An awesome puzzle made from a number of
small cubes ("cubies") slotted together around a pivot mechanism, which can allow rotation of the cubies. The
classic 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube is three cubies in width, length and depth, although there are many other variants of the cube (e.g. 4x, 5x, 6x, 7x cubes as well as the "-
minx" puzzles).
The cubies have coloured stickers on them: once they have been rotated to
random points around the cube (
via 'scrambling'), the object of the puzzle is to make each of the cube's faces all
one colour, with all of the cubies correctly oriented.
There are a number of different formulae which can be used to solve the Rubik's Cube, using different combinations of rotations called algorithms. The beginners' one is the 'Layer Method,' which consists of solving 1 layer at a time. It is a simple but relatively
slow method. Advanced methods, used by "Speedcubers," have more complex algorithms, but they can be used to solve the cube faster. Some of these methods include the 'Fridrich Method,' the 'Petrus Method,' and the '
Roux Method.'
