The Rubik's Cube Turns 50

The Rubik's Cube turns 50 this year, but it's far from retiring. At a recent San Francisco conference, math buffs and puzzle fans celebrated the enduring appeal of Erno Rubik's invention, reports The New York Times. With a mind-boggling 43 quintillion possible configurations, the Cube has inspired countless variants and found uses in education and art.

The Cube [...] found uses in education and art.

[Sique]

Or to be more exact: Rubik's cube was initially intended for education and art, to improve the three dimensional imagination of Ernö Rubik's students of architecture.

Interestingly though, Ernö Rubik's father of the same name was a designer of aircrafts.

Re: The Cube [...] found uses in education and art

[subie]

Back when cube first came out, I was the local champ south west of Cleveland at completing it. I'm 56 now so it's been a long time but I believe I finished it in something 2 minutes 15 seconds.

Re: The Cube [...] found uses in education and ar

[subie]

I know my parents documented it some where so I could be wrong and it was even faster. I just don't remember at this point but I know that I completely beat out everyone by a large margin

Odd timing

[turp182]

I was going to bring one on a camping trip this weekend along with a video on how to solve it.

Seems the perfect "analog/digital" activity for outside when it's hot.

Re: Odd timing

[Roadmaster]

Instead of a video, write down or print the 6 algorithms needed to solve it with the basic method and you can practice without having your phone.

Re:

[narcc]

If you've spoiled the puzzle by memorizing someone else's solution, there might still be some fun to be found. Try to find a 'minimal' solution -- one that requires the least amount of memorization. The best I've been able to manage is a set of four sequences, 28 quarter-turns in total. I worked that out for a kid who was interested and needed the confidence boost, but who really wasn't equipped to grind out a solution on their own.

Re:

[turp182]

Thanks for the insightful answer. I've decided to print out the patterns and also bring the video...

More detailed explanation, especially around the suggestion of trying to figure it out (goes into thought process...).

https://slashdot.org/comments.... [slashdot.org]

Re:

[narcc]

Skip the video. The whole point of a puzzle is finding the solution, after all. You absolutely can figure it out yourself with a little patience and planning.

This should get you started without spoiling anything:

Work in layers**. You should see progress quickly that way. You'll likely be able to consistently complete one face in a few hours, if you haven't worked that out already. The middle layer is trivial, though you'll find that you'll need to 'break' your other layer to complete it. Your first re

Late to the party, but pretty good

[DollyTheSheep]

I remember, not to be one of the trailblazers of that game, but becoming pretty good at it. Played it excessively between age 9 to 11, after which chess became my new obsession.

I never failed to solve a Rubik's cube

[Baron_Yam]

They're fairly easy to pop apart and reassemble in their ordered configuration.

I never did get a handle on solving them the traditional way.

Re:

[aRTeeNLCH]

What, there's a more traditional way than yours? They're not born assembled, the factory always solves it that way, so all people turning sides are solving it in the less traditional way...!

Re:

[Randseed]

My cousin thought the solution back in the day was to just peel the labels off and place them where he wanted them.

Re:

[aRTeeNLCH]

It's yet another way to achieve the solved state. Thinking out of the box, good for your cousin!

That seemed early

[istartedi]

That seemed early, but it's true. The Cube was an 80s sensation, not a 70s fad most likely because it was invented behind the Iron Curtain. The Wiki article is short on legal issues involving its journey from Rubik to the West, and what if any role the governments played in slowing that down. That and Tetris were the only things that leap to mind as having come from the communist world... and of course Stoli, but I was too young to drink and fortunately never got too fond of vodka anyway.

Can anybody else think of products that were invented and/or produced behind the Iron Curtain and went West?

Re:

[chthon]

Not invented, but definitely sold, the Skoda and Lada cars.

Easy to solve, difficult to master

[terminal.dk]

There are many other cubes, pyramids and other shaped inspired, the the World Cubing Association is running competitions all over the world all the time.
Hardware qhas evolved, now springs has been replaced with repulsing magnets, while other magnets helps control the cube shape. It is a very actively developing market.

It takes 20 moves to solve eventhe most difficult mixed up cube. Humans tend to spend twice that.

There are many solving methods, with CFOP and Roux being the biggest (And Roux best for one-han

Speed Demon

[freeze128]

I had a book on how to solve the cube in under 2 minutes, written by a champion of many tournaments at the time. However, record holders today put that fella to shame with times like 4 seconds....

Time and Ability to Focus

[turp182]

Time is my issue. And attention span.

Someone else mentioned printing out the algorithm patterns. I think I would enjoy the mental exercise of learning and understanding those as opposed to trying to derive a solution myself. And be able to do this with minimal frustration and ability to keep interest and concentration. Understanding the game is more important to independently solving it for me.

And I'll bring the video as well (the tablet has a couple of shows I'm watching...).

For the record I play my vi