Gary Spencer-Purvis from Designersaurus Rex isn't that much known in the mechanical puzzle market right now, but his latest creation is probably going to change that. Produced by Moulding Innovations in the UK, the Dioctipoid 1.0 and 2.0 are a new Twisty Puzzle sphere, released in August 2011.

To someone unfamiliar with this type of puzzles, you twist and turn its segments in order to get the initial pattern on the sphere. To better understand this, you can take a look at the instructions on the official site here.

Each sphere has its own color scheme with colored tiles instead of stickers. Although some people prefer stickers in Twisty Puzzles, I actually think that in this case, the choice was correct. The scheme in the Dioctipoid 1.0 is comprised by four-pointed stars in six different colors (red, yellow, green, light-blue, dark-blue and purple), surrounded by white rhombi with the Dioctipoid logo in raised text using a nice ambigram (probably one of the reasons why the tiles were chosen).

In the Dioctipoid 2.0, the white rhombi were replaced by colored ones, and each star has now two of the same color, adjacent in opposite sides.

As expected in a sphere puzzle, the parts are tight together, so the segments have to be perfectly aligned to allow a smoother turning. To help you make sure of this, you'll hear a click whenever a successful twist is made, much like you're used to if you've played with Meffert's puzzles before.

Although it's a bit similar in appearance to Tony Fisher's Octaball, which is a transformation of a FTO (Face Turning Octahedron) by David Pitcher, the similarities stop there. The color scheme is different and the mechanism is quite unique. The segments move on top of some kind of rail system just above the inner solid sphere (it feels solid, because of the puzzle's weight, which feels a little hefty). Very remarkable for this type of puzzles and will certainly influence future creations by other designers.

Solving the Dioctipoid can prove to be a very hard task. To have an idea check out this comparison with the Rubik's Cube. I have them for almost a week now and still didn't manage to solve neither one. The discussion going around the puzzle community is that it's solved like a FTO or even a Rex Cube. Since I haven't solved any of those, the solving experience is very new to me, not that it's such a bad thing. 

Not having solved previous similar puzzles will give you a completely different perspective on how to tackle this tough challenge. As of now, the most I got was three completed stars, both in a straight line or around one of the "poles". The key now is to find the right strategy to finish the remainder ones.

If the Dioctipoid 1.0 is hard, then what to say about the 2.0. Instead of the stars and white rhombi, you now have to worry about two colored rhombi for each correspondent star. The colors used are the same though. A good thing is that because of the ambigram logo in the rhombus, there's no need to pay special attention to orientation. Nevertheless, the most far I got until now, was to have two opposite shapes solved. Many work to do ahead...

Having a moderate sized Twisty Puzzle collection, it sure is nice to have something different from what I've seen. Both puzzles have very nice design features, from the logo to the stylish stands already included in the package, you'll feel you're in possession of a high quality item.

To those already very used to solving these puzzles, the Dioctipoid can provide a serious challenge and on top of that, there's a competition going to win money for the fastest one. With every Dioctipoid, you will receive a card token that will guarantee you an entry to this tournament. See here for more information.

Personally, I liked the Dioctipoid 1.0 better, because of the simpler and more recognizable pattern, but I will definitely stay tuned for new versions in the near future.