From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Thu Aug 26 17:03:07 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id RAA19935 for ; Thu, 26 Aug 1999 17:03:06 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <37B1AE49.C5056C10@adc.com> Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 10:09:29 -0700 From: Darin Haines Organization: ADC Kentrox To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu Cc: Joe Johnson Subject: Re: repairing broken cubes References: <37ADC0A2.35DC8809@pressenter.com> Joe Johnson wrote: > I recently broke one of the face cubies of my 4X4.... Joe, The guy to talk to is Christoph Bandelow. His email address is mailto:Christoph.Bandelow@ruhr-uni-bochum.de (I'm pretty sure he monitors the list.) He is located in Germany and has a bunch of other puzzles that I'm sure you will be interested in. He is very prompt with delivering orders, and is very easy to work with. My Rubik's Revenge sat broken on the shelf for about 15 years. After contacting Christoph, my Rubik's Revenge is as good as new! Not to mention that I now have a few more puzzles that I didn't have before. Buy a few of his puzzles (5^3's etc.), and he might give you a good deal on the 4^3 replacement parts. Hope this helps. -Darin P.S. Let us know how everything turns out. I'm sure there are other people in the same boat. From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Thu Aug 26 18:12:39 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id SAA20399 for ; Thu, 26 Aug 1999 18:12:37 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <714F77ADF9C1D111B8B60000F863155102DD70DA@tbjexc2.tbj.dec.com> From: "Diamond, Norman" To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: Re: Meffert's Assembly Cube Date: Thu, 19 Aug 1999 13:11:10 +0900 Uwe Meffert was too humble to post the following facts to the list. However, true cube lovers know that facts are too important. Just as we needed to be informed that recent remakes of old standards by Odds-On don't survive very long in actual use, we need to know of superb manufactures such as the ones in this thread. Therefore I post them. Recently my wife and I visited Mr. Meffert in Hong Kong and played with some of his products and prototypes. Prototypes of the assembly cubes were the smoothest turning cubes that we have ever got our hands on. In addition the assembly cubes had colored tiles which look like they will not wear out during an owner's lifetime. Mr. Meffert added in private e-mail, with permission to repost: the cube has a unique patented mechanism which allows assembly disassembly of the cube without screws or tools, which in itself is quite a challenge. -- Norman.Diamond@jp.compaq.com [Not speaking for Compaq] From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Thu Sep 2 14:10:05 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id OAA15100 for ; Thu, 2 Sep 1999 14:10:03 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Reply-To: From: "Noel Dillabough" To: "Cube Lovers List \(E-mail\)" Cc: Subject: Square One Parity fix Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 02:24:28 -0400 Message-Id: <000801beead4$b3a899d0$020a0a0a@NOEL> I have just finished modelling the Square One puzzle in Puzzler and in testing found a flaw in my solution. In order to correct a parity problem (where you have to swap only 2 pieces rather than 4) I do the following move: (in Arensburger notation:) R,t3,b3,R,t1,b2,R,t2,b2,R,t6,R,b-2,t-2,R,b-2,t-1,R,b-3,t-3,R This scrambles the cube up a bit but makes it solvable using standard moves. There must be a better move than this! If anyone knows a better way to swap two pieces, let me know. -Noel From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Thu Sep 2 14:50:26 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id OAA15245 for ; Thu, 2 Sep 1999 14:50:25 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu From: "Chris and Kori Pelley" To: "Cube-Lovers" Subject: FW: Meffert's Assembly Cube Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1999 20:36:13 -0400 Message-Id: From: Diamond, Norman [mailto:Norman.Diamond@jp.compaq.com] > [...] Prototypes of the assembly cubes were the > smoothest turning cubes that we have ever got our hands on.... I agree with Norman's comments. I recently received two of the new ASSEMBLY CUBES and they turn very smoothly immediately after assembly. No lubricating is required. The cube is neither too loose nor too tight. The use of the metal key to pop a center piece off is quite ingenious. I'd say the only cubes that rival the ASSEMBLY CUBE's quality are the 1982-vintage Deluxe Cubes by Ideal. They had that springy, elastic feel that was critical for speed cubing. Meffert's are definitely the very best contemporary deluxe cubes around, though. I can't wait for the transparent version to be available! Chris Pelley From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Thu Sep 2 18:21:12 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id SAA16069 for ; Thu, 2 Sep 1999 18:21:10 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 15:40:29 +0200 To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: Rubik's 3x3x3 Cube - Pretty Patterns From: ronald.fletterman@t-online.de (Ronald L. Fletterman) Dear Cube Lovers, I just joined the cube lovers' society. So, here's a bit of a cv: I started Cubology after the first cubes were marketed in Germany. I'm a member of the NKC, the dutch cube club. Cube Lovers who are members too and read CFF, (standing for Cubism For Fun - the NKC's publication) know me either from meetings at the annual Cube Days or from the articles, I published in CFF. Since I have a PC with an AMD K6-III/450MHz and 128 RAM, I can run Herbert Kociemba's "Cube Explorer and the add-on programme "Cube Optimizer", which re-activated my interest in Pretty Patterns by looking for new species and finding shorter manoeuvers of those that are in my almost 20 years old collection. The results are amazing: I discover entirely new Pretties and shorten lots of existing algorithms. Here are a few of my recent discoveries: R2 B2 U' L' B D' B R2 D2 L' F' D R2 U2 (14f*) D2 U L' B L2 B' L U' B D2 B2 U2 B' F' U2 (15f*) D F D R B L R U' B2 F' R2 B' U' B' F' U' F U' (18) U' F U2 F2 L' D2 B L2 D R F2 L' U' R2 B' F2 D' (17) If you are a hunter of Pretties, please let me know and my recent findings are yours! Obviously, I'd appreciate to be informed about cubological developments from other fellow Cube Lovers. 3x3x3, 4x4x4 and 5x5x5 cube info's are welcome indeed. Cubology to you! Ronald Fletterman, a Dutchman living in Warburg, Germany. From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Thu Sep 2 19:21:26 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id TAA16242 for ; Thu, 2 Sep 1999 19:21:24 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <37C74299.2E9D5789@pressenter.com> Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 20:59:54 -0500 From: Joe Johnson To: "Cube-Lovers@AI.MIT.EDU" Subject: Re: repairing broken cubes Thanks to all who sent suggestions. I achieved a successful repair using a product called 'J-B Weld' and a pin (actually a cut off box nail.) The 'J-B Weld' is very strong and hardens almost to the same hardness as the original material. I've been using the cube now for over a week and it is holding up very well, although it probably is going to wear out faster now since I take it apart quite often to inspect the repair. Joe Johnson From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Fri Sep 3 13:16:50 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id NAA19489 for ; Fri, 3 Sep 1999 13:16:49 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <002d01bee8fc$928efe80$74c4b0c2@home> From: roger.broadie@iclweb.com (Roger Broadie) To: "Cube-Lovers" Subject: Re: Rubik's Cube Perpetual Calendar Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 23:05:08 +0100 A calendar cube has just sold on eBay. Quite possibly it comes from the same source as the cube Chris Pelley mentioned. The description includes a picture, from which I see that it is not the same cube as the one I described on 30 July, which was bought in the UK. The eBay version uses a different type-face and uses upper and lower case for the week-day names, unlike the British version, which uses all capitals. It also has logos, whereas the British version has blanks on all faces that are not used for date markings. The British version was nonetheless a genuine Ideal cube and came in a cardboard drum bearing the title Rubik's Calendar and the copyright notice "[c-in-a-circle] MMLXXXI Ideal Toy Co Ltd, Wokingham, Berks". There are other European calendar cubes pictured on eBay which are like the British one There is something very strange about the cube in the eBay photo. In fact, I am convinced that is does not work for all dates, which drives me to the conclusion that the stickers have been rearranged. I'll explain my reasons and see if others disagree. The photo shows only one view, so we have only three faces to work on. They look like this: ------------------- | | | | | 2 | M | 5 | | V | > | < | ------------------- | | | | | J | P | 1 | | | V | < | ------------------- | | | | | Mon| P | 6 | | < | > | | ------------------- ------------------- ------------------- | | | | | | | | |Satur|day | | | 7 | A | 0 | | | | | | V | > | < | ------------------- ------------------- | | | | | | | | | F | E | B | | | C | 3 | | | | | | | V | < | ------------------- ------------------- |Rbk's| | | | | | | |Cube | | 8 | |Thurs|Ideal| 9 | | | | | | | | | ------------------- ------------------- The orientation is shown by the Vs, which point to the local upright for those markings that are not upright as shown - I've followed Dan in this. Once the markings on the various pieces of a calendar cube have been fixed, the way the cube is assembled does not matter, since to show the date we need solve only one face, and that can be done from any starting position, any necessary counterbalancing twists or permutations taking place in the other layers. Let's assume the face used to show the date is the front face. Therefore we only need to worry about what markings each piece will bear. The straightforward approach in designing a cube of this sort, it seems to me, is as far as possible to keep all the markings of the same type - that is, destined for the same position on the front face - together on the pieces carrying them. So the week-day names would be on one set of corner pieces, destined for the top left of the front face, and the numbers forming the units digit of the day of the month would be on another set, destined for the bottom right of the front face. In that way, clashes in which the piece would be needed in two places at once are avoided. If this approach is not followed, then either there must be no clash, or markings must be duplicated. An example of the first would be an edge piece that combined the F or B of FEB with the 3 of the tens digit of the day of the month, a combination that is possible because there is no FEB 30. The picture on the container of the British calendar cube, though not the cube itself, illustrates the other possibility, since one edge-piece combines J and 2. That means that JAN 20 and similar dates cannot be shown unless either the J or the 2 is duplicated. As it happens, there is one spare edge-piece face on that cube, so one duplication could be managed, but no more, but it is impossible to see from the picture if there is any duplication. Probably not, because there are some other impossibilities and inconsistencies in the pictures which suggest they show non-functioning mock-ups. The different markings that need to be accommodated on the edge pieces, defined by their position on the front face, are: Top: DAY Left: the eight initial letters of the month, J F M A S O N D Right: the ten letters completing the abbreviation for the month, N B R Y L G P T V C Bottom: the four numbers for the tens digit of the day of the month, 0 (or blank) 1 2 3. The edge-piece at the top will always stay there, since it is needed to show DAY (assuming no duplicates). So the other face of this piece will never show on the front face and cannot carry a useful marking. It can be blank, or carry a logo. In total, including the face backing DAY, we now have 24 faces, and that is exactly the number we have available if we have one face for each of the markings above. As it happens, the one letter that occurs at both the start and the end of a month, N, is symmetrical in the sans-serif typeface used, and in the British cube is made to double as a starting and an ending letter, since it can be either way up. That frees up one face to permit one duplication. It is impossible to see if the same approach is followed in the eBay cube. As a matter of interest, the British cube mostly (but not in all cases) puts an initial and a final letter together on the same edge-piece. That is possible without too much juggling to avoid the clash of having the start and end of a month on the same edge piece, but is not necessary - the principle of segregating the different types of marking would lead to four edge-pieces with the initial letters and five with final letters. If we turn back to the eBay cube, we find that the visible edge-pieces are as follows. Day/P, J?, M?, 1A, F?, 3?, B/blank, blank/? logo/?, 3x?? Since Day is combined with P, we need a duplicate of one or other if dates in SEP or APR are to be showable. But even then we would not be able to show APR 10 unless a duplicate of 1 or A was included. Thus even if one N is used for both the start of NOV and the end of JAN or JUN, we would already have one face too many. Yet on top of that there are two blanks and a logo. One blank is usable as the blank for the tens digit in dates like JAN 1, and one among the month letters is there is only one N. But that still means that there is an extra blank even if there are no duplicates. If extra blank faces are included, then other needed markings must be omitted and dates involving those markings could not be shown. In fact the only reasonable explanation I can see is that some stickers have been removed and put back wrongly. Roger Broadie From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Fri Sep 3 19:04:22 