Rainbow Stairs

Description

Rainbow Stairs is a colourful sliding-piece puzzle with 13 helical pieces. When a piece is turned around the central column, it passes exactly three of its neighbours, either upstairs or downstairs. The object of the puzzle is to complete a staircase with the colours in a rainbow order. Other than the canonical staircase, also other patterns can be made. Examples are a reverse staircase, two staircases running at opposite sides of the column, and two staircases spreading in opposite direction. The puzzle was invented in 2016. At that time, a too-thin failed prototype was made with the pieces running around a ballpoint. The puzzle is directly related to the famous 14-15 puzzle. However, unlike that puzzle, Rainbow Stairs has no parity limitations. This means that any two pieces can be swapped and that any staircase pattern can be made. Still, the puzzle is non-trivial to solve after having been scrambled.

Watch the YouTube video.

Read more at the Non-Twisty Puzzles Forum.

Please order a 3D-printed do-it-yourself puzzle kit from iMaterialise at this page (check with Oskar about screws and stickers), or contact Oskar directly if you are interested in obtaining a fully colored, stickered and assembled sample of this puzzle.