Abstract:
A three-dimensional cube puzzle consists of twenty-five different shaped pieces. Each piece has five cubic units of volume and has at least two square sides. Each square side consists of four edges, each edge has a unit of length, such that when all twenty-five pieces are assembled together they will form a three-dimensional cube with each side having five units of length.

Description:
BACKGROUND  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to the field of games and puzzles. More particularly, the invention relates to puzzles composed of multiple pieces that are to be assembled in a particular order to form a predefined shape.  
           [0002]    There are many puzzles available on the market, which require a particular order of assembly to achieve completion of the puzzle. Some require just an arrangement of pre-connected pieces in a particular order. Colors may be interposed on certain surfaces of the puzzles, which require that all of the same colors finish on just one side of the puzzle. One of the most well known prior art puzzles is the Rubic&#39;s Cube.  
           [0003]    The need for entertainment and amusement is limitless. Many of the prior art puzzles have been marketed for many years and the solution to completing these puzzles is well known to many. Solutions can even be found on the Internet. The entertainment provided by these prior art puzzles reduces significantly as they are solved by an individual on several occasions. The most dedicated of the puzzles solvers require new and constant challenges to their intellectual prowess.  
           [0004]    Therefore there is a need for an inventive puzzle that provides new challenges and entertainment for the puzzle solving public.  
         SUMMARY  
         [0005]    A three-dimensional cube puzzle consists of twenty-five different shaped pieces. Each piece has five cubic units of volume and has at least two square sides. Each square side consists of four edges, each edge has a unit of length, such that when all twenty-five pieces are assembled together they will form a three-dimensional cube with each side having five units of length.  
           [0006]    The pieces have at least one specific assembly orientation that will allow them to be assembled together to form the three-dimensional cube puzzle. When assembled together the twenty-five different shaped pieces form a five by five by five unit matrix. In one version each piece is formed from imaginary blocks that are square. Each imaginary block forms a cubic unit block that is a cube with the side, the width, and the height each having one unit in length.  
           [0007]    Each piece is formed from 5 imaginary blocks. An imaginary block is a square shape with each piece being formed by arranging 5 imaginary blocks. Each imaginary block has a top side- “T”, an under side-“U”, a front side-“F”, a back side-“B, a left side-“L” and a right side “R”.  
           [0008]    The square imaginary blocks have at least one side fully adjacent to the side of another square imaginary block. Each piece could be assembled from five separate actual cubic unit blocks or could be created as a continuous single piece having five cubic units of volume. When manufacturing molds are used to form metal or plastic pieces, then continuous single pieces would be created. The three-dimensional cube puzzle can be manufactured with the 25 pieces composed of wood.  
           [0009]    When individual cubic units blocks are used then 125 cubic units block form the twenty-five pieces, with each of the twenty-five pieces including 5 cubic unit blocks. When all twenty-five pieces are assembled together they form a three-dimensional cube puzzle that is five units of length in the height, width and depth. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]    [0010]FIGS. 1 a - 1   e  illustrate a side perspective view of pieces P 1  through P 5 .  
         [0011]    [0011]FIGS. 2 a - 2   e  illustrate a side perspective view of pieces P 6  through P 10 .  
         [0012]    [0012]FIGS. 3 a - 3   d  illustrate a side perspective view of pieces P 11  through P 14 .  
         [0013]    [0013]FIGS. 4 a - 4   d  illustrate a side perspective view of pieces P 15  through P 18 .  
         [0014]    [0014]FIGS. 5 a - 5   d  illustrate a side perspective view of pieces P 19  through P 22 .  
         [0015]    [0015]FIGS. 6 a - 6   c  illustrate a side perspective view of pieces P 23  through P 25 .  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 7 shows a top plan view of the steps in the first stage of assembly.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 8 shows a top plan view of the steps in the second stage of assembly.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 9 shows a top plan view of the steps in the third stage of assembly.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 10 shows a top plan view of the steps in the fourth stage of assembly.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIGS. 11 and 11 a  illustrates a front perspective view of a typical square imaginary block, where five of the imaginary blocks would form one of the pieces. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION  
       [0021]    [0021]FIGS. 1 through 6 depict the geometric form that each of the twenty-five pieces presents. Each of the pieces is different in form from all the other pieces. The twenty-five pieces, one through twenty-five, are designated “P 1 ” through “P 25 ”. The figures are done in a side perspective view to best illustrate the form of each piece. The orientation of the pieces does not necessarily correspond to how they are positioned when the puzzle is assembled.  