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id TAA20566 for ; Fri, 3 Sep 1999 19:04:22 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Date: Thu, 2 Sep 1999 01:35:45 +0100 From: David Singmaster To: pink@cartserv.rserv.uga.edu CC: cube-lovers@ai.mit.edu Message-ID: <009DCC4C.2E241665.12@ice.sbu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Skewb notes Regarding disassembly of the skewb and the various skewballs. The early versions disassemble quite easily and when I put them out at exhibition, I regularly have to reassemble them. However, I have just learned from Yee Dian Lee at the International Puzzle Party that the more recent skewballs are quite hard to take apart and he finds that he has to break a piece in order to do so! He puts them inside jars! DAVID SINGMASTER, Professor of Mathematics and Metagrobologist School of Computing, Information Systems and Mathematics Southbank University, London, SE1 0AA, UK. Tel: 0171-815 7411; fax: 0171-815 7499; email: zingmast or David.Singmaster @sbu.ac.uk From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Tue Sep 21 20:52:44 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id UAA28450 for ; Tue, 21 Sep 1999 20:52:43 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Date: Thu, 2 Sep 1999 12:57:37 -0700 (PDT) From: Tim Browne To: Noel Dillabough Cc: "Cube Lovers List (E-mail)" , arensb@cfar.umd.edu Subject: Re: Square One Parity fix In-Reply-To: <000801beead4$b3a899d0$020a0a0a@NOEL> Message-Id: On Fri, 20 Aug 1999, Noel Dillabough wrote: > I have just finished modelling the Square One puzzle in Puzzler and in > testing found a flaw in my solution. In order to correct a parity problem > (where you have to swap only 2 pieces rather than 4) I do the following > move: > > (in Arensburger notation:) > > R,t3,b3,R,t1,b2,R,t2,b2,R,t6,R,b-2,t-2,R,b-2,t-1,R,b-3,t-3,R > > This scrambles the cube up a bit but makes it solvable using standard moves. > > There must be a better move than this! If anyone knows a better way to swap > two pieces, let me know. For starters, you'd be amazed what a B6 added to the beginning or end of this pattern will do. :-) Alternatively, you could skip over that and simply add two dual edge swaps by appending something like t1,R,t-1,b-1,R,t6,R,t1,b1,R,t3,b3,R,t-1,b-1,R,t6,R,t1,b1,R,t-4,b-3 to the beginning or end of your pattern. L8r. -- Cubic Puzzles - The SIMPLEST Solutions | HIT Jedi http://www.victoria.tc.ca/~ue451/solves.html | Use the Force, Mike! --------------------------------------------------------+----------------------- "No thanks. I'm trying to cut down." - Michael Garibaldi From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Tue Sep 21 22:01:15 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id WAA28642 for ; Tue, 21 Sep 1999 22:01:15 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <37D16494.DE65A654@pressenter.com> Date: Sat, 04 Sep 1999 13:27:32 -0500 From: Joe Johnson To: "Cube-Lovers@AI.MIT.EDU" Subject: 5X5X5 challenge I recently bought my first 5X5X5 Rubik's Cube (from Meffert's) and when I received it, the first thing I noticed was that the stickers had little grooves in them and all of them on each face were lined up in the same direction. After I learned how to solve the cube for color I decided to try to solve it so that all of the little grooves lined up. After much hard work I finally got it and can repeat the solution. It is a wonderful challenge after you've grown tired of solving it the 'normal' way! I won't give the solution unless I see that there is interest in it here in this list Joe Johnson. [Moderator's note: See "Supergroup" in the archives. If you want to experience the full measure of complication, mark the a corner of twelve facelets on each face in this pattern: +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | | | | | | | | | | | | +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | | | | | | | | .'|`. | .'|`. | +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | | `.|.' | `.|.' | | | | | | | +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | | | | | | | | .'|`. | | | +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | | `.|.' | | | | | | | | | +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ and make them line up afterwards. You'll learn something surprising about the center facelets. --Dan ] From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Tue Sep 21 22:12:52 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id WAA28666 for ; Tue, 21 Sep 1999 22:12:51 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <00d901bf0020$f9ffaf20$de685dcb@pca200series> From: uwe@ue.net (Uwe Meffert) Reply-To: uwe@ue.net (Uwe Meffert) To: Subject: Color survey Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 16:39:02 +0800 To all CubeLovers. I am conducting a color survey for a revised color scheme for the new molded tiles that I am preparing for some of our Puzzles for Xmas. The final choice will be based on the majority of the suggestions received from CubeLovers like you. Megaminx: do you prefer 6 colors or 12 colors; If 12, which colors? Prof. cube & new improved 4x4x4 cube: any color preferences? Looking forward to hearing from you all, your input is important as this is most likely the last time that I will run some of these Items. The other good news is that I have finally been persuaded to release several new puzzles for Xmas. More later With warm regards to all Uwe Let's keep puzzling alive! Uwe Meffert Meffert's Puzzles & Games 2008, Remex Centre, 42 Wong Chuk Hang Rd, P.O. Box 24455, Aberdeen, Hong Kong. Tel. 852-2518-3080, Fax. 852-2518-3282. Email: Uwe@Mefferts.com Web: www.Mefferts.com From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Wed Sep 22 19:31:25 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id TAA04125 for ; Wed, 22 Sep 1999 19:31:24 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <19990916050737.22707.rocketmail@web216.mail.yahoo.com> Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 22:07:37 -0700 (PDT) From: John Davis Subject: bandaged cube To: cube lovers I'd like to make one of these bandaged cubes out of an old 3x3x3, but can't tell from pictures what pieces to fuse on the back of the cube. Can someone who has one of these post a description making it clear which pieces are fused? Thanks, John. From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Wed Sep 22 21:06:02 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id VAA04301 for ; Wed, 22 Sep 1999 21:06:01 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 23:20:21 -0700 (PDT) From: Tim Browne To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: Pyramorphix In-Reply-To: <199908061510.LAA28883@mc.lcs.mit.edu> Message-Id: I'd like to try taking my Pyramorphix puzzle apart to see what makes it tick. I took a brief look at it today, but the internal mechanism appears to be somewhat delicate. of course, it could just be paranoia on my part. How does one go about taking a Pyramorphix apart safely? L8r. -- Cubic Puzzles - The SIMPLEST Solutions | HIT Jedi http://www.victoria.tc.ca/~ue451/solves.html | Use the Force, Mike! --------------------------------------------------------+----------------------- "No thanks. I'm trying to cut down." - Michael Garibaldi From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Wed Sep 22 21:17:03 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id VAA04331 for ; Wed, 22 Sep 1999 21:17:02 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 11:08:22 -0400 (EDT) From: Alchemist Matt Reply-To: Alchemist Matt To: Cube-Lovers Subject: Square 1 Message-Id: Hello, In case anyone is interested, Uwe Meffert is now selling the Square 1. I've been looking to buy one for a while, and this is the perfect opportunity (www.mefferts-puzzles.com/mefferts-puzzles/index.html). In relation to the Square 1, I once came across a program that claimed to help one solve the puzzle. I could have sworn I saved it to my hard drive, but now, when I look for it, I can't find it. I thought it was called Square1.Exe or Square1.Bas Does anybody know anything about this program or have a copy lying around? Thanks, Matt ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Matthew Monroe Monroem@UNC.Edu Analytical Chemistry http://www.unc.edu/~monroem/ UNC - Chapel Hill, NC This tagline is umop apisdn ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Thu Sep 23 19:45:54 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id TAA08011 for ; Thu, 23 Sep 1999 19:45:53 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <00cd01bf0548$53e58c40$76c4b0c2@home> From: roger.broadie@iclweb.com (Roger Broadie) To: "Cube-Lovers" Cc: "Joe Johnson" Subject: Re: 5X5X5 challenge Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 23:16:36 +0100 Joe Johnson wrote (4 September 1999) >I recently bought my first 5X5X5 Rubik's Cube (from Meffert's) and when >I received it, the first thing I noticed was that the stickers had >little grooves in them and all of them on each face were lined up in the >same direction. Yes, the grooving effect shows up quite strikingly against the light as two distinct shades and allows some nice pretty patterns. Since there are only two apparent alternatives, whereas there are four possible orientations, some possibilities look a little surprising, to my eyes at least. Thus a three-cycle of centre pieces shows up as a change to just two pieces. Roger From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Thu Sep 23 21:09:43 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id VAA08260 for ; Thu, 23 Sep 1999 21:09:42 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <001001bf04c1$ea029420$df8cf3cd@compone> From: "Steve Adler" To: Subject: Strange way to solve cube Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 01:15:45 -0500 I received a Magic catalog with the following trick: Oral Fix-Sational Bring out a miniature Rubik's cube. It's completely mixed up. Place the Rubik's cube in your mouth! Yummy! Roll the cube around in your mouth. This way, then that. Up then down. It looks relly weird. Now, Open your mouth and push the cube out. It is completely solved! Do it surronded. It resets in seconds. No shell is used. Oral Fix-Sational from Ed Alonzo, comes with complete instructions and the 1-1/4" gimmicked cube. $15.00 From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Thu Sep 23 21:49:54 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id VAA08362 for ; Thu, 23 Sep 1999 21:49:53 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <003b01bf057a$4fb871a0$2e5755ca@pca200series> From: uwe@ue.net (Uwe Meffert) To: "Cube-Lovers" , Cc: "Jing Meffert" References: <001b01bf056b$22b833c0$2e5755ca@jing-notebook> Subject: Re: Pyramorphix Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 12:14:27 +0800 Organization: UE Foundation Dear Tim The Pyramorphix mechanism is indeed delicate and can not be taken apart without the risk of destroying it, after assembly the last piece is glued into place to hold the puzzle firmly together without pieces falling out during play. With warm regards Uwe Let's keep puzzling alive! Uwe Meffert Uwe@Mefferts.com www.Mefferts.com From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Mon Sep 27 17:23:43 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id RAA18485 for ; Mon, 27 Sep 1999 17:23:42 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <37E987DC.F446DBBC@pressenter.com> Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 20:52:28 -0500 From: Joe Johnson To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: Re: 5X5X5 challenge References: <37D16494.DE65A654@pressenter.com> I snipped off the same corner of every sticker on each face so that all of the face cubies have to be positioned correctly for a 'complete' solution. If you have good eyes (I recently had cataract surgery) you will not need to snip off enough to make it obtrusive. My second 5x5x5 just arrived in today's mail and it almost seems like cheating to solve it in the 'normal' manner after solving for 'completeness.' Joe Johnson From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Tue Sep 28 12:32:22 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id MAA21564 for ; Tue, 28 Sep 1999 12:32:22 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <19990923162848.24944.rocketmail@web126.yahoomail.com> Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 09:28:48 -0700 (PDT) From: Jaap Scherphuis Reply-To: jaap@org2.com Subject: Square 1, Pyramorphix, Cheap Skewballs To: Cube Lovers Hi all, This is my first post to Cube-Lovers, though I have been reading the archives for a long time now. I'm a 27 year-old mathematician. Re: Square-1 A few years ago I figured out a solution to the Square-1. It was one of the hardest puzzles to solve. Though I did theoretically solved it, the solution was so long and tedious I never actually performed it. In the end I wrote a program that searched for short sequences that go from cube shape to cube shape that do not move the corners. In the list it produced were a few useful sequences moving only a few edges, but all the odd permutations moved a lot of edges. By combining one of them with some other sequences I finally got my own parity fixing sequence that is a nice triple edge swap: Swap FU-BU, LU-RU, FD-BD: /(3,3)/(1,2)/(2,-4)/(-2,4)/(-1,1)/(3,3)/(0,3)/(3,3)/(0,3)/(6,0)/(6,0)/ The notation is fairly obvious: /=half turn of right hand side, (t,b)=move top/bottom the given number of twelfths clockwise, negative for anti-clockwise. I find this much easier to read than any others I've seen, though it is sometimes easy to forget the leading / if there is one. Unfortunately I have since lost any other results I got then except for those I have incorporated into my solution. The square-1 solving program Matt mentioned can be found in the cube-lovers archive in the contrib directory. Re: my webpages I have recently typed up a lot of my notes and put them on the web in a text-only preliminary form. Eventually I hope to make them into proper web-pages with pictures etc. There are solutions there for: Alexander's Star, Pocket Cube (2x2x2), Rubik's Cube (3x3x3), Rubik's Revenge (4x4x4), Profesor's Cube (5x5x5), Dogic, Domino, Impossiball, Megaminx, Octahedron, Pyraminx, Pyramorphix, Skewb, Brain