Rubik's Cube Comeback 163
aheath writes "Today's Boston Globe has an interesting article on the revived popularity of the Rubik's Cube. The article mentions that Winning Moves Games 'hopes to capitalize on the renaissance of the original Rubik's Cube in the next several months by rereleasing a version of the supersize 'Rubik's Revenge,' a 4-by-4 cube with 16 squares per side.' You can compare your best Rubik's Cube solution speed to the world champion's record. If the manual solution method doesn't appeal to you, you can always use the Lego Robotics automated method." I remember having a cube that had letters on each sticker instead of colors, so that the solved product spelled words across each face. That thing got me through a lot of childhood car rides.
Never mind solving them (Score:4, Funny)
Rubix Revolutions (Score:1)
Re:Never mind solving them (Score:3, Funny)
http://www.superliminal.com/cube/cube.htm [superliminal.com]
Re:Never mind solving them (Score:1)
[begin flashback]
Trainer: Now, Homer, this may very well save your life one day.
This... Homer?
Homer: [playing with a Rubik's cube] Yeah?
Trainer: Please pay attention. This button here controls the
emergency override circuit. In the event of a meltdown,
push this button and only this button.
Homer: [completing a side of the cube] Ooh, a side!
Trainer: Simpson!
Homer: What?
Trainer: You see which button I'
Fun hack for those insufferable solvers (Score:3, Funny)
2. rotate one of the vertex pieces by 120 degrees
3. reassemble and rotate into a mixed state
4. give to your least favorite "cube genius"
5. watch'em suffer as they try to solve it
6. Profit!
Re:Fun hack for those insufferable solvers (Score:2)
There are sequences of moves for rotating a corner cube, or flipping an edge cube.
Hmmm... now that I think of it, I bet your right. Was it exchanging two corner pieces? or exchanging two edge pieces?
I know that a simple clever reassembly of the cube (no sticker removals needed) can create an insolvable puzzle. But I did this more than 20 years ago when the cube first appeared. Since then a lot of packets have passed through the old noodle. Sigh....
Re:Fun hack for those insufferable solvers (Score:2)
Not correct. If you disassemble a cube and reassemble it in a random order, you only have a 1 in 12 chance of that cube being solvable. See Why must the cube be reassembled correctly? [jeays.net] for details.
Re:Fun hack for those insufferable solvers (Score:2)
There are such moves, however each rotation of one corner involves a counter-rotation of another corner. The same thing with flipping an edge. Taking a cube apart and rotating one corner, or flipping one edge will give you an unsolvable cube
Re:Never mind solving them (Score:3, Funny)
Funny thing was, he had absolutely no problem with those big felt tip pens commonly known as magic markers.
did anyone actually solve it? (Score:5, Funny)
OK, I cheated. I'm a bad person. Happy now?
Re:did anyone actually solve it? (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, wait, thats not what they meant by the manual method?
Re:did anyone actually solve it? (Score:2)
A few months ago I got one on a lark and gave up after a few hours. Of course I tried to tell myself that I just didn't have time to fiddle around all night with that stupid puzzle but the truth is that zee brain she dun work so good no more.
Re:did anyone actually solve it? (Score:4, Informative)
Turns out it's easy to find links to speed cubing pages, but for people like me who just want an easy-to-understand (as opposed to super-fast) solution you have to dig a bit. The best explanation I found was Denny's 3x3 cubing page [unc.edu], which uses a layer-by-layer approach that's pretty intuitive. The only drawback was that it doesn't cover what to do about logos, which need to be oriented in a specific way (as opposed to just being on the right face); for that one, try Matt Monroe's page [unc.edu].
Re:did anyone actually solve it? (Score:2)
At the chance that I'll be slashdotting my hosting service... Here's my "Practical Guide" for solving the cube. It has the following advantages:
- It is simple. There's even an ASCII version that fits on a single page. Honest! It makes it easy to carry it with the cube (or in your PDA, or whatever).
- It is "practical"; it focuses on solving the cube using a small number of basic moves that are "natural" and easy to perform. They become "muscle memory" in no time.
- It is easy
Re:did anyone actually solve it? (Score:2)
The rest of the book covers all kinds of mathematical group theory, as well as a lot of procedures for making pretty patterns. There's even a process that rotates top-center and front-center 90 degrees, making it fairly trivial to solve those picture face cubes.
