6-year-old Cao Qixian set the new women’s world record for solving a 3x3x3 Rubik’s cube in 5.97 seconds (average) at the World Cube Association Rubik’s Cube International Open in Singapore.

Qixian, who hails from China’s Jiangsu Province, started playing with a Rubik’s cube when she was only three, inspired by a cousin who taught her the art of ‘speed-cubing’, solving the world-famous puzzle as quickly as possible. However, after about a year, the girl got so good at it that her cousin had nothing to teach her anymore and her parents got her a speed-cubing coach. She enjoyed speed-solving the Rubik’s cube so much that she practiced for two to three hours every day, and her time was getting better and better. However, there was a point where she hit a wall and needed all of her family’s help to overcome it.

Read More »

If you’re the type of person who struggles with the classic Rubik’s Cube, you should stay far away from this “impossible” version that recently went on sale in Japan.

Designed by the wicked minds at Bandai Namco’s MegaHouse Co., the Rubik’s Cube Impossible is being marketed as the most challenging variant of the popular toy invented by Hungarian sculptor Ernő Rubik. The differences from the original are hard to identify at first glance, as the principle is exactly the same, the number of facets is identical, with the only different thing being the coloring. The difficulty of the Rubik’s Cube Impossible lies in the duality of the colors. Nearly all 54 facets are iridescent, meaning that they change color when looked at from different angles. That apparently makes it a lot harder to align all the colors, as the rules of the classic cube no longer apply.

Read More »

Most people struggle to solve a 3×3 Rubik’s cube with their hands, but there are people out there who can do it in under 20 seconds, using only their feet.

You’ve probably heard of people solving Rubik’s cubes blindfolded, using only one hand and even while juggling them; all these different ways of solving the popular puzzle are impressive to watch, but there’s another way of doing it that will probably blow your mind – solving the colorful cube using nothing but your feet. For some reason, I never imagined solving a Rubik’s cube without touching it with your hands was even possible, but it turns out people can do it much faster than the vast majority can using our hands. The current record for the fastest Rubik’s cube solved exclusively with the lower extremity of the legs beneath the ankles is 16.9 seconds.

Read More »

In a bid to get the attention of his crush, a young man from China spent three nights arranging 846 Rubik’s cubes to create a giant 2.6m x 1.3m pixelated portrait of her. Sadly, the grand gesture got him nowhere – the gift was eventually rejected by the girl of his dreams and he now has no idea what to do with it.

Tong Aonan, a 27-year-old mechanic from Shenyang, spent two whole months mapping out the portrait design before he actually got to work on the project. He also spent $460 on the Rubik’s cubes, and solved each one of them to fit his design. He then stacked the cubes in a wooden frame one by one to make the actual portrait, which he gifted to his crush. And she refused to accept it.

Surprisingly, Tong isn’t taking the rejection too seriously. “I’m not giving it too much thought,” he said. “I simply wanted to surprise her and tell her I like her… but I was rejected.” Not everyone is able to share his nonchalance though – lots of people online are leaving comments about ‘feeling his pain’ and questioning her for rejecting him.

Read More »

Ravi Fernando, a student at Stanford University and a member of the World Cube Association has mad Rubik’s cube solving skills. In a recent video, he solves three cubes while juggling them, in less than six minutes.

This is probably the coolest thing you’ll see today. I’ve watched Ravi’s YouTube video a few times now and I still can’t believe it can be done. He is somehow able to juggle three Rubik’s Cubes and solve them at the same time. The only way I can solve one Rubik’s cube in less than an hour is by taking off all the colored stickers and gluing them back in the right order. Pathetic, I know, but this isn’t about me, it’s about this skilled math undergrad who has a cube solving record of just 7.65 seconds ( no juggling, obviously). That puts him in the 48th position on the list of the world’s fastest Rubik’s Cube solvers. Pretty cool, but it’s not just about speed with this guy, as he can also solve the tricky puzzle blindfolded, with just one hand, and with his feet. And you thought you were special just being able to solve one of these darn things, huh?

Read More »

Solving a Rubik’s Cube is pretty tricky, but using dozens of them to create portraits of famous figures and recreate artistic masterpieces sounds even harder.

Toronto-based Cube Works Studio is a collaboration of graphic architects and “cubers” who use the popular Rubik’s Cube to create an art form that is retro yet avant-garde. Throughout the years, the studio has produced dozens of Rubik’s Cube artworks so impressive and detailed that people often wonder if they’re not taking the cubes apart and use the colored squares individually to create mosaics. But that’s not the case, as many photos and videos taking during the creative process prove.

Apart from their intricate celebrity portraits and artistic recreations, the guys at Cube Works have also set a few world records, including a monumental recreation of the Sistine Chapel’s centerpiece made of over 12,000 Rubik’s Cubes and a 4,050 Rubik’s Cube replica of The Last Supper. This may not be the original purpose Erno Rubik had in mind for his toy, but I’m sure he’d be happy to see it used as an art medium.

Read More »