Rubic Cube

[stin]

Has everyone tried it lately?

Well, I was looking for a bike pump for my son and I found this ancient block inside a cupboard. And guess what, I decided to try it and eventually, I`m addicted to it.

Unaware to me, my wife told me, I could complete the cube few years ago...well years ago!!, and I didn`t know! But, I just managed three complete sides and I would not be surprised to completed it again.

stevie:hyper

[infoxicated]

I haven't owned one in years, but I think I managed four sides back in the 80's and that was as far as I could get.

We had an 80's theme party for my girlfriend's 21st and gave one away as a prize for an 80's music quiz that I put together. I remember being really disappointed that I couldn't win it!

They are cool, so I think I'll have to get myself another one at some point. :D

[mdhay]

Back when I was Six I just painted the sides to all the right colours.

[Task]

There have actually been some recent advances in Rubik Cube technology, all sorts of interesting variants and subspecies have evolved.

The funniest part is that I'm not kidding.

[element42]

Believe it or not, I almost did a PhD on this kind of madness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubik's_Cube_group).
Fortunately I saw sense. Actually it was a kingfisher but that's a different story.

[Lance]

I saw a red-tailed hawk stealing a bluejay chick in my front yard once. But that's an even more different story.

[About a dozen jays attacked the hawk, but it flew off with the chick anyway. Food.]

:naughty Lance offtopic. Tsk. :naughty

[stin]

Well, I did completed the cube few minutes ago and I`m really pleased for that.

Will I do again?, the answer is yes!:banzai

stevie:D

[Lion]

I got one of these: http://www.helmsoft.org/cube/cubcol/square1.jpg for xmas many moons ago, and while it came with a solution in the package, it was scrambled by a family member and not solved again for about 6 or 7 years. in fact it spent several weeks with me not even able to turn it back into a cube, let alone with the right colours...
I finally found some instructions that helped me sort it about 2 years ago now.
it's stayed in it's solved state ever since and I have no intention of scrambling it ever again :P

[mdhay]

'The hell is that? Van Gough's attempt?

[jospicy]

i used to be able to do a standard cube in less than a minute and though i havn't done one in a couple of years if i could remember how to do the bottom layer then i'd be sorted :)
Now i'm sure i have one around here somewhere...

[The Gracer]

its like math - once you have done it once or twice, you get the hang of how to get things to work and you are away.

I never had the patience for cubes, id scramble one and then have more fun crumbling it and piecing it back together :P

[element42]

I never had the patience for cubes,Me neither, Rubiks Magic was a lot more fun.

[Lion]

'The hell is that? Van Gough's attempt?they look more like MC Escher's attempt in the form they use to ship (http://helix.net.nz/~lion/Pictures/square1.jpg)

[RJ O'Connell]

We have this Korean kid at our school, in the 10th grade, that's one of those Rubic's Cube masters that can solve one in under a minute with his hands behind his back. Then again he could never beat my WO1 times so I don't feel that jealous. ;)

[Lance]

Rubik's Cube and Tetris bore the hell out of me, yet somehow, I can [or at least I used to] run races in Wipeout, and other racing games of sufficient goodness, over and over again. Just as repetitive, but it fEEls less pointless even though the pointlessness of such recreations is really equal. I sometimes think that the pointlessness of them iS their point, that there is no actual need to do such things, but only the desire to, just for the entertainment. It makes us feel free, no obligations, no duties, just our own free time. I don't really need to increase my skill level; I just like to. I suppose that there is a practical need fulfilled for old people like me because the exercise of high-speed coordination helps keep one's abilities from deteriorating to the point where one can't physically function very well in everyday life. But that has never been the reason I've played games; I just did it for the fun. For me, there is no fun in abstract puzzle games, but racing is highly entertaining. Why the difference? Damned if I know.

[Medusa]

Speed is the answer I think. I find Tetris hilariously entertaining once up at the really fast levels, but the time it takes to get there bores the heck out of me.

I had a rubiks cube ages ago, but I picked off a lot of the colour stickers...I was quite young then...:redface:

[Lance]

I think that picking off all the colour stickers to reveal the same monochrome beneath would be a wonderful way of solving the puzzle, somewhat in the manner of Alexander the Great's solution of the Gordian Knot puzzle, or Indiana Jones solution to fighting a great swordsman.

Those methods rather bypass the entertainment value of following the rules, however.

[element42]

Clearly you are my hero. What a fabulous post.

Anyway. I'm not sure abstract puzzle games are repetitive in the same way as racing. I'm not sure how to best express my thoughts here... I think it's something to do with the nature of the goal. Maybe it's the difference between digital and analogue: A tetris brick only fits in a few places, but you can always get a bit closer to that apex.

[Medusa]

Hehee, Lance. Although I'd love to compare myself to Alexander the Great, I'm afraid my little mind was more likely bent on destruction at the time.:lol

It was an entirely different sort of entertainment value.

[Lance]

Would you use an ordinary hammer to extend the time of entertainment, or use a 12 pound sledgehammer just to get the sheer intensity of doing it all in one go?

@Mo: Thanks! Sometimes it's good to think outside the cube. ;)

[Asayyeah]

Funnily enough we did talked about Rubik's cube at yer house, Stevie, so when i saw you playing that bloody Cube it reminds me my old passion for the cubes, it started when i had 12 or 13 years old with the original one (3X3X3), there was a great competition at school who will be the 1st to made it completely, after that we played for the fastest time, if i remember correctly i never been under 1 minute but i was damn close, i also opened my cube few times to oil the different parts to have maximum velocity twisting it. So i started to find other kind of puzzle like this pyramidal one (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Pyraminx_solved.jpg) i completed
like 3 different models of octagon (http://www.geocities.com/jaapsch/puzzles/images/octagon.jpg) , one looks really like a barrel ( no pics for that one :( )
I also got a Rubik's shaped as a ball ( same system than the 3X3X3), a snake one (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubik%27s_Snake) by far the simpliest .
On the other side i never completed those next 2 :
i was so close to finish this one a dodecaedre (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaminx) but this one a 4X4X4 (http://www.geocities.com/jaapsch/puzzles/images/cube4b.jpg) i just can't ! ( btw when i was 15, someone stole me this one and i just stopped playing the Rubik's)

For everyone who wants to have a look at the museum of Rubik's cube , check here (http://www.puzzle-shop.de/index.html), it's a must have a look !

[element42]

I looked at the museum, but couldn't find the Rubiks pyramid-thing (I'm sure it had a 'real' name but can't remember it). A very strange puzzle, I can't remember exactly the point, but it consisted of 9 smaller pyramids with coloured faces (like the cube) but they were actually supposed to seperate from each other.
And also that damn clock that I could never finish both sides of :mad: