Star-Ball

Star-Ball

Star-Ball, designed by Roger von Oech, is a set of 32 magnetic design pieces.

The puzzle can be played alone as well as in combination with the X-Ball, Y-Ball

or the Ball of Whacks.

The name is due to the resemblance of the main shape, a skeletal rhombic triacontahedron,

to a star-shaped ball. As the Ball of Whacks can also be formed to rhombic triacontahedron,

both puzzles can be combined with each other in interesting ways.

Star-Ball consists of 32 pieces of which 12 are shaped as fived-legged stars

and 20 as three-legged “Tri“s. On each end of the pieces is a magnet.

As the magnets have different polarities, there are 6 strong fived-legged stars

and 6 weak fived-legged stars.

There are as well 10 strong three-legged “Tri”

and 10 weak three-legged “Tri”. For better recognition, one type of magnetic pole is marked

with a point.

The puzzle can be played in different ways:

You can either rebuild the Star-ball shape or construct new figures and shapes.

The puzzle is a typical head and tail puzzle. The head is represented by a magnetic pole

and the tail by its magnetic counterpart. That is why it is not sufficient to simply

rebuild the shape, but also necessary to consider the magnetic polarities.

It is not very difficult to build the Star-ball shape and it takes about one hour.

Star-Ball differs clearly from X-Ball and Y-Ball. It has different parts

and involves also magnetic polarities. If you are looking for a demanding puzzle,

then I would recommend Star-Ball. To enhance the creativity, I would rather recommend

X-Ball, Y-Ball or Ball of Whacks, as these puzzles are accompanied by a Creativity Workshop

in the form of a booklet.

To conclude, Star-Ball is well suited for adults as well as for children.

The problem is easy enough for children and offers them the possibility to enhance their creativity.

But the puzzle is also a challenge for adults, especially the construction of the Star-Ball.

You can buy Star-Ball on the website.