Puzzle Cubes
With the growing attachment to a nostalgic twist on premium items (Bobbleheads, etc.), we spun the clock back 25 years to see what was hot, and what might become hot again. And 25 years ago, there was nothing hotter than Rubik Cubes®.
Now you can create a similar custom cube puzzle featuring your players, team logo, or sponsors that your fans will experience for hours. The six sides give you ample room to feature top players in full color, with room to spare for your premium give-away sponsor and a team logo or marketing initiative.
This puzzle will bring your message to your fans in an interactive and challenging way. Print a different full color graphic on 6 sides, and listen for the comments as your fans struggle to recreate your player images and logos.
In conjunction with your giveaway, you can hold an in-game contest with a prize awarded to the first fan who can successfully unscramble a cube.
Contact Gameops.com for pricing and information on custom imprinted puzzle cubes.
Other Info
Thanks to David Hedley Jones for the following clarification. The product we offer here is a Puzzle Cube, not a genuine Rubik's Cube®. Please be aware that Gameops.com offers various generic puzzle cubes. If you require authentic Rubik Cubes®, they would need to be sourced elsewhere.
...The patent for the Rubik's Cube® expired, however, the trademarks and copyrights are still in force, protecting the overall 3D design and not just the traditional colors.
Therefore, although your site offers positive Rubik's information, you are in fact offering counterfeit goods and we would like you to remove the implication that these are the genuine Rubik's product.
Yours Sincerely,
David
David Hedley Jones
Business Development Director
Seven Towns Ltd
The Year Was 1974...
by Ross Palmer (Source)
The Rubik's cube was one of the most brilliant puzzles to ever be made. With it's 6 colors and self contained cubic shape, it resembled a child's toy. But as many children and adults alike were soon to find, with only a few twists, the Rubik's cube would become a nearly insurmountable challenge. The cube's aesthetic appeal and simplistic design combined with it's nearly impossible challenge, caused it to be one of the most popular puzzles and toys worldwide during the 80's. True savants of the cube developed methods of returning the cube to it's solved state, and due to the widespread difficulty of the puzzle, were revered as being almost god-like in their intellect. As time would have it, many solutions to the puzzle came into existence, and the cube craze went out of fashion. It lay dormant in the attics of many homes, and the few that could solve it, had become bored with it. Years later, many people are starting to see the initial interest in the cube, and are again pushing their brains ever closer to the unreachable perfection that is a solved cube. More than 20 years later, the cube may prove to be more than just a fad.
A Brief History of the Cube
A humble Hungarian professor by the name of Erno Rubik set out one day to build what became the Rubik's cube. Oddly enough, Rubik had never intended to create a puzzle at all. Instead, his goal was to create a geometric model in a cubic shape, with pieces that could rotate around a center axis. Thinking that such a model may be impossible to hold together without some sort of outside force, Erno nearly gave up. Luckily, as he was watching the water flow over pebbles on the bottom of the Danube river, the idea for the cube became a reality, and he set to work. He used a spherical center mechanism, finding that even though the model was a cubic shape, the mechanism would need be centered around circular principles. Using 27 individually shaped pieces of wood, he created the moving parts that became the Rubik's cube. For simplicity sake, he painted each side a unique color, to better show movement within the 3D model. After a few twists of his new invention, he realized that it was much more than a model, and became the most diabolical puzzling challenge that Rubik had ever attempted. With coworkers and students alike, Erno's new model cube became an instant success.
Unfortunately for Rubik, the communist nation of Hungary at that time was not the best place to popularize a new toy. It took several years for the Rubik's cube to even show up in toy stores throughout Hungary. If it weren't for a toy fair in Nuremberg, the cube may never have spread outside of Rubik's small circle of influence. In 1978, Tom Kremer of Seven Towns saw the cube at the toy fair, and expressed much interest. Despite his efforts, it seemed that there would be no one interested in mass producing the toy, until the Ideal Toy Company finally agreed.
With the cube now being produced off of factory lines in great quantities, it became as available as ever. A mathematician by the name of David Singmaster became enamored with the mathematics of the cube, and brought some of that fascination to an American publication, starting the craze across the globe.
The Cube isn't just a toy -
By the year 1980, the cube had begun a massive campaign across the world. Rubik kept showing off the cube at toy fairs, and toy stores began carrying the puzzle that boasted had over "3 billion combinations", which, was a considerable understatement. Ideal Toys couldn't produce new cubes fast enough to keep up with the growing demand. Despite producing an initial order of 1 million, it became a great challenge to keep the shelves stocked. The cube had become a part of global culture, and shortly after, 1 out of every 5 people in the globe had played with a Rubik's Cube. For a while, it seemed that no one could solve it but the elite few geniuses in the world. Seeing an opportunity, these so called geniuses often published solution books, capitalizing on the craze the cube had started. With over 50 books on the shelves boasting solutions, and dozens of millions of cubes circulating, the cube was the most popular thing around.
The scarcity of the cube in toy stores around the world led to mass production of counterfeit cubes. From around the world, cheap imitations saw a golden opportunity.
Pirated cubes crippled the Ideal Toy company, and flooded the market with the cube. Now, it seemed that everybody who would ever want a cube, already had at least 1 or 2. The world was super saturated with cubes, and no one was buying. The Ideal Toy corporation had to leave the business, being unable to keep away the counterfeiters despite Erno himself having a copyright on the cube. With cubes everywhere, interest suddenly began to decline.
The craze that was once the Rubik's cube, faded away. With the Ideal Toy Company out of the cube business, in 1983 cubes had ceased production entirely. People everywhere lost interest in the cube. Some people gave up on the cube because they believed they could never solve the impossible challenge, others merely stashed their cube, never to be retrieved. The cube's brief popularity died away, just like bell bottoms -
The aftermath
- and just like bell bottoms, the cube is staging a comeback. Today, the rights to the Rubik's Cube are owned by Seven Towns, and the cube is back in production. After almost a 20 year lull in interest in the cube, people are starting to go to the store, and buy cubes for the new generation. People around the world are picking up the cube, and driving themselves crazy once again. As for the elite few; they have taken up interest in solving the cube for speed. Having solved the cube is one thing, but many experts are attempting to solve the cube in as little time as is possible. Nearly 25 years after the introduction of the cube, the initial World Record for solving a Rubik's Cube still stands. That is, of course, until the near future, when the Rubik's Games World Championships will prove that the cube is back, and that the record will fall -
Contact Gameops.com
Use the form below to get in touch with us. Required fields are marked with a *.
