5.11 - 3D Symmetry Puzzle

Symmetry Puzzles are still new species, and the sub-category 3D symmetry puzzle is hardly heard of. Finally I'm sharing the first 3D symmetry puzzle of my own design. I name it:

5.11

Goal: Make symmetrical shapes out of the 2 pieces provided.

This puzzle is inspired by the following puzzles:

• 2 PentaCube Symmetry by Edi Nagata
• Heroics by George Sicherman
• Pajama Party by George Sicherman

They all have 2 pentacube pieces, and many many solutions.

This puzzle follows their style by having 2 pieces each made of 5 cubes too. It should not be difficult to find a solution or two, but how many solutions can you find?

There are 11 solutions in total, most of them are mirror symmetries.

What is Symmetry Puzzle

Symmetry Puzzle is somewhat similar to Tangram. But contrary to Tangram which dates back to hundreds of years ago, the first symmetry puzzle occurs just in this century. The goal of a Symmetry Puzzle is to arrange all the pieces to form a symmetrical shape, any shape is accepted as long as it has symmetry. The solution is often bizarre and hard to find, sometimes you don't even know you get the right shape by failing to recognize its symmetry.

I like Symmetry Puzzles, I especially like 3D printing them. Symmetry Puzzles don't require a packing tray or board (which usually consumes more filaments than pieces), and usually consist of only a few pieces, which makes them very efficient to print. Considering relatively long solving time, Symmetry Puzzles definitely worth printing.

• Symmetry Puzzles are hard, the more the pieces the harder the puzzle become. It's common to take a long time to fully solve a 3-Piece Symmetry Puzzle, and even 2 pieces can make a good puzzle.
  • And yes, there's even 1-piece Symmetry Puzzle that is available to print for yourself. Your task is to determine whether that piece has symmetry, and in case it has, explain what symmetry?
• No packing tray not only save filament cost, it also get rid of worry about tolerance. Tolerance is crucial for most other mechanical puzzles, but tolerance varies for everybody. More often than not when I 3D print a puzzle with packing box or tray, it's either too tight that pieces can't fit in or too loose that I thought I solved it but what I found actually can't work if tolerance is right.
  • No tolerance worry also give you freedom to scale a Symmetry Puzzle to any size,  be it last meter saver or big ornament…
• Some Symmetry Puzzles have multiple challenges / solutions, so print once and enjoy multiple aha moments. In this situation, some challenges are often less difficult, while finding all solutions remain a big challenge. These puzzles are suitable for every player of any puzzle skill level.

If you are interested in Symmetry Puzzles, please visit my collection of all Symmetry Puzzles on this site - I wish there are more but that's all I found. If I missed any please let me know.

Happy Printing & Happy Puzzling Forever!