7 comments

[ 6.3 ms ] story [ 21.0 ms ] thread
I'm confused... The introduction allows twists of 60 degrees, but the explanation seems to switch to assuming 180 degree twists.

What am I missing?

180 degree was for Rubik’s cube, not this flat cube.
> I’m undecided as to whether every rotation should count as one move or whether rotations by 120 or 180 degrees should count as two or three moves respectively, so there are two versions of “God’s number” here.

Clearly, it should be the sum of (absolute) turn angles. In radians, please.

How is it called a cube if it is flat?
That is a puzzle thing. The word cube is used very loosely. Douglas Hofstadter wrote about it back when Rubiks Cube was still new.

In this case it is a stretch, but the Rubiks Cube inspiration is so clear, that I think it sort of makes sense.

People in the cubing community often call all twisty puzzles "cubes".

In this parlance, the "pyraminx" (regular tetrahedron twisty puzzle) is a cube, the face-turning octohedron is a cube, and the "Megaminx" (dodecahedron) is a cube. I've even heard Rubik's Clock[1] called a cube.

[1] Which isn't even a god-damn platonic solid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubik's_Clock

Where can you buy them?