Pyraminx

Pyraminx

The Pyraminx is a puzzle in the shape of a regular tetrahedron, divided into 4 axial pieces, 6 edge pieces, and 4 trivial tips. It was made and patented by Uwe Mèffert before the original 3 layered Rubik's Cube by Erno Rubik. Mèffert first thought of the Pyraminx in 1970.  He did nothing with his design until 1981 when he first brought it to Hong Kong for production.

 It can be twisted along its cuts to permute its pieces. The axial pieces are octahedral in shape, although this is not immediately obvious, and can only rotate around the axis they are attached to. The 6 edge pieces can be freely permuted. The trivial tips are so called because they can be twisted independently of all other pieces, making them trivial to place in solved position.

The 4 trivial tips can be easily rotated to line up with the axial piece which they are respectively attached to; and the axial pieces are also easily rotated so that their colors line up with each other. This leaves only the 6 edge pieces as a real challenge to the puzzle. They can be solved by repeatedly applying two 4-twist sequences, which are mirror-image versions of each other. These sequences permute 3 edge pieces at a time, and change their orientation differently, so that a combination of both sequences is sufficient to solve the puzzle.

From Wikipedia

There are a few variations of this puzzle. One of these variations is the Professor Pyraminx. It is just a higher order version of the Pyraminx. Another one is the Tetraminx. It is like a Pyraminx but without the tips.

Professor Pyraminx

Tetraminx

For me, this puzzle is fun to solve. Like any twisty puzzle, solving the puzzle would be very confusing at first. However, I have one major problem with my Pyraminx. My only problem with the puzzle is that my Pyraminx, which is not Meffert's branded, turns very slow when turning the puzzle, even if it has lubrication to help the turning.