Rubik's Triamid

Reader's Guide

The Rubik's Triamid is a mechanical puzzle that extends the concept of the Rubik's Cube into a tetrahedral form. Its significance lies in offering a different spatial challenge: the puzzle has four sides instead of six, and the user manipulates it by removing a small pyramid of four pieces from any of the four endpoints, rotating it, and reattaching it. Unlike the superficially similar Pyraminx, the Triamid allows pieces to move between side and corner positions. The puzzle consists of ten individual pieces, each with four coloured sides, and four joining sections. Of the ten pieces, six have two colours and four have three colours (with one colour repeated). In the solved state, the four pieces with three colours must lie on the endpoints of the pyramid. The Triamid was originally released in 1990 by Matchbox, patented in Hungary in 1991, and re-released in 2017 by Winning Moves at the American International Toy Fair, demonstrating its enduring appeal as a twisty puzzle.