         [0022]    Referring to FIGS. 7 through 10, each piece is formed from five imaginary blocks. The piece number corresponds to the piece number that was indicated in FIGS.  1 - 6 . The five imaginary blocks are designated by the letters a, b, c, d, and e. Each imaginary block is also designated with a number 1 through 5 that indicates the layer level that the imaginary block will be positioned on during assembly. Each piece may have its five imaginary blocks on one or more levels. In contrast, some pieces like piece “P 12 ” can have all of their imaginary blocks on the same level.  
         [0023]    The numbers 1 through 5 designation for levels and the letters a, b, c, d, and e for imaginary blocks are used on each of the twenty-five pieces, so this number-letter combination will be similar and repeated on each of the twenty-five pieces. The numbers 1 through 5 that indicate the levels of placement of the “imaginary blocks” are different than the numbers ‘P 1 ’ through ‘P 25 ’ that designate the “piece numbers”.  
         [0024]    As an example, piece ‘P 4 ’, shown in FIG. 7 has three imaginary blocks designated as ‘ 1   a’,  ‘ 1   b’  and ‘ 1   c’  which indicates these three blocks are on level  1 . Piece ‘P 4 ’ has the other two blocks designated as ‘ 2   d’  and ‘ 2   e’, which indicates they are on level  2 . The top plan view orientation shows block ‘ 2     d’  on top of ‘ 1   b′’,  so from a top view they appear to occupy the same area.  
         [0025]    Referring to FIG. 11 and  11   a,  each block has a top side- “T”, an under side-“U”, a front side-“F”, a back side-“B, a left side-“L” and a right side “R”. An imaginary block forms a unit block that is a cube with the side, the width, and the height each having one unit in length. Five imaginary blocks uniquely arranged form each piece. FIG. 11 illustrates a front perspective view of a single imaginary block showing the top side- “T”, a front side-“F” and right side “R”. FIG. 11 a  shows the same view, but with the hidden surfaces illustrated by dashed line also shown as the under side-“U”, a back side-“B, and a left side-“L”.  
         [0026]    The pieces have one or more unique steps of assembly that allow all of the pieces to mesh together to form a three-dimensional cube puzzle. Other variations are possible, besides the following sequence of assembly steps.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIGS. 1 through 6 can be used to recognize the piece number that corresponds with the unique form of each piece. Alternately, the pieces may be manufactured with a number printed right on them for easy recognition. FIGS.  7 - 10  show the proper orientation of each block in the assembly process.  
         [0028]    Referring to FIG. 7, the first stage of assembly of the first lower layer of the puzzle invention is accomplished by placing piece P 4  on a flat surface. The left side of block  17   c  of piece P 17  is laid adjacent to right side of block  4   a,  so that the two points designated as “AA” are adjacent to each other. The front of block  3   d  is attached to the back of block  17   d,  so that the two points designated as “BB” are adjacent to each other.  
         [0029]    In the remainder of the description the pieces will not be referred to, but are indicated in the block designation. As an example, in the step above with block  3   d,  the ‘ 3 ’ refers to piece  3 P and the ‘d’ refers to the ‘d block’ of that piece.  
         [0030]    The left side of block  25   d  is attached to the right side of block  3   c  so that the two points designated as “CC” are adjacent to each other. The left side of block  16   a  is attached to the right side of block  17   c,  so that the two points designated as “DD” are adjacent to each other. The front side of block  22   e  is attached to the back side of block  16   c,  so that the two points designated as “EE” are adjacent to each other. In the last step of the first stage, the backside of block  18 a is attached to the front side of block  16   c,  so that the two points designated as “FF” are adjacent to each other.  
         [0031]    Referring to FIG. 8, in the second stage of assembly, the front of block  1   a  of piece  1  is positioned adjacent to the back of block  16   a,  which was positioned in the first stage, so that the two points designated as “GG” are adjacent to each other. The backside of block  15   e  is attached to the front side of block  1   c,  so that the two points designated as “HH” are adjacent to each other; in the process piece P 15  is slid under piece P 18 . The right side of block  24   a  is attached to the left side of block  1   c,  so that the two points designated as “II” are adjacent to each other. The front of block  5   c  is attached to the back of block  1   d,  so that the two points designated as “JJ” are adjacent to each other. The front of block  7   d  is attached to the back of block  18   e,  so that the two points designated as “KK” are adjacent to each other. The back of block  19   e  attaches to the front of block  24   e,  so that the two points designated as “LL” are adjacent to each other. The front of block  14   c  is attached to the back of block  18   d,  so that the two points designated as “MM” are adjacent to each other. The front of block  12   d  is attached to the back of block  14   d,  so that the two points designated as “NN” are adjacent to each other.  
