This edition of QiYi’s Pyraminx has a special feature: its colours are luminescent (glow in the dark). They absorb light during the day and give it back in the dark, so you can keep turning the puzzle with the lights off.

• BrandQiYi
• TypePyraminx (3 layers)
• FinishLuminescent (glow in the dark)
• WCA eventYes, Pyraminx

How it works

The Pyraminx, devised and patented by Uwe Mèffert in the early 1980s, is a tetrahedron with three layers per axis, four tips, four axial pieces beneath them and six edges; it has no centres. The tips turn on their own and the large layers move around four axes. Solving it follows the same logic as any Pyraminx: the glow is an aesthetic extra that doesn’t change the mechanism.

The glow effect

For it to glow, it first needs to be exposed to light: sunlight or room lighting will do, although ultraviolet light charges it most strongly. The glow gradually fades, as with any luminescent material, and comes back with fresh exposure.

Which level

Shops present it as a Pyraminx for getting started. It suits anyone who wants to learn the pyramid with an eye-catching model, as a gift for a young enthusiast, or as a curiosity in a Pyraminx collection.