Back then (1982? 1983?) I used to have a 4
Re:did anyone actually solve it? (Score:3, Interesting)
The way I learned how to do it was this:
I would choose an arbitrary side to be the "top", and another side to be the "front", of the cube, and I invented a notation for describing different ways of turning the cube: ie, left side clockwise 90, bottom side 180, right side counterclockwise 90, and so on.
Then I would take an already solved cube and start making differ
Re:did anyone actually solve it? (Score:1)
Re:did anyone actually solve it? (Score:1)
Re:did anyone actually solve it? (Score:1)
It's not "cheating", it's "lateral thinking".
: )
Re:did anyone actually solve it? (Score:2)
If so, then you're not really a bad person.
Bad people put them back together in non-solvable positions.
Re:did anyone actually solve it? (Score:2)
The (A) secret with the top layer is to find a combination of moves that does what you want to the top layer, without worrying about the rest of the cube.
So say if you want to rotate a top corner piece, figure out a sequence of moves that leaves the top layer untouched except for the rotation of the corner piece. then find another corner piece that needs rot
Re:did anyone actually solve it? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:I used to have one of those (Score:2, Funny)
Yeah, well...the program I wrote in C to solve the cube is orders of magnitude faster than your QBasic program, so I win.
Language wars (Score:3, Funny)
Someone wrote a program in Qbasic, and someone wrote a program in C. So far in this thread, we have reached the following conclusions from that limited information:
Re:I used to have one of those (Score:2)
If I build a forklift can I say I can lift 3000 lbs?
Re:I used to have one of those (Score:2)
If I can build a tool to accomplish a task, and allow others to accomplish a task, how is this less valuable than simply accomplishing a task?
Re:I used to have one of those (Score:1)
Yes, you can, because you now can lift 3000 lbs.
You could also say you can dig a hole.. even though you might require a shovel to do it.
You can say you can 'use the Internet'.. even though you require a computer to do it.
Boasting contest! (Score:5, Interesting)
I used to do the cube in under a minute regularly. My best averages were around 50 seconds. Nowhere close to the world champion of course, but still more than enough to impress your friends
I used the corners first [speedcubing.com] algorithm. Its not what the fastest cubers use, but its much easier to learn, because its more "natural". It also has a shorter average number of moves (under 60, IIRC). Though I say "easier", it takes several months!
Re:Boasting contest! (Score:1)
Re:Boasting contest! (Score:1)
If you want to solve it. (Score:5, Informative)
Lars Petrus' method for speed [lar5.com]
Dan Knight [middlebury.edu], the world champion
Jessica Fridrich [binghamton.edu]. Her method is used by many.
www.speedcubing.com [speedcubing.com]
www.rubiks.dk [rubiks.dk]
A solution some think is easy. [solen.se]
I bought my first cube 2 months ago and today I completed it in 56.98 seconds! After loads of practice of course.
I forgot one... (Score:1)
Josef Jelikek's [misto.cz] fast method for the last layer.
This is the one I use. It's the same as Lars Petrus' method up to the last layer, but then it does things in a different order and you only have to memorize 28 patterns to solve the last layer in 2 steps.
For beginners I recommend Lars Petrus' page. You only have to learn flipping the edges, Niklas(tm), Sune(tm) and Allan(tm) by heart to always be able to solve it. I.e. only 4 sequences. That's how I started off.
Re:If you want to solve it. (Score:3, Funny)
Easiest Color to Solve on a Rubik's Cube:
Black.
Simply remove all the little colored stickers on the cube, and each of side of the cube will now be the original color of the plastic underneath -- black. According to the instructions, this means the puzzle is solved.
Re:If you want to solve it. (Score:1)
Re:If you want to solve it. (Score:2)
Re:If you want to solve it. (Score:1)
Solving is not that hard (Score:2)
Re:Solving is not that hard (Score:1)
Re:Solving is not that hard (Score:1)
Re:Solving is not that hard (Score:2)
Re:Solving is not that hard (Score:2)
Re:Solving is not that hard (Score:2)
If you pull a standard 3x3x3 cube to pieces and put it back together then you have a 50/50 chance that is solveable. (The unsolvable versions can be taken to the state where one piece is wrong.)
