Even if it WAS really addictive, how did a little plastic cube get so damn popular? Anyone?

Because Playstations weren't invented.  ;D

Addictable, portable and puzzling.

Given about hour an hour, back then I could solve it, after learning the patterns of the movements.

Addictable, portable and puzzling.

Given about hour an hour, back then I could solve it, after learning the patterns of the movements.


I remember having a go when I was a kid...didn't have any success then, doubt I'd have any now. Not too good at those sort of puzzles (reminds me a bit like those 9-square sliding picture puzzles I played with as a tike).

I remember having a go when I was a kid...didn't have any success then, doubt I'd have any now. Not too good at those sort of puzzles (reminds me a bit like those 9-square sliding picture puzzles I played with as a tike).
With the 16 sliding picture puzzles being harder.

With the 16 sliding picture puzzles being harder.


Both equally frustrating

The is in The Arcade a Rubix Cube Game.

The is in The Arcade a Rubix Cube Game.


It's not the same as the real thing.

It's not the same as the real thing.
True, but if you do not own the Real McCoy it is the next best thing.

As Mr. Eno points out, the Rubiks Cube required acute mathematical powers of observation to solve.

I never solved it when I was a kid. I was always had a high-functioning "right brain," but a deficit in the "left brain." I also had a low threshold for frustration and problems with concentration. They call it ADD/ADHD today. When I was a kid they called it, "you're not trying hard enough."

I suppose I could go out and get a Rubiks Cube and solve it today. My latest battery of psych test still showed me to be mathematically below average, but my patience is stronger and my powers of observation are keener than when I was fourteen.
On the other hand...what's the point?

http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/13/icon_scratch.gif

http://people.sunyit.edu/~millerd1/RUBIK.HTM

I think I actually enjoyed the patterns more than forming a solid dimension of color. Perhaps it spoke to an incipient interest in "modern art." Take a scrambled Rubiks Cube side, add just a drop of psychedelic, and get Paul Klee:

http://www.emh.ch/images/Kunst/Klee_Bergdorf.gif

I never had one when they first came out as I was just a tot, but my brother got one when I was 11 or so and I tried really hard to get it.. I got real close - but gave up.. that one is somewhere now...

It was fun, but yet frustrating to play.  ;D

My brothers could do it but I never learnt until right at the end of the eighties.  Someone showed me one evening and I grasped it all.  I was drunk at the time and have only been able to do the cube once afterwards when in a similar state.

the Rubix's Cube was popular because the Rubix's Cube Fairy come down from Heaven and spinkled fairy dust on everyone in the whole world so they would love it. and they did.  the end.

they always pissed me off...I could never get them just right. :-\\

I have an oversized one  8)

I have an oversized one  8)
I also had one on keyring, about an inch squared, so it was small for carrying around and giving valuable practice for easiersolving.

You could buy Ruiks Cubes either solid colored on all sides or pre-scrambled.
You could always tell the Cube cheats. Some people pulled them apart and put them back together to short circuit the solving process. However, the Cube was always loose and wobbly after re-assembly!
;D

You could buy Ruiks Cubes either solid colored on all sides or pre-scrambled.
You could always tell the Cube cheats. Some people pulled them apart and put them back together to short circuit the solving process. However, the Cube was always loose and wobbly after re-assembly!
;D


We used to do this sometimes.

We had a dinner lady who worked out how to do the cube and used to boast about how quickly she could do it.  Especially to those who hadn't worked out how to do it.  So I took one to pieces and put it back together with one corner piece turned around and then I mixed it up.  It took her over a week to admit defeat!

Loved my Rubix! It was fun to do when I was bored..and when I wasn't! Didn't they have Rubix Cube competitions too?

You could buy Ruiks Cubes either solid colored on all sides or pre-scrambled.
You could always tell the Cube cheats. Some people pulled them apart and put them back together to short circuit the solving process. However, the Cube was always loose and wobbly after re-assembly!
;D



The 1st time this sort of thing happened with me was with this idiot kid in school.  I had (amongst others) the keychain Rubik's and had it in school sometime.  TJ took it and said he would "solve" it.

Well, soon I had a "solved" puzzle - but I couldn't help noticing the stickers were now eskew, sticking up in some corners, and some sticky stuff was around the thing.

Jerk.    >:(

This was before everyone realized to just pop off the whole pieces.  No, he had to make a mess of it by messing up the stickers!

Because Playstations weren't invented.  ;D



Hello?  Atari...?  Huge.

Hello?  Atari...?  Huge.
Those primative Ping-Pong games on TV.

Those primative Ping-Pong games on TV.



Disparage if you like, but it was huge.  And more fun, and quicker and to the point.  Modern games are all FX and no substance - wasting time even on FX when you could be actually playing!  "A big-budget movie that goes NOWHERE!"  ;)

loved it...i can carry it around and work on it all day.
then when you have it solved, you spend two days mixing it up and do it again.
what's not to love?

loved it...i can carry it around and work on it all day.
then when you have it solved, you spend two days mixing it up and do it again.
what's not to love?

I remember Ruk's cubes from before the craze. They were out by at least 1979. Not until the right marketing campaign turn Rubik's from nerdy puzzle from the hobby shop to a something you could find at the end any supermarket aisel.

Why Were Rubix Cubes so popular?

It was then new, innoventive and different.