Name: Soma in Case
Brand: Cubicdissection
Price: 75.00 USD
Availability: OutOfStock

DESIGNER:	Hajime Katsumoto
MATERIAL:	Sapele/Marblewood
RELEASE DATE:	12.13.2018
EDITION:	42 Copies Released
SIZE:	3.625inx2.375in
COMMENTS:	Soma in Case is another offering from design genius Hajime Katsumoto. The seven soma pieces must be packed into a 5x3x2 space. Not too tough, except that the lid also has a cube secured to it and so the pieces must maneuver around the obstruction. Over 100,000 solutions, only one is assemblable with a combined 14 moves necessary. This is a difficult, elegant design. Construction of this puzzle is outstanding, with sturdy box joinery and fully beveled cube pieces. 42 copies made for sale, each signed and dated. This puzzle is shipped disassembled.

This item is sold out and no longer available. Our Marketplace is the best source for discontinued work. We occasionally revisit discontinued designs at our sole discretion and do not accept requests or one-off commissions.

To ensure the proper continued operation and fit of your puzzles, please check out our product care guide. We recommend an occasional polishing with Renaissance Wax to keep wood puzzles in top condition.

much much harder than it would appear

It's just 7 Soma Cube pieces. And just 14 moves - which means each piece moves an average of 2 times, but since almost all the pieces will need to make at least 2 moves to get past the sliding lid (one downward, then a second across), that doesn't appear to be a particularly challenging solution. And yet. This thing has been sitting unsolved for almost a year, long enough that I finally gave in and begrudgingly got some help from BurrTools. As the description says, there's just 1 solution, out of what BurrTools says is 144,479 different ways to fit them in the box if there was no lid. And it's not even that hard to get the pieces in if you know the arrangement. It's finding that 1 arrangement that makes this so hard. It's amazing that Katsumoto found this extremely challenging puzzle using the classic Soma Cube pieces and just going with a different box, coupled with Eric Fuller's great workmanship crafting pieces and a lid that fit and slide perfectly.