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As I was researching another article, I was struck by the many different Rubik’s cubes there are. Some are designed to be nerdy cool, some are pretty, and some are designed to drive you up a wall. But no matter how difficult you make a puzzle, there will always be someone who’s up for the challenge.
The classic Rubik’s cube is available in different configurations, such as 2×2 pocket cube, the standard 3×3, and the more difficult 4×4 Rubik’s revenge, and the 5×5 professor’s cube. Yes, there are more difficult ones, too.
1. Grayscale Rubik’s Cube
The Grayscale Rubik’s cube is the same as the standard 3×3, but without the bright contrasting colors. The sides are different shades, but just barely! The moves are the same, but difficult because of the extra concentration required in distinguishing the colors.
2. Photo Rubik’s Cube
You can have a personalized Rubik’s cube made from six photographs. Each photo will be sliced into nine squares. This will make it hard for anyone who isn’t familiar with the photos to solve it, so if you’ve never solved one, there’s a chance someone else might mess it up for you. And cubes that must have all squares lined up in a certain orientation are more difficult, as they have a thousand times more possible configurations.
They get crazier, after the jump.
3. Rubik’s Cube Earth
This is cool. The basic Rubik’s cube with a map of the earth printed on it. Even if you’re a cube quiz, you have to have some basic idea of geography to solve this. And it’s a great conversation starter.
4. Magnetic Dice Cube
When I first saw this, I thought it was awesomely retro to make a Rubik’s cube from even older gaming cubes, but that’s not all there is to it. This dice cube is held together by magnets instead of the Rubik’s mechanism! If you can’t solve it, you can easily take it apart.
5. Sudokube
Sudoku is one type of puzzle I deliberately avoided learning to do, for fear it would suck up all my time. But if you know a Sudoku enthusiast, they’d have a ball with the Sudokube.
6. Fentix Cube
Andrew Fentem designed this electronic touch-sensitive cube to emulate a Rubik’s Cube. It’s as much art as it is a game!
7. Megaminx
The Megaminx is shaped like a desk calendar paperweight, with 12 sides. It has 50 moveable pieces, compared to 20- on a standard Rubik’s cube.
8. through 11. Other Variations
Other shape variations include the Pyraminx, the Skewb Diamond, the Dogic, and Alexander’s Star. I can only imagine the crazymaking that comes with these.
Comments (23)
Comment
Years ago my dad gave me a rubiks cube… it was the same one that he got in high school right after they came out on the market. When my roommate was visit my house she spotted it. We took it back to school, where she then learned how to do it from directions online (yeah, cheating, i know). She can now complete it in about a minute and a half.
She’s one of those people that can’t leave a puzzle unsolved. I keep threatening to get her one of these crazy ones.
Myself, however, can’t even get a side done.
posted by Amy on 1-10-2008 at 6:15 am
Dice with magnets in them.
Are these allowed in Vegas?
posted by Gambler on 1-10-2008 at 6:34 am
Amy, your DAD got one in high school?
I feel so old now….
posted by Miss Cellania on 1-10-2008 at 6:37 am
It’s sudoku, not soduku.
posted by dogma00 on 1-10-2008 at 6:49 am
The Fentix Cube is a dream cube for a Rubik zealot like myself. As of now, the largest Rubik’s cube is a 5×5x5 (aka Professor Rubik) and the Olympic Cubes (www.olympicube.com) have been delayed so much that it seems that they’re never going to hit the market.
posted by Jake Le Master on 1-10-2008 at 7:09 am
dogma00, thanks, I’ll get that fixed.
posted by Miss Cellania on 1-10-2008 at 7:10 am
I had a Pyraminx years ago. Infinitely easier to solve than the standard Rubik’s. I finally gave the pyraminx to my daughter.
I still can’t solve the damn Rubik’s.
posted by Chuck on 1-10-2008 at 7:20 am
Rubik’s cubes bring back fun memories for me, when I used to play with the one at my granny’s house (probably my mom’s or one of my uncle’s originally!). Though I don’t remember being able to complete all sides, we used to have tons of fun trying to figure it out.
posted by nutmeag on 1-10-2008 at 7:33 am
I was never able to solve more than three sides of the Rubik’s cube, but I remember everyone ferociously working on them when I was in grade school.
I was able to solve the pyramid puzzle. And does anyone remember the Missing Link? I solved that one pretty easily, too, but it was one of my favorites. Too bad kids these days don’t have the attention span to love these toys like we did.