ball, Rubik's Fifteen, Equator, It, Ivory Tower (Babylon Tower), Masterball, Orb, Puck, Roundy, Square One, Topspin, Tower (Whip-It), Rubik's Triamid, Tricky Disky, Rubik's Clock, Lights Out, Rubik's Magic, Spinout, Crazy Tantrix. At the moment there is not yet a links page. You can find it here: http://www.org2.com/jaap/puzzles I'd appreciate any feedback. Re: Pyramorphix. I only have the pocket Pyramorphix, and these are delicate (my first one broke within 5 minutes). The pieces have small feet which slide through grooves in a ball. The grooves are formed between 8 triangular pieces which are screwed onto the ball. By pushing a small screwdriver through at a point where 4 pieces come together you can unscrew it. It may work best if you bring the 4 flat pieces together and use the spot between them to unscrew it. Re: Cheap Skewballs. This week I bought several cheap puzzleballs at the Oxford Toys'r'Us, all of the France '98 type. I bought the last two keychain ones (1 uk pound each), and a couple of normal sized ones (2 uk pounds each). They still have many of those. I plan to paint them with diffent designs, e.g. dodecahedron/icosahedron/octahedron, or rather the spherical projections of these shapes. That's all for now. Bye, Jaap. ===== Jaap Scherphuis Visit the Psion Organiser II CM, XP & LZ Homepage: URL: http://www.org2.com email: jaap@org2.com From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Tue Sep 28 13:09:57 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id NAA21740 for ; Tue, 28 Sep 1999 13:09:57 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu From: HarLikin@aol.com Message-Id: <1bb80147.251b137f@aol.com> Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 01:24:15 EDT Subject: Skewb corner malfunctions To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu After a hard day of solving the skewb for the first time it started to become loose in my hands and eventually fall apart. As I put it back together I noticed that the problem was that one of the four corners which are connected to the internal mechanism would unscrew whenever it was rotated counter clockwise, eventually causing it to move far enough away from the mechanism as to cause the pieces to fall away. Is this a problem which has been encountered by other regular Skewbers? If anyone knows what sort of mechanism usually keeps the corner attached properly and/or how to fix such an error I would be grateful. -Terrence From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Tue Sep 28 16:38:38 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id QAA23374 for ; Tue, 28 Sep 1999 16:38:37 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <003401bf062e$e93218e0$df8cf3cd@compone> From: "Steve Adler" To: Subject: Meffert's new puzzles Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 20:48:33 -0500 I received an email from Meffert about new Puzzles : (he mentions doing a version of a 4x4x4) "Other puzzles that I will be making for Xmas are the Siamese Twin assembly cube, Pyraminx Diamond, (8 sides, Skewb mechanism) The Star of David (Pyramorphix mechanism) and a Dodecahedron with each face being divided into 4 segments, (Skewb mechanism). All new Puzzles will feature a molded tile finish." WOW.....GREAT NEWS!! From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Tue Oct 12 19:00:32 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id TAA21609 for ; Tue, 12 Oct 1999 19:00:32 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu To: cube-lovers@ai.mit.edu From: whuang@ugcs.caltech.edu (Wei-Hwa Huang) Subject: Re: Square 1 Date: 24 Sep 1999 14:04:47 GMT Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena Message-Id: <7sg0dv$t7s@gap.cco.caltech.edu> References: Alchemist Matt writes: > In case anyone is interested, Uwe Meffert is now selling the >Square 1. I've been looking to buy one for a while, and this is the >perfect opportunity (www.mefferts-puzzles.com/mefferts-puzzles/index.html). >In relation to the Square 1, I once came across a program that claimed to >help one solve the puzzle. I could have sworn I saved it to my hard >drive, but now, when I look for it, I can't find it. I thought it was >called Square1.Exe or Square1.Bas Does anybody know anything about this >program or have a copy lying around? A copy is in the cube-lovers archive at ftp://ftp.ai.mit.edu/pub/cube-lovers/contrib/square1.exe.gz The rec.puzzles archive also has some information on solving the puzzle. -- Wei-Hwa Huang, whuang@ugcs.caltech.edu, http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~whuang/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Piano for sale, cheap. No strings attached. From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Tue Oct 12 19:34:22 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id TAA21660 for ; Tue, 12 Oct 1999 19:34:21 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <016801bf0a44$caac3300$2e5755ca@pca200series> From: uwe@ue.net (Uwe Meffert) To: Cc: References: <005801bf0a33$81b07be0$2e5755ca@jing-notebook> Subject: Re: Skewb corner malfunctions Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999 14:35:12 +0800 > -----Original Message----- > From: HarLikin@aol.com <> > To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu > Date: Wednesday, September 29, 1999 10:01 AM > Subject: Skewb corner malfunctions > > After a hard day of solving the skewb for the first time it started >to become loose in my hands and eventually fall apart. As I put it >back together I noticed that the problem was that one of the four >corners which are connected to the internal mechanism would unscrew >whenever it was rotated counter clockwise, eventually causing it to >move far enough away from the mechanism as to cause the pieces to >fall away. Is this a problem which has been encountered by other >regular Skewbers? If anyone knows what sort of mechanism usually >keeps the corner attached properly and/or how to fix such an error I >would be grateful. > >-Terrence Dear Terrence I am sorry to hear that you are one of the very few persons experiencing problem with the Skewb. I believe that you are actually the first. Even so there have a few identical problems with the Prof.cube. What unfortunately happened is that when gluing the corner cap excess glue fixed the screw to the plastic corner piece that it should turn in. So when you turn this section it will tighten / loosen that one screw. If you are skilful enough you can try and carefully remove the corner cap to expose the screw that has become loose. Then try to remove the excess glue from around the screw with a sharp object and try turning the screw with a screwdriver firmly holding the plastic piece so you can break the glue bond. Once the screw can freely turn inside the plastic part, re-tighten it to the same tension as it was originally, so as to allow smooth turning without any pieces falling out during play. Then carefully using only very little glue fix the corner cap back into place. Please let me know the outcome of this recommended procedure. If you can't fix it please let me know and I will send you a free replacement. Sorry for any frustration and inconvenience caused. Good Luck and Happy Puzzling. With warm regards Uwe Let's keep puzzling alive! Uwe Meffert Meffert's Puzzles & Games 2008, Remex Centre, 42 Wong Chuk Hang Rd, P.O. Box 24455, Aberdeen, Hong Kong. Tel. 852-2518-3080, Fax. 852-2518-3282. Email:- Uwe@Mefferts.com www.Mefferts.com From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Tue Oct 12 20:07:12 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id UAA21764 for ; Tue, 12 Oct 1999 20:07:11 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999 18:47:12 -0400 (EDT) From: Daniel B Knights To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: 3-Cube in 1 One-Look Message-Id: Hi all, I'm new to this list, and new to the cube as well - only got my first one in March. Of course, now it doesn't leave my side. I have seen a few Cube-Lovers emails about solving the cube in a minimum number of looks. Here is a system that I use to solve the cube in 1 look, with 10-25 minutes of studying time. (Please excuse my lack of knowledge of terminology/group theory.) _________________________________________________ When most people solve the cube they do it by decomposing the whole problem into successively more specific subgroups. (e.g. first layer edges, first layer corners, second layer edges, etc.) I say "successively more specific" because the moves someone would use to position the first few pieces are very simple and intuitive, usually changing (but not solving) the unsolved pieces in the cube. As one approaches the solved state, one uses much more specialized algorithms that affect only the remaining unsolved pieces. For "multiple-look" purposes, this is a great approach. Often the smaller the subgroup of pieces affected by an algorithm, the larger the number of moves in that algorithm, and since there is usually no perceived order to the unsolved pieces, there is no benefit to preserving them with lengthy specialized moves. To a person visualizing an entire solution in his or her head, however, these types of moves are very expensive in terms of memory. Instead I begin from the start using specialized moves that affect as little of the cube as possible. I might start off with an algorithm to permute 3 corners (hopefully putting at least two of them in the correct place/orientation) while leaving the other 5 corners and all 12 edges untouched. In fact, by the time I have all of the corners solved, the edge pieces are in exactly the same random configuration as when I started! (with the possible exception of having interchanged exactly 2 of them.) The solution has then been decomposed into 2 nearly independent problems. The moves I use are mostly single-layer permutations with some commutators mixed in when necessary. One can get the corners solved after applying 5 or 6 move sequences, and then solve the edges with an additional 7 or 8 sequences. (This has nothing to do with the number of moves used to solve the cube. In fact, when I solve it with my eyes closed, I average 150-200 moves!) _____________________________________________________ The Rules: I would consider it cheating to use a pen and paper. Basically, you have to sit down with a random cube and look at it for a while without manipulating it. Then close your eyes and start solving. When you next open them, it should be solved. (You don't get to "practice" the moves before you go.) _____________________________________________________ So, has anyone else tried this? I'm curious to know what method someone else uses. I use my 15 minutes of studying time to plan out where I'm going to need to move the pieces. I wonder if anyone with better memory skills can just memorize the locations of all the pieces and then work out the entire solution with their eyes closed. Dan Knights Middlebury College http://www.middlebury.edu/~knights/ From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Thu Oct 14 15:47:40 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id PAA02169 for ; Thu, 14 Oct 1999 15:47:39 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <3804B185.A055DA64@u.washington.edu> Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 09:21:25 -0700 From: David Barr To: Daniel B Knights Cc: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: Re: 3-Cube in 1 One-Look References: Daniel B Knights wrote: > So, has anyone else tried this? I'm curious to know what method someone > else uses. I use my 15 minutes of studying time to plan out where I'm > going to need to move the pieces. I wonder if anyone with better memory > skills can just memorize the locations of all the pieces and then work out > the entire solution with their eyes closed. There was discussion of blindfolded solving during March 98 on this list. At that time no one was able to do it. You may be the first. David From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Thu Oct 14 16:44:45 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id QAA02393 for ; Thu, 14 Oct 1999 16:44:45 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: Date: Sat, 25 Sep 1999 17:45:54 -0600 To: cube-lovers@ai.mit.edu From: slapdash@enteract.com (Russ Perry Jr) Subject: Rubik-like puzzles I've never seen before... [I was referred to this list by someone who read a post I made in the rec.puzzles newsgroup; I'm not a member of the list, but have some questions about puzzles I've run across on eBay recently that I'm curious of their origin. I thought maybe you'd post my questions on the list. Please direct followups to my email address.] I check out eBay regularly for Rubik's Cube type puzzles I don't have... Recently I've come across a few I've never seen before -- does anybody know where they came from? Or better yet, where I might find them cheaply, as the prices on eBay seem to be way up there... 1) The Gem/Diamond. This is an octahedron, but each face is one solid piece, and it appears to turn in half, turning four triangulars on the square plan between halves. 2) ??. This is a 14-sided puzzle, with 8 triangles and 6 squares. Two opposite triangles make the "centers" (in 3x3x3 terms), around which three squares and three triangles turn. I don't know if ALL triangles act as centers... It can be left "unshaped" similar to Square-1, only not so jarringly. 