This has got to be the greatest thing since sliced bread! Or at least since the original Rubik’s cube… A Greek engineer, Verdes Panagotis, has figured out how to make puzzle cubes of arbitrary size! Yes, real physical, get-your-hands-on-and-start-twisting Rubik’s cubes of any size at all! Now, not all sizes are available yet. So far, “just” a 5x5x5, two kinds of 6x6x6, and… wait for it…. a 7x7x7!
Check out this video…
Each size up until now adds a new dimension to a Rubik’s-type puzzle…. As well as bazillions more combinations!
- The 2x2x2 is just a twisty puzzle of 8 corner pieces.
- The 3x3x3 adds the new dimension of edge pieces to the mix
- Then, the 4x4x4 let you mix up centre pieces, and you had to bring pairs of edge pieces together
- The 5x5x5 added a new type of movable centre piece – the ones next to the absolute centres
- In the 6x6x6, there are yet more different types of centre piece
- The 7x7x7 has every different type of piece found in any sized cube!
Not just that, but each size cube has more and more combinations. The number of combinations of the V-Cube 7 has 161 digits. It makes the 3x3x3 cube seem trivially simple.
Nonetheless, the V-Cube 7 is not much more difficult than the 3x3x3. Learn a couple of extra tricks, and you’re done. I’ve made a series of videos to show my method.
First, I get the centre pieces all done. This video shows how to do the first four…
The next shows how to do the last two centre pieces…
Finally, I fix up the edges and solve the cube!
Verdes Panayotis has been careful to protect his wonderful invention. The box lists an armful of patents, granted and applied. Judging from some of the patent numbers, he invented these cubes over a decade years ago (I quote : Patent Pending … Australia : 2004241790 … China : 200480013109.3 … Mexico : PA/a/2005/011887…) and has only now revealed them to the world. You can buy v-cubes of many different sizes from Amazon.com. The small ones look so cute! Like a kitten!
Having patented his invention, he’ll gets the sole rights to choose who can make V-Cubes – and these rights will last him well into his retirement.
If you want to see how it’s put together, you don’t have to break yours apart – there’s already YouTube videos on the topic! See for example…3h_zXSA_MBo
… and the video responses to it.
The V-Cube 6 (the 6x6x6) is less well constructed than the V-Cube 7 (the 7x7x7). It is stiffer to turn, and there are reports of bits popping out as people play with it. The V-Cube 7 is very smooth. I love it! However, there is now a V-Cube 6 with curvy faces like the 7. Perhaps the curvy one is better?