Rubik cube - did you own one and could you solve it ?

[WildRosie]

For me, no and no. My brothers got them the Christmas they really took off but I didn't. I had, and still have, one or two other spatial awareness/geometric reasoning puzzles which weren't complicated at all. More of a pastime rather than brain exercise.

I remember later on a spherical version of the cube and Rubik's Revenge, same as the original cube but in a 4-pattern rather than 3. I couldn't solve those either.

Yes and yes.

There was a guru at the time - David Singmaster - who published a 10 page booklet (for £1 I think) that was photocopied and sold in the local Preedys (which sighly outs me )

It was written in mathematical notation, and took me ages to understand. I did as a couple of teachers, but they didn't understand it at all.

But it worked !

The trick is to have a "library" of moves that you apply to swap pieces around.

I had one as a child and could only solve one side

But when my DC learnt to solve it in recent years then I had to learn as well. I can solve it in around 2 mins which is rubbish compared to my kids who do it in seconds.

Yes you just have to memorise the different algorithms.

Yes and no. Luckily I had a low bar for myself and was delighted when I got two sides. Not sure I could do that now.

I could do one side but could only solve the whole thing by peeling off the stickers and putting them back in the right order.

@farendoftether

I could do one side but could only solve the whole thing by peeling off the stickers and putting them back in the right order.

If you wanted to ** someone up, you'd swap just 2 stickers and make the cube impossible to do ...

Yes and almost. I can do two thirds but can’t remember the sequence to finish the last layer.

My brother had one and peeled off the stickers to make it look like he’d solved it. None of us ever had the patience to actually solve it.

We own two and DH can do it but I can't.

Yes and yes. Although a lad at school learnt how to do it and showed us all.
I still have one now that I fiddle with but can only remember the moves for the top and middle layers. Must look up the lower one

yes, and no - until I rearranged the stickers. I also had a Rubiks's Magic, the flat thing with the interlocking circles which I seem to remember as being easier, but also there was a constant worry you were bending it the wrong way, I am sure I kept getting it stuck.

Yes and yes (but only because I learnt the algorithms from a book). I used to solve other peoples at school for 5p. That's a 1980's playground economy for you...

I could never, ever do it. Dd is a whizz though and can finish it in minutes.

Yes and no. Although I did work out how to break them open and reassemble them in breakneck time

It's a sequence of moves, I dont remember any of them now, but it was easy and I could do it in about a minute.
Mine came with the instructions sheet. Just no one else bothered to read it.

No and no .

But I did have a Rubik's Magic (remember those?!) and I could solve that from time to time. I was not a particularly intelligent child...

@DGRossetti

Yes and yes.

There was a guru at the time - David Singmaster - who published a 10 page booklet (for £1 I think) that was photocopied and sold in the local Preedys (which sighly outs me )

It was written in mathematical notation, and took me ages to understand. I did as a couple of teachers, but they didn't understand it at all.

But it worked !

The trick is to have a "library" of moves that you apply to swap pieces around.

This. I memorised all the moves and my party trick was to solve it in about a minute or so.

Yes and yes.

Speedcube.au is your friend. Picture steps make it easy to learn how to do it.

Once you can do the first side and line the colours up correctly along the edges of that side then I think there are only 5 steps of moves you need to learn.

It's my party trick to impress my class. That and making the rubiks snake into a ball.

We had one at home when they first came out and my mum learned to solve it. Other kids from school used to bring theirs for her to solve at pick up time.
I can solve one now (lockdown learning).

Somewhere and no never completely. I used to be able to get to where I had the middle squares different on 4 sides and everything else was right but never managed to get it all the way to the end.

No but my 11 year old has all kinds of cubes and can solve a standard Rubik's in less then a minute. I just stare blankly at it

I remember there was a book called 'You Can Do The Cube' (shamelessly cashing in) written by some school whizz. I think his name was Patrick. Basin haircut. That's all I remember. He's probably a Mathematics professor somewhere now.

Yes and only did it by pulling it apart and putting it back together

Always wanted an original one the colour orange was really bright. But they were expensive at the time now I’ve got one.

My daughter solved it easily when she was a preteen. She’s got a very mathematical brain though. I never did but I guess I could have learnt if I had really put my mind to it.