While gathering things together to pack for a holiday visit with the in-laws, I happened upon my old Rubik’s Cube. I tossed it into one of the bags, thinking it would be a nice distraction for those times when I didn’t feel like working, napping, or helping. Those times come about quite frequently on these visits. Sometimes you just feel like twiddling your thumbs, and what better way to do so than with one of these cubes?
I first learned to solve the Cube during its heyday in the early 80’s. At the time, I considered myself a quick solver, but as always, it became more than a hobby to some people, and when there are folks out there solving it in under 15 seconds, somehow it takes some of the fun out of it for the rest of us who are still chugging along at post-1-minute speeds.
The other night, I picked up a copy of Douglas Hofstadter’s MetaMagical Themas, which is conveniently located in the master bathroom reading library in my house, and flipped to one of several sections on Cubism — not the art form, but the art of Cube-solving. (Aside: MetaMagical Themas is an anagram for Mathematical Games — Mr. H. is quite fond of twisting things around that way). In the book, which I believe is actually a collection of his columns, he goes quite deeply into the history of the cube, and the inventors of the Cube and its variations, and the subtle and not-so-subtle differences between the variations. Some variations are purely cosmetic, such as the cube-ball that still rotates and functions just like a cube — but when you get into different numbers and styles of rotating axes, it gets to be a little bit fascinating. If I didn’t already have so many things to distract me from moving forward in life, I might devote myself to collecting all these variations. And a great place to start is at Meffert’s. Uwe Meffert was the inventor of Pyraminx, a pyramid-shaped rotational puzzle which made it big during Cube Fever. He’s been quite busy inventing new variations with more complicated rotational structures. There are four- and five-layer cubes, as well as dodecahedronal puzzles. Many of them are available with display cases. Go ahead. Encourage your inner nerd. Puzzle away…
0 Responses to “The obsession with puzzles…”