My daughter is very intelligent, but she’d throw a puzzle like this across the room after about 5 minutes and go back to Webkinz or Guitar Hero.
posted by Bre on 1-10-2008 at 7:53 am
tee hee- ‘Soduku’……. gettin your inner geek on? Who doesn’t love a sly, albiet unintended Star Wars reerence?
posted by qt314159265 on 1-10-2008 at 8:25 am
Don’t write off the cube in today’s world of short attention spans. Our 15 year old is a Rubik’s cube fanatic; apparently they are all the rage at his high school.
He can solve the basic 3×3x3 cube within 2 minutes — this from a kid who loves video games, is pretty lazy, and is a lousy student. It’s actually been a confidence booster for him.
posted by ykak on 1-10-2008 at 9:06 am
When I was in high school, I was given the Square One variation of the Rubiks Cube
posted by CJB1979 on 1-10-2008 at 9:24 am
I have two round rubix cube globes on my desk. One has 8 wedge shaped pieces, the other has about 20, with some pieces moving and others not. They’re really impossible. I have a friend who can solve a regular rubix cube in under 5 minutes, and he worked on my globes for 6 weeks, about an hour a night, and could only solve one of them. I keep them on my desk at work. I’m sure I’ll never solve them.
posted by Jenny on 1-10-2008 at 10:16 am
I consider Rubrik’s cubes a fascinating study on learning styles. Visiting family, I watched as one of my cousins (a comp sci major, and very mathemateically oriented) use the cheat sheet he found online, as his younger brother (more mechanically oriented) disassembled his and stuck the pieces back together. Both valid methods IMO.
posted by Katie B on 1-10-2008 at 10:29 am
Oh my goodness. I love the sudocube *.* so nifty!
posted by Ashley on 1-10-2008 at 10:34 am
Hey anyone seen Rubiks World?
Its the globe version and its got 8 tiles. You’d think itd be easier.. Not true. I can’t even find a solution for it online.
Anyone know how to solve it? Its driving me up the wall.
posted by Sara on 1-10-2008 at 10:56 am
Anyone seen Rubiks World? Its a globe with 8 moving tiles. You’d think it would be easier with fewer moving parts, but no. I can’t even find one a solution online.
Anyone have any better luck?
posted by Sara on 1-10-2008 at 11:03 am
I work in IT and received one of those Sudoku cubes as a Christmas gift from HP. I scrambled it all up and then tried for about 30 seconds to bring it back to some semblance of order. It has been sitting in my desk drawer ever since.
The only way I could ever solve a Rubik’s cube when I was younger was by peeling the stickers off and reattaching them appropriately. One day I would like to learn the actual technique.
posted by caitlen315 on 1-10-2008 at 11:22 am
Haha! I took my Rubik’s cube apart and put it back together too! I DID actually SOLVE it the traditional way a few times and even had a tiny pair of (working) Rubik’s cube earrings! Still, I’d rather solve a good level of Tomb Raider any day…
posted by Renee Walker on 1-10-2008 at 11:55 am
Great article! We had the hardest time with Rubik’s when it was new… after a night of drinking, my brother solved it in 2 minutes. I gotta razz him about that! (I’ve only gotten 5 sides, but not the 6th.)
I’ve totally forgotten about Alexander’s Star - I had one, I wonder if mom still has it in her “archives”. (ok, ok, I’ve only solved 3 Rubik sides - at least you were paying attention…)
posted by TomH on 1-10-2008 at 12:02 pm
Tom, that makes no sense. If you got five sides, the 6th would, by default, also be done becuse there is nowhere else for those squares to be…
posted by Ryan on 1-10-2008 at 4:30 pm
I also have a Rubicks Globe puzzle and have never solved it -I’ve come pretty close and really don’t know how I did it. I also have the flat Rubicks rings puzzle which is pretty easy to solve when you know the pattern.
A couple years ago I was given a Simpsons Rubics Cube - its Hommers head and has 8 wedges - still haven’t solved it. Homer now looks like some bad science project. I also have a flat Simpons puzzle which solves exactly like the rings puzzle.
posted by Beth on 1-10-2008 at 8:31 pm
I was in Budapest right before the Rubik’s world championship this year. Two guys staying in the same hostel as us were there to compete. We watched them practising, and they could solve a normal (3×3) in under fourteen seconds. We also watched them solve it blindfolded. It was fascinating.
posted by Jen on 1-10-2008 at 8:57 pm