From azimmerm@rnd.stern.nyu.edu Wed Nov 4 17:30:12 1992 Return-Path: Received: from rnd.stern.nyu.edu by life.ai.mit.edu (4.1/AI-4.10) id AA29389; Wed, 4 Nov 92 17:30:12 EST Received: by rnd.stern.nyu.edu (4.1/1.34) id AA20786; Wed, 4 Nov 92 17:12:04 EST Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 17:12:04 EST From: Al Zimmermann To: Haym Hirsh Cc: cube-lovers@ai.mit.edu, Haym Hirsh Subject: Re: masterball In-Reply-To: Your message of Wed, 4 Nov 92 15:18:37 EST Message-Id: > A friend just sent me email about a new (to him and to me) puzzle > called "masterball". Anyone know anything about it? Is it worth > getting? > > Haym > > > I saw a Rubik's cube variant today called "Masterball." Have you > > seen it? It is a sphere with 32 faces. If you consider the sphere > > to be a world globe, there are 8 longitudinal slices each going > > through the axis of the globe, dividing the sphere into 8 segments > > like a sliced orange (sorry for starting to mix my metaphors [actually, > > I guess I was mixing similes, but I know *you* wouldn't bring up > > such a trivial point]). > > > > Oooops I guess there are only 4 longitudinal slices, each through > > the axis, to divide the globe into 8 segments. > > > > There are also 3 slices of latitude, one through the equator one > > each in the northern and the southern hemisphere parallel to > > the equator. > > > > Resultant 32 faces. Mechanism has some similarities to Square One. > > > > Two different versions of Masterball are available. One has eight > > different colors, corresponding to 8 segments. The other has only > > black and white. I don't remember the home pattern of the black > > and white sphere, I presume it is a degenerate case of the 8 color > > sphere with black and white alternating slices. > > > > Cost: $24.95 each. My source is the same store in San Francisco > > (Stonestown mall) that provided the Rubiks Tangle, Rubiks Dice, etc. > > Games magazine seems to like the puzzle. They included Mastermind Rainbow (the polychromatic version) in this year's "Games 100" listing. Their write-up isn't very informative, but there's a picture. It appears on page 59 of the Dec. '92 issue. By the way, they indicate that the puzzle is available from Baekgaard at 1-800-323-5413.