The new rubik's cube! Anyone give it a try yet?!

I got one the other day and I love it!

Here's the description of the rubik's site if you haven't seen it yet:
The Rubik’s 360 is set to repeat the success of the maddening Cube, which became an overnight sensation almost three decades ago and remains the world’s fastest-selling toy.

Players must get the coloured balls from an inner sphere into matching slots on the outer sphere by shaking them through a middle sphere that has only two holes.

That looks really interesting!

lol, shaking balls through holes?
looks more like a toy relying on luck rather than memorizing patterns.

Originally Posted by FireDragoonX

lol, shaking balls through holes?
looks more like a toy relying on luck rather than memorizing patterns.

Yeah, I know Erno designed the rubiks cube to help his students visualize 3D space and what not, but I have no idea what this ball is supposed to do.

actually, it's a little more complicated than shaking balls through the holes... you could do that... but it would take you days to solve. basically there are 3 balls, one inside the other. All the coloured balls start in the middle and you have to get them into the nodes (the coloured things that stick out). There is a hole in the inner ball and two in the middle ball. However, opposite those balls are ball bearings... They always make the holes face upward!

It's very physics-y. Equilibrium, centrifugal motion, effects of gravity and all that junk. Less math based. Not as complicated as the rubik's cube if you know enough physics to help you out. If you don't know any physics, you could possibly die trying to do it.

EDIT: I'd also like to mention that there are two axes. You need to control the spin in order to get e correct ball to the correct axis.

Originally Posted by mellye

actually, it's a little more complicated than shaking balls through the holes... you could do that... but it would take you days to solve. basically there are 3 balls, one inside the other. All the coloured balls start in the middle and you have to get them into the nodes (the coloured things that stick out). There is a hole in the inner ball and two in the middle ball. However, opposite those balls are ball bearings... They always make the holes face upward!

It's very physics-y. Equilibrium, centrifugal motion, effects of gravity and all that junk. Less math based. Not as complicated as the rubik's cube if you know enough physics to help you out. If you don't know any physics, you could possibly die trying to do it.

EDIT: I'd also like to mention that there are two axes. You need to control the spin in order to get e correct ball to the correct axis.

Lol, "You could possibly die trying to do it".

I gave it to my mom and she almost smashed it... She said she'd probably die before she figured out how to do it.. hence above.

I wouldn't mind taking a shot at it. It doesn't seem like my experience with a regular cube will help at all with this though. And it involves...dexterity? Not sure if that's my strong point...

If I still haven't tried it by the time Welcome Week rolls around, be sure to bring it and I'll take a gander then, if you don't mind. =p

I must tell my brother to get one. He loves puzzles and games.

Originally Posted by mellye

I gave it to my mom and she almost smashed it... She said she'd probably die before she figured out how to do it.. hence above.

chances are eventually a couple of youtube vids telling you all the algorithms will pop up...

I still remember how to solve the original Rubix cube...

This makes me want to solve the professor's cube again.

But I dunno, I wasn't such a fan of the globe one, Rubik's Clock, or Rubiks Revolution...not sure if this catches my interest either.

EDIT: Has anyone tried Rubik's Mirror?

Yeah, I've got one.

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos...764981 _n.jpg

It kind of looks like a puppy there.

Even though the solve mechanic is the same as a regular 3x3, it was really tough to get a grasp of at first. I think my first solve took me about a half hour of semi-constant experimenting. After that, it started to make sense and I can do it in about...two minutes now. I haven't actually timed myself though.

hehe... don't worry. i'll be bringing it along with me! I'll lend it to anyone who can help me learn how to do a rubik's cube LOL. But for now, it's attached to me. I bring it everywhere. hehe. it's n to do on the bus.

i don't exactly know what an algorithm is... but i highly doubt there is any for this thing... i don't see how anything patterned can help you out with it.

I'm looking at that rubik's mirror... i wouldn't know what to do with it... i'm gonna go wiki that. haha.

I really like how the 360 looks, and I'm thinking about going to get one! Thanks for bringing this up!

Originally Posted by mellye

i don't exactly know what an algorithm is... but i highly doubt there is any for this thing... i don't see how anything patterned can help you out with it.

An algorithm is just a series of instructions, or steps, that you do in succession to achieve some goal. An example is addition:

How do I do 4 + 4? Well, one method is that I start at 4, and then 'count up by 1' 4 times. So this particular algorithm takes 4 steps, and produces 4,5,6,7,8, 4 + 4 = 8.

On a traditional rubiks cube, the algorithms consist of sequences of twists and turns...and there is an entire branch of math which is directly relevant to the cube called Group Theory.

Rubiks 360 doesn't have any such mathematical basis, and so there are no real algorithms involved...as you noted.