Ball Sudoko Cube

Ball Sudoku Cube

When I think of "Sudoku", I think of grids of numbers but this cube follows a similar principle of having nothing repeating on a face.

The contrast in the photographs between the orange and red pieces is less clear than it is is reality. 

The puzzle turns easily enough. It is not designed for speed cubing, but this is not a puzzle for speed solving.

The puzzle is comprised of the following pieces...

Green: two corners.

Red and magenta: three edges.

White, dark blue, yellow, orange, cyan and black: a centre, an edge and a corner.

Solution

This was not as difficult to solve as I anticipated. Parity odd cases a feature of the solving process but not a significant obstacle.

 

Scrambling the puzzle is a little bizarre, as there are no more than three pieces of the same colour. It is interesting to note that there are only two green pieces, both of them corners. These become important as they can be used as reference pieces between the U- and D-layers. All of the other corner pieces are of one colour.

The way I solved the puzzle is broken down into two phases: solve the edges the solve the corners.

Step 1 - U-Layer Cross

Pick any side, here I have gone with the one with the white centre. Look at the colours on the adjacent edges and choose two opposites. Here I have gone for the two blues. Put their edges on opposite sides of the U-layer. Next put a red and magenta edge on the U-layer to complete the cross. 

Step 2 - D-Layer Cross

This works in a similar way as the U-cross. The colours of the centres on the E-layer that were not solved in step 1 are solved here. Shown below are the orange and yellow edges.

Step 3 - Middle Layer

Finish off the edges by ensuring the edges on the E-layer matching the centres on the U- and D-layers are on opposite sides of the cube.

Orientate the U- and D-layers such that the edges are offset from the matching colours of the centres on the E-layer by a quarter turn. It is possible an odd-parity case could be encountered at this step.

Step 4 - Solve the corners on the U-Face

The colours are green, the centre of the D-face and the centres on the E-layer not already on the U-layer. In this case green, black, yellow and orange. The latter pieces are solved into opposite corners and turned away from their matching colours on the E- and D-layers. It is necessary to ensure that the edges are still in the correct position as previously solved.

Step 5 - Solve the Last Four Corners

Again, a parity odd case may be encountered but this is easily solved.

And the puzzle was solved.