Before I even begin this review, I need to confess something. Back in the 1980s, when the Rubik’s Cube was the big fad, I never did manage to solve the blasted thing. I guess that’s why I’m in journalism today and not engineering.
So when the Rubik’s 360 arrived at TechCentral’s offices this week, I opened it fully expecting not to get very far with it at all. You see, the Rubik’s 360 is an updated version of the Rubik’s Cube, designed by Hungarian Ernő Rubik, the same guy who invented the original brain-bending toy.
I was right. After an hour or so of fiddling with the Rubik’s 360 I was getting terribly frustrated.
But don’t get me wrong: like the original Rubik’s Cube, the Rubik’s 360 is very addictive.
Rather than cube-shaped, the Rubik’s 360 is spherical and transparent. The aim is to manoeuvre six, pea-sized balls from an inner sphere, through another sphere, and to six external, colour-coded chambers. And it’s tough!
Purists will probably argue that the 360, which costs R325 on import from Wantitall.co.za, is not as mathematically challenging as the Cube. And, unlike the original, it requires a degree of manual dexterity, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less fun … or frustrating. — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral
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