So I bought a Rubik's Cube today...

Inspector Hammer! · 01-26-2007, 12:05 AM

and even after 20 years I still can't solve the damn thing lol. It came with a hint booklet but I can't make heads or tails of that either.

Neal_C · 01-26-2007, 01:09 AM

It's just a myth that it can actually be solved...

Adam Lenhardt · 01-26-2007, 01:31 AM

Get a different color in the center square of each side. Once that has been accomplished, makes sure your rotations never move any of the center squares. I am told this makes it easier to solve. I can't be sure because the last time I tried one it ended up going through a window.

Patrick_S · 01-26-2007, 01:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt

Get a different color in the center square of each side. Once that has been accomplished, makes sure your rotations never move any of the center squares. I am told this makes it easier to solve. I can't be sure because the last time I tried one it ended up going through a window.

Wait a minute, this advice doesn't make sense because it's impossible not to have a different color in the center of each square.

Francois Caron · 01-26-2007, 06:24 AM

You can always disassemble and reassemble it.

**HTF Ads**

Scott Merryfield · 01-26-2007, 07:21 AM

I used to be able to solve this puzzle very quickly, but that was back in the '70's and before I got old and lost my memory.

I had a hint book that showed a foolproof method for solving the puzzle every time. Now, if I could only remember what I did with that book.

Quote:

Get a different color in the center square of each side. Once that has been accomplished, makes sure your rotations never move any of the center squares. I am told this makes it easier to solve. I can't be sure because the last time I tried one it ended up going through a window.

If I recall, the center square never moves when you rotate a side. And, as Patrick pointed out, there is always a different color center square on each side. No wonder you could never solve the puzzle, Adam.

Patrick Sun · 01-26-2007, 07:24 AM

I've been able to solve it since the early 1980's, though no speed demon, average solve time in the 30-45 second range.

Now Rubik's Revenge (4x4x4) takes over 3 minutes to solve, that's a real pain.

Never have tried the 5x5x5 cube yet.

The 12-sided Tomy Dodecahedron (Megaminx) was a personal favorite, but I lost it years ago.

Chu Gai · 01-26-2007, 07:37 AM

You'll find various people on YouTube solving it such as this one: http://youtube.com/watch?v=LcJ-y39GzzQ

Also there are some people doing it one handed, blind, and with their feet. I don't know if any chicanery was involved.

Inspector Hammer! · 01-26-2007, 08:04 AM

I was playing with it during Smallville last night, which was appropriate since Clark found himself in the puzzle factory himself last night, and I actually did take notice that I couldn't move any of the center colors, the Rubik's Cube sticker on the center white square tipped me off to that.

I managed to get all but one white square solved but all of the other colors were still pretty scrambled, I was under the impression that if you solve one side you solve all sides?

I've heard of people who could solve it behind their back without looking, I don't know who these people are or where they reside but they are clearly from a higher race of being lol.

Bob Turnbull · 01-26-2007, 12:20 PM

Quote:

I actually did take notice that I couldn't move any of the center colors

Considering his comment about the Cube ending up out the window, I think Adam was initially kidding a bit about the center squares.

Quote:

I was under the impression that if you solve one side you solve all sides?

No, that's what makes it such an insidious puzzle. Typically to move forward and get closer to the solution, you have to destroy any small progress you may have made. My approach was to get the top 4 corners, then the bottom four, then the top 4 sides, bottom 4 sides and the remaining 4 sides in the middle row. As you did this though, you would have to ruin what was already there until it magically came back at the end of your move sequence.