From nichael@sover.net Sun Jul 23 14:08:25 1995 Return-Path: Received: from maple.sover.net by life.ai.mit.edu (4.1/AI-4.10) for /com/archive/cube-lovers id AA21318; Sun, 23 Jul 95 14:08:25 EDT Received: from [204.71.18.82] (st2.sover.net [204.71.18.82]) by maple.sover.net (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id OAA26687 for ; Sun, 23 Jul 1995 14:03:19 -0400 Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Sun, 23 Jul 1995 14:12:48 -0400 To: Cube-Lovers@ai.mit.edu From: nichael@sover.net (Nichael Lynn Cramer) Subject: Rubik's Race [I don't know if this has been discussed before. Maybe some of the old timers know about this --the copyright on the box is 1982-- but I don't recall having seen it mention since I've been on the list...] Anyway, Saturday we hit a rumage sale at the next town over (Hinsdale VT) and I picked up an interesting game in the "toys" section. It's called "Rubik's Race". (It was put out by Ideal and seems to be reasonably well made, so I assume it's "authorized".) The main "board" is about 18in long by about 7in wide. The players set at either end and their section of the board has a recessed area that holds 24 plastic pieces (about 1in square) aranged in a 5X5 grid with one empty space. (The square pieces are divided into six groups of four, each four-group being one of the standard colors on the side of the Cube.) At the start of a game, one player picks up a small box that contains nine small "cubies" (about 3/8in on a side), shakes the box and sets it down. The cubies settle onto the bottom of the box in 3X3 grid (thereby resembling the face of cube). Each player then proceeds to slide his pieces around (using the blank as maneourvering space) until the center 3X3 grid (out of the original 5X5 grid) matches the 3X3 "face" in the small box. The board is also divided between the two players' area by a vertical, hinged piece which can fall towards either end, and which has a "window" in the center. When the player finishes his central 3X3 grid, he pulls the hinged pieces towards himself --the window of which exposes his central grid-- and declares himself the winner. An obvious variation is for one player to scramble a cube, set it on the table and have each player try to match the topmost face. So, as such the games provides an interesing combination of the Cube, the 15-puzzle and Battleship. ;-) (But probably the most amazing part is that, given that I picked this up at rummage sale, *all* of the nearly sixty small plastic pieces were still there! All in all not a bad investment for 10cents.) Nichael - "...did I forget, forget to mention Memphis? nichael@sover.net Home of Elvis, and the ancient Greeks."