Starting Block

Description

How it works: There are four identical triangular pieces and one additional triangular prism that is a little larger.  These five pieces can be put together to form a cube.  The provided base is needed to hold all of the pieces in place.  The base is two-sided, with one side having a recessed square shape that will support the cube in a flat orientation.  This is arguably the easier side to use when building the cube for the first time.

The flip-side of the base has a recessed triangular cutout that will support the cube on one of its corners.  It is a bit more challenging to visualize the solution for this configuration.

Story behind the puzzle:  Sometime in the past, I wondered what would be left if you cut along the diagonals of a cube and removed the four resulting pieces.  I recently found a sketch I had done showing the cuts to make, so I sketched it up on the computer and printed it out.  I realized it needed a base to hold the pieces together, and came up with the idea to make the base two-sided for an additional challenge.  When I took it to the office, I immediately had three people wanting one for their children, so I knew this needed to make it to the website!

Since this is suitable for the younger set, I thought of it as an early introduction to puzzles for some young minds.  Hence the name: “Starting Block”.