American-made cubes?

[SpeedCubeReview]

Hey,
I am new to the forum. I just started solving cubes less than a week ago. At the moment I can solve a 3x3 with the earth shattering time of under 3 minutes.

I have the original Rubik's, a unnamed "Cube Magic Square" off of ebay, and a New design 3x3, and 2x2 Rubik's on their way. I don't think I am going to dive into the world of speed solving just yet and for the moment enjoy just being able to solve it/learning designs.

I've noticed every cube I have looked up is made in China, or another east asian country. Even my Rubik's cube says "made in china." are there any cubes that are made in the U.S. or even Europe?

 

[Hypocrism]

Why, exactly?

All the cubes I know of come from manufacturers in that area-the Dayan Series, Moyu, ...

 

[10461394944000]

v-cubes are made in greece

thats probably about it

 

[TinaIsAwesome]

First of all welcome! Now to answer your question, besides the original Rubik's Cube, other classic puzzles, and V-Cubes, not that I can think of but does it really matter?

 

[SpeedCubeReview]

Thank you.

Without getting into a ethics debate, I want to try and buy more things local (or as local as I can), and I also don't know about possible bad labor practices.. Although, I am typing this on an iPhone at the moment...

 

[qqwref]

The truth is that the puzzle factories that are coming up with the best new designs are almost all near China. Part of this is that making puzzles is cheaper and easier in China - not just because of the labor, but because getting things like molds done is cheaper, and because there are already plenty of factories that are designed for churning out tons of plastic objects cheaply, and because more lax intellectual property laws let them make new designs that may be similar to old ones without going through a ton of bureaucracy.

I believe Shapeways is headquartered in the US, so if you get one of the crazy custom puzzles from there, it may be 3D printed in the US. And, of course, if you buy a custom puzzle from a US-based puzzle modder, they will have done most of the work of creating the puzzle itself. Of course with both of these options you will be paying a lot, and getting puzzles that are generally not designed and built with speedsolving in mind.

 

[Tony Fisher]

and I also don't know about possible bad labor practices

That is certainly a valid reason to be concerned. I know however that Roxanne Wong has visited several Chinese puzzle factories and she has never reported anything bad. Maybe they have improved in recent years.

 

[Jont828]

All I know is that V-Cubes are in Greece and Shapeways are in the U.S., but that was already mentioned. But generally all the cubes are based in Asia (Dayan, Moyu, WitEden(?), Shengshou, etc). I am Chinese, and I think that most puzzle designers/businesses are in China or somewhere in Asia because generally they will find a hard time sustaining their business in the U.S. or Europe.

 

[brian724080]

Rubik's Speedcube is the closet you will get

 

[Rocky0701]

All I know is that V-Cubes are in Greece and Shapeways are in the U.S., but that was already mentioned. But generally all the cubes are based in Asia (Dayan, Moyu, WitEden(?), Shengshou, etc). I am Chinese, and I think that most puzzle designers/businesses are in China or somewhere in Asia because generally they will find a hard time sustaining their business in the U.S. or Europe.

That was your 100th post.

Rubik's Speedcube is the closet you will get

That was your five hundredth post.

Lol, in all seriousness. There are no american made speedcubes, or at least none that are worth using.

 

[SpeedCubeReview]

Thank you. I think my next cube will be a V-cube. The pillow look is quite interesting too. I sent them a message and they said all of their cubes (V2-V7) are made in Greece except the V8 which is made in china

 

[10461394944000]

Thank you. I think my next cube will be a V-cube. The pillow look is quite interesting too. I sent them a message and they said all of their cubes (V2-V7) are made in Greece except the V8 which is made in china

vcubes are alot more expensive than other stuff (like shengshou) and not very good

 

[Jont828]

Thank you. I think my next cube will be a V-cube. The pillow look is quite interesting too. I sent them a message and they said all of their cubes (V2-V7) are made in Greece except the V8 which is made in china

Dude...why do you dislike China so much...? But in all seriousness, V-Cubes arent that good and they're quite expensive, like the person above me said. Get the Dayan Zhanchi or the Moyu WeiLong if you want a fast cube or the Shengshou Aurora if you want a cube that's slower and more controllable.

 

[FailCuber]

Dude, Shengshou is much cheaper the the V cubes and much better. Also if you want a 3x3 don't go with the v cube.

 

[DeeDubb]

Obviously, the OP isn't interested in buying from China, so I don't know why everyone is wasting their time telling him how much better Chinese cubes are. They are obviously better and cheaper, but he doesn't want to buy from China.

 

[Tony Fisher]

All I know is that V-Cubes are in Greece and Shapeways are in the U.S.,

Not really relevant but Shapeways is also in Holland and that's where it originated.

 

[Rocky0701]

If you don't want to stimulate the chinese economy, I understand. I am the same way along with many other Americans who want to reduce imports, but a few cubes isn't going to affect much. How about trying to get people to stop buying much larger and more expensive items coming in from China such as cars, instead of wasting your time and money trying to boycott china by buying overpriced and cruddy V-Cubes who also are not from the US? Just a thought.

 

[guysensei1]

I'm pretty sure Maru is a Taiwanese company, but Taiwan is technically part of China.

 

[SpeedCubeReview]

Obviously, the OP isn't interested in buying from China, so I don't know why everyone is wasting their time telling him how much better Chinese cubes are. They are obviously better and cheaper, but he doesn't want to buy from China.

Yes. I understand that the "best" speed cubes are from China, but I'm not looking to compete anytime soon.

Rocky0701, It's not so much about trying to not "stimulate the Chinese economy" but more about trying to not exploit cheap labor. That is why I'm fine buying from V-cube. Even though it's not the U.S. I can still be sure that the labor practices are a bit better. That being said I'm sure that close to 99% of all of my clothes and electronics are manufactured with cheap labor as well. Maybe I'm trying to be more principled than is really necessary and in the future might end up giving into to the norm and buy a Shengshou or Dayan. After really becoming fascinated a week ago and finding the worldwide involvement in speed cubing I think I was just taken back by the lack of companies that exist outside of East Asia.

 

[Tony Fisher]

That is why I'm fine buying from V-cube.

Based on what you have said so far I would advise you to get a V-cube 5 or V-cube 7. The quality is very high and much better than the V-Cube 6. Some speedcubers will tell you they are rubbish but when compared to the thousands of other twisty puzzles in the world they would come very near the top.