What are twisty puzzles?
So, this is my first blog post. I guess it was supposed to be my second, but I ended up getting distracted with other, less important stuff. I also wasn't completely sure on what topic I wanted to write about, though I did have a pretty good idea- but, anyway, I think I've found one. I'm going to write about the only real hobby I've ever had, twisty puzzles.
Now, most people don't know what twisty puzzles are, and that's alright. It's kind of a silly name, and they're not really all that popular, but they're what I'm making my blog about. Since so many people don't know what they are, I figured I'd use my first post to explain it.
You've almost certainly seen a Rubik's cube before- something that looks a little bit like this:
This was the original twisty puzzle, the 3x3x3 Rubik's cube, invented by Erno Rubik. But did you know that there are, actually, other variations of the puzzle? These puzzles have a similar concept to the Rubik's cube, but with added challenges as well. For example, take a look at this picture here:
These are, in order from smallest to largest, a 2x2, 3x3 (standard), 4x4, 5x5, 6x6 and 7x7 cube. They behave in pretty much the same way a 3x3 does, but with many more pieces. And it goes beyond that, even:
A pyraminx, mirror blocks, and megaminx. The pyraminx is the same concept as a Rubik's cube but, as you can see, it's in the shape of a triangular pyramid. The mirror blocks is very interesting- All of the sides are the same color. However, when you scramble it up, it changes shape. It becomes a jumbled mess, and the only way to make it look like a cube again is to solve it. And finally, we have the megaminx- another "Rubik's cube" type puzzle in the shape of a pentagonal dodecahedron (If you're not super into geometry, that means it has 12 sides).
So far I've talked about higher order puzzles, like the 4x4 and 5x5, and puzzles of different shapes. It may seem like I've just about covered the topic, but I've actually only scratched the surface. There are a lot of other things that can go into creating a twisty puzzle, like sticker mods:
Like this grayscale cube, where every side is a different shade of gray. Or this:
This is a "Supercube". It's not solved until all of the arrows are also facing the same way, in addition to each side being only one color. This means that the way in which the centers are twisted matters- this creates extra steps and makes the solve more complicated.
I'll go into more detail about sticker mods (and possibly shape mods) in a later post, but now that you've got a pretty good idea about what twisty puzzles are, I think I should write a little bit about their history.
As I mentioned earlier, the very first twisty puzzle was the Rubik's cube. This was invented in nineteen seventy four by a Hungarian professor of architecture, Erno Rubik (While doing research for this post, I found out he was also a sculptor- I didn't know that before!). The original puzzle was made out of wood, and he created it in order to teach his students the concept of three-dimensional space. It wasn't until several years later (I'm not sure on the exact year, as there is a lot of conflicting information online) that professor Rubik met with a toy designer and was offered the idea of turning his invention into a toy.
Originally, Rubik wanted to call his invention the "Magic cube". This was discouraged as some people were worried that the public would associate it with voodoo. So, after some additional thought, the decision eventually came to simply name it after its inventor- and so the Rubik's cube was born. It hit the shelves sometime in 1980, and quickly became one of the most popular toys around- eventually becoming the best selling toy of all time (As of 2017, over 350 million Rubik's cubes have been sold!)
I noticed upon proofreading my post that I mentioned quite a few concepts/ideas and then said very little about them- if you noticed this too, don't worry, because I plan on going into a lot more detail in my future posts. For right now, though, I've concluded writing- I appreciate you taking the time to read this, and I hope you keep an eye out for my posts in the future.
Now, most people don't know what twisty puzzles are, and that's alright. It's kind of a silly name, and they're not really all that popular, but they're what I'm making my blog about. Since so many people don't know what they are, I figured I'd use my first post to explain it.
You've almost certainly seen a Rubik's cube before- something that looks a little bit like this:
This was the original twisty puzzle, the 3x3x3 Rubik's cube, invented by Erno Rubik. But did you know that there are, actually, other variations of the puzzle? These puzzles have a similar concept to the Rubik's cube, but with added challenges as well. For example, take a look at this picture here:
So far I've talked about higher order puzzles, like the 4x4 and 5x5, and puzzles of different shapes. It may seem like I've just about covered the topic, but I've actually only scratched the surface. There are a lot of other things that can go into creating a twisty puzzle, like sticker mods:
Like this grayscale cube, where every side is a different shade of gray. Or this:
I'll go into more detail about sticker mods (and possibly shape mods) in a later post, but now that you've got a pretty good idea about what twisty puzzles are, I think I should write a little bit about their history.
As I mentioned earlier, the very first twisty puzzle was the Rubik's cube. This was invented in nineteen seventy four by a Hungarian professor of architecture, Erno Rubik (While doing research for this post, I found out he was also a sculptor- I didn't know that before!). The original puzzle was made out of wood, and he created it in order to teach his students the concept of three-dimensional space. It wasn't until several years later (I'm not sure on the exact year, as there is a lot of conflicting information online) that professor Rubik met with a toy designer and was offered the idea of turning his invention into a toy.
Originally, Rubik wanted to call his invention the "Magic cube". This was discouraged as some people were worried that the public would associate it with voodoo. So, after some additional thought, the decision eventually came to simply name it after its inventor- and so the Rubik's cube was born. It hit the shelves sometime in 1980, and quickly became one of the most popular toys around- eventually becoming the best selling toy of all time (As of 2017, over 350 million Rubik's cubes have been sold!)
I noticed upon proofreading my post that I mentioned quite a few concepts/ideas and then said very little about them- if you noticed this too, don't worry, because I plan on going into a lot more detail in my future posts. For right now, though, I've concluded writing- I appreciate you taking the time to read this, and I hope you keep an eye out for my posts in the future.
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