A puzzle I couldn't solve for a year – cubers cracked it in an hour
Dev here. I created a puzzle that looks like Rubik's cube but works differently. Instead of turning faces, closed bands of 12 stickers slide around the cube. Every scramble is solvable. I built on-device AI solvers that solve it in about 60 moves (sometimes substantially less than that) I'm not even a cuber so since I created it I've been thinking that no human can solve it. Until this Tuesday when I showed it to r/Cubers. It took them about an hour to find a solution. The first human solve was about 240 moves using mostly (how they call it) 4-move commutators:…
In plain words
SkimmIQ is a puzzle that resembles a Rubik's cube but uses a different mechanic: instead of rotating faces, closed bands of 12 stickers slide around the cube. The developer created on-device AI solvers that can complete any scramble in approximately 60 moves. Playable directly in a browser with adjustable difficulty levels, the puzzle is designed for anyone interested in exploring a new type of 3D puzzle mechanics. The first human solver completed it in about 240 moves using mathematical sequences called commutators.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
Try the SkimmIQ cube prototype directly in your browser. Switch layouts, difficulty levels, and discover the reinvented 3D cube mechanic.
In the maker’s words, at launch
Dev here. I created a puzzle that looks like Rubik's cube but works differently. Instead of turning faces, closed bands of 12 stickers slide around the cube. Every scramble is solvable. I built on-device AI solvers that solve it in about 60 moves (sometimes substantially less than that) I'm not even a cuber so since I created it I've been thinking that no human can solve it. Until this Tuesday when I showed it to r/Cubers. It took them about an hour to find a solution. The first human solve was about 240 moves using mostly (how they call it) 4-move commutators: https://www.reddit.com/r/Cubers/comments/1vrq8zk/ So my belief died, but a better question was born: nobody has a teachable method yet, let alone approaching 60 moves. The link is a 60-second browser demo. The math and the first recorded solve are at https://skimmiq.com/human-method/. I'm 60, not a professional programmer, and AI helped me create the puzzle and with the heavy math. Happy to answer anything.
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