The cube uses all seven Soma pieces, 27 cubes in total. Here is one solution: first the finished figure, then the pieces one by one from the floor up, in an order you can follow with real pieces.
- Vsmall corner
- LL shape
- TT shape
- Zstep (Z shape)
- Atwist A
- Btwist B
- Pbranch
Opens the solver with this figure. Press "Next" to place one piece at a time, and drag to turn the view.
Step by step
Build in this order from the floor up, lowering each piece from above. Every piece rests on the floor or on pieces already placed.
Step 1 · Place piece V (small corner) on layer 1, at the front left. It lies flat, with its bend at the front right corner.
Step 2 · Place piece L (L shape) on layer 1, on the right. It lies flat: a row of three from front to back, with the fourth cube at the back left corner.
Step 3 · Place piece T (T shape) on layers 1–3, at the back left. It stands upright like a wall running from left to right.
Step 4 · Place piece Z (step) on layers 1–3, on the left. It stands upright like a wall running from left to right.
Step 5 · Place piece A (twist A) on layers 2–3, at the front left. Two of its cubes are on layer 2 and two on layer 3.
Step 6 · Place piece B (twist B) on layers 2–3, at the back right. Two of its cubes are on layer 2 and two on layer 3.
Step 7 · Place piece P (branch) on layers 2–3, at the front right. Only one cube is on layer 2; the other three lie on layer 3. All 7 pieces are in place and the figure is finished.
Layer by layer, seen from above
Layer 1 is the floor. In each plan the top edge is the back of the figure and the bottom edge is the front.
Tip
Piece T (T shape) fits in only one place in this figure, apart from turning or mirroring the whole figure: the place shown in step 3. Find its spot first, and the other pieces have fewer places left to go.
About this figure
- Size: 3 wide, 3 deep and 3 high (in cubes).
- Solutions: 240 different ones. Counting every placement separately, including turned and mirrored copies of the same solution, there are 11,520.
- Counted with this tool's solver, which tries every position of every piece. Two solutions count as the same when turning or mirroring the whole figure turns one into the other (a mirror image swaps pieces A and B).
- The 3×3×3 cube is known to have 240 solutions when turned and mirrored copies are counted once. This tool counts 240 as well.