A close-packed puzzle · 35 spheres · one tetrahedron

Sphere your way to genius.

Fit coloured segments into a perfect pyramid of balls. Open science, free puzzles, a real aha in your hands.

21segments A–U
435tiling sets found
72free tasks to play
~1.4%of combos actually pack
a solved set · 10 segments · 35 balls · FCC packing
01 / science

The maths is the toy.

Spheromino is built on the way spheres actually stack. Every rule you feel in your hands is a real result from geometry and combinatorics.

1
3
6
10
15
Five triangular layers — 1 + 3 + 6 + 10 + 15 = 35, the 5th tetrahedral number. Each layer is a triangular number.
FCC · 12

Twelve neighbours, not six. In close packing each ball touches twelve others — two balls kiss exactly when the quadratic form Q(Δ)=1.

Δ numbers

Triangular & tetrahedral. Layers grow 1·3·6·10·15 and sum to 35 — the 5th tetrahedral number. Segments of 1–5 balls fit an edge of exactly 5.

32164→435

Rare by design. Of ~32,164 possible segment sets, at least 435 truly tile the tetrahedron — and the solver keeps finding more.

A₄ · 12

Twelve orientations. The tetrahedron's rotation group turns one solution into a whole family of puzzles.

02 / play

Read five layers. Return the hidden pieces.

Coloured balls are placed for you; white holes are the segments you must find. Here's one to try — then browse the whole free library.

L1L2L3L4L5????J?J??JDJD??DTTKK?D?J??KKK?HHHHH

Colours are placed for you; the white holes are the pieces to return.

Pieces in this set · place the 4 missing
A
B
C
D
G
H
J
K
T
Beginner4 hidden
set ABCDGHJKT
hidden A B C G
build on
LEU

Not stuck — just one aha away. Toggle the solution when you want to check yourself.

Reveal solution
03 / get it

Four ways to hold one.

The puzzle is open. Buy one, print one, or build it from things you already have.

01

Existing puzzles

Compatible sphere puzzles you can pick up today.

02

3D print · STL

Free models on Printables — print the segments and go.

03

Beads

Glue craft beads into segments for a few coins.

04

Floorball balls

Wiffle-style balls make a big, huggable set.

Bonus · paid

The Genius Brochure

A curated PDF of the hardest, most elegant tasks — the ones that never touch the free library. Print, solve, frame the good ones.

€5.5one-off · instant PDF · VAT sorted
  • 50 hand-picked puzzles — 25 Genius + 25 Advanced
  • Verified-unique, print-ready, colourblind-safe
  • Pay once, download forever — no account
Buy the author a flat white ☕
One aha away

Built between a toy and a theorem.

Spheromino started as a spreadsheet full of stacked spheres. Now it's an open puzzle anyone can try, print, and share. Follow along as new tasks unlock.