TARDIS Cube (Gus)

Whilst browsing the usual puzzle forums (which is a pretty regular occurrence) I came across a member of the TwistyPuzzles Forum by the username of Gus that had just announced a twisty puzzle modification that immediately caught my eye.

Time And Relative Dimension In Space

As any sci-fi fan should be able to tell, this puzzle has been modified to look just like a 1960s British police box, which is the disguise of choice for Doctor Who's time machine the TARDIS.

The puzzle itself is nothing special, just a standard black 2x2x4 twisty. Gus designed a full set of 16 outer panels complete with stickers in order to create the shape seen here. All of the outer panels were 3D printed by the US company Shapeways in their 'White Strong & Flexible' material, and then the pieces had to be dyed blue by hand. A white TARDIS would just look plain wrong.

Some pretty funky scrambling

The stickers were also designed by Gus and printed onto self-adhesive sticker paper to make the application to the puzzle much easier. You won't be able to tell without close inspection, but each of the sets of reflections on the window panels are slightly different, meaning that the top pieces can only be orientated in one way for the correct solution. That coupled with the Bad Wolf graffiti on the lower panels means that the whole puzzle has only one correct orientation as the solution.

Signed and numbered by Gus

Because the puzzle isn't even in all dimensions it can create some pretty funky shapes when scrambled. I haven't properly scrambled the TARDIS as I really don't want to damage it at all. I'm sure it could take it, as I know from experience that when Shapeways says 'strong and flexible' they really do mean it, but I'd rather get a bog standard 2x2x4 to play with and keep this in a nice condition for my collection.

I got this copy fully dyed, stickered, assembled and signed directly from Gus. But he has also made it available on his Shapeways shop for anyone who is willing to dye, assemble and sticker it themselves.

This is easily one of my favourite puzzle modifications. If you're a Doctor Who fan and a puzzler then this is something you shouldn't pass up. Allons-y!