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What is a Picture Cube Puzzle?
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The picture cube puzzle is a puzzle of - in this case
- nine cubes.
Every cube has parts of a picture on its sides.
The nine cubes form a picture if you lay them properly
side by side.
It is special that you find five more pictures, if you
turn over the cubes systematically.
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Six Puzzles
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When you buy this puzzle, you often get six sheets of
paper as templates of the six puzzles.
Therefore you can read in advertisments that this is a 6-in-1-puzzle.
Turning the Cubes
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After you have solved one puzzle, you can easily get
the remaining pictures.
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In order to descibe the way to the pictures, I call them
A, B, C, D, E, and F.
The parts of one picture may have the names 1 to 9.
Every cube has the same order.
The names A to F stand on the sides and a number.
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Thus it is sufficient to look at one cube only. |
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You see more if you draw a net and show all the sides
of the cube.
You can see that you bring the pictures B and C on top
by a quarter-turn (from the front side to the top side), starting with
A above. E doesn't fit in this sequence.
Starting again with A you can get picture F by a turn
from the top side to the right side.
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If you say "turn" then you mean all nine cubes. You turn
three cubes side by-side at the same time.
Here you can see how to turn it from the front to the
top side for the first row. The other rows will follow.
If you want to turn the columns, you grasp three cubes
one below the other in the same way.
Each cube stays on its place inside a mat. |
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If you turn the cube so that F is at the top and you
draw the net, you see:
You get the pictures D and E by quarter turns. B doesn't
fit in this sequence. |
There are always three pictures, which you get by turning
from the front to the top side. You change from one three-sequence-picture
to the next one by A/F.
You pass all pictures along the sequence A-B-C-E(mixed)-A----F-B(mixed)-D-E-F.
This is a clever order of the pictures on the cubes.
This no-name-3x3-puzzle is
from China and doesn't have flowers as pictures, but ugly, humanized animals.
I plan to replace them by my photos.
If you want to know the names of the flowers from my
garden, here they are:
Elecampane, Mittagsblume, Clematis, Geranium, Ringelblume,
and Crocus.
German: Alant, Mittagsblume, Klematis, Geranium, Ringelblume
und Krokus.
Similar Puzzles
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Ravensburger Puzzle
This is the name of the puzzles of the Ravensburger Spieleverlag
for the good old cube puzzle.
The motives are nice and tasteful. They are made of plastic
material and carefully fabricated. They aren't cheap.
There are different sizes like 3x2 or 4x3.
It isn't possible to bring all pictures to the top only
by turning. You must change rows or columns.
If you have found a picture, you have a second one on
the reverse side.
Many designs are possible.
I am sure there is also a picture cube puzzle with six pictures all isolated,
so that you can't find a next picture by turning. Then it is a real 6-in-1-puzzle.
Escher-Block
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The Escher block has eight cubes,
which form a 2x2x2 cube together. If you put them together, you must find
a picture by Escher on each side. There is the difficulty that a single
cube shows pictures several times and that you must hide them inside the
cube.
It is not easy to find the solution.
Therefore, and because of the Escher picture, it is a puzzle for grown-ups.
The fish-bird-picture has the title
"Sky and Water (1938)". |
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You can find the manufacturer's
name on the description:
Made by PUSSICAT, Bad Salzuflen,
Germany
©1990 M.C.Escher, Art.No.80
5050
I live in Bad Salzuflen. You see the
former factory at the Lemgoer Straße. The factory was there until
2000. As I see the building is empty now.
The main emphasis of the company
was sliding puzzles with artists' drawings. They are still "in".
I made a German page (not yet translated)
about the chain puzzle Elefant. |
Jigsaw Puzzle
The jigsaw puzzles fit on this puzzle page. I think they
are the reason that the picture cube puzzle came out of fashion.
LÜK
Then I remember LÜK. I see this equipment for math
exercises together with tortured pupils and unnerved parents. LÜK
is the abbreviation of the German words Lerne-Übe-Kontolliere (learn-exercise-control).
You had to solve problems written on tiles and put them
in a certain place. If the solutions were correct, the pieces altogether
showed a nice pattern on the reverse side. This was a version of the 1970s.
But no bad words. Of course I know that LÜK can
be a nice toy that gives fun.
Comments top
I know the puzzle from my childhold. The cubes were from
wood and the pictures were from fairy tales. You could easily find four
different pictures by turns, but for the last two ones you had to
put the single cubes together as I remember.
Picture
Cube Puzzle on the Internet top
German
LÜK
Wikipedia
Puzzle
Gail from Oregon coast thank you for supporting
me in my translation.
Feedback: Email address on my main page
This
page is also available in German.
URL of
my Homepage:
https://www.mathematische-basteleien.de/
©
2006 Jürgen Köller
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