         [0032]    Referring to FIG. 9, in the third stage of assembly the left side of block  23   e  is attached to the right side of block  24   e,  which was positioned in the second stage, so that the two points designated as “OO” are adjacent to each other. The left side of block  2   b  is attached to the right side of block  23   e,  so that the two points designated as “PP” are adjacent to each other. The back of block  13   e  is attached to the front of block  2   a,  so that the two points designated as “QQ” are adjacent to each other. The back of block  21 c is attached to the front of block  13   c,  so that the two points designated as “RR” are adjacent to each other. The under side of block  10   e,  is attached to top of block  21   a,  so that the two points designated as “SS” are adjacent to each other. The front of block  6   e  is attached to back of block  10   d,  so that the two points designated as “TT” are adjacent to each other.  
         [0033]    Referring to FIG. 10, in the fourth stage of assembly the under side of block  9   a  is laid on the top of block  19   c,  so that the two points designated as “UU” are adjacent to each other. The front of block  20   a  is attached to the back of block  9   d,  so that the two points designated as “VV” are adjacent to each other. The left side of block  8   d  is attached to the right side of block  20   e,  so that the two points designated as “WW” are adjacent to each other. The left side of block  11   b  is attached to the right side of block  9   c,  so that the two points designated as “XX” are adjacent to each other. When all twenty-five pieces are assembled together they form a three-dimensional cube puzzle that is five units of length in the height, width and depth.  
         [0034]    The steps of assembly were described above. For greater clarification the arrangement of each set of five imaginary blocks to form each individual piece will now be specifically detailed. FIGS.  7 - 10 , which show the ‘a’ through ‘e’ block designations on each piece, can be used along with the following figures that show the geometric form in side perspective view.  
         [0035]    Piece  1 , in FIG. 1 a,  is made by attaching block  1   b  to the back side of block  1   a,  block  1   c  to the top side of block  1   b,  block  1   d  to the top side of block  1   c,  and block  1   e  to the right side of block  1   d.    
         [0036]    Piece  2 , in FIG. 1 b,  is made by attaching block  2   b  to the back side of block  2   a,  block  2   c  to the right side of block  2   b,  block  2   d  to the right side of block  2   c,  and block  2   e  to the top side of block  2   d;  and  
         [0037]    Piece  3 , in FIG. 1 c,  is made by attaching block  3   b  to the right side of block  3   a,  block  3   c  to the right side of block  3   b,  block  3   d  to the front side of block  3   b,  and block  3   e  to the top side of block  3   b.    
         [0038]    Piece  4 , in FIG. 1 d,  is made by attaching block  4   b  to the back side of block  4   a,  block  4   c  to the back side of block  4   b,  block  4   d  to the top side of block  4   b,  and block  4   e  to the right side of block  4   d;    
         [0039]    Piece  5 , in FIG. 1 e,  is made by attaching block  5   b  to the back side of block  5   a,  block  5   c  to the right side of block  5   b,  block  5   d  to the under side of block  5   c,  and block  5   e  to the right side of block  5   d;  and  
         [0040]    Piece  6 , in FIG. 2 a,  is made by attaching block  6   b  to the right side of block  6   a,  block  6   c  to the front side of block  6   b,  block  6   d  to the top side of block  6   c,  and block  6   e  to the front side of block  6   d.    
         [0041]    Piece  7 , in FIG. 2 b,  is made by attaching block  7   b  to the right side of block  7   a,  block  7   c  to the top side of block  7   b,  block  7   d  to the right side of block  7   c,  and block  7   e  to the front side of block  7   c;    
         [0042]    Piece  8 , in FIG. 2 c,  is made by attaching block  8   b  to the top side of block  8   a,  block  8   c  to the left side of block  8   b,  block  8   d  to the back side of block  8   b,  and block  8   e  to the right side of block  8   d;  and  
         [0043]    Piece  9 , in FIG. 2 d,  is made by attaching  9   b  to the top side of block  9   a,  block  9   c  to the front side of block  9   b,  block  9   d  to the back side of block  9   b,  and block  9   e  to the right side of block  9   d.    
