Uwe Mèffert

About

A German game engineer known primarily for his much sought-after rotating, mechanical puzzles. His first such puzzle was the Pyraminx released in 1981 to international success. The Pyraminx could be described as a pyramid-shaped Rubik's cube. He would later collaborate with other engineers and designers to market a dodecahedron puzzle, called the Megaminx, the cubed design Skewb that its axes of rotation pass through the corners creating diamond and triangle shapes for manipulation of the user, and his other most popular creation the Skewb Diamond, an octahedron or double polyhedron combination puzzle. The Skewb Diamond is basically comprised of two Skewbs connected on with rotation that bisect the two to make one grander puzzle. It boasts over 138K possible arrangements. 

Before Fame

He found polyhedral shapes soothing and assistive in meditation, even believing that shapes such as cubes, pyramids, and others might influence the flow of energy, such a Qi, within the body. He considered his first polyhedra, a pyramid made of balsa wood, soothing. He worked with his brother, an engineer, to create a mechanized version that would allow a combination of symmetrical slices to move relative to one another, combined together to make one rotational puzzle in the same pyramid shape. This first prototype was created in the early to mid-1970s. However, in 1980, another inventors' polyhedra (the Hungarian Ernő Rubik's Cube) would make an international splash leading him to bring his designs to Japan to join forces with toymakers there to launch his puzzle: the Pyraminx. It would sell over 10 million units that first year, and move more than 90 million units over its first three years of production.

Trivia

He and his associates created and marketed more than 100 different three-dimensional mechanical rotating puzzles. He would also dedicate much of his time and energy to studying human and animal nutrition throughout the Australia-East Asian region, having completed studies and education in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Family Life

His parents were Otto Oscar Wilhelm Rudolph Mèffert and Emmy Johanna Frieda Von-Vorkauf. He lived most of his adult life in Hong Kong, where he met and married his wife, Jing. They had three children together. He died in 2022 due to complications from the COVID-19 virus. 

Associated With

His, Rubik's, and other polyhedral puzzle creations are fun sport amongst YouTube Rubik's Cube enthusiasts channels, such as TheProgrammingCuber.