Shashibo Dome — a beginner shape off the main route

A beginner shape you find yourself

Here is the honest bit first: the official instructions name the Dome as a beginner shape but do not print a move list for it, and we will not make one up. What we can tell you is what to look for and how the brand teaches you to find a shape — by letting it fold through until the magnets tell you it is done.

What to look for

As the name says, you are hunting for a dome: a rounded top over a base, rather than the points of a Star or the even all-around roundness of the Ball. If you can set it down on its base and it looks like a little roof, you are close. Its sibling, the Half Dome, is a separate shape with its own page.

Get these under your fingers first

1. The Crown — one corner opened.
2. The Star — the Crown's closed corner opened.
3. The Ball — the Star's corners folded inward and connected.

Those three teach you both directions a Shashibo moves: spreading out and gathering in. A Dome lives somewhere in between.

Finding it

• Work slowly from an open shape such as the Crown.
• Let the pieces fold through themselves rather than pushing them.
• Each time the magnets click, stop and check the silhouette.
• Rounded top on a base? That is your Dome.
• Points everywhere or a flat ring? Back up one move and try again.

Still stuck?

The brand's free app for Apple and Android has instructional videos for 70+ shapes. Watching the Dome once usually makes the motion click faster than any written description can.