The Skewb in solved state

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

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.

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

This section's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (April 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

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 Skeb-alike puzzle where the center orientation is visible (such as the Skeb Diamond or Skeb 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 1.73 seconds, also set by Zayn Khanani on 10 July 2022 at the Rubik's WCA North American Championship 2022, with the times of 2.04, 4.47, 1.41, 1.38, and 1.73 seconds.^[6]

Top 5 solvers by single solve^[7]7">edit

Top 5 solvers by average of 5 solves^[8]edit

See alsoedit

Referencesedit

External linksedit

• Birgit Nietsch's Skewb page
• Jaap's Skewb page
• Kirjava-Meep Skewb Method proposed by Thom Barlow and Kristopher De Asis.
• Sarah Strong's Skewb Method with variations for all skill levels.
• Rubik'skewb solution by Hideki Niina.
• Ranzha's Skewb Method by Brandon Harnish.