Michael Reid's Rubik's cube page

0. Contents
Cube-lovers mailing list
Nederlandse Kubus Club
Rubik's cube pages on the web
Cube books
Sources of cube-like puzzles
My own notes
Cube solutions on the web
Other cube pages
Interactive cubes on the web
Cube software and algorithms
Other cube-related links
1. Cube-lovers mailing list (RIP)
The first thing about which to know is the cube-lovers mailing list. This was started by Alan Bawden and Dave Plummer, way back in July 1980, even before the name Ernő Rubik was well-known. The mailing list seems to have died in February 2000. The archives were once available at the URL: ftp://ftp.ai.mit.edu/pub/cube-lovers, but apparently no longer. See my temporary copy of the archives.
Martin Schönert has an indexed version of the archives, from the beginning (July 1980) up to June 1996.
2. Nederlandse Kubus Club
Nederlandse Kubus Club (Dutch Cubist Club), was founded in 1981, and its newsletter, Cubism For Fun, is published about 3 times a year. Originally it was published in Dutch (issues #1-13, 1981-6), but since then in English. It is no longer devoted solely to cube-like puzzles, but also to other puzzles, e.g. polyominoes. Members are encouraged to contribute articles. NKC currently has over 300 members from 23 different countries. For membership information, e-mail Rik van Grol at .
3. Rubik's cube pages on the web
Jaap's Puzzle page has information and solutions to most Rubik-like puzzles, and also a long list of links to other sites.
Mark Longridge's site, with maneuvers, historical info, bibliography, and links to other sites.
Jessica Fridrich's speed cubing page describes her unique system for solving the cube, has many tips for improving your solving time, lots of maneuvers and more.
David Joyner's cube page discusses the mathematics of Rubik's cube, contains his Maple simulations of the cube and other puzzles, has a page of cube patterns, and more.
Georges Helm's cube page has lots of information, as well as a very complete bibliography (over 600 items).
Herbert Kociemba's Cube Explorer software. Herbert devised an ingenious searching algorithm, upon which some of the strongest searching programs are based. His Cube Explorer program also has a very nice module for creating pretty patterns.
Twistypuzzles.com (formerly Denny's virtual puzzle museum)
Jonathan P. Brown's cube-solving robot, made with Lego
Kristin and Jake's cube site
Lars Petrus' solving Rubik's cube for speed
Ron van Bruchem's speedcubing.com
Tom Davis' Rubik's cube page
Dan Knights' cube site
Jerry Bryan's cube page
Phil Marshall's ultimate solutions
Don Harper's cube page
Mag's cube page contains a solution to the cube, a list of puzzles sources, and links to many other sites.
István Hernádvölgyi's cube project
Christian Eggermont's Cube-like puzzles page
Cyril Castella's puzzle page (Française)
Arnaud Maes' cube page (Française)
Xavier Servantie's Rubik's cube page, also available in Française
Taku Aoyama's Rubik's Cube page (Japanese)
Machan's Rubik's cube page (Japanese)
David Byrden's Twisty Puzzles (java) has many exotic cube-like puzzles, and also cubes up to size 11³.
Rubik's cube page on John Rausch's Puzzle World site
Masterball home page and Hockey Puck puzzle home page
Also see my list of Cube solutions on the web, Interactive cubes on the web, Cube software and algorithms, and Other cube-related links.
4. Cube books
Inside Rubik's Cube and Beyond, by Christoph Bandelow, Birkhäuser Boston, 1982. This is the best cube book ever written. Besides the clever title, it also has a section on mathematical theory, a solution understandable to the average person, amusing cartoons, an exceptional collection of pretty patterns and maneuvers, and a flowchart for a cube-solving program. The German edition of the book, Einführung in die Cubologie is earlier, and not quite as complete as the English edition, but I've heard it's also very good.
Notes on Rubik's Magic Cube, by David Singmaster, Enslow, 1981. The first book to appear about the cube and the most influential. This book popularized Singmaster's "FLUBRD" notation and other conventions which have become standard. It's not as polished as Bandelow's book, but it appeared much earlier. Appendices were added as new information was discovered. You can see cube history unfold before your eyes as you read them. It's still a classic.
Winning Ways (volume 2), by Elwyn Berlekamp, John Conway and Richard Guy, Academic Press, 1982. It only has a brief section on Rubik's Cube, but it's quite worthwhile. Many other games are discussed, including Conway's Game of Life.
Handbook of Cubik Math, by Alexander Frey, Jr. and David Singmaster, Enslow, 1982. This book supplements Singmaster's Notes on Rubik's Magic Cube, by taking a closer look at the group theory behind the cube.
Rubik's Cubic Compendium, by Ernő Rubik, Tamas Varga, Gerzson Keri, Gyorgy Marx and Tamas Vekerdy, Oxford University Press, 1987. English translation of A Buvös Kocka, with an afterword by David Singmaster.
Cubic Circular, by David Singmaster. A short-lived periodical in 8 issues. They are now online at Jaap's page, but you are encouraged to purchase print versions from David Singmaster.
Also see Georges Helm's comprehensive collection of cube solutions (over 600 items).
5. Sources of cube-like puzzles
Occasionally, people ask where they can purchase Rubik's cube. Here are several good leads.
Dr. Christoph Bandelow
An der Waback 37
D-58456 Witten
Germany

