Rubik's Race

Speed cubing is the practice of trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube in the shortest time possible .

Ask your parents if they have heard of Rubik’s Cube and they will get really excited. 

In fact most of them will do a search of dusty garages and attics and come up triumphantly with a 3D mechanical puzzle.

This little cube hit the stores in 1974 and went viral.  It was invented by a Hungarian professor of architecture, Erno Rubik, and bears his name.

Originally called Magic Cube, this puzzle drove people crazy till they had mastered the art of solving it. It was declared the top selling game of its times and over 350 million of these magic cubes had been sold by January 2009.

Some people go so far as to say that the Rubik’s Cube can be considered the world’s best selling toy ever!

As in all cubes, the Rubik’s cube has six faces. Each of the six faces is divided into nine little squares, each with one solid colour (white, red, blue, orange, green or yellow).

The tricky part of the cube is that a pivoting mechanism allows each face to turn independently, thereby mixing the colours. The puzzle is considered “solved” when each face consists of one colour i.e. all nine squares of each side is of the same colour!

Unbelievable as it may sound, this simple toy permits 43 quintillion possible positions. Since this number was considered meaningless to most buyers, the puzzle was sold as permitting billions of possible solutions, to avoid scaring off consumers! So, when your nerdy second cousin says he/she can solve it easily, run for your life.

Speed cubing is the practice of trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube in the shortest time possible. This is where the Rubik’s Cube comes into “play” again after over four decades. Professor Erno Rubik has now designed ‘Rubik’s Race’. It requires the same skill and logic that the original Magic Cube needed but now you have to go head-to-head against an opponent.

This toy has been dubbed the ultimate ‘face-to-face race’. It is defined as a fast-paced game for two players which gets your brain and fingers racing. In keeping with the times, the Rubik’s Race comes as apps for the iPhone, iPad, and IPod touch.

The Rubik’s Cube may be a hand-held game, but its popularity has led to a giant version popping up.  The Pacific Science Center in Seattle is now home to a 26-ft Rubik’s Cube which has been installed in its ‘Puzzle Palooza’.  This seventies “tormentor,” is thus larger than life and is a huge attraction!

The exhibit which has been nicknamed Groovik’s Cube after its developers – engineers and artists of Groov Labs – is a working model and can be solved using controls on the ground. 

Before you rush off to fly to Seattle there is an important caveat – you need a total of three partners to work together collaboratively to solve the cubic puzzle.  And remember, now your race is against time – not each other!