         [0044]    Piece  10 , in FIG. 2 e,  is made by attaching block  10   b  to the top side of block  10   a,  block  10   c  to the back side of block  10   b,  block  10   d  to the top side of block  10   b,  and block  10   e  to the left side of block  10   d.    
         [0045]    Piece  11 , in FIG. 3 a,  is made by attaching block  11   b  to the front side of block  11   a,  block  11   c  to the right side of block  11   b,  block  11   d  to the right side of  11   c,  and block  11   e  to the front side of block  11   c.    
         [0046]    Piece  12 , in FIG. 3 b,  is made by attaching block  12   b  to the right side of block  12   a,  block  12   c  to the front side of block  12   c,  block  12   d  to the front side of block  12   c,  and block  12   e  to the left side of block  12   d.    
         [0047]    Piece  13 , in FIG. 3 c,  is made by attaching block  13   b  to the back side of block  13   a,  block  13   c  to the right side of block  13   b,  block  13   d  to the right side of block  13   c,  and block  13   e  to the back side of block  13   d.    
         [0048]    Piece  14 , in FIG. 3 d,  is made by attaching block  14   b  to the right side of block  14   a,  block  14   c  to the top side of block  14   a,  block  14   d  to the right side of block  14   c,  and block  14   e  to the top side of block  14   c.    
         [0049]    Piece  15 , in FIG. 4 a,  is made by attaching block  15   b  to the right side of block  15   a,  block  15   c  to the right side of  15   b,  block  15   d  to the back side of block  15   c,  and block  15   e  to the back side of block  15   d.    
         [0050]    Piece  16 , in FIG. 4 b,  is made by attaching block  16   b  to the right side of block  16   a,  block  16   c  to the right side of block  16   b,  block  16   d  to the front side of block  16   b,  and block  16   e  to the back side of block  16   b.    
         [0051]    Piece  17 , in FIG. 4 c,  is made by attaching block  17   b  to the right side of block  17   a,  block  17   c  to the back side of block  17   b,  block  17   d  to the back side of  17   c,  and  17   e  to the right side of block  17   b.    
         [0052]    Piece  18 , in FIG. 4 d,  is made by attaching block  18   b  to the top side of block  18   a,  block  18   c  to the left side of block  18   b,  block  18   d  to the top side of block  18   c,  and block  18   e  to the left side of block  18   d.    
         [0053]    Piece  19 , in FIG. 5 a,  is made by attaching block  19   b  to the back side of block  19   a,  block  19   c  to the back side of block  19   b,  block  19   d  to the backside of block  19   c,  and block  19   e  to the top side of block  19   d    
         [0054]    Piece  20 , in FIG. 5 b,  is made by attaching block  20   b  to the right side of block  20   a,  block  20   c  to the right side of block  20   b,  block  20   d  to the right side of block  20   c,  and block  20   e  to the front side of block  20   c.    
         [0055]    Piece  21 , in FIG. 5 c, is made by attaching block  21   b  to the left side of block  21   a,  block  21   c  to the left side of block  21   b,  block  21   d  to the top side of block  21   c,  block  21   e  to the left side of block  21   d.    
         [0056]    Piece  22 , in FIG. 5 d,  is made by attaching block  22   b  to the right side of block  22   a,  block  22   c  to the back side of block  22   b,  block  22   d  to the top side of block  22   b,  and block  22   e  to the under side of block  22   b.    
         [0057]    Piece  23 , in FIG. 6 a,  is made by attaching block  23   b  to the left side of block  23   a,  block  23   c  to the top of block  23   b,  block  23   d  to the back side of block  23   c,  and block  23   e  to the back side of block  23   d.    
         [0058]    Piece  24 , in FIG. 6 b,  is made by attaching block  24   b  to the left side of block  24   a,  block  24   c  to the back side of block  24   b,  block  24   d  to the top side of block  24   c,  and block  24   e  to the top side of block  24   d.    
         [0059]    Piece  25 , in FIG. 6 c,  is made by attaching block  25   b  to the right side of block  25   a,  block  25   c  to the back side of block  25   b,  block  25   d  to the left side of block  25   c,  and block  25   e  to the top side of block  25   a.    
         [0060]    While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described and illustrated, it should be understood that many changes, substitutions and modifications to the described embodiment are possible. Therefore, many alternates are available, without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention that is defined by the claims that follow.