Date: 3 May 1982 1724-PDT From: ISAACS at SRI-KL Subject: RUBIK'S CUBE CLUB To: CUBE-LOVERS at MIT-MC I just got a flyer from Ideal announcing their Rubik's Cube Club, address Box 72, Hollis, NY 11423, $5.00 for a year. They also have "merchandise" (no prices included), including cube shirt, tie, patch, button, bumper sticker, etc. They also have a poster with many of Ideal's cube-related products on it, including the 4**3 (called Rubik's Revenge), a 2**3, Rubik's Race, Rubik's Challenge, etc. I can't tell quite what all of them are. Also, there are several new group-theory puzzles on the market (here or in England), sort of related to the barrel. Orb-it is a sphere with beads that rotate around 4 parallels. In addition, the whole sphere rotates around a meridian, to bring different halves of the parallels into contact, changing from 4 separate circles of beads to one continuous "spiral", or two disjoint closed paths. Equator Puzzle is a sphere with 3 intersecting (of course) great circles, each consisting of 12 squares which move around the circles. The coloring is into 4 segments, sort of like orange slices. The Trillion Puzzle (will be available from Ideal) is a cross of colored pieces, 17 of them, four each of 4 colors plus an extra red piece. They can be arranged with each arm of the cross monochromatic, or in 4 circles around the center. "The cross lies in a circle divided into 3 concentric rings which are independently rotatable, though the outer ring cannot move when the plunger is pushed in. The middle ring is 2 pieces wide." (From the description in Singmasters catalogue). The plunger moves one arm (9 pieces) over 1 piece. About 1 billion distinguishable patterns. And many more - Hungarian Rings, and Gears, for two. I also saw some which used polarized light, so it was hard to tell where the pieces should go. The latest cube I've seen has Pac-man and other electronic game figures on it. --- Stan Isaacs -------