of these "aha" moment, like it happens with much easier puzzles. A clever and nice combination that had been lying just outside the limits of my reflexion.

Now I understand it quite well, and I can solve it by myself. Other cubist are discussing several ways of solving it on the Twisty Puzzle forums, but I mostly stick with my own method.

I am very happy with this puzzle, that features, at last, everything that I was expecting from all these new twisty puzzles.

5 out of 5 !

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