The Gear Ball Helps Me Keep My Mental Edge: A Review

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One thing I haven’t given up from my childhood is my love for puzzles. I’ve used Lumosity, and other third-party apps on my phone, but I wanted something more. So as a huge fan of Rubics cubes, I was happy to review Meffert’s Gear Ball puzzle.

The Gear Ball is labeled as the smoothest, easiest turning puzzles of it’s nature, and I must agree. Created by Oskar & Mefferts, the puzzle was is like rubbing smooth pebbles.

The Gear Ball Helps Me Keep My Mental Edge: A Review

It’s estimated that as much as eighty percent of all illnesses that affect people are stress-related. Dementia, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s–all of these are diseases to which the aged are vulnerable. But supposedly something as simple as regularly playing with a twisty puzzle can slow the advance of such illnesses or help relieve their symptoms and keep the brain active; in other words, keeping the brain active is something we all need.

The Gear Ball is a new take on the traditional puzzle game by using smooth gear rotations and sporting a twisty spherical shape. There was a square version of the Gear Ball a few years ago with the same concept of a mechanism based on gears, but the circular version just seems way cooler to me. Now, even though I have toyed with many puzzles, I can truthfully say I haven’t finished them all, but this one actually has held my attention for a solid two weeks now, sometimes giving me a challenge when I need to step away from work, or I’m frustrated with something.

The Gear Ball Helps Me Keep My Mental Edge: A Review

The pieces never catch each other or stick which I found to be interesting, and the colors don’t peel off like my older Rubics cube once did. Now I do warn you, like most new things, when you do take it directly out of the box for the first use, it’s kind of tricky because it moves completely different from a normal puzzle, and when you move one side, the middle of the gear cube moves with it. Don’t worry, it’s a piece of the puzzle.

The puzzle isn’t hard, but it will certainly keep your attention on a road trip, or even sitting quietly at your desk. I know I keep mine with me in my bag just in the event I’m on a long train ride home. This is for sure one of those puzzles that anyone can play and figure out, as if the 7-99 age recommendation didn’t already state that 🙂

Purchase Meffert’s Gear Ball today.

Source: Manufacturer supplied review unit.

What I Like: A switch up from the standard Rubics cube; Does not stick or lock up, very fluid

What Needs Improvement: Nothing

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About the Author

Greg Alston
Diehard Apple fanboy, and lover of all things tech. Born and raised in Washington, DC, Greg enjoys spending time with his wife, family, and friends, live sporting events, good bourbon, Tetris, and pizza. In that order.