A new take on cubing -No colors, just numbers!!

[Ollie]

Since some people have solved the puzzle (theoretically) we should work with the inventor to make more challenging puzzles, rather than gang up on them and try to humiliate them with what we've already worked out? Surely more useful connections can be made by communicating with them in this way?

 

[Dene]

Since some people have solved the puzzle (theoretically) we should work with the inventor to make more challenging puzzles, rather than gang up on them and try to humiliate them with what we've already worked out? Surely more useful connections can be made by communicating with them in this way?

Or perhaps they should do their research more thoroughly before releasing a product and making misleading/false claims.

 

[Owen]

Does anyone know where they got the "140 sextillion combinations" figure?

 

[rj]

Does anyone know where they got the "140 sextillion combinations" figure?

I think it has to do with center rotations.

 

[cubernya]

Does anyone know where they got the "140 sextillion combinations" figure?

They included center rotations (the figure is actually wrong, it should be double that, since a 180° turn of one center is possible)

 

[Stefan]

Here we go, this should keep everything honest to ensure my uploaded file doesn't change. Below is the SHA-256 hash of my aforementioned .zip (acquired from onlinemd5.com with SHA-256 selected) which you may compare at anytime. If the file changes in any way, it will result in a different hash from the one below:

95EC86ADA17BD12CC3968015D68B5D8C5308BC0F0B2B5DACEB89BC0F530592C8

Well, maybe the admins here will help you invisibly change that hash later on? Not that absurd, given how some cubers here already expressed how they dislike the contest and would like to foil it. Again I suggest facebook, as surely its harder to get such help there.

And of course, none of this proves that you gave your solution to the company.

the figure is actually wrong, it should be double that

No. Try again.

 

[Frinkiac]

I had originally emailed the company (using the email the OP posted) with my solution image and my requested nomination info last Thursday afternoon (I'd post the email I sent them, but it contained several spoilers and personal info that doesn't need to be posted). Then I emailed them a couple more times later that day and Friday to clear up a typo I had in my original image (one of my stickers that should have had a double-number on it was flagrantly missing one of its numbers - didn't change the solution at all, just something I'm surprised I missed while I was solving it), so I re-submitted the picture on Friday with the typo corrected and cube sides re-imaged with the full number on them so they couldn't say I didn't actually submit "all the correct sides" (this is the image contained in the protected .zip a couple pages back). Still haven't had any contact back from them, though.

I do like Ollie's thought. Rather than shaming the company, it would be neat to work with them to come up with new challenges like this one. I'd say one thing that would made this puzzle harder was if they made it as a void cube.

 

[qqwref]

Here are some suggestions for making a similar, but harder, puzzle:
1) Set it up so the orientation of the numbers doesn't give any clues. Perhaps instead of simple stickers, attach some kind of labeled circle on a pivot, so it can be rotated freely.
2) Use less common sequences. Most of the sequences used here (magic square, fibonacci, primes, etc.) are things I would expect any high schooler interested in recreational math to recognize on sight, even from only a few terms. I would suggest using things that are less immediately obvious but can still be understood easily enough (e.g. a random arithmetic sequence of small numbers, the factors of some bigger number, numbers of letters in English "one" through "nine", positive composite numbers, etc.). For bonus difficulty, choose sequences with numbers in common.
3) Don't include all 54 stickers. Remove some, so that the puzzle is still solvable (through logic and trial-and-error from the scrambled state), but it takes more effort to figure out.
4) Try to find a cube configuration so that some things are ambiguous. For instance, have a few edges with the same number on one of the two faces, or have an edge or corner that can be rotated freely without changing the numbers on its sides.

 

[Frinkiac]

Quick update, Innovation Factory got back to me yesterday. They requested I make a video for them showing the original state of the cube (showing all 6 sides) when I copied it from their video and then going through my solving process. I just sent them the video, so we'll see where things go from here.

 

[jwilde0926]

Hey Everyone, OP here

First off, sorry for the delay in posting responses. We’ve been busy preparing for the campaign and getting everything ready and haven’t been doing well with keeping up with the posts.

Second, being new to the cubing community, I’m blown away both by everyone’s ability to figure out the solution as well as how quickly you guys came to that conclusion. With regards to the competition: yes, Frinkiac sent us a correct solution based off of the promotional material we provided and we'll be providing him with a metal cube when we complete a successful campaign. Because it was solved prior to the beginning of the competition, we decided to abandon the competition and move right into the campaign. I admit we certainly thought it was harder than it turned out to be, but again, we’re new to this area, so we have a lot to learn.