If you solve middles and pair edges of a 4x4x4 (to make a 3x3x3) then I believe you have a 50/50 chance if it being wrong. Unfortunately, in my experiance, its more like 10:1 or worse....
palmtop qubit simulator? (Score:3, Informative)
It's evil, EVIL I tell you! (Score:1)
I wasted so many hours of my finite life working on that damn cube and I'll never get any of that time back. I hate it!
Re:It's evil, EVIL I tell you! (Score:2)
CN, you used to be able to spell? (Score:1, Funny)
Fun cube facts (Score:5, Informative)
* The inventor Rubik used to solve it in about 3 minutes
* To measure your average the standard procedure is to do it 12 times, remove the smallest and largest, and take the mean of the remaining 10
* The fastest cubers have averages of about 17 secs
* The best average anyone ever got is (IIRC) 12 secs (Imagine that!!)
* Some people can solve the entire cube blindfolded!! (Study it once, get blindfolded and then solve it). Its based on group theoretic invariants of the cube. You can do certain operations without changing most of the cubies
* Some people can solve a 20x20x20 cube (a software simulation of course)
* There are some incredible videos of people speed solving it available. One by Dan Knights [middlebury.edu] for instance
* The best known computer algorithm can solve random instances in 18 moves (human solutions take about 60 moves). This is optimal on average; There is a lot of work going into finding "God's algorithm", a worst case move-optimal solution
Disclaimer: I used to do it 2 or 3 yrs ago so my info might be somewhat outdated.
Re:Fun cube facts (Score:2, Informative)
The best averages I've ever heard of are in the low 17's. 12 seconds is outrageous and would surely be a lucky case, where the last layer was coincidentally solved.
Blindfolded cubers that I've read of have a 15 minute study time.
Many people can solve a 20x20x20 cube (like the one at oinkleburger [oinkleburger.com], but even some of the fastest people in the world (like Chris [speedcubing.com] )take hours and hours to do it.
The world's fastest o
Re:Fun cube facts (Score:4, Interesting)
15 27
16 400
17 4343
18 11020
19 623
So 18 is by far the most common as well as being the median.
Still can't solve one (Score:2)
Re:Still can't solve one (Score:2, Informative)
If you solve it by layers then you makes sure that each corner/edge piece is correct for its layer with respect to its sides and you can ignore the unsolved layers while you do the current one.
"Solves it 20 seconds" (Score:1)
And how much money... (Score:1, Troll)
A: None. Capitalism only rewards inventors when they are forced into it by the law. So much for all of this 'we respect IP rights' crap.
Re:What IP law? (Score:1)
Press release? (Score:2)
How does it work? (Score:1)
I don't understand, how when twisting it, the corners don't flat fall off.
Re:How does it work? (Score:2)
2.) Turn one layer 45 degrees.
3.) Pop out one of the four middle edge cubes on that layer (it has only two colours - possibly the same).
4.) Disassemble IP.
5.) Profit!
Re:How does it work? (Score:1)
http://www.randelshofer.ch/rubik/rubik.html
Java cube (Score:2)
Java Cube [rubiks.com]
Rubik's Party (Score:3, Funny)
So, somehow the mind challenger has been turned into a clothes swapping party. Who'd have thought it?
Best 3x3 Solution (Score:1)
Apparently its not the fastest by about 0.5 seconds or so but it takes years to get to that level.
I found it encredibly easy to learn, got under 60 seconds in less than a month.
http://lar5.com/cube/
Whew! It's over again. (Score:5, Funny)
You can't push a fad, you know.
Groovy.
In related news... (Score:1)
Cube math (Score:5, Interesting)
So if you take the cube apart and put it back randomly, chances are you'll end up with an insoluble position :)
This also allows us to count the number of possible configurations.
Now a math teaser:
The set of operations (operation = sequence of moves) you can perform on a cube forms a group. Two group elements x, y are said to commute if xy = yx (in this case, 2 operations commute if it doesn't matter in which order you perform them). Question: Find an operation that commutes with every operation.
Rot13d spoiler follows.
Syvccvat nyy gur rqtr cvrprf.
In fact this is the only answer. If you know group theory, this is the only group element other than the identity which lies in the center of the cube group.
Re:Cube math (Score:1)
Re:Cube math (Score:3, Interesting)
Not so.
