I have to start off by saying I am a huge Puzzle Lover and a (Rubik's) Cuber. From riddles, illusions and physical puzzles, I am addicted to all things puzzles.

I have a ton of physical puzzles like Puzzling Obscurities and Rubik's Cubes. This puzzle serves as a very easy and laid back coffee table like puzzle. Very easy to solve and make shapes, magnetics are so tactile and pleasing to the touch, and makes for a very passive puzzle experience. The cube is plastic shapes held together with decorative strong stickers. The magnets are there to hold shapes and combine more than one cube together.

The instructions says if it doesn't feel right it isn't right when shaping the Shashibo. Here the fact about the Shashibo's different shapes, there is just very few and the rest in between are just floppy in between messes less satisfying or useable. I put it at a level 6/10 for difficulty.

Shashibo has 4 separately decorated side that will always face a particular direction in different configurations. Basically, if the cube is red as the smallest cube configurations and also has yellow, blue and green; well, the cube will always be red in that configurations and cannot simply be twisted around and closed back up with a different color. The different configurations will always have the same decorative sides in their exact same place.

So buying one is a waste of money. $25 and can form the same 4 basic major shapes (the other shapes are rather useless and unsatisfying). Buy 2, 3 or 4+ and that's where this product shines. 2 Shashibos have a couple of combinations that are rather satisfying, 3 and you can cleverly hide a cube within the others in a couple of shapes, 4+ and now we are taking. The 4 cube set seem to be the sweet spot in your purchase. The most satisfying use of this product for your money and you save just a little bit from individual purchases. If you buy 1 it is a dull and short experience with Shashibo. You need more or you're going to immediately want more. Save you money and go straight for 4. 1 Shashibo has a bigger diminishing return than just buying 4. Combining these cubes is where all the magic is at for this product.

A standard sized Rubik's Cube will fit inside 1 Shashibo cube for those who are curious.

In the end, it is a fun and relaxing product that I would say has a coffee table fidget charm to it. I definitely say go straight to more than one for your first buy, and in my opinion 4 cubes is the sweet spot to get the most out of this product.

Our son in law hasn't received it yet. It will be part of his birthday gift tomorrow, but I ordered it because it looked fun and challenging and got good reviews.

EDIT
Son in law received his gift yesterday and loves it. Said he had been looking at this puzzle for a while and was thinking about ordering it for himself.

My son loves these. The only thing I noticed that could have been better is how it was packaged. While I do appreciate the bubble wrap envelope, it still allows the cube to be potentially crushed. On another amazon vendor order of one of these cubes, it was thrown in a non-bubble envelope, a poly mailer only, so this way a step in the right direction, however, should be in a bublewrap, and even a small box. These are pricey for me anyway, so that is where I would appreciate it arriving with a little more thought to care during travel. Thanks!

This little cube has so many shapes behind it. I got it because I wanted to treat myself to something cool; that's when I came across this thing. I read the reviews and decided to order it. I got it and couldn't even figure out how to OPEN it at first but oh my goodness when I did, I couldn't stop playing with it. It has little magnets in it to help guide you into a shape, and you never want to force it into a shape. You can turn it into a heart, a star, a shape that reminds me of stairs, and so so many more shapes. As for the cube shape it comes in, good luck getting that shape back after you mess around with it. Getting that cube shape back is as cool as finding a new shape. It currently sits on my dresser in a 3-D triangle shape and I play with it very often, it's not exactly something you can get bored of. Definitely worth the buy!!

I bought this on a whim, with gift giving in the future in mind. My husband wanted to see what it did, so he fooled around with it for a bit.

It was confusing as to how to unfold it, refold it, and manipulate it to create the shapes on the included paper that just had a few shapes one could make with the toy and instructions on how to treat it. There were no handling or 'how to use' instructions.

We figured out there are magnets at certain corners and there are only a few shapes one could make with it, as once it is opened, forms a kind of circle.

He was able to make one of the shapes shown, but not any others. He has good spatial abilities so this was confounding even for him. After a while, he got it back into it's original cube shape and I packed it back up to be put in the gift closet.

We will have to be careful to whom we gift it to - will they think we do not like them and gave them a torture device or think highly of them because it is a higher level thinker toy??