LanLan Jewel Cube

Great shape, great fun!

My only disappointment is it LOOKS like you could turn both the hexagon faces and the cube faces, but in fact only the hexagon faces will turn. After hours of play, I still often try to turn the square faces. (Please, somebody make such a puzzle and I will pay $$$) In reality, it is just a face-turning octahedron (FTO) but with the corner-pieces removed (a gold square marks their absence). I've solved one multiple times, but this puzzle really challenged me! The reason is it is easy to mix-up the correct orientation of the colored faces -- unless you memorized the color order before scrambling the puzzle. The size and weight are near-perfect. In fact, it seems to be the same height as my traditional FTO, but the triangles (colored stickers) are a bit bigger, and in my opinion better for the size. Sticker quality is almost perfect -- classic colors, no creasing, no bubbling, no peeling. Only mild issue with stickers is 1 out of 48(?) was slightly mis-placed sticker causing an annoying curling on the edge -- until I trimmed it with my thumbnail. It does not seem to be lubricated, yet turns smooth out-of-the-box. It will jam if not properly aligned, but unless you want to do speed-cubing, it is not a game-breaker. It actually allows a fair bit of corner-cutting. Overall, better than expected for something not designed for speed. The truncated octahedron shape is pretty cool -- great for collectors. Considering the low price, I give this one a full 5 stars. Get one before they're gone! SPOILER / BONUS / HINT / TIP -- If you 'almost' solve the puzzle but have two edge-pieces that need to be swapped then you fell into the trap of the puzzle designer! Per mathematics (group theory) you can NOT swap only two pieces; some sources call this a parity error. Whatever... if this happens to you, swap two adjacent hexagon faces -- this means (if you're a typical human like me) you will need to re-solve about 50% of the puzzle, but you should discover the "parity error" is gone and the puzzle can be solved. Also (experienced player probably know this), the edge pieces have a fixed orientation -- this means if you have a blue/gray edge block (for example) that seems to have the wrong orientation (blue and gray seem flipped) it REALLY means the block is in the wrong location! If that doesn't make sense, just remember it was a hint/tip, not a full essay :)