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 The Soma Cube - one of the most outstanding puzzles of the 20th century. Seven different pieces - six
made out of 4 cubes and one of 3 - can form a bigger 3x3x3 cube. There are 240 ways to
assemble this cube, if not count rotations or mirror reflections. Moreover there
are thousand of other shapes to be created from these seven pieces. |
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Where to Start? |
To get started with the Soma Cube puzzle the first challenge for your
brain is... where to get the seven Soma pieces. One of the easiest
ways is to buy them. We would recommend ThinkFun Block by Block®
puzzle which is the exact Soma Cube remake. You can buy the puzzle
here (see more details at the very bottom of this page).
In any case you can avoid buying the puzzle and produce your own Soma
Cube set by yourself. For this you'll need 27 wooden or plastic cubes
of the same size and glue. Use our image above to get together all the
right combinations of the cubes and so get the seven Soma pieces.
Also, there is a number of nice resources on the Web which show some
alternative and very clever - as we see them - ways how this can be
done. Below are some of them. |
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LEGO Soma Cube |
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Eric Harshbarger's model of the Soma Cube built out of LEGO bricks is
shown at
his LEGO Puzzles page. Several detailed pictures show you all
you'll need to build the same pretty Soma set.
Another LEGO Soma set was developed by Stefan Gustavson. |
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Thousands of Soma Shapes |
Now that you have pieces by your side you are ready to jump into the
solving. We recommend (to newcomers) to start with a 3x3x3 cube.
Though we've said above there are 240 possible solutions it doesn't
make this simple looking Soma shape easy to solve.
A 3x3x3 cube is a basic shape to start with. Also a huge number of 3D
shapes that can be assembled of these cute seven pieces was developed.
Usually, producers of the Soma Cube provide it with selections of
different puzzle shapes. For example Binary Arts' Block by Block set
includes 60 single cards with different shapes to arrange using the
seven Soma Cube pieces.
There are a lot of shapes for the Soma Cube all over the Web. Mostly
different sites dedicated to the Soma Cube have good selections of
different Soma Cube shapes to assemble. The
Thorleif's SOMA Page alone provides more than 2000 shapes. |
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Some of the Best Soma Sites |
The above mentioned
Thorleif's SOMA Page is the most comprehensive site about the Soma
Cube. There you'll find everything about this puzzle - its history and
theories, several thousand figures and a solving program, newsletters
and links.
Soma Cube Central describes different activities with the Soma
Cube in the classroom. As it's stated: "The overriding goal of this
project is for the students to work in pairs or small groups to solve
problems, communicate their results in writing and recording, and
investigate characteristics of three-dimensional figures."
Juergen Koeller's Soma Cube Page includes a lot of useful ideas
including how to make the Soma Cube, and also some additional versions
of this puzzle.
SomaSite has many unusual Soma designs, great ideas about the
puzzle and its properties, and the Interactive Soma Machine to display
your own designs online! |
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What About Virtual Versions? |
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Also there are virtual versions of the Soma Cube on the Web. If you
don't want to solve the physical puzzle try one of the best
Java Soma Cube. |
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The Man Who Invented Soma Cube |
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The ingenious Soma Cube was invented by the Danish poet, philosopher,
mathematician and scientist Piet Hein (1905-1996). Piet Hein was a
genius who was extremely creative in many different ways. Besides his
Soma Cube, he discovered a new geometrical form called "the
super-ellipse" and then developed its 3D version - "the super-ellipsoide"
mostly called "the super egg." He developed a very popular strategy
game for two players - Hex. One more of Piet Hein's super creations is
"Grooks" - short philosophical, aphoristic poems well-known all over
the World. It's said he wrote more than 10,000(!) Grooks; two of them
we show below. Many more details about Piet Hein and his wonderful
creations can be found at the Thorleif's SOMA Page -
The Official History of SOMA. |
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Final Note |
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While you will complete Soma Cube shapes and some of them will look
too hard, just remember two great Grooks written by Piet Hein: |
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Problems
Problems worthy
of attack
prove their worth
by hitting back. |
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The Road to Wisdom
The road to wisdom? -
Well, it's plain and simple to express:
Err
and err
and err again
but less
and less
and less. |
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Buy Block by Block® |
Imagine building 60 different three-dimensional patterns with just
seven puzzle pieces! Block by Block® helps players sharpen their
visual perception and spatial thinking skills. An engaging learning
game with a travel bag added by popular demand.
If you are interested in buying the real Block by Block® puzzle set,
please visit
ThinkFun Shop. |
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Last Updated: July 13, 2007 |
Posted: December 21, 2002 |
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