Soma Cube 3D - Including Booklet of Challenges and Solutions (Large)

This is a classic puzzle. Its history is fascinating--invented during a lecture by Heisenberg himself--and its simplicity belies a fiendish complexity. This version, made of a pleasing tropical hardwood by Monkey Pod Games, is a tactile joy as well as a visual-spatial delight.I love the feel of the seven different wood pieces, and I'd forgotten how much fun the puzzle itself is. The tray and cover pieces are very nice, too. It makes an attractive display piece when it's not galvanizing your right hemisphere.You should note that there is only a minimal solution sheet, giving Piet Hein's own first solution to the puzzle. You'll be able to download a nicer PDF of the same thing from the company website. There are 239 other unique solutions...happy hunting! You'll want to look online for more information.Most highly recommended is this large size; at close to 3.5" on a side, it's almost identical to the old Parker Brothers version, and the best to work with. The price is great, shipping was trouble-free, and the puzzle has now sat in various forms on my desk all day at work...fortunately, I'm in the arts, and this behavior is an asset, not a liability!Highly recommended as a present for a friend, a bright kid of any age, or yourself.

This is a great puzzle in so many ways. The quality is excellent. The pieces fit together to form a very tight square (or whatever shape you are looking to create). The wood is of very nice quality. And, this size of the SOMA Cube is really substantial and very nice to use.The puzzle itself is great. There are so many shapes that can be made with this puzzle. The puzzling possibilities are virtually endless. A web search will show you the many possibilities. And the puzzles can take a bit of time to solve but are not so hard that you won't be able to find a solution in the end.One note about the puzzle is that it not only comes with what is shown in the photo (the puzzle and base) but also with a nice wood lid that covers the whole thing up.I definitely recommend this puzzle.

I very much enjoy this version of soma cube (it is my first), it's not too small or too big, it feels very nice to handle, feels high quality and precision made. I've only had the product for a short while but seems like it'll last. The overall cube (tray and cover) is accurately described as 3.33 inches. The interior cube puzzle itself is 3 inches cubed. Just as expected. Comes with a single sheet solution to the cube itself and a code to download a PDF from the sellers website for 100 additional puzzles to do with the cube. Also comes with a tiny booklet with 15 varied puzzle shapes to create (with solutions). The cube pieces sit snugly in a tray and there's a full tray cover that encloses the cube pieces entirely for easy transport.

Fun, quiet, strangely calming.

I got the large Soma Cube 3D as a gift. It was much appreciated by the recipient, at which time I got to see it unboxed. WOW! It comes in a wooden storage box that is even more attractive than I had anticipated. The top of the box nestles down against the bottom (which serves as a tray), and it looks great on display.I had researched Soma cubes some time back, so I know that they can be used to build all kinds of designs (great for helping kids or adults build their spacial reasoning skills), but Soma cubes can also have a lot of entertainment value for quiet times (rare as it is).This is wonderful for a desktop toy, and it fits well in any office decor. Keep your eyes on it, though, so it doesn't disappear with guests. Both adults and children seem to want one of their own...

the promised booklet of solutions was absent. in its place was a tiny, 4"x4" sliver of paper with a blurry, downsized-from-something-once-legible single solution, folded into the base in such a hopelessly creased way that even attempting to scan it and re-upsize it was futile. naked greed like this destroys the value of the puzzle experience. I am so very "not amused", and I am never again going to try a Monkey Pod game product.the tiny Amazon packing slip was also omitted.

My 18 yr old loves puzzles and had asked for one that would be challenging and look nice. Well, this does look nice. I guess the one disappointment to me was that he solved the cube in like a minute, along with the other configuration pictured on this site. However, he does like it and from reading the other reviews--there are more possibilities than even came on the sheet in the package--so, hopefully, it will bring more challenge to him. I also got the domino cube--which he did not figure out the first time he tried it--he got it in a cube--but, not with one color--I was happy that it was more of a challenge. I will look online for other possibilities for the Soma cube. All in all, it looks nice and he will probably go back to it enough to make it well worth it.

It's amazing how flexible and creative this one little toy really is -- it is comprised of seven different pieces of either three or four cubes that fit together into a 3x3x3 cube. I had this toy when I was growing up over 45 years ago. I loved making 3-D sculptures from the drawings, and playing with the Soma Cube showed me that I was very good with mathematical and spatial reasoning skills. This was part of what steered me into engineering, so what appeared to be a toy was arguably the most influential plaything I had. Today, though I still enjoy playing "brain games," and subscribe to Lumosity -- I still have a place in my heart for my Soma Cube.This particular version is nicely crafted from wood and the pieces fit together perfectly.