<math-geek>
A binary operator R is said to be commutative for any two values x and y, if and only if
Note, in particular, it does not require that x or y have inverses -- thus, multiplying by zero is commutative, even though 1/0 is undefined.
</math-geek>
That devilish Cube! (Score:1)
I grew so frustrated with mine I threw it away furiously once, damn thing broke a vase!
Then I melted it on the stove. Heh that'll teach the damned Cube!
Looking back (Score:3, Interesting)
The fastest way I found... (Score:2)
..to solve it included a screwdriver to pry the tiles of. Apperantly, I didn't have much patience back then.
Meffert's has 4 x 4 puzzles and more (Score:1)
Re:Meffert's has 4 x 4 puzzles and more (Score:1)
King of the Kube (Score:1)
blah... (Score:1)
probably one of those 70s revival thingies like those retro-wood stereos that we've been seeing... i'm sure those who do it are driven to it mostly thanks to fashion rather than genuine interest
personally i still prefer playing vexed on my Clie... i've been stuck on one of the levels for weeks if not months now and can't figure it out...
Arrrghh... (Score:1)
Fastest brute force method (Score:2)
square one (Score:1)
the lame thing came already messed up with directions on how to solve it. though, i didnt realize that until after i started playing with it.
3x3x3 and 2x2x2 (Score:2)
Speaking of the 2x2x2
Re:3x3x3 and 2x2x2 (Score:2)
Another oddity is the dual 3x3x3. The two cubes share a column of 3 pieces, making it impossible to rotate around one axis.
Never read the book (Score:2)
But to date if I'm wandering in a store and see scrambled cubes out for display I will usually sit and [try to] solve them :). Kinda like seeing juggling balls on display. It's a moral imperative.
I just started learning the cube (Score:1)
I figure i'm the one responsible for this cube revival
Implementation of Rubik's cube in Java (Score:1)
Comeback? (Score:2)
Re:Comeback? (Score:1)
The cube however is a totally different story, I've never once done that legitimately. I haven't picked one up for about 10 years though so maybe it would be a little easier now I'm a grown up (at least physically). Does anyone know of an online store that sells these things, the Magic and
Re:Comeback? (Score:2)
Group efforts (Score:2)
We would use vaseline in the mechanism to stop them jamming, and to prevent them wearing out.
Otherwise, when racing with a well worn cube, the thing would fly apart in your hands - I'm not kidding!
Our maths teacher hated them, because they used to disrupt his class a bit (and he couldn't solve it himself).
Best racing ones were the originals. The ta
The Cube... (Score:2, Interesting)
I also scrambl
Oh yeah! (Score:2)
I don't remember that one, but I do remember having one that had fruits on them -- oranges, bananas, cherries, pineapples, etc. -- in addition to the original Rubik's Cube and the Pyraminx [geocities.com].
Ah, memories (Score:1)
Maybe they brought them home after school to show their parents how smart they were, or something. They certainly couldn't do that to other kids, because the other kids knew I solved it for them.
Avoiding Cube-related Injuries ? (Score:1)
Solution for finding the an optimum solution (Score:2)
And to see a video of a speed cuber, look at Dan Knight's [middlebury.edu] page.
Annoted Pratical Guide for Solving Rubik's Cube (Score:2)
World Champion? (Score:2)
He has a video on his site of him solving the cube in less than the 20 seconds which, according to
The woman who's method he uses has videos on her site where she solvs the cube in around 14 seconds, 16 seconds, etc.
Can anyone enlighten me?
SOMA cube (Score:2)
Does anyone know if they're still available?
I googled for it, but apparently, somebody markets a drug with the same name, and it resists googling around it (Brave New World?).
Does anybody know what I'm talking about?
Re:The coolest cube by far.... (Score:1)
Re:The coolest cube by far.... (Score:2)
Re:The coolest cube by far.... (Score:2)
Big Mac, Filet o' Fish, Quarter Pounder, French Fries, Icy Cokes, Thick Shakes, Sundaes, and Apple Pies.
Thanks for polluting my brain by digging up that little meme again. : /
Re:The coolest cube by far.... (Score:2)
Re:The coolest cube by far.... (Score:2)
This is the cube I have...
HERE! [twistypuzzles.com]
So they did a combining thing. I couldn't remember. I haven't touched the thing in over a decade.
Nah... (Score:2)