Soma Cube Puzzle
A vintage design – probably the world’s premier cube puzzle. Soma cube designed upon the backdrop of the great depression, their addictiveness and complexity influenced the design of the Bedlam and Rubik cube puzzles.Soma cubes are a classic brain teasers puzzle were first thought up by physicist Pete Hein who thought them up during a quantum physics lecture in 1933. Popularly named Soma – after the drug in “A Brave New World” – they have been used in numerous human experiments, testing intelligence and persuasion.There are a total of 240 distinct, possible solutions - excluding rotations. The pieces can also be manipulated into a multitude of other shapes including a castle, a serpent and a chair.Similar to the bedlam cube in design the Soma is 3 x 3 x 3 whereas the bedlam is 4 x 4 x 4 – they are examples of packing problems based on polyominoes.