Uwe Mèffert

Uwe Mèffert (born 28 November 1939)[1] is a German puzzle designer and inventor. He has manufactured and sold mechanical puzzles in the style of Rubik's Cube since the original Cube craze. His first design was the Pyraminx – which he created before the original Rubik's cube was invented – and his others include the Megaminx, Skewb and Skewb Diamond. More recently he has licensed and re-released designs from other manufacturers, such as Dogic.

Uwe Mèffert's Pyraminx

In the 1970s Mèffert created some puzzles for his own amusement using pieces of balsa wood attached to a center ball by rubber bands. He did not think anyone else would be interested in them, and put them away and forgot about them until Ernő Rubik's Rubik's Cube became a worldwide sensation in the 1980s. In 1981 Mèffert took his puzzles to a Japanese toymaker who agreed to market them. One of them, Pyraminx, sold more than 10 million units that year, and 90 million within three years.[1] Since that time, Mèffert and his associates have created more than 100 3D rotating mechanical puzzles.[1]

Mèffert also created his own version of sudoku, the popular nine-number print puzzle. In addition to the standard sudoku rules, the two major diagonals must also contain the numerals from 1 to 9. Additionally, a Chinese magic square is hidden somewhere in the solution. He named this puzzle Kokonotsu, Japanese for nine.[2]

Mèffert has also produced puzzle designs by Tony Fisher, including the Golden Cube,[3] and Oskar van Deventer, including the Gear Cube.