Three (Sided) Cheers for the Pyraminx

Tomy's Triangular Response to the Rubik's Cube

The Rubik’s Cube made its debut in America in 1980 and it’s hard to imagine anyone on the planet who didn’t own one or, at a minimum play with one. In my mind I can still hear the clicking and clacking of cubes being spun that year on our school bus. I can also tell you what it felt like to get hit by one thrown from the rear of the bus, but that’s a story for another day. The takeaway here is that everybody knew what a Rubik’s Cube was, everybody played with them, and at a certain point everyone began to wonder… what’s next?

It didn’t take long for other toy companies to began their search for a successor to the mighty cube, and one of the earliest to his shelves was the Pyraminx, released by Tomy in 1981 and often referred to as simply “a pyramid puzzle.”

With fewer sides to deal with, you would think the Pyraminx would be easier to solve than a traditional Rubik’s Cube and technically you would be correct. The Pyraminx has a total of 75 million possible configurations, but if you remove spinning the tip pieces from the equation that number drops to 933,000. Compare that to a 3x3 cube which has 43 quintillion possible configurations. No wonder so many kids resorted to peeling the stickers off these things.

Several years ago, our son got involved in “speed cubing,” competitions in which people compete to see who can solve these types of puzzles the quickest. On a traditional 3x3 cube, my son’s fastest time in a competition was 26 seconds. Compare that to my best time for solving a Rubik’s Cube, which is 44 years and counting. To ensure the puzzles zip and zoom as quickly and effortlessly as possible, companies make special “speed cubes” that spin easily. If you’re wondering, they also make Pyraminx speed cubes, which you will probably need if you are going to attempt to break the current world record, which is 0.73 of a second.

For the record (no pun intended) if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend the 2020 documentary The Speed Cubers. It is a very touching story and enjoyable even for people with no interest at all in toys or puzzles. The Speed Cubers is currently available for streaming on Netflix.

I don’t know what it was about Tomy’s Pyraminx that made it seem just a little cooler to me than the Rubik’s Cube. Despite my personal preference, the pyramid never had the same brand recognition that “the cube” got. I totally would have watched a Saturday morning cartoon where Pyraminx and Rubik teamed up to solve mysteries — where was that show? As for my third grade classroom, there was only a brief period of time where we had two puzzles to choose from. Soon, the Rubik’s Cube and the Pyraminx were joined by a Rubik’s Snake, Rubik’s Magic, and several other puzzle toys. It’s hard for a toy to be thought of as “more” when it has two less sides.

They say the Egyptian pyramids are full of secrets and puzzles waiting to be untangled, and it’s pretty likely whatever riddles are hidden deep inside those giant structures will be solved before I ever finish this stupid Pyraminx.