Rubik strikes again

Professor Erno Rubik is at it again, threatening to turn us all into basket cases as we struggle to solve his latest puzzle – the Rubik’s 360. Launching this week, from Drumond Park, the new puzzle bears a certain family resemblance to the original Rubik’s Cube, but takes things to a whole new level.

The Rubik’s 360 is a clear plastic sphere, 10cm in diameter and punctuated by six coloured domes. Inside this sphere are two further spheres that rotate freely as the puzzle is moved. In the innermost sphere are six balls in the familiar Rubik’s colours.

The simple aim of the game it to get each of the coloured balls out of the two interior spheres and into their colour-coordinated domes on the outer sphere. Get all six balls in the correct domes and you’ve done it.

As you might expect, things aren’t quite as simple as they sound. The forces of gravity work to keep the openings in the spheres away from the coloured balls, so you have to find a way of manoeuvring the Rubik’s 360 to overcome this problem.

“I feel that the Rubik’s 360 is one of the most innovative and exciting puzzles we’ve developed since the Cube, adopting elements of my original design, challenging the solver to use concentration, skill and dexterity,” says the professor himself. “But it’s a more kinetic challenge, more physical, because gravity is involved.”

The Rubik’s 360 is priced around £14.99 and we’ll have a full review later this week…