3) Siamese Cube. This was an old hack in the 80s, with two normal cubes sharing a row of two corners and an edge, but these look professionally made, and are made out of the new OddzOn cubes apparently. They come with a display case. 4) "Triple" Cube. This is similar to the Siamese Cube, only there are three cubes connected, and unlike the Siames Cube, each new cube rises a level -- a row of one corner and an edge are aligned with the next cube's edge and the other corner (ie one is bottom corner and edge, joining the other cube's edge and top corner). This also comes with a display case. The mechanism for the Gem is likely just a 2x2x2 cube mechanism, but the pieces? The 14-sider looks ALL new, though with 8 centers, maybe it's some kind of octahedron shape variation? With the Siamese and Triple cubes you could just have a few different pieces swapping out the originals -- is someone just making the new pieces? Are these homemade, prototypes, original puzzles by pirate manufacturers? Does anybody know? //*================================================================++ || Russ Perry Jr 2175 S Tonne Dr #105 Arlington Hts IL 60005 || || 847-952-9729 slapdash@enteract.com VIDEOGAME COLLECTOR! || ++================================================================*// From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Thu Oct 14 18:12:07 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id SAA02769 for ; Thu, 14 Oct 1999 18:12:07 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <37FCBA8D.177F@ameritech.net> Date: Thu, 07 Oct 1999 10:21:49 -0500 From: Hana Bizek Reply-To: hbizek@ameritech.net To: cube-lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: fad of the century Hello, cube-lovers, it is my pleasure to infoem you that a poll conducted by aol.com voted the Rubik's cube as fad of the century. 10 fads were listed and our little obsession (at least for some of us) was on the very top of the list. Congratulations, Rubik's cube! Hana Bizek PS IMHO, the cube is more than a fad! From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Thu Oct 14 19:52:23 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id TAA03105 for ; Thu, 14 Oct 1999 19:52:22 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 02:22:00 -0400 From: Kevin Young Subject: Rubiks Magic: Create A Cube To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu Message-Id: <4.2.0.58.19990922022037.00a62530@mail.vt.edu> Anyone having notes on or knows a solution to solving this version of Rubiks magic and making it a cube, I'd appreciate info on it. Thanks, Kevin M. Young From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Mon Oct 25 19:08:23 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id TAA26768 for ; Mon, 25 Oct 1999 19:08:23 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <20D3A4C39D83D211A50C0000F8C2662D0A0FB4@PBFS03> From: Elsa Sharp To: Cube-Lovers@AI.MIT.EDU Subject: Rubik's Cube Fans Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 16:57:22 +0100 Hello, I found your email, address on the internet. I work on the Big Breakfast Channel 4's daily entertainment show. We are inviting Erno Rubik on the show next week and we would like to find fans of the Rubik's cube. I wonder if you could email me the contact numbers of your members, with a view to inviting them on the show. My email address is: elsas@planet24.co.uk Many thanks, Elsa Sharp [Moderator's note: Interested cube lovers should contact Ms Sharp as above; I'm not going to release the subscription list. And as far as e-mail addresses of other people you know, I suggest you pass this message to them rather than sending their address to some third party without their explicit consent. --Dan ] From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Mon Oct 25 19:23:26 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id TAA26857 for ; Mon, 25 Oct 1999 19:23:26 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <3803289F.8337B0D5@zeta.org.au> Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 23:25:03 +1100 From: Wayne Johnson To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: Working with plastics References: <37134515.4AD5@zeta.org.au> If anyone has ever been interested in learning how to work with plastics to make your own puzzle designs/prototypes, make interesting modifications to your cubes, or you want to be able to learn how to repair your puzzles; I have just completed the Twisty megasite. This is located at: http://www.zeta.org.au/~sausage/twistymegasite/ I have quite a lot of new and original resource material here, so it might be well worth keeping an eye on it. Thanks, Sausage From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Mon Oct 25 19:46:45 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id TAA26894 for ; Mon, 25 Oct 1999 19:46:45 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu To: cube-lovers@ai.mit.edu From: whuang@ugcs.caltech.edu (Wei-Hwa Huang) Subject: The Cube at the World Puzzle Championship Date: 15 Oct 1999 15:18:04 GMT Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena Message-Id: <7u7gjc$6d8@gap.cco.caltech.edu> The World Puzzle Championship was held last week in Budapest, Hungary. Erno Rubik was invited to kick off the opening ceremonies (so I got a few pictures of him, woo hoo!). There was only one cube-related puzzle in the competition, however. Contestants were given a picture of an unsolved Rubik's Cube and asked to identify the center face colors on the unseen three faces. Perhaps not too challenging (although I'm sure many will find problem 3 difficult to do without pencil and paper). You can find the puzzles at http://www.rubiks.com/ or the specific URLs: http://www.rubiks.com/puzzles.html?p=rubiks_cube&q=1 http://www.rubiks.com/puzzles.html?p=rubiks_cube&q=2 http://www.rubiks.com/puzzles.html?p=rubiks_cube&q=3 If you think these puzzles are too easy, I have an added question for you -- what is the minimum number of moves needed to get a solved cube into the states depicted by the three problems? You will find problem 1 easy, problem 2 intermediate, and problem 3 difficult. -- Wei-Hwa Huang, whuang@ugcs.caltech.edu, http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~whuang/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Everyone is trying to CYA their butt!" -- my supervisor [ Moderator's note: In case some of our subscribers don't know, I will supersede Wei-Hwa Huang's modesty to mention that he took first place at the World Puzzle Championship (for the fourth time!)] From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Tue Oct 26 14:00:55 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id OAA29942 for ; Tue, 26 Oct 1999 14:00:54 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 01:32:31 -0600 To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu From: slapdash@enteract.com (Russ Perry Jr) Subject: Re: Rubik-like puzzles I've never seen before... First off, thanks for all the replies! At 8:06 PM 10/14/99, Kevin Young wrote: >As far as the siamese cubes and the triplet cubes go that you see on ebay. >They are not professionally made. Oddzone does not make these cubes. And >furthermore, they are not "rare". That's kind of what I thought. The OddzOn cubes are represented by http://www.rubiks.com, right? Or is it just on Hasbro's site somewhere? >If you really want a quality cube, Meffert is selling assembly cubes that >use ABS plastic instead of stickers. Later on this year, he will have >available pieces for assembly cubes to make siamese, triplets, and more >cubes that can be joined together. Yep, I found Meffert's site. I hear he's also planning 4x4x4 & 5x5x5 (assembly?) cubes, which is pretty neat. At 8:27 PM 10/14/99, _pink wrote: >>1) The Gem/Diamond. >These are created by utilizing pieces from the Pyramorphix puzzle. One can >disassemble 2 Pyramorphixes and construct one "Gem" and one "Starburst" >puzzles as seen on ebay... So you get 2 "new" puzzles out of 2 Pyramorphix? Hmm, pure profit... At 7:30 PM 10/14/99, Noel Dillabough wrote: >> 2) ??. This is a 14-sided puzzle, with 8 triangles and 6 >> squares. >This one I modelled in Puzzler and it is quite nice. Yes it is a morphing >puzzle, although very simply in nature. I have been told by some of my >users that this puzzle was a prototype and never sold, but I can't confirm >this. Supposedly there are only a handful of these in existance. Someone postulated that it's a dual of the Skewb, and it strikes me that might be true. Opinion? >> 4) "Triple" Cube. This is similar to the Siamese Cube [...] >I guess you could keep going forever, however I don't see the advantage of a >triple cube. I haven't modelled this one. Well, it can be left in even more contorted shapes than the Siamese Cube... >I am constantly on the lookout for more puzzles to add to Puzzler, let me >know if you think of any, I'm already trying to get a bunch of doodles ready for Noel to add... :-) At 10:01 AM 10/15/99, Rob Hegge wrote: >>2) ??. This is a 14-sided puzzle, with 8 triangles and 6 squares. >I bought either this one or the 1) GEM/Diamond or both from Christoph >Bandelow [...] He can probably help you also with the other puzzles. >Hope this helps Sure! I'll send him a note and ask. Thanks for the pointer. At 11:03 AM 10/15/99, Ronald Fletterman wrote: >Hi Perry, I suggest, you contact Tony Fisher, who takes "standard" sliding >puzzles and redesigns them in wonderful variants. His address: Thanks for the address! Tony was mentioned to me by a couple other sources. Does anyone know if Tony has an email address or a URL? At 5:19 AM 10/15/99, Klodshans wrote: >the 14-sided thing sounds like a Cuboctahedron (3x3x3 mechanism) Pete Beck had suggested the same thing, but that's definitely not it. I've seen those before, and one characteristic is that the planes cute through the squares & triangles; on this one there are NO cuts through the faces. >mail me the item number and I will check for sure. It's not on any active auctions any more, but Noel put it in his Puzzler program, and it looks right. >Tony Fisher is also making Siamese Skewbs. Hmm, are there pix of these anywhere? Are the just twinned at the corners? > At www.rubiks.com, there was a thread in the Forum a while ago about how > to make these things. I assume you mean Siamese Cubes, but not Siamese Skewbs. If SS, I couldn't find the posts... At 11:37 PM 10/15/99, Wayne Johnson wrote: >Check out my site, I can show you how the Siamese cube is done: >http://www.zeta.org.au/~sausage/twistymegasite Yep, I found that via www.rubiks.com Forum... I'm not sure I have the talent to mold pieces, but I could mail you some notes about 2x2x3, 3x3x4 and triangular prism mechanisms... :-) At 10:14 PM 10/15/99, Uwe Meffert wrote: >Dear Russ Hello Uwe. I heard you hung out here; glad to make your e-acquaintance. >These are home or professional hand made for puzzle collectors. They will >all be available from our puzzle shop in the near future made from high >quality ABS with molded plastic tiles instead of labels. Glad to hear it. Tell me though, is there any chance we'll see some of the puzzles from the OLD Meffert catalogs -- like the triangular, hexagonal, pentagonal and the two circular, prisms? At 12:57 PM 10/15/99, Tim Browne wrote: >> 2) ??. This is a 14-sided puzzle, with 8 triangles and 6 squares. >This one's news to me. Do you have an eBay item number? It occurs to me that even though there isn't an auction running currently with that, you could search for it. Trouble is, the title was something lame like "blah blah Rubik blah blah EXTREMELY RARE", which will match other stuff too... On the other hand, it might have been auctioned by the same ssongas (sp?) guy who's auctioning off the Siamese/Triple/Gem puzles, so a search for him in completed auctions might find it. I can't get to the web right now to do it myself, but will try to look later. Actually, it might have said "14-sided" in the title, which would be easy to find... >> Are these homemade, prototypes, original puzzles by pirate manufacturers? >Well, I seriously doubt it would be "pirate manufacturers", as my company >officially makes such cubes... What company is that? >at least not yet. It's kind of hard to "pirate" something that doesn't >officially exist. :-) L8r. Well, I guess I meant like the Siamese cubes still requiring two cubes to make one Siamese, so the cubes to make it would be pirated, even if the SC itself wasn't. Same with the Pyramorphix going to the Gem & Starburst. But point taken. And in this case, obviously somebody with a good supply of OddzOn cubes and ?? Pyramorphix and some time & talent out to make a good buck or a hundred. Again, thanks all! //*================================================================++ || Russ Perry Jr 2175 S Tonne Dr #105 Arlington Hts IL 60005 || || 847-952-9729 slapdash@enteract.com VIDEOGAME COLLECTOR! || ++================================================================*// From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Tue Oct 26 17:14:19 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id RAA00743 for ; Tue, 26 Oct 1999 17:12:53 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 02:46:11 -0600 To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu From: slapdash@enteract.com (Russ Perry Jr) Subject: 2x2x4 cube-like puzzle? Somewhere I ran across mention of a 2x2x4 cube, made from a 4x4x4 with some pieces glued together. It gave a link: >http://hjem.get2net.dk/philip-k/puzzles/puzzlist.htm There was no pic as the referring doc said, but it says it was made by Greg Stevens -- is Greg around here and/or are there actually pix out there somewhere? On the other hand, another site (http://www.puzzleshop.de ??) has pix of what appears to actually be a 2x2x4 puzzle in its Puzzle Museum. How does that work? //*================================================================++ || Russ Perry Jr 2175 S Tonne Dr #105 Arlington Hts IL 60005 || || 847-952-9729 slapdash@enteract.com VIDEOGAME COLLECTOR! || ++================================================================*// From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Tue Oct 26 20:15:00 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id UAA02190 for ; Tue, 26 Oct 1999 20:14:00 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <199910142142.RAA29672@life.ai.mit.edu> From: Norman Richards To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: Re: 3-Cube in 1 One-Look In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 13 Oct 1999 09:21:25 PDT." <3804B185.A055DA64@u.washington.edu> Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 16:47:25 -0500 > There was discussion of blindfolded solving during March 98 on this > list. At that time no one was able to do it. You may be the first. I'd love some more elaboration of the specific sequences the original poster used. (or any suggestions others have to make) I think this would be quite a trick. I'd be happy just being able to do a 2x2x2 cube like this or maybe one face of a 3x3x3... ___________________________________________________________________________ orb@cs.utexas.edu soli deo gloria From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Fri Oct 29 12:12:31 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id MAA15794 for ; Fri, 29 Oct 1999 12:12:30 -0400 (EDT) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <000e01bf205f$95393700$2e5755ca@pca200series> From: uwe@ue.net (Uwe Meffert) To: Cc: "MPG" , Subject: NEW PUZZLES TO BE RELEASED. Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1999 17:42:21 +0800 Organization: UE Foundation Hi All Cube Lovers, Just to clarify some point asked below. I will be releasing original Siamese cubes, utilizing our Patented Assembly cube parts plus 3 new connectors so that multiple cubes can be assembled / disassembled. These will be available for shipping around the 10th of December. Also the 4x4x4 cube and our New Pyraminx Diamond Puzzle made from a Skewb mechanism with new pieces so that you have 6 pyramid apexes and 8 triangles making an Octahedron. Furthermore there will be bandaged cube with molded tiles using the assembly cube mechanism. By using the parts of 2 Pyramorphix's I will be offering a limited number of Star of David and Diamond Puzzles as a collectors set, also with our new molded tile finish. Also some New Disney & Donald Puzzle Heads using our patented 2x2x2 mechanism will be available soon. Happy Puzzling Uwe Let's keep puzzling alive! Uwe Meffert Meffert's Puzzles & Games 2008, Remex Centre, 42 Wong Chuk Hang Rd, P.O. Box 24455, Aberdeen, Hong Kong. Tel. 852-2518-3080, Fax. 852-2518-3282. Email:- Uwe@Mefferts.com Web: www.Mefferts.com From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Fri Nov 5 19:07:28 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id TAA12716 for ; Fri, 5 Nov 1999 19:07:27 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 10:37:46 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <199910281737.KAA06812@denali.cs.ucla.edu> From: Richard E Korf To: cube-lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: How many Cubes have been sold? Does anyone have a good idea how many Rubik's Cubes have been sold worldwide? Send mail to me, and I'll post a summary of the responses. Thanks! -rich From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Thu Nov 11 18:02:33 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id SAA06302 for ; Thu, 11 Nov 1999 18:02:32 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 15:38:18 -0400 (EDT) From: Daniel B Knights To: Norman Richards Cc: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: 3-Cube in 1 Look Message-Id: >> There was discussion of blindfolded solving during March 98 on this >> list. At that time no one was able to do it. You may be the first. > I'd love some more elaboration of the specific sequences the >original poster used. (or any suggestions others have to make) I >think this would be quite a trick. I'd be happy just being able to do >a 2x2x2 cube like this or maybe one face of a 3x3x3... Solving one face of a 3x3x3 in one look does not require any special system for planning. If it can be done in 20-25 moves, then I've found it is feasible (although cumbersome) to simply plan out all 20 moves while keeping track of each move's effect on the relevant pieces. If you are interested in solving the whole cube in 1-look, (or a 2x2x2 cube) I suggest you try doing 2 looks first: 1 to solve corners (without changing edges), 1 to solve edges. Once you can do this, it should be clear how to do it in one look. If 2-looks for the whole cube is still too difficult at first, then try solving just the corners with 2-looks, 1 to position them and 1 to orient them correctly. (But don't mess up the edges while you do it!) You don't really have to "update" your memory as you go, because you can basically plan out the entire solution before you start, as follows: 1. it's only 3-5 corner permutations to get all corners in the correct location, and you just have to keep track of each corner's orientation (i.e., needs to be rotated clockwise or anti-clockwise in place). For these permutation moves, I most often use a single-layer 3-corner interchange that preserves the corner orientation relative to that layer. The move [Ri F Ri B2 R Fi Ri B2 R2] accomplishes this in the top layer. 2. 1-3 more sequences to orient all the corners. I use simple moves like [(R U Ri Ui)^2 D (U R Ui Ri)^2 Di] to re-orient two corners in the bottom layer. (**Now you've SOLVED a 2x2x2 Cube!**) 3. Then usually 5-7 sequences to put all edges in place, but again keeping track of which ones are flipped. For these permutations, I will again often use a 3-edge swap like the following: [R2 Ui Fs R2 Bs Ui R2] 4. then a few more edge-flip sequences. I use the (very) inefficient two-edge flip maneuver: [Ls Fi Ls Di Ls B2 Rs Di Rs Fi Rs U2] Then you're done! (about 200 moves later.) This is not an easy "trick" - I still find it quite challenging to correctly plan out the entire corners solution and the entire edges solution, and to then implement them correctly from memory. The real "trick" for me is that I don't memorize the locations of the pieces, just the sequence of permutations that I planned out to solve them. This way, if you can plan out the 5 corner permutations in advance, then you only need to remember those 5 items to solve the corners, which don't change throughout the solution. If you instead memorize the locations of the pieces, you have to keep memorizing new locations throughout the solution. (which is impossible for me.) I first plan out the entire solution with my eyes open, and memorize it. (planning it out correctly may be the most difficult part.) Then you only have 15 permutations to remember and execute correctly, without any new memorization after you close your eyes. Well, that's enough about that. I just want to make this approach clear because I think blindfolded cubing is well within the bounds of "normal human memory capabilities." Good Luck! From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Thu Nov 11 20:10:51 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id UAA06604 for ; Thu, 11 Nov 1999 20:10:50 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 19:08:57 -0400 To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu From: Kristin Looney Subject: Alison painted me a giant rubiks cube! The big green composter in the yard has been transformed! And it looks fabulous! ye kindred spirits who love cubes might understand how cool it is to have a giant two foot rotating rubiks cube decomposing vegetable matter in my front yard. wow! you can view a snapshot of it at the end of this weeks update at wunderland.com. http://www.wunderland.com anyone out there got a bigger one? I've got another one, that measures only about a foot and a half: http://wunderland.com/Home/Rubik.html anyway... just thought I'd share the pictures -Kristin http://www.wunderland.com/WTS/Kristin To all the fishies in the deep blue sea, JOY. From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Fri Nov 26 16:59:03 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id QAA13132 for ; Fri, 26 Nov 1999 16:59:02 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <199910311159.MAA11039@ai2.accesinternet.com> From: "valley" To: Subject: Rubik's cube? Date: Sun, 31 Oct 1999 12:58:08 +0100 Last week I found a puzzle that looks like something between my old Rubik's cube and my pyracube. It has 14 faces: 6 are squares and 8 triangles. Imagine one side of the pyracube: a square in the middle, and four little triangles in the corners. Now when you look at the whole pyracube, the little triangles form 8 pyramids. Then virtually remove these pyramids and you have the shape of my new puzzle. In addition it is cut (?) like a Rubik's cube, and consequently has the same solution. Have you ever seen this puzzle? was it made by rubik? How is it called? Well, I want ot know everything about it since I've been collecting all rubiks cube-like puzzles for a few years. Thanks in advance, Paul From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Fri Nov 26 17:37:28 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id RAA13196 for ; Fri, 26 Nov 1999 17:37:28 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <381F6399.811C15C8@pressenter.com> Date: Tue, 02 Nov 1999 16:20:09 -0600 From: Joe Johnson To: David Singmaster Cc: cube-lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: Re: 5X5X5 challenge References: <009E0848.8EC8F5C8.5@ice.sbu.ac.uk> David Singmaster wrote: > On 22 Sep, Dan sais one would discover something interesting > about the central pieces of the 5^3. I think this result is > entirely obvious once one thinks about the mechanics of these cubes. > DAVID SINGMASTER, Professor of Mathematics and Metagrobologist I'm not sure what you and Dan have discovered. [ Moderator's Note: I should have been less coy. I thought Joe Johnson might not have discovered that the supergroup contains positions in which a face center is rotated 180 degrees. I still think this is surprising. It's so easy to rotate the face centers by an amount adding up to an integral number of 360-degree rotations (see 9 January 1981 in the archives). Does anyone have a short process for rotating two face centers 90 degrees clockwise? --Dan ] What I have found is that the cross cubies and wing cubies are both involved in parity problems. i.e. if you repair the parity of the cross cubies then there will be no parity problems with the wing cubies, if you leave the parity problem with the cross cubies then there will be a parity problem with the wing cubies. One fix repairs both. The point cubies and edge cubies never have parity problems; simple 3 cubie exchanges are all that are necessary to place the point cubies (the only cubies that require orientation are the face, corner, and edge cubies - the others are automatically oriented correctly when they are placed correctly.) From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Fri Nov 26 18:07:49 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id SAA13259 for ; Fri, 26 Nov 1999 18:07:48 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <3823768E.53A6755B@iname.com> Date: Fri, 05 Nov 1999 16:30:06 -0800 From: David Barr To: Richard E Korf Cc: cube-lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: Re: How many Cubes have been sold? References: <199910281737.KAA06812@denali.cs.ucla.edu> Richard E Korf wrote: > Does anyone have a good idea how many Rubik's Cubes have been sold > worldwide? Send mail to me, and I'll post a summary of the > responses. Thanks! > -rich http://www.rubiks.com/cubemain.html claims that over 200 million have been sold. The Rubik's Games CD-ROM has a history of the cube that includes other estimates. David From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Fri Nov 26 18:47:04 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id SAA13327 for ; Fri, 26 Nov 1999 18:47:03 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu From: adams.gallant@pei.sympatico.ca Message-Id: <1.5.4.32.19991106125203.00687470@pop1.pei.sympatico.ca> Date: Sat, 06 Nov 1999 07:52:03 -0500 To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: Rubik Books or Video? Just curious if there exists any video tape footage of Erno Rubik [interviews, TV specials] out there, or any easily accessible books about his work or an extensive look into the cube phenomena? I've seen a number of interesting books on Amazon, but nothing still in print. Thanks, Dave Gallant From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Fri Nov 26 19:32:13 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id TAA13421 for ; Fri, 26 Nov 1999 19:32:13 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Reply-To: From: "Noel Dillabough" To: "Cube Lovers List \(E-mail\)" Subject: Sliding Puzzles Date: Mon, 8 Nov 1999 22:37:28 -0500 Message-Id: <000401bf2a64$2ea9f650$020a0a0a@NOEL> My latest addiction has been sliding puzzles, sequential movement puzzles that are very Rubik-like in nature...I have found a couple of places online that have are particularly interesting (see below). I have solved (with the aid of a program) 44 of the 49 puzzles, and 4 more are just a matter of time (the states are large but not too large). However one puzzle, the "Climb Pro 24", by Minoru Abe (link below) is beyond my program's reach. It has far too many combinations for my state program to solve it. This is where the cube lovers come in. How do I design a program to solve this puzzle? Any ideas or algorithms would be appreciated, especially on how to reduce the decision tree and know when you've repeated a state without keeping all of the states in memory. Regardless if I ever figure out a solution, I know lots of you will enjoy the following, -Noel Classic Sliding Puzzles: http://www.pro.or.jp/~fuji/java/puzzle/slide/V1.0/fuji.index-eng.html Block 10 Puzzles: http://www.pro.or.jp/~fuji/java/puzzle/slide/V2.0/block10-eng.html Climb Puzzles: http://www.johnrausch.com/SlidingBlockPuzzles/cg15-1.htm http://www.johnrausch.com/SlidingBlockPuzzles/cg15-2.htm http://www.johnrausch.com/SlidingBlockPuzzles/cg15-3.htm http://www.johnrausch.com/SlidingBlockPuzzles/cg15-4.htm This one, Minoru Abe's "Climb Pro 24" is the mother of all sliding puzzles: http://www.johnrausch.com/SlidingBlockPuzzles/pro24-1.htm From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Fri Nov 26 19:57:08 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id TAA13484 for ; Fri, 26 Nov 1999 19:57:08 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu From: Douglas Zander Message-Id: <199911120937.DAA07616@solaria.sol.net> Subject: puzzles and stroke victims To: cube-lovers@ai.mit.edu (cube) Date: Fri, 12 Nov 99 3:37:48 CST Hello Puzzle-Fans, I am wondering if anyone could comment on the use of twisty puzzles (like rubik cube, etc) for those people who suffered a stroke and are paralyzed slightly on one side and need to exercise their hands. (The reason I'm asking is because my brother-in-law suffered a stroke and he needs to exercise his left hand.) I am wondering if these types of puzzles are good therapy or a bad idea. One exercise he does with his wife is to close his eyes and hold an object in his left hand and try to figure out its shape (cube, sphere, tetrahedral, etc...) Any comments, suggestions, references? Thanks you. -- Douglas Zander dzander@solaria.sol.net