Pete Beck
Just Puzzles
P.O. Box 267
Wharton, NJ 07885
USA

Hendrik Haak's Puzzle shop
Zehlendorf 4a
18276 Kuhs
Germany
Fax: 0049-3843-215545

Also visit his Puzzle museum

Uwe Meffert's commercial website
The official Rubik site
These should all have a good selection of puzzles for sale, including 3x3x3, 4x4x4 (maybe) and 5x5x5 cubes, skewbs, and others.
There is also Mag's list of puzzle sources.
6. My own notes
My optimal cube solver
My pretty patterns page
A Czech Check Problem
Symmetric Positions
More planned ...
7. Cube solutions on the web
Mag's cube solution
Matt Monroe's solution to the cube and also Square 1, the Pyramix [sic] and the Professor Cube.
Mark Jeays' solution to the cube and solution to Rubik's revenge
Jim Cranwell's solution to the NxNxN cube
Chris Loans' cube solution
Ola Rönnerup's cube solution
Toby Anderson's cube solution
Jonathan Bowen's solution cards to Rubik's cube, Rubik's Revenge and the Pyramix [sic].
Urs Manser's cube solution (Deutsch)
Jorge Jaramillo's cube solution (Español)
Cristian Bravo's solution, (Español)
Jürgen Köller's solution also available in Deutsch
Peter Renzland's solution
Jorge Gonzalez' cube solution (Español)
Delovive's cube solution (Française)
Thuan Nguyen's cube solution
Oren Ben-Kiki's cube solution
Alan Hensel explains How to solve any Rubik-like puzzle
PuzzleSolver's cube solution
8. Interactive cubes on the web
Java:
David Byrden's Twisty Puzzles
Michael Schubart's Rubik's Cube applet
Karl Hörnell's Rubik Unbound
Michael Chang's Virtual Reality Magic Cube
Neil Rashbrook's cube applet
Don Hatch's 4D Magic Cube
Javascript:
John Bailey's Rubik Tesseract (2x2x2x2)
9. Cube software and algorithms
Herbert Kociemba's Cube Explorer (Windows)
Josh Grosse's Computer cube (Windows)
Larry Leinweber's RubiCube (Windows 95)
Dik Winter's cube-solving program (based on Kociemba's algorithm)
Noel Dillabough's Puzzler (shareware, Windows)
John Darrington's GNUbik (X11)
Nate Berglund's Rubik's hypercube (3x3x3x3) (Windows)
MagicCube4D by Don Hatch with Melinda Green and Jay Berkenbilt (Windows and Linux)
Kubik 1.9.3 (Macintosh)
Pieter Eendebak's krubik program (KDE)
Algorithms and descriptions of programs:
Press release about Richard Korf's optimal cube solver
Dennis Merritt's cube solver in Prolog
Jim Weigang's cube program in APL
10. Other cube-related links
Dave Rusin's known math page about Rubik's Cube
The Ballad of Erno Rubik, a poem by Russ, courtesy of the Internet archive
Ed Karrels' cube page
rec.puzzles Rubik's cube entry (somewhat out of date)
Fred Holly's Rubik's cube designs
Hana Bizek's cube art
The perplexing life of Ernő Rubik
The Mining Company's feature on Rubik's Cube
Wacharin Wichiramala's Rubik's cube page
Ray-traced picture of disassembled cube
The official (hacker's) definition of cubing
Home page E-mail
Updated January 9, 2008. The correct URL for this page is https://www.cflmath.com/~reid/Rubik/index.html.