Although the novelty may be lost, we think it’s still a fun puzzle to solve. We just launched our Kickstarter campaign where we’ll be offering three different material options as well as a few supporting materials that we’re currently working on (a book about the cube as well as solution software which you guys almost certainly won’t need). If anybody has any experience with solution software and wants to share

If you’re interested in supporting us, head over to our campaign at: www.kck.st/GzQNcL. Any support is greatly appreciated.

Even if you don’t want to support the campaign, we’d love to hear some feedback from you guys; either about the campaign, the cube, or anything else. We do design and prototyping at our store in Chicago and it would be great to talk some of you about new puzzle ideas. Get in touch at [email protected].

Thanks!
James

 

[KongShou]

Hey Everyone, OP here

First off, sorry for the delay in posting responses. We’ve been busy preparing for the campaign and getting everything ready and haven’t been doing well with keeping up with the posts.

Second, being new to the cubing community, I’m blown away both by everyone’s ability to figure out the solution as well as how quickly you guys came to that conclusion. With regards to the competition: yes, Frinkiac sent us a correct solution based off of the promotional material we provided and we'll be providing him with a metal cube when we complete a successful campaign. Because it was solved prior to the beginning of the competition, we decided to abandon the competition and move right into the campaign. I admit we certainly thought it was harder than it turned out to be, but again, we’re new to this area, so we have a lot to learn.

Although the novelty may be lost, we think it’s still a fun puzzle to solve. We just launched our Kickstarter campaign where we’ll be offering three different material options as well as a few supporting materials that we’re currently working on (a book about the cube as well as solution software which you guys almost certainly won’t need). If anybody has any experience with solution software and wants to share

If you’re interested in supporting us, head over to our campaign at: www.kck.st/GzQNcL. Any support is greatly appreciated.

Even if you don’t want to support the campaign, we’d love to hear some feedback from you guys; either about the campaign, the cube, or anything else. We do design and prototyping at our store in Chicago and it would be great to talk some of you about new puzzle ideas. Get in touch at [email protected].

Thanks!
James

awesome

when and where would we be able to buy one when it release?

also never underestimate cubers, we are scary

also just clicked on the website, it is ridiculously easy to solve, especially considering the sequences you used, they are like the most common sequence possible,

few suggestion:
make it so that the numbers on one side are not all oriented the right way round, this make it too easy, make it so the numbers on the corner pieces are at an angle of 45 degree with the top of the number facing the corner of the cube, and the bottom are facing the centre pieces,, same for the edge pieces excpt that they are rotated 90 degrees
make the sequences harder, ie less common, so get rid of the like of Fibonacci and triangular etc.

 

[~Adam~]

I just backed for an aluminium cube.
I hope you get the target amount =)

 

[rj]

Hey Everyone, OP here

First off, sorry for the delay in posting responses. We’ve been busy preparing for the campaign and getting everything ready and haven’t been doing well with keeping up with the posts.

Second, being new to the cubing community, I’m blown away both by everyone’s ability to figure out the solution as well as how quickly you guys came to that conclusion. With regards to the competition: yes, Frinkiac sent us a correct solution based off of the promotional material we provided and we'll be providing him with a metal cube when we complete a successful campaign. Because it was solved prior to the beginning of the competition, we decided to abandon the competition and move right into the campaign. I admit we certainly thought it was harder than it turned out to be, but again, we’re new to this area, so we have a lot to learn.

Although the novelty may be lost, we think it’s still a fun puzzle to solve. We just launched our Kickstarter campaign where we’ll be offering three different material options as well as a few supporting materials that we’re currently working on (a book about the cube as well as solution software which you guys almost certainly won’t need). If anybody has any experience with solution software and wants to share

If you’re interested in supporting us, head over to our campaign at: www.kck.st/GzQNcL. Any support is greatly appreciated.

Even if you don’t want to support the campaign, we’d love to hear some feedback from you guys; either about the campaign, the cube, or anything else. We do design and prototyping at our store in Chicago and it would be great to talk some of you about new puzzle ideas. Get in touch at [email protected].

Thanks!
James

I think this will be somewhat popular. Most cubers rely mostly on muscle memory, and this will be new to them. What mechanism does it have? Is it copied off rubik's?