Shorewood, Wisconsin, USA From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Wed Dec 1 14:07:45 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id OAA28275 for ; Wed, 1 Dec 1999 14:07:43 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 14:31:49 -0800 (PST) Message-Id: <199911292231.OAA02453@denali.cs.ucla.edu> From: Richard E Korf To: cube-lovers@ai.mit.edu In-Reply-To: <3823768E.53A6755B@iname.com> (message from David Barr on Fri, 05 Nov 1999 16:30:06 -0800) Subject: Re: How many Cubes have been sold? References: <199910281737.KAA06812@denali.cs.ucla.edu> <3823768E.53A6755B@iname.com> I promised to summarize the responses I got to my question about how many Rubik's Cubes were sold worldwide. The most informative (and authoritative) answer I got was from David Singmaster, so I've just included his response below. -rich korf Date: Mon, 8 Nov 1999 14:27:49 +0000 From: David Singmaster Computing & Maths South Bank Univ To: korf@cs.ucla.edu Subject: RE: How many Cubes have been sold? Content-Type: text Content-Length: 1165 I'm doing this from memory. If you want, I can look up what I wrote about 20 years ago. Ideal told me they sold about 20 million cubes in one year - I think this was in the US. Polytechnika said they sold about twice (or several) times as many cubes in Hungary as there were people, making perhaps 10 million. Both of these statements were while the cube craze was in midstream. So I suspect that somewhere between 50 and 100 million legitimiate cubes were sold. However the pirate cubes sold perhaps twice as many. So I've generally given an estimate of 200 million! I think this may be conservative, but the number was probably somewhere between 100 and 300 million. This doesn't take account of the fact that the fad started rather later in the Communist countries and they may have produced many millions as well, though I don't think this would make a huge difference to the estimate above. DAVID SINGMASTER, Professor of Mathematics and Metagrobologist School of Computing, Information Systems and Mathematics Southbank University, London, SE1 0AA, UK. Tel: 0171-815 7411; fax: 0171-815 7499; email: zingmast or David.Singmaster @sbu.ac.uk From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Wed Dec 1 19:43:18 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id TAA29376 for ; Wed, 1 Dec 1999 19:43:18 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu From: adams.gallant@pei.sympatico.ca Message-Id: <1.5.4.32.19991114154546.006830dc@pop1.pei.sympatico.ca> Date: Sun, 14 Nov 1999 10:45:46 -0500 To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: Square-1 Question Greetings: After many months of trying pattern after pattern, I've developed an algorithm for swapping two adjacent corner pieces on Square-1. I was hoping that if I posted what I've come up with, that someone might have an easier method. Who knows? Maybe I've just put a new spin on an old solution to this move, or re-discovered an existing pattern. Anyhow, I'd love to get some feedback on it. Here's what I've got: * All moves are done with the orange side facing you, yellow on the left. * T = Top Slice [white in this case] * R = Right-Hand Slice [blue] * B = Bottom Slice [green] * L = Left-Hand Slice [yellow] * CW = Clock Wise * CCW = Counter Clock Wise * CW and CCW moves are done from the perspective of tilting the cube and looking at the side in question. * This series of moves will swap the two bottom corner pieces on the blue side. MOVES [From a perfect cube - orange on front] ***** T [1/8 CW], R [1/2], B [1/4 CCW], T [1/2], R [1/2], B [1/4 CW], T [1/2], R [1/2], B [1/4 CCW], T [1/2], R [1/2], B [1/4 CCW], T [1/4 CW], L [1/2], T [1/4 CW], L [1/2], T [1/8 CW], B [1/2] Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions. Now that I have my own, I won't mind borrowing a simpler one! Dave From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Wed Dec 1 20:14:28 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id UAA29667 for ; Wed, 1 Dec 1999 20:14:27 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1999 15:49:31 +0100 To: cube-lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: centre slice table From: ronald.fletterman@t-online.de (Ronald Fletterman) cubologist proper remember how much time and effort was spent in generating the table of all maneuvers, concerning one outer slice of the 3x3x3 cube.(the so-called upper table). John F. Jarvis seems to be the first to have published the table (in 1983), but his maneuver lengths challenged the brothers dockhorn to get the max length down to 16 moves (1 move equals either a 90 degree or 180 degree face turn). upto now, little attention has been paid to the centre slice table per se. digging into my files, i found a study by herbert kociemba, including the centre slice maneuvers. to me, it belongs to the files of every cubologist; ref. the attachement, which can be opened by owners of kociemba's cube explorer. rgds ronald. [ Moderator's note: The attachment is presented here as text for the reading pleasure of cube-lovers. Hopefully cube explorers can turn it back into something useful. --Dan] D R F' U R' F D' U L' F U' L F' U' (14f*) D2 L B' U L' B D2 U2 F' R U' F R' U2 (14f*) D B R' D F2 L' B D' U R' B L2 D' F R' U' (16f*) D' F2 D U' R2 U (6f*) R2 F2 R D' U F' D2 U2 R2 B' D' U R' (13f*) R' D U' B R2 D2 U2 F D U' R' F2 (12f*) R2 B2 R' B' F D B2 D' B F' R' (11f*) R B F' U' B2 U B' F R' B2 (10f*) F2 R B' F D' F2 D B F' R' (10f*) B2 R' D U' B D2 U2 R2 F D U' R' (12f*) F U' L B F2 R' F R U' B' F2 L' F' U (14f*) D2 L2 D2 U2 R2 U2 (6f*) B2 U2 R' D' U B' R2 D2 L2 F' D' U R' U2 (14f*) R U R' D2 B L2 D2 R2 F U2 R' U' R' (13f*) R U' L B F' D' B D' B' F L B' U R' (14f*) F R' L' U L2 F2 L2 F2 L2 F2 U' R L F' (14f*) D B2 F2 D' U L2 R2 U' (8f*) F' D' U L' D2 F2 U2 R' D' U F' D2 R2 D2 (14f*) R2 F' R' F U F' U F' D' F L D U2 R' (14f*) F' R' L' U L2 F2 L2 F2 L2 F2 U' R L F (14f*) From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Tue Dec 7 16:55:07 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id QAA24858 for ; Tue, 7 Dec 1999 16:55:05 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu From: HarLikin@aol.com Message-Id: <0.a5c6bfe6.2579acd1@aol.com> Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 18:31:29 EST Subject: Megaminx 2 edge swap To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu For a long time i thought and heard that the 2 edge swap was impossible on a megaminx as it is simply a platonic dodecahedron in rubiks format, and a 2 edge swap on a rubiks cube is impossible. yet i have many times solved my megaminx down to where there are only 2 edges swapped, then randomized it, and solved again only to find the problem nonexistant. apparently there is some way to swap only two edges. If anyone knows this move sequence please tell me. thank you. -Harlequin [Moderator's note: It is impossible to perform an odd permutation of the edges of the Megaminx, because 5-cycles are even. This is not the same situation as with Rubik's cube, where it is possible to perform an odd permutation of the edges if an odd permutation of the corners is also performed. Did they use the same color for more than one face of the Megaminx? Is there another way to get fooled? --Dan] From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Sat Dec 11 15:45:34 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id PAA10511 for ; Sat, 11 Dec 1999 15:45:33 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Date: Wed, 8 Dec 1999 10:33:39 +0100 (CET) From: Christ van Willegen To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: Re: Megaminx 2 edge swap In-Reply-To: <0.a5c6bfe6.2579acd1@aol.com> Message-Id: On Fri, 3 Dec 1999 HarLikin@aol.com wrote: [About the two-edge swap on the MegaMinx] > [Moderator's note: It is impossible to perform an odd permutation of > the edges of the Megaminx, because 5-cycles are even. This is not > the same situation as with Rubik's cube, where it is possible to > perform an odd permutation of the edges if an odd permutation of the > corners is also performed. Did they use the same color for more than > one face of the Megaminx? Is there another way to get fooled? --Dan] The MegaMinx in Puzzler has only 6 colors. When I contacted the author about it, he told me that the one he got only had those 6 colors. When I got mine (2 years back), it had 12 colors. I'm not sure if I've ever run into that problem described above. On second thought, I have... Let me describe what I do to solve a MegaMinx. I hope you can follow what I'm saying, because it's hard to describe this... I'll try to make some pictures... Ok, I stole one from the alt.ascii-art group: _._ _,-'/\ '-._ _,.-'1 /2 \ 3`-.._ .'________/____\________'. :'-. 4 / \ 6 ,-': : '-, / 5 \ ,-' : : 7 /-. ,-\ 10,: `: / '-,.-' \ : :. / 8 ,-''-. 9 \ .: `: / ,-' '-. \ : & :/,-' 11 '-.\: % `'-................-'' First, I solve one layer. This includes the pieces 1, 2, 3 and 5 on the 5 layers adjeacent to the top. Then, I put in the edge pieces 4 and 6. Next, I put in the corner pieces 7 and 10. All of these can be done using standard 3x3x3 moves :-) Putting in 8 and 9 requires a trick. You have to rotate the layers indicated by & and % so that the pieces 8 and 9 can be reached from the 'bottom' layer. Then, use standard 3x3x3 moves to swing the edge pieces from the bottom layer to pieces 8 and 9. I always find this process to take the longest (you need to put in 10 edges. Because of Murphy's law, the edge pieces you need are probably in the 'same' positions in other layers, so you need to take them out before you can put them in. Long work, indeed). Next, put in the corner piece 11. Now, the upper half of the MegaMinx is solved. Next, put in the edge pieces on the second-to-last layer (easy work), and we're down to the last layer. First, I put the edge pieces in the correct _position_. Sometimes, I need two edges to be swapped. The formula I have excahnges three edges, so I mess around with it until I have them all in the correct position. Then, I align edges, position corners (using a three-corner exchange formula), and align corners. The last two steps usually impose no problems. Unfortunately, my notes with Megaminx formulas is at home (we found them back yesterday..), so I can't look up any formulas. If people are interested in the formulas I use, or in the way I solve it, let me know and I'll look up my notes. Christ van Willegen From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Mon Dec 13 17:24:01 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id RAA15877 for ; Mon, 13 Dec 1999 17:24:01 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <001701bf4163$a712fb30$d80c13ac@ste04w0001.ste04.icl.co.uk> From: "Roger Broadie" To: Cc: Subject: Re: Megaminx 2 edge swap Date: Wed, 8 Dec 1999 10:04:43 -0000 The current Megaminx uses only six colours. We had a discussion about the ambiguities this creates in January 1998, to be found in the archives in cube-mail-24. Roger Broadie From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Tue Dec 14 14:44:11 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id OAA20002 for ; Tue, 14 Dec 1999 14:44:10 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu From: jmb184@frontiernet.net (John Bailey) To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu Cc: bcheney@teleport.com Subject: Re: WTD: Rubik's Cube Program w/MACROS Date: Sat, 11 Dec 1999 10:31:12 GMT Message-Id: <385225bd.86868338@mail.frontiernet.net> References: <3851F715.3DF7@teleport.com> <38521c82.84505154@news.frontiernet.net> In-Reply-To: <38521c82.84505154@news.frontiernet.net> >On Fri, 10 Dec 1999 23:02:46 -0800, bcheney >wrote: > >>I'm looking for a Rubik's cube program that will allow you to >>manipulate the cube and allow you to record MACRO sequences and >>execute them at any time. >> >>I've looked at a lot of the programs on the cube web sites, >>but none have this capability. >> >>If you know of a program that has this capability, could you >>EMAIL or post a reference to it? to which I replied: >Good point! >At http://www.ggw.org/donorware/3x3cube/ is a javascript program >implementing a 3x3 cube which has two fixed macros (without bothering >to describe them) >and the 4D cube at: >http://www.ggw.org/donorware/4D_Rubik/ has a very explict macro but >again its fixed. > >What you suggest is there should be an ordinary 3x3x3 cube with the >ability to record and then use a sequence which the player enters. > >Macros would make cube solving and searching for solutions far less >cumbersome, without detracting from the challenge. > >I'll watch this thread with interest. If no one else nibbles the >troll, I will consider making one for the both of us. Can anyone on Cube-lovers give a pointer to a cube manipulator with macro capability? John From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Tue Dec 14 16:06:52 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id QAA20286 for ; Tue, 14 Dec 1999 16:06:51 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <000701bf442c$151f8420$ea023dd4@wschwi> From: "Christ van Willegen" To: Subject: MegaMinx notes Date: Sat, 11 Dec 1999 22:34:41 +0100 I just found back my notes on the MegaMinx. Here's what I have. It isn't much, because I solve it as a 'regular' cube, with the exception of a few formulas. The last layer needs these steps: - Correctly flip the edge pieces. I use the formulas F U R U' R' F' to flip the 'Front' and 'Right' upper edge pieces. F R U R' U' F' flips the 'Front' and 'Right-back' upper edge pieces. Repeat one of these formulas as needed. - Correctly align the edge pieces. I have two formulas for this as well. Formula 1 assumes that the edge pieces 'Front' and 'Left' are correctly aligned, and keeps these in place: R U R' U R U2 R' rotates the other three edge pieces around. Formula 2 assumes that the edge pieces 'Front' and 'Left-back' are correctly aligned, and keeps these in place: R U R' U2 R U R' rotates the other three edge pieces around. - Correctly align the corner pieces. I only have on of these. The two corner pieces in the 'R' layer are kept in the same position: U2 R U2' L' U2 R' U2' L (note the notation: U2 is not the same as U2'!) rotates the other three corner pieces around. - Correctly flip the corner pieces. The formula I've used for 20 years (is this possible? When I started cubing, I was quite small. I can't really remember when it was) is the following: Use R F' R' F R F' R' F to rotate the corner piece FRU clockwise. Repeat until this piece is correctly aligned. Then, rotate the U layer until you find another corner piece that's not correctly flipped. Repeat the formula until it's correctly flipped (later, I found out that F' R F R' F' R F R' rotates a corner piece in the ccw direction). This also works nicely on the Megaminx. What I like in my solution of the last layer of the Megaminx: - The formulas are 'standard' Cube moves, adapted for another geometry. - Most only use three layers. Only one (conceptually) uses 4 layers (The one to align corner pieces). Since the three layers meeting at every corner of the Megaminx are identical in behaviour as the layers of the Cube, the formulas are easy to grasp (and were easy to adapt from the Cube moves). Lots of manuals coming with cubes nowadays use the E layer for some goals (I have to admit: My formulas for the Cube include this one for the Edge pieces on the third layer: (R E)4, then rotate the upper layer until another incorrectly flipped edge piece is in the UR position). These can clearly _not_ be 'ported' to the Megaminx. My time for solving the Megaminx is about 10 minutes. My Cube time is still about 3 minutes (I know, I know: Layer-by-layer is _not_ a fast approach...) Well, that's all I have to say about the Megaminx for now... Happy Minxing! Christ van Willegen From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Tue Dec 21 16:15:00 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id QAA14884 for ; Tue, 21 Dec 1999 16:15:00 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1999 21:56:29 -0500 (EST) From: der Mouse Message-Id: <199912150256.VAA02345@Twig.Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA> To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: Re: WTD: Rubik's Cube Program w/MACROS >>> I'm looking for a Rubik's cube program that will allow you to >>> manipulate the cube and allow you to record MACRO sequences and >>> execute them at any time. >> [...] > Can anyone on Cube-lovers give a pointer to a cube manipulator with > macro capability? I wrote one that might qualify, depending on what the original poster actually wants. You can do things like this (commentary in [[ ]] markers) % twist > R F2 Cube: u u f u u f b d d l l r d f f l r r u b b l l r d f f l r r u b b l l r d f f l r r u b b f u u d d b d d b Cycles: (ur,br,dr,fl,fr) (uf,df) (ubr,bdr,ufl,dfr,fdl,fur) [30] Already centered [[ The unfolded cube view shows the result of R F2; the cycle decomposition is also printed, along with the smallest power that it needs to be raised to to give the identity - I can't offhand recall the group-theory term for this number. The "Already centered" line is related to something I'll demonstrate later. ]] > .set t LAST `t' defined [[ Define "t" as a name for this transformation. ]] > t2 Cube: u u f u u f u u f l l r b f d r l l d b b l l r b f d r r r f b b l l l u f d r r r f b b f d b d d u d d u Cycles: (ur,dr,fr,br,fl) (ubr,ufl,fdl) (urf,drb,frd) [15] Already centered [[ Do two `t' operations. ]] > t6 Cube: u u u u u f u u u l l l f f f r r r b b b l l r d f f l r r u b b l l l f f f r r r b b b d d d d d b d d d Cycles: (ur,br,dr,fl,fr) [5] Already centered [[ Do six `t' operations. Produces a five-cycle on edges. ]] > SLICER Cube: u f u u f u u f u l l l f d f r r r b u b l l l f d f r r r b u b l l l f d f r r r b u b d b d d b d d b d Cycles: (u,b,d,f) (ub,bd,df,fu) [4] Centred: (ul,fl,dl,bl) (ur,fr,dr,br) (ulb,flu,dlf,bld) (ubr,fur,dfr,bdr) [4] [[ SLICER is the R-L slice turned in the direction it would turn if you did an R turn but turned the center slice with the face. (SLICEL is therefore equivalent to SLICER', the inverse of SLICER. The "Centred" line shows the cycle decomposition of the move resulting from taking the given move and then concatenating it with a whole-cube move that returns all face-center cubies to their home cubicles - in this case, we can see that this is... ]] > SLICER CUBEL Cube: b u b b u b b u b l l l u f u r r r d b d l l l u f u r r r d b d l l l u f u r r r d b d f d f f d f f d f Cycles: (ul,fl,dl,bl) (ur,fr,dr,br) (ulb,flu,dlf,bld) (ubr,fur,dfr,bdr) [4] Already centered [[ As promised. Note the cycle decomposition matches the "Centred:" line from the previous example. ]] > SLICER U Cube: u u u f f f u u u f d f r r r b u b l l l l l l f d f r r r b u b l l l f d f r r r b u b d b d d b d d b d Cycles: (u,b,d,f) (ub,bd,df,lu)+ (ur,uf)+ (ulb,ubr,urf,ufl) [8] Centred: (ul,fu,fr,dr,br,ur,fd,fl,dl,bl) (ulb,fur,lfd,ldb)+ (ubr,frd,drb)+ (ufl)+ [180] [[ The move of which the Spratt wrench is the fourth power. ]] > LAST 4 Cube: u b u l u u u u u l u l f f f r r r b u b l l l f f f r r r b b b l l l f d f r r r b d b d f d d d d d b d Cycles: (ub)+ (ul)+ (fd)+ (bd)+ [2] Already centered [[ The wrench itself. ]] > .set wrench (SLICER U) 4 `wrench' defined [[ This could also have been ".set wrench LAST", since the last thing we did was the fourth power of SLICER U. Parentheses group, so that the 4 takes the fourth power of the concatenation within them, as opposed to "SLICER U 4", which is SLICER concatenated with U 4. ]] > wrench U wrench U' Cube: u b u u u u u f u l l l f u f r r r b u b l l l f f f r r r b b b l l l f f f r r r b b b d d d d d d d d d Cycles: (ub)+ (uf)+ [2] Already centered [[ A classic double-edge-flipper. Note how we can use "wrench" as if it were a primitive. To make the structure pellucid, it really should be written "wrench U wrench' U'", but wrench is its own inverse. For an example where it's not... ]] > R B2 R' U' B2 U Cube: b d d u u u u u f r l l f f r u b b r b u r l l f f f r r r u b b d l l f f f r r u l l l d d d d d d b b b Cycles: (ub,ur,br,bl,db) (ulb,rbd,bru) (urf)+ (ldb)- [15] Already centered > .set sct LAST `sct' defined > sct F sct' F' Cube: u u u u u u f u f l l u l f r u r r b b b l l l f f f r r r b b b l l l f f f r r r b b b d d d d d d d d d Cycles: (ufl)- (urf)+ [3] Already centered [[ This happens to be one of my personal favorites for twisting corners, largely because it's one I developed completely on my own, deliberately setting out to develop a way of twisting corners, and my fingers know it well. Note how this differs from... ]] > sct F sct F' Cube: r b b u u d l u f b l f u f r u b l u l d r l l f f f r r b u b u b l l f f f r r b r r d d d d d d d l b u Cycles: (ub,br,db,ur,bl) (ulb,bru,rbd) (ufl)+ (urf)+ (ldb)+ [15] Already centered [[ ...which is a mess. ]] > The program has other facilities as well. You can set a mode whereby each input line, rather than being applied to a clean cube, is applied to the last-printed cube; this is what you'd want if you wanted to try actually solving a cube using it. There are also ways to save and load files containing user-defined transformations. Twenty transformations are predefined: the six face quarter-turns, the six quarter-turns of the whole cube, the six SLICEx turns, NOOP (which has no effect), and LAST (which refers to the operation that carries a clean cube into the last-printed cube). Parentheses group, numeric suffixes repeat what they apply to, ' takes the inverse, and * `centers' - it takes what it applies to and concatenates it with whole-cube rotations as necessary to return the face-center cubies to their home cubicles. The program is 1308 lines long (34106 bytes) and does require gcc to compile (it uses nonlocal gotos, nested functions a la Pascal, and block expressions with nested functions to get lambda functions), but other than that it should be fairly portable - there's stuff that's compiler-dependent but not much that's OS-dependent, I think. I'll be happy to mail a copy to anyone who wants; if anyone cares to put it up to be generally fetchable, that's fine with me. der Mouse mouse@rodents.montreal.qc.ca 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Wed Dec 22 14:34:46 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil ([132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id OAA18957 for ; Wed, 22 Dec 1999 14:34:46 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 22:05:48 -0500 (EST) From: noel To: John Bailey Cc: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu, bcheney@teleport.com Subject: Re: WTD: Rubik's Cube Program w/MACROS In-Reply-To: <385225bd.86868338@mail.frontiernet.net> Message-Id: There is a modified cube (2x2x2 to 5x5x5 with macro abilities at the following url: http://www.mud.ca/cube/cube.html See the examples for how to enter the macros in. -Noel From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Fri Jan 21 21:15:14 2000 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id VAA00483 for ; Fri, 21 Jan 2000 21:15:14 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu From: ronald.fletterman@t-online.de (Ronald Fletterman) To: cube-lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: solutions of 4x4x4 and 5x5x5 cubes Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 17:49:15 +0100 Message-Id: <11ye5b-07iT68C@fwd01.sul.t-online.de> dear cube lovers, i can offer methods to resolve the standard 4x4x4 and 5x5x5 cubes to anyone interested. please make this an email message to all. tks & b.rgds. ronald l. fletterman [Moderator's note: I apologize for the month-long outage that cube-lovers has just experienced. I can't offer any extenuating circumstances, but I'll try to be more diligent in the future. -Dan ] From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Fri Jan 21 21:21:35 2000 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id VAA00498 for ; Fri, 21 Jan 2000 21:21:35 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <001001bf4a30$463f4360$7d6bead4@maison> From: "VALLEY" To: Subject: rubiks hat or rabbit Date: Sun, 19 Dec 1999 15:49:09 +0100 Hello, Two days ago I bought a rubiks rabbit. It is really amazing, and is more complicated than it looks. Here is the description found in the archives: "Rubik's Hat is in the form of a hat with six rings on it. You can look through it (and through the rings by implication). By turning rings you see more or less rabbits. The purpose is to see a rabbit in every position. I think the puzzle is based on light polarization, with different polarizations coming through the segments of the rings." I'm not entirely satisfied with the explanation. Light polarisation doesn't have this effect on colours, and polarisation lens are too much expensive to be used. I think this effect is due to simple light filters (green, red, yellow or a mix of two of these colours). If the filter is red (=retain all other wave lenghths), then you will only see red rabbits. But there is something I can't explain: in one segment I saw a green rabbit. then I turn a ring and this rabbit disappears. I concluded that the segment of the ring retains green light. Then I tried all other colours to see what light could pass through. When i turn this same ring on another green segment, then I was able to see the rabbit through it! This was of course not the same rabbit, and in one case the green rabbit was there and in the other, not, all that with the same filter! Could somebody explain that? Do you have any other explanation of this puzzle? I've tried my best to explain that in english, but feel free to ask me for more details, Bye, Paul From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Fri Jan 21 21:43:52 2000 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id VAA00569 for ; Fri, 21 Jan 2000 21:43:52 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <001201bf4ad7$df987d40$af0333c8@98> Reply-To: "Pedro Reissig" From: "Pedro Reissig" To: "Johan Myrberger" , Subject: RE: Magic jack Date: Sun, 19 Dec 1999 11:36:27 -0300 I am a puzzle designer working in Argentina, and looking for Magic Jack type products. Do you know websites for the 2 other similar products, the Vadasz and IQUBE? thanks, Pedro Reissig From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Fri Jan 21 23:22:37 2000 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id XAA00709 for ; Fri, 21 Jan 2000 23:22:36 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <19991231122908.11135.qmail@web109.yahoomail.com> Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 04:29:08 -0800 (PST) From: Jaap Scherphuis Reply-To: jaap@org2.com Subject: Square-1 tables of move sequences To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu Dear Cube-Lovers, I have just computed many new results for the Square-1 puzzle. I have written a program that applies a Kociemba-like algorithm to this puzzle, and used it to find many beautifully short sequences for nearly all standard moves of the edges and corners. This post is very long, and will list most of the results. First however I should quickly describe the puzzle and highlight some of its intricacies, since these might not be overly familiar even though it has been mentioned on this list in the past. -- Short description of the Square-1 puzzle: This puzzle is a cube consisting of three layers. The top and bottom layers are cut like a pie in 8 pieces; 4 edge pieces and 4 corner pieces, 30 and 60 degrees wide respectively. The top and bottom layers can rotate. The middle layer is cut in only two halves along one of the lines of the other layers. If there are no corner pieces in the way, you can twist half the cube 180 degrees so that pieces from the top and bottom layers mingle. The puzzle is unique in that the two types of pieces intermingle. The edge and corner pieces can freely move between the two outer layers. Of course, the puzzle will not necessarily be a cube shape when the pieces are mixed. The puzzle has six colours, each face has a single colour similar to the Rubik's cube. The aim is of course to return a mixed puzzle back to its original solved position. The number of positions: There are three categories of puzzle shapes. a. Both layers have 4 edges and 4 corners each. b. One layer has 3 corners, 6 edges, the other 5 corners 2 edges. c. One layer has 2 corners, 8 edges, the other 6 corners and no edges. There are 1, 3, 10, 10 and 5 layer shapes with 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2 corners. This means there are 5*1+10*3+10*10+3*10+1*5 = 170 shape combinations for the top and bottom layers (all of them can be attained). The middle layer has two shapes because half of it is assumed to be in a fixed position and only the other half moves. This means that there seem to be 170*2*8!