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.

@WildRosie

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.

I had that book and I couldn't make head nor tail of it but then I never was very good at following instructions 😂 I remember thinking he looked very smug holding his completed cube

My mother had that book and taught herself how to solve it when I was a child using the book. I bought a 2nd hand copy from ebay and could make no sense of it at all.

Pictures were my friend instead. I saved them to my phone to be able refer back to when learning.

A lad at my school could do it, he was on telly and everything, people used to take their cubes into school for him to solve. I went to a fancy dress competition as one once, didn’t win

I had one and I could do it reasonably quickly. I can't remember now how I learned. I'm not sure if I could do one now, I haven't even seen one for decades.

Patrick Bossert is on LinkedIn, Chief Technology Officer of an energy firm in Oz, and includes his book in his bio

Yes and no. Still have one. Still can't

Loved the flat one though

Yes and no. Frustrating bloody thing.

I hate them. I get really frustrated and angry with them. My DS had one as a Christmas present one year and I was really cross - inevitably he would need help to do it!!

Yes and I solved it just the once.

Must get one now the maze within a cube toy, little treat for me and it’s portable as well.

I learnt to do it a few years ago- it isn’t that difficult with practice.

Yes had one as a teen back in early/mid 80s and could solve it.

There was a booklet that taught you how to do the sequence of turns needed for each move. It was only 2-3 set sequences to remember, and once you got them you could do them almost automatically and it was fairly straight forward. If I remember right you got one face and sides of first row, then got the centre squares of the next row lined up with the right colour and there was a single sequence of moves to each do the corners one by one. Then you did the last row which again was a repeatable sequence of moves.

Yes and yes , and I can still solve it fairly quickly

Yes and no I was young and thought It was a guessing game to just hope you get it in the right order! I remember getting so annoyed I launched it at my brother. He kept it!

Yes and no for me.

My dd has a few different shaped ones and can do the standard one in a minute or two now after practicing from youtube tutorials. The triangle and circle type ones ones she's can do but is much slower at the moment.

Yes and yes, but not until I was 20. I've never looked in a book, but I had a housemate who told me to write down my moves and kept putting the cube right for me, and those are both huge advantages.

We have one child who just learned the algorithms and is super quick, and another who is more interested in working it out herself. It's a hard problem but I think she will get there.

@Wowcherarestalkingme

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

Same here

I could solve it.

Now it’s the corner turns that escape my memory.

@sanityisamyth

I hate them. I get really frustrated and angry with them. My DS had one as a Christmas present one year and I was really cross - inevitably he would need help to do it!!

YouTube! We were quite against DS just learning the algorithms, so I don't think we'd have helped him, but he went off and learned it all anyway.

With hindsight it's good he did. He's had a lot of enjoyment from it, especially when there was a craze for them in primary school.

I had one, but couldn’t do more than one side. My brother had a ball version, but he didn’t let me play with it.

I preferred the rubiks snake, and I bought an anniversary edition a few years. I can make a ball, a cobra, a cat, a dog and a swan. I feel like an actual wizard.

Yes and No for me. I can do two sides but that's it. It sits on our office windowsill next to my magic snake which is currently in a rectangle shape, and my Lego Grogu.

I could still 2 2/3rd of it ( 2 tiers) ....but could never get any further.....although my brother showed me many times ...I just never remembered

I couldn’t but last year found that YouTube was my friend. 9yo can do it really quickly.

Funnily enough I solved my original 1980s cube for the first time yesterday. I watched The Speed Cubers on Netflix before Christmas and got in to it again. I've bought myself a set with an Edge, 2x2, 3x3 and 4x4 and I'm learning how to do them.

Now I know it's a set of algorithms, it's taken some of the magic away.

Yes and no.
I was much more interested in ponies and the new library in town. My genius cousin 5 years old could do it really fast. My knock-off Rubik's cube came apart easily so envious me assembled it wrong and cousin nearly had a breakdown on the next visit.

Yes and yes (I saved my pocket money in my PO account for ages).
I can do all but the last 4 corners now. I need my friend Jane to show me that bit; it was her who taught me then.
We are still in touch after 42 years!