The Pillow Dino by Calvin's Puzzle (designed by Evgeniy Grigoriev) is an interesting color variation of the well-known Dino Cube, invented by S.Y. Liou back in 1995. Since the original is so rare nowadays and currently fetches hundreds of dollars whenever a copy is available for auction, most of us will have to settle for a more affordable option, like Calvin's Dino and others. I also have a very nice variation by Smaz, with a very original sticker design. But, today's review is all about the Pillow Dino, so read on.

A nice thing about Calvin's Pillow Dino is that it's parts are stickerless, except for the designer and manufacturer's transparent stickers on two white pieces. The puzzle features three colors (black, blue and white), which are great to form patterns, aside from the main one. I'm not sure how many you can create, but it depends on what you call a pattern, if it has to be symmetrical or not. Nevertheless, it's good to have more than one option.

The movement of the puzzle is smooth, but I'd say it's too lose. The pieces often get stuck on top of one another, making the puzzle difficult to turn sometimes. In terms of movement, I prefer the Smaz Dino Cube, which is much more stable.

The mechanism has an 8-armed ball core and the puzzle moves by rotating its corners. Solving the puzzle is not difficult, but there's more to it than the apparent lack of challenge it offers. Its simplicity, with the three colors, which by the way, in my opinion, are a great match, is nice for just fiddling with it, trying to come up with different patterns. It doesn't need to be challenging to be appreciated and enjoyed.

Closing Comments:

Calvin's Pillow Dino is definitely a nice addition to any Twisty puzzle collection. Also, because it's easy to solve, anyone can try it and have a feel for what Twisty puzzles can offer. It's not the best Dino Cube variation, but definitely not the worst.

Availability: The Pillow Dino by Calvin and Evgeniy is available at PuzzleMaster for about $20 CAD.