*8! = 552,738,816,000 positions if we disregard rotations of the layers. Some layer shapes however have symmetry, and these have been counted too many times this way. To take account of the symmetries we can simply count the number of layer shapes differently. Instead of the numbers 1, 3, 10, 10, 5 we use the numbers 2, 36, 105, 112, 54, which are the number of shapes if we consider rotations different (e.g. a square counts as 3 because it has three possible orientations). By the same method as before we then get 19305*2*8!*8! or 627,768,369,664,000 positions. To exclude layer rotations, divide by 12^2 to get a total of 435,891,456,000 distinct positions. -- Notation I use a different notation to that found on other places on the web, because I find this one more descriptive. Hold the puzzle so that the yellow middle layer piece is on the left hand side with its 'Square-1' inscription the right way up. Denote a 180 degree turn of the right hand side of the puzzle by a / sign (a slash). Turns of the top and bottom layers are denoted by a pair of numbers (n,m). These numbers are the multiple of 30 degrees clockwise that the top/bottom layers are to turn respectively. Thus (3,0) means turn only the top layer clockwise 90 degrees, and (0,-1) means turn only the bottom layer 30 degrees anti-clockwise (i.e. one edge along). Note that I define the LENGTH OF A SEQUENCE of moves simply as the number of / moves in it. By labelling the faces by the letters U, D, L, R, F, B in the standard way for the Rubik's cube, the pieces of Square-1 can also be denoted in the usual way; a combination of two letters for an edge piece and three letters for a corner piece. -- Subtleties of the puzzle Generally the puzzle is solved by first bringing its shape back to a cube, and then placing the pieces correctly. The reason for this is that there are many moves that keep the top an bottom layers square, for example (1,0)/(0,-1). Each / does of course change the middle layer shape from a square to a kite shape, but this can be ignored because /(0,6)/(0,6)/(0,6) affects only the middle layer. Ignoring the middle layer, a cube can be formed in at most 7 moves. A difficulty arises from the fact that these cube moves swaps two pairs of corners and two pairs of edges, which is an even permutation. The pieces can however end up in an odd permutation. To solve this, you will have to leave the cube shape behind. One way is by doing /(3,3)/(1,2)/ which brings together four corner pieces in each layer. Now (2,-2)/(-2,2) will swap three pairs of corners, and by reversing the previous moves we can return to a cube. As you can see this has taken 7 moves, and in fact there is no shorter way of performing an odd permutation on the cube. -- The Search Algorithm The search algorithm in my program is very similar in design to the Kociemba algorithm for solving the Rubik's cube, as it solves it in two stages and uses tables to prune the search tree. During the first stage of the search a position is found in which the top and bottom layers are square and where the pieces lie in an even permutation. The second stage will then solve it with moves that keep the top and bottom layers square. The first stage uses a single look-up table, that holds the number of moves needed to bring the puzzle to a cube from the current shape. It is only when the cube shape is reached that the parity of the permutation is checked. In the future I may try to build a larger table which combines the permutation parity with the shape. The second stage uses in effect two look-up tables, one for the edges and one for the corners, and the number of moves needed to solve them is given. In reality the two tables are identical since cube-moves swap corners and edges in the same way. In virtually all other aspects the two phase search is performed in the same manner as the Kociemba algorithm, so I need not explain further. The only remaining difference is that my program continues searching for sequences of the same length as any already found. My reason for this is that some sequences require fewer turns of the top and bottom layers, and are therefore better despite being of the same length as defined above. -- Results I suspect that God's algorithm (the shortest possible way of solving any position) uses at most about 12 moves. Clearly this cannot be proved with this program, but nearly all the positions I have tried can be done in 12 or fewer moves. Most of the results that I have found using this program are on my website. Jaap's Puzzle page: http://www.org2.com/jaap/puzzles The most important ones are below. Sequence E6 is especially amazing, as it swaps three pairs of corners and nothing else in only 7 moves. Another highlight is C4, an edge swap in 10 moves. A. Sequences involving only edges, and where some of them change layer: 1. Swap DF-UF, DR-UR, DB-UB, DL-UL: (0,5)/(1,1)/(-4,2)/(1,1)/(2,3) 2. Swap DF-UF, DB-UB: (0,5)/(1,1)/(-1,6) 3. Swap DF-UB, DB-UF: (0,-1)/(1,1)/(-1,0) 4. Swap DR-UR, DB-UB: (0,2)/(0,3)/(1,1)/(-1,-4)/(0,-2) 5. Swap DR-UB, DB-UR: (0,2)/(0,3)/(1,-5)/(-1,5)/(0,3)/(0,-2) 6. Swap DB-UB, DR-UF: /(-3,0)/(0,5)/(6,1)/(0,3)/(-5,0)/(-1,6) 7. Swap DB-UF, DR-UB: (1,0)/(0,5)/(6,3)/(0,5)/(-5,0)/(-3,6)/(6,0) 8. Swap DR-UF, UR-UB: (1,0)/(-4,5)/(0,-3)/(1,1)/(-1,2)/(4,-5)/(-1,0) 9. Swap DR-UR, UF-UB: (1,3)/(0,3)/(0,3)/(-1,2)/(1,4)/(0,3)/(-1,0) 10. Swap DR-UB, UF-UR: (4,3)/(3,0)/(-4,5)/(1,1)/(-3,0)/(0,-3)/(2,3) 11. Cycle UF->UR->DR: (1,3)/(0,5)/(0,3)/(6,1)/(0,5)/(3,6)/(6,-3) 12. Cycle UF->UB->DR: (0,5)/(0,1)/(6,3)/(5,0)/(-5,0)/(0,3)/(-1,0)/(0,1) 13. Swap UF-DF: /(3,3)/(5,0)/(2,0)/(-4,4)/(2,0)/(-1,3)/(0,3)/(3,3)/(2,0)/(-2,1)/(5,2)/(4,-5)/(2,6) B. Sequences involving only edges of both layers where they do not change layer: 1. Swap UF-UB, UR-UL, DF-DB, DR-DL: (1,0)/(-3,3)/(2,2)/(3,3)/(-2,4)/(5,0) 2. Swap UF-UL, UR-UB, DF-DL, DR-DB: (0,2)/(-3,0)/(1,1)/(-4,2)/(1,1)/(5,-4)/(0,-2) 3. Swap UF-UB, DF-DB: (1,0)/(-1,5)/(1,-5)/(-1,6) 4. Swap UR-UB, DR-DB: (0,2)/(0,-3)/(1,1)/(-1,2)/(0,-2) 5. Swap UF-UB, DR-DB: (0,2)/(1,0)/(0,3)/(6,1)/(0,5)/(-3,0)/(5,6)/(6,-2) 6. Swap UF-UB, UL-UR, DF-DB: /(3,3)/(1,2)/(2,-4)/(-2,4)/(2,4)/(3,3)/(3,0)/(3,3)/(3,0) C. Sequences involving only edges of the top layer: 1. Swap UF-UB, UR-UL: /(3,-3)/(3,-3)/(6,-2)/(3,-3)/(3,-3)/(2,0) 2. Swap UF-UL, UR-UB: /(3,3)/(1,4)/(5,5)/(-3,0)/(3,3)/ 3. Cycle UF->UB->UR: (1,0)/(-1,2)/(-5,1)/(0,3)/(-3,0)/(5,2)/(-5,4)/(-4,0) 4. Swap UF-UB: /(3,3)/(3,2)/(-4,2)/(-2,4)/(-2,0)/(-4,2)/(-5,1)/(3,0)/(3,3)/(0,-3) 5. Swap UF-UR: /(3,3)/(-3,0)/(0,4)/(-2,4)/(-4,2)/(-1,0)/(3,3)/(0,4)/(-3,0)/(0,3)/(-1,2)/(-2,1)/(-1,0) 6. Cycle UF->UR->UB->UL: /(3,3)/(1,0)/(2,2)/(0,2)/(4,4)/(2,0)/(2,2)/(-1,0)/(-3,-3)/(0,3) D. Sequences involving only corners, and where some of them change layer: 1. Swap UFR-DFR, UBR-DBR, UBL-DBL, UFL-DFL: (4,0)/(2,2)/(-3,3)/(-2,-2)/(-1,-3) 2. Swap UFL-DFL, UBR-DBR: (4,0)/(2,2)/(6,-2) 3. Swap UFL-DBR, UBR-DFL: (-2,0)/(2,2)/(0,-2) 4. Swap UFL-DFL, UFR-DFR: (6,5)/(-3,0)/(4,4)/(2,5)/(0,1) 5. Swap UFL-DFR, UFR-DFL: (1,0)/(3,0)/(-4,2)/(-2,4)/(0,3)/(5,6) 6. Swap UFL-DFL, UBR-DFR: /(3,0)/(6,2)/(4,0)/(-3,0)/(6,-2)/(-4,0) 7. Swap UFL-DFR, UBR-DFL: (6,0)/(3,0)/(6,2)/(4,0)/(-3,0)/(6,-2)/(2,0) 8. Swap UFR-UBR, UFL-DFR: (4,3)/(0,3)/(3,0)/(2,5)/(-5,4)/(3,0)/(5,3) 9. Swap UFL-UBR, UFR-DFR: (0,5)/(0,3)/(0,3)/(-2,1)/(2,5)/(0,3)/(0,-2) 10. Swap UFL-UFR, UBR-DFR: (-2,0)/(0,3)/(6,3)/(2,2)/(-2,1)/(-3,0)/(-4,6) 11. Cycle UFL->UFR->DFR: (1,3)/(-4,0)/(6,3)/(0,4)/(-4,0)/(3,0)/(-3,3) 12. Cycle UFL->UBR->DFR: (-5,0)/(3,0)/(5,2)/(-5,4)/(0,3)/(-1,2)/(-2,4)/(-4,6) 13. Swap UFR-DFR: (-3,0)/(6,3)/(-1,4)/(-2,2)/(-4,4)/(-4,1)/(0,3)/(0,2)/(0,3)/(-2,4)/(-4,2)/(3,0)/(-3,4) E. Sequences involving only edges of both layers where they do not change layer: 1. Swap UFR-UBL, UFL-UBR, DFR-DBL, DFL-DBR: (1,0)/(-1,5)/(3,3)/(1,1)/(-3,3)/(5,0) 2. Swap UFR-UFL, UBL-UBR, DFR-DFL, DBL-DBR: (0,5)/(0,3)/(4,4)/(-3,3)/(2,2)/(0,-3)/(6,1) 3. Swap UFL-UBR, DFL-DBR: (0,5)/(-2,4)/(2,-4)/(0,1) 4. Swap UFL-UFR, DFL-DFR: (1,0)/(-3,0)/(2,2)/(1,-2)/(-1,0) 5. Swap UFL-UBR, DFL-DFR: (-2,0)/(0,2)/(0,3)/(-4,0)/(4,0)/(6,3)/(-2,0)/(2,6) 6. Swap UFL-UBR, UFR-UBL, DFL-DBR: /(3,3)/(-3,4)/(-2,4)/(-4,2)/(-4,3)/(3,3)/ F. Sequences involving only edges of the top layer: 1. Swap UFL-UBR, UFR-UBL: /(-3,3)/(-3,3)/(0,1)/(-3,3)/(-3,3)/(-1,6) 2. Swap UFL-UFR, UBR-UBL: /(3,3)/(-3,0)/(4,4)/(2,5)/(3,3)/ 3. Cycle UFL->UBR->UFR: (-5,0)/(-4,5)/(4,1)/(-3,0)/(0,3)/(-4,2)/(-2,1)/(2,0) 4. Swap UFL-UBR: /(3,3)/(-5,0)/(4,4)/(2,0)/(4,4)/(-2,5)/(3,3)/(0,5)/(-2,-2)/(5,0) 5. Swap UFL-UFR: (0,3)/(1,2)/(3,2)/(-4,0)/(0,4)/(-4,3)/(5,4)/(6,3)/(2,0)/(-2,4)/(-4,2)/(6,-2) 6. Cycle UFL->UBL->UBR->UFR: /(3,3)/(-5,0)/(4,4)/(2,0)/(4,4)/(-2,5)/(3,3)/(0,5)/(-2,-2)/(5,0) Copyright 2000 Jaap Scherphuis. Jaap's Puzzle Page: http://www.org2.com/jaap/puzzles ===== Jaap Scherphuis Visit the Psion Organiser II CM, XP & LZ Homepage: URL: http://www.org2.com email: jaap@org2.com From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Fri Jan 21 23:40:23 2000 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id XAA00770 for ; Fri, 21 Jan 2000 23:40:22 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <3871A3E9.D780781A@spcgroup.nl> Date: Tue, 04 Jan 2000 08:40:25 +0100 From: Christ van Willegen To: Cube Lovers Subject: Meffert's web-site Hi, I've tried to go to Uwe Meffert's web-site, but have been unable to open it (http://www.mefferts-puzzles.com). Also, I tried www.ue.net (another site made by Meffert). Does anyone know why the sites are down? [Moderator's note: CvW followed up with a note that the site is now named www.mefferts.com. --Dan] On a side note, this weekend I 'constructed' a 12-spot on a Megaminx. It's not as simple as it looks. After that, I constructed the pattern that looks like U2 D2 R2 L2 F2 B2 on the Cube (is this called 'Pons Asinorum'?). Only, the colors are not always the ones of the oposite sides of the MegaMinx. Is it possible to make the 12-spot and the other pattern in an easy way when I start with a 'clean' MegaMinx? I've seen formulas for the 10-spot already. Regards, Christ van Willegen From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Sat Jan 22 13:55:41 2000 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id NAA01676 for ; Sat, 22 Jan 2000 13:55:41 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu From: Andrew John Walker Message-Id: <200001050242.NAA17628@wumpus.its.uow.edu.au> Subject: Cubes and genetic/evolution based solving To: cube-lovers@ai.mit.edu Date: Wed, 5 Jan 100 13:42:44 +1100 (EST) Would please comment on http://www.iteration-gmbh.de/Erubik.html [ or on the German version http://www.iteration-gmbh.de/Rubik.htm ]. They have an animation which appears to be solving a 6x6x6 cube. This is possibly related to the English page at http://www2.informatik.uni-erlangen.de/~jacob/Evolvica/ES-GA/ ga_magic_problem.html which shows screen shots of a solver program. I looked at ftp site and the program doesn't appear to be available, although the magic square program and a few others are in ftp://ftp-bionik.fb10.tu-berlin.de/pub/ESdemo/ What then are the prospects of using these methods for cube solving? While it may be a bit much for them to produce optimal solutions (or maybe not!), for 4x4x4 and larger the suboptimal solutions may still be very useful. Andrew Walker From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Sat Jan 22 14:53:38 2000 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id OAA01807 for ; Sat, 22 Jan 2000 14:53:37 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <20000110161852.11773.qmail@web118.yahoomail.com> Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 08:18:52 -0800 (PST) From: Jaap Scherphuis Reply-To: jaap@org2.com Subject: Re: Square-1 tables of move sequences To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu Dear Cube-Lovers, Here are my latest and probably final Square-One results. I have finalised my square-1 solving program, and it can now be downloaded from my website. I managed to speed it up so much that it can do an exhaustive depth 9 search in a few hours on a fast pc. It has thus confirmed that all the sequences below of length <=10 are minimal (though there might be other sequences that are easier to perform). The only sequences that are more than 10 long are A13 and C5, and these are 11 and 12 moves respectively. I have no plans as yet to do longer searches on these two. Here are the move tables. I will quote them in full, even though many are the same as in my previous post. A. Sequences involving only edges, and where some of them change layer: 1. Swap DF-UF, DR-UR, DB-UB, DL-UL: (0,5)/(1,1)/(-4,2)/(1,1)/(2,3) 2. Swap DF-UF, DB-UB: (0,5)/(1,1)/(-1,6) 3. Swap DF-UB, DB-UF: (0,-1)/(1,1)/(-1,0) 4. Swap DR-UR, DB-UB: (0,2)/(0,3)/(1,1)/(-1,-4)/(0,-2) 5. Swap DR-UB, DB-UR: (0,2)/(0,3)/(1,-5)/(-1,5)/(0,3)/(0,-2) 6. Swap DB-UB, DR-UF: /(-3,0)/(0,5)/(6,1)/(0,3)/(-5,0)/(-1,6) 7. Swap DB-UF, DR-UB: (1,0)/(0,5)/(6,3)/(0,5)/(-5,0)/(-3,6)/(6,0) 8. Swap DR-UF, UR-UB: (1,0)/(-4,5)/(0,-3)/(1,1)/(-1,2)/(4,-5)/(-1,0) 9. Swap DR-UR, UF-UB: (1,3)/(0,3)/(0,3)/(-1,2)/(1,4)/(0,3)/(-1,0) 10. Swap DR-UB, UF-UR: (4,3)/(3,0)/(-4,5)/(1,1)/(-3,0)/(0,-3)/(2,3) 11. Cycle UF->UR->DR: (1,3)/(0,5)/(0,3)/(6,1)/(0,5)/(3,6)/(6,-3) 12. Cycle UF->UB->DR: (0,5)/(0,1)/(6,3)/(5,0)/(-5,0)/(0,3)/(-1,0)/(0,1) 13. Swap UF-DF: (4,5)/(3,0)/(0,1)/(10,2)/(0,4)/(0,4)/(10,2)/(0,1)/(3,0)/(3,5)/(7,4)/(11,0) B. Sequences involving only edges of both layers where they do not change layer: 1. Swap UF-UB, UR-UL, DF-DB, DR-DL: (1,0)/(-3,3)/(2,2)/(3,3)/(-2,4)/(5,0) 2. Swap UF-UL, UR-UB, DF-DL, DR-DB: (0,2)/(-3,0)/(1,1)/(-4,2)/(1,1)/(5,-4)/(0,-2) 3. Swap UF-UB, DF-DB: (1,0)/(-1,5)/(1,-5)/(-1,6) 4. Swap UR-UB, DR-DB: (0,2)/(0,-3)/(1,1)/(-1,2)/(0,-2) 5. Swap UF-UB, DR-DB: (0,2)/(1,0)/(0,3)/(6,1)/(0,5)/(-3,0)/(5,6)/(6,-2) 6. Swap UF-UB, UL-UR, DF-DB: /(3,3)/(1,2)/(2,-4)/(-2,4)/(2,4)/(3,3)/(3,0)/(3,3)/(3,0) C. Sequences involving only edges of the top layer: 1. Swap UF-UB, UR-UL: /(3,-3)/(3,-3)/(6,-2)/(3,-3)/(3,-3)/(2,0) 2.