The Hasbro Rubik's Cube --- A frustrating game of patience you can play by yourself
Written: Apr 26 '06 (Updated Apr 26 '06)
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Pros: very challenging, provides many hours of entertainment, travels very well
Cons: very challenging, could frustrate any player
The Bottom Line: This is an excellent, but sometimes frustrating puzzle/game that can provide hours of entertainment by yourself or with friends.
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| three_ster's Full Review: Hasbro Rubik's Cube |
The Rubik's Cube can be one of the most challenging (and frustrating) games that a person can play. With all of the variations of game-play, they are multiple routes you can take to win at this game, but figuring out exactly how to do it is not as easy as you think. From that lead-in, you would think I was reviewing a mathematical equation, and for all intents and purposes you could basically say that explains this "game" quite well.
The Rubik's Cube is a block that has 9 tabs on each of its 6 sides. Each one of these tabs has a colored sticker, with there also being 9 tabs of each color. The rows and columns of the cube rotate around, so that 3 of the tabs will be rotating to another side of the cube at all times. What this does is either shuffle up the cubes colors, or help to align them with each other. Those six colors are blue, yellow, orange, white, red, and green. When the game starts, all 9 of each color will be on one side of the cube.
When you open up the package, the first glimpse you have of the cube are nicely aligned colors that appear on their correct sides. In order to start the game, you take the cube, and without looking, begin rotating around the columns and rows for a few moments, before looking back at the cub. This rotating will have mixed up the colors, and presented you with the challenge of realigning the colored tabs so that they all match up again. There is no real time limit to how long it takes you to finish, and it is one of those games that can be a lot of fun to try out by yourself.
With the colors all shuffled, you can time yourself to see how long it takes to finish the reorganization of the tabs. This of course, should only take place once you have figured out how to solve the puzzle. I cannot underscore how difficult this particular game is to someone who has never played it before, so if you haven't picked up one before, you may be in for a huge challenge. That challenge doesn't have to be limited to just you though, as you could involve friends in the attempt to solve the puzzle.
One of the great things about the Rubik's Cube, is that it is one of those games that you can pick up at any time, and put it down 2 seconds or 10 minutes later. You don't have to worry about dedicating a certain amount of time to finishing the game, thus it is the perfect thing to carry along with you to play with in your spare time. You could play with it between classes, during commercials while watching television, or even if you cannot seem to fall asleep at night. It is the perfect travel game, because it doesn't take up all that much space, and because it doesn't take the vast set-up that most other board games take.
I touched on the fact that you can play this game by yourself, but there are also other variations that you can play instead of focusing to get all the colored tabs to one side. If you think that is too easy after playing for a while, try to get it to where the center tab on every side is the only different color that you can see. This is even harder than matching up the colors in my opinion, and as of yet isn't something that I have ever been able to accomplish. As a matter of fact, I have never been able to solve the Rubik's Cube myself anyways, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that this is a game that frustrates me.
The Rubik's Cube is a game that will last a long time if you purchase it, and when you consider it costs around $10.00 to buy, you will want it to. Don't fret though, because it is very durable, and holds up very well over time. They sell it at any store that sells games (i.e. Target, Shopko, Walmart etc.) It is a game that can provide hours of entertainment, but when you buy it, you run the risk that the person playing with it could get frustrated and just toss it in the closet. So, consider if the person you are buying for likes to stick with something, or if you want a game that could be very challenging. It's not a simple puzzle for a majority of us, and because of that it is a game that you can pull out and attempt at any time. I like it because of that, and it gets my (frustrated) recommendation.
Other Great Family Games:
Apples to Apples
Boggle
Candy Land
Catch Phrase
Chinese Checkers
Clue
Hit The Deck
Jenga
Kids of Catan
Kismet
Phase 10
Pictionary
Risk
Scattegories
Scrabble
Scrabble Express
Sequence
Settlers of Catan
Skip-Bo
Sorry
Uno
Yahtzee!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 9.95
Type of Toy: Puzzle
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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