Some people find solving the regular Rubik’s cube extremely challenging, while others solve it in seconds. If you’ve already mastered the art of solving the classic Rubik’s cube, you’ll want to try your skills on the Impossible Rubik’s cube.
Let’s explore the Rubik’s impossible cube and whether you have a chance at solving things.
What Is The Impossible Rubik’s Cube
The Rubik’s Impossible, or Rubik’s Cube Impossible, is a 3×3 Rubik’s cube designed to have a very high challenge level. It was crafted by MegaHouse, a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Company from Japan.
The fundamental mechanics of the classic Rubik’s cube haven’t changed much over the years. Those who’ve mastered how to solve it must create new and inventive ways to solve it, like juggling and solving three simultaneously.
MegaHouse sought to create a new version of the puzzle toy to challenge people who’ve already mastered the original Rubik’s cube.
How Does The Impossible Cube Rubik’s Work?
It’s just like the classic Rubik’s cube, but it changes color when viewed from different angles. Instead of each side of the Rubik’s cube having clearly defined colors you can match, the impossible Rubik’s cube’s color scheme is inconsistent. It features lenticular tiles comprised of two colors that change depending on your viewing angle.
The angle determines the visible color, and just when you think you’ve mastered it, and the colors are aligned, look again! Every square on the cube does the color-changing trick, making the puzzle more challenging than any Rubik’s cube you’ve ever solved.
Unlike the classic Rubik’s cube, making a sequence of twists of the cube and turning it to try and align it by color only makes it harder to complete. However, it’s not entirely beyond the capabilities of a great puzzle solver.
According to Soranews24, MegaHouse challenged two speedcubers who could complete the regular one in about a minute to solve the impossible Rubik’s cube. The first one gave up, understandably, while the second managed the feat in around three hours!
A video of the challenge is available at Hypebeast along with images and a step-by-step breakdown.
Features of the Impossible Rubik’s Cube
Center Pieces of the Rubik’s Puzzle Cube
The centerpieces of the impossible Rubik’s cube don’t change color and remain fixed to the internal core.
Dominant Tile Colors
Although the tiles are iridescent, each tile has a dominant color. In fact, when solved correctly, the dominant color will be the color of the centerpiece on a particular side when viewed from the same angle.
Secondary Colors
The tiles have a secondary color, which you can see when rotating the impossible Rubik’s cube. They all have a transition angle, which is the angle of view when the tile switches color.
Time Lines
Each tile on the impossible Rubik’s cube has ridges or lines you can feel with your fingernail. The lines on the centerpiece indicate the orientation of the lines of every tile on each face when solved correctly. These lines will help you determine if you’ve correctly placed the pieces around the centerpiece.
If the lines at the centerpiece are correctly oriented, but the tile lines on another piece on the same face don’t match that orientation, then you’ve not correctly placed that piece.
Anchor Tiles
The impossible Rubik’s cube has anchor tiles that don’t transition in color. They have only one color. Centerpieces are anchor tiles, and you’ll find one anchor corner that is red, green, and white. Six anchor tiles match the centerpiece after solving the impossible Rubik’s cube correctly.
Can You Solve The Rubik’s Impossible?
It’s safe to say that each case of the impossible Rubik’s cube is a challenging puzzle, even for seasoned experts and players, but you can still solve it. The official Rubik’s website has a solution guide to help players beat the impossible. The trick is to look at the problem differently than when solving the original Rubik’s cube.
This impossible Rubik’s cube comes in a solved state, and you can take a photo of the solved grid on the solution guide to help you along after scrambling. You can solve the Rubik’s Impossible with the same layered method used to solve the classic Rubik’s cube but with a few additional algorithms.
You must ensure you can solve the classic Rubik’s cube before attempting to test different solutions or conquer the Rubik’s Impossible.
Tips for Success with Rubik’s Impossible
- Before scrambling the Rubik’s Impossible, ensure you examine and scrutinize its edges.
- Go to a well-lit environment to make identifying and differentiating the design colors easier.
- Keep your hands clean to minimize any smudges.
- Hold the Rubik’s Impossible at arm’s length or further away to make it easier to see the colors transitioning and try different combinations.
- Create small sticky notes to keep track of the pieces you want to move and the results.
- Ensure you have the solution guide close by because the Rubik’s Impossible is a visual challenge, and some of the algorithms you’ve memorized may not be easy to apply.
One Response
In the solved state here are the orientations of the “faces” textures:
Note: == indicates the direction of face lines as horizontal
| green == |
| orange == | yellow == | red == | white == |
| blue == |
If you drag a fingernail up and down you will feel the “lines”. (if wrong, dragging up and down will feel smooth)
Holding the red center facing you with the green center on top, tilt the cube slightly up towards the green center, or slightly down towards the blue center, down, to reveal the red faces.
To see the green faces, tilt up from the red center to the green center and slightly tilt up or down
To see the yellow faces, rotate left from the red center with the green center on top and slightly tilt up or down.
To see the orange faces, rotate left from the yellow center with the green center on top and slightly tilt up or down.
To see the white faces, rotate left from the orange center with the green center on top and slightly tilt up or down.
To see the blue faces, rotate down from the red center with the green center on top and slightly tilt up or down.
The key to solving this cube is the orientation of the lines on the faces.
Note: also having your light source in the proper location is key to be able to see the right color
So far I have be able to solve in less than 7 minutes
Have fun