 

[jwilde0926]

awesome

when and where would we be able to buy one when it release?

also never underestimate cubers, we are scary

also just clicked on the website, it is ridiculously easy to solve, especially considering the sequences you used, they are like the most common sequence possible,

few suggestion:
make it so that the numbers on one side are not all oriented the right way round, this make it too easy, make it so the numbers on the corner pieces are at an angle of 45 degree with the top of the number facing the corner of the cube, and the bottom are facing the centre pieces,, same for the edge pieces excpt that they are rotated 90 degrees
make the sequences harder, ie less common, so get rid of the like of Fibonacci and triangular etc.

These are available currently as rewards on the Kickstarter page linked in the post above. And yes, to us this seemed extremely hard, but we've since learned that to people in the cubing community, this is a pretty trivial challenge. We'd love to do a follow-up with some input from you guys that was geared towards extremely advanced cubing while still incorporating mathematics.

I just backed for an aluminium cube.
I hope you get the target amount =)

Thanks! Really appreciate the support and we'll be working hard to make sure we get there

I think this will be somewhat popular. Most cubers rely mostly on muscle memory, and this will be new to them. What mechanism does it have? Is it copied off rubik's?

We certainly hope so! And yes, the mechanism we designed is developed off of the traditional Rubik's Cube's mechanism.

 

[~Adam~]

I'm looking forward to the challenge, although I think it will be interesting but with cubing knowledge relatively trivial (no offence meant).

Also it will be great to finally have a metal twisty puzzle in my collection.
So I guess out with the silicon and in with the WD40.
I hope it turns better than my wooden 30th anniversary cube =)

Have you posted on twistypuzzles forum yet?
I'm sure you'll get a few backers there if you haven't already.

 

[Rnewms]

Have you posted on twistypuzzles forum yet?
I'm sure you'll get a few backers there if you haven't already.

http://twistypuzzles.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=26112

They don't think it is anything special.

 

[~Adam~]

I'm definitely going to sticker mod a 4x4.

 

[radmin]

I think the company is over confident in this idea. It's a supercube++

For a vast majority of speedcubers there isn't much wow factor in : special stickers with famous math sequences on the sides, plastic non-speedcubes, wooden non-speedcubes.

There is a cool factor in an aluminum cube though. That's about it.
The stickers could be ko'd for pennies. Plastic and wood cubes have already been done.

About the demographic: your target buyer is a solver who enjoys a new challenge. This is a smaller subset of the speedsolving community which is a smaller subset of rubik's cube owners. It's the shapeways crowd. If every single person who loved a new challenge bought one, you'd still lose money. The reason seven towns doesn't make speed cubes is because there is no money in it. Your audience is even smaller than that.

 

[Noahaha]

I think the company is over confident in this idea. It's a supercube++

For a vast majority of speedcubers there isn't much wow factor in : special stickers with famous math sequences on the sides, plastic non-speedcubes, wooden non-speedcubes.

There is a cool factor in an aluminum cube though. That's about it.
The stickers could be ko'd for pennies. Plastic and wood cubes have already been done.

About the demographic: your target buyer is a solver who enjoys a new challenge. This is a smaller subset of the speedsolving community which is a smaller subset of rubik's cube owners. It's the shapeways crowd. If every single person who loved a new challenge bought one, you'd still lose money. The reason seven towns doesn't make speed cubes is because there is no money in it. Your audience is even smaller than that.

I agree with everything except that there's no money in speedcubes. If 7 towns released a new "Rubik's Cube that doesn't require a lot of effort to turn" and marketed it vigorously, they could even get people who already own cubes to buy new ones. I'm not saying it would be a good cube, just that people would buy them.

 

[Mike Hughey]

The key to selling this is to sell it as a novelty item. If you can get traction somehow with store owners, you might be able to sell it successfully. Cubers aren't going to buy it in large quantities, although collectors might buy it.

I could see something like this selling fairly well in a place like Cracker Barrel, if you could convince them to stock it and you packaged it well.

The problem with the original idea was in making it a supercube. If you could have done something where the orientation of the numbers didn't matter somehow, it would have been a much better puzzle - you couldn't have used the orientation to figure it out. If only you had implemented it like Chris Hardwick described:

If they made a puzzle similar to this that used numbers contained inside a plastic dome, sort of like the "googly" eyes you see on craft projects, now THAT would be a hard puzzle.

Wow, if they make "googly" numbers like this I might try to make a puzzle like that. This would completely eliminate all information gained from orientation clues, but it would also mean that it wouldn't really be a supercube either, but it would still be fun to try!