Above:Solved
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Follow up to the Rubik's cube, as shown by its name.
Produced in 1982 and 1983 by Ideal Toy Corporation in Korea, Macau and Hong Kong.
This puzzle is a far more daunting challenge than the 3x3x3 cube. The number of pieces is far greater, and there are no "fixed" pieces to serve as a reference. This puzzle didn't sell very well, partly because the market was saturated by the 3x3x3 cubes (Ideal and others) and because many were so frustrated with the original cube that they wanted nothing to do with a more complex puzzle.
This puzzle has an ingenious mechanism, with elements similar to both the 2x2x2 and 3x3x3 cubes. At the center is a sphere with three perpindicular grooves for the center tiles to slide in. A set of specially shaped blocks prevents the sphere from becoming misaligned with the rest of the cube. There are two edge pieces at each face intersection. The corner tiles are similar to their 3x3x3 counterparts.
This puzzle (in its original form at least) was somewhat fragile, so if you own one be careful with it.
With a special blue sticker (images 3-5) you can tell the country of origin.
Links
Rubiks.com
This version of this puzzle is no longer in production, but one essentially identical to this one is currently for sale at Rubiks.com. Check the "New Rubik's" category.
Meffert's Puzzles and Novelties
This version of this puzzle is no longer in production, but one essentially identical to this one is currently for sale at Mefferts. If you plan on purchasing this (or any other) Meffert puzzle, help support the free TwistyPuzzles.com community resource by using this link to enter the Meffert Online Store.
Contributors
Thank you to the following people for their assistance in helping collect the information on this page: Anzu, Cubicle.
Collections
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