The Square-0 (a.k.a. SQ0) is a cube-shaped twisty puzzle. It is a lower-order version of the famous shape-shifting puzzle Square-1. It was invented in 2015 by YouTuber DGCubes (Daniel Goodman) for a school project where students were given the task to invent something and then present it to the class in Spanish. To make the prototype, Goodman bought a Square-1 puzzle and simply "bandaged" each corner piece with an adjacent edge piece. We say "simply" because turning a Square-1 into a Square-0 is not hard to do, but we do think the original idea is GENIUS! Apparently we're also not alone on that since ShengShou decided to mass-produce the puzzle and nowadays you can buy it directly under the name "SengSo SQ0".
It might not be very obvious at first glance, but the Square-0 can actually be thought of as a bandaged Tower Cube (2x2x3) shape-mod. The top and bottom faces each have 4 identical corner pieces, and the puzzle itself is made of 3 layers. The only difference between the mechanism of the Square-0 and the one found in the Tower Cube (2x2x3) is that the former only has two parts in its middle layer. This makes the Square-0 even easier to solve than the Tower Cube (2x2x3), which is already considered an easy puzzle to solve. Our computer simulation shows that the Square-0 only has around 80k possible combinations.
The Square-0 is not an official WCA puzzle. Its predecessor, the Square-1, is the only shape-shifting official WCA puzzle. At the time of writing, we couldn't find any unofficial record for the fastest solve of this puzzle.
Comments 20
Link Link
I can confirm that this is not a normal 3 by 3
cmp73914
I solve it in 20 seconds!!
DragonWolfZinthra
Hhhhhhhh. This really took me back. Oh lord. Still good though.
jimmy
BRO i solved it in 2 moves!!
Kozyn
Wowzers! this is fun but how do you switch around the bottom layer pieces???
Mark
I got real fast at it so now im on average of 2-3 seconds.
Santiago
I was very close to solving but I had to switch pieces but idk how to do that
Jenna
Really fun! But I don’t know how to solve it.
MelonGuy44
Awesome! nice change to square 2 which I just spent ages on....
Astral
I just solved it in 8 moves
potatoeyo
the only cube in the Square-(number) series that I can solve
mem
im dont know how to solve this
Ant
So fun and easy! I mastered it in only one night! Good work Grubiks!
Not a very good cuber
Yay I solved it because I got a middle layer skip!
Hayden
@The master, you solve the middle layer with R2 U2 R2 U2
Astral
Dang, this thing is hard to solve if you don't know algorithms. I solved it though, but the middle layer is weird as heck.
TheMaster
BRUH how do you get the second half of the middle layer solved??? But I love it!
EmmettShark2000
It so hard!
CrazyWind X
2nd comment ! this cube was very easy to solve.
xyanCubes
First Comment! Also a really fun and easy puzzle, good alternative to Square-1 when you don't feel like having a challenge
Link Link
I can confirm that this is not a normal 3 by 3cmp73914
I solve it in 20 seconds!!DragonWolfZinthra
Hhhhhhhh. This really took me back. Oh lord. Still good though.jimmy
BRO i solved it in 2 moves!!Kozyn
Wowzers! this is fun but how do you switch around the bottom layer pieces???Mark
I got real fast at it so now im on average of 2-3 seconds.Santiago
I was very close to solving but I had to switch pieces but idk how to do thatJenna
Really fun! But I don’t know how to solve it.MelonGuy44
Awesome! nice change to square 2 which I just spent ages on....Astral
I just solved it in 8 movespotatoeyo
the only cube in the Square-(number) series that I can solvemem
im dont know how to solve thisAnt
So fun and easy! I mastered it in only one night! Good work Grubiks!Not a very good cuber
Yay I solved it because I got a middle layer skip!Hayden
@The master, you solve the middle layer with R2 U2 R2 U2Astral
Dang, this thing is hard to solve if you don't know algorithms. I solved it though, but the middle layer is weird as heck.TheMaster
BRUH how do you get the second half of the middle layer solved??? But I love it!EmmettShark2000
It so hard!CrazyWind X
2nd comment ! this cube was very easy to solve.xyanCubes
First Comment! Also a really fun and easy puzzle, good alternative to Square-1 when you don't feel like having a challengeWrite a comment!