# Ulticube



## AndrewRocks (Oct 10, 2011)

I feel like I've hit a wall with my cube and can't go any faster, whenever this happens I usually switch to another puzzle for a bit and come back. I picked up an Ulticube from Amazon and have been trying it. It is pretty crazy, it is like the exact opposite of a 3x3x3 Rubik's cube. All the cubies are detatchable and instead of making all colors match, the object is to make it so that no color is on the same face twice. For example, here's a pic I found on google of a solved one.






It seemed too easy to be worthwhile at first, but it gets extraordinarily difficult. There's multiple permutations of the solved state, unlike Rubik's cubes. I believe there are nine total permutations of the solved state but like the Rubik's cube there's billions of permutations. Similar to Rubik's Cubes, I solve it by making 2x2x1 blocks and piecing it together. Right now, I haven't seen any tutorials on the puzzle and still haven't finished every one. Once I finish I want to get really fast at it and be able to assemble the entire cube in under a minute. 
As far as difficulty is concerned, it doesn't have a million complicated algorithms. There's not as much memorization. It is very intuitive, so it is a great challenge for people like me who like solving Rubik's cubes using Roux's method. I think it does kind of help me develop greater pattern awareness for solving my Rubik's Cube as well. Ultimately, it is actually a bit more difficult than a Rubik's Cube for me. There's no solutions online, not a lot of people have them to share ideas with and like I said before, I haven't even found all the different solve states. It is like how Rubik's Cube's must have been when they first came out. 

If anyone else has one, I'd love to compare times. It is a great diversion from the Rubik's Cube and may improve your ability to do Roux method or other intuitive methods. 

So far I have only been able to find it on Amazon, but it is on sale. Here's a link to the website and the amazon account I found it on.

www.ulticube.com
http://www.amazon.com/UltiCube-Brainteaser-Cube-Puzzles-Different/dp/B004DS7VKM


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## Kirjava (Oct 10, 2011)

AndrewRocks said:


> may improve your ability to do Roux method or other intuitive methods.


 
?!


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## AndrewRocks (Oct 11, 2011)

Kirjava said:


> ?!


 
The reason I suggest this is because the puzzle encourages me to utilize skills from my Rubik's Cube. For example I can take directly from Roux method and build 1x2x3 blocks and arrange the puzzle in that manner. Similarly, you could go layer by layer then orient the top layer in a way to find a solve state. 

Of course, this puzzle can be done in a seemingly infinite amount of ways, so your experience may be different than mine.


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## Kirjava (Oct 11, 2011)

Heh, I don't think it will really help blockbuilding technique.

I used to have these in primary school. Had no idea that they were meant to be a puzzle.


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## chrissyD (Oct 11, 2011)

They were blocks to learn adding and subtracting as I remember them


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## ben1996123 (Oct 11, 2011)

I did this in statistics at the end of last year, I was the only one to do it...


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## dw (Oct 15, 2011)

*try it before you comment on it...*

I found this forum looking info on Ulticube, a puzzle that I have worked on and find interesting. People in this discussion apparently haven’t figured out just how difficult (and new) this puzzle is. Regarding the comment:

“I used to have these in primary school. Had no idea that they were meant to be a puzzle.”

The box says “patent pending”, so it seems neither you nor I nor anyone else has previously used these as a puzzle. And as for the comment “ … used for adding…” etc, I guarantee you that you could NEVER have solved these puzzles in grammar school. Perhaps you should have been thinking about how to use these as a puzzle; you might be the one with a patent. 

Experienced puzzle solvers should be able to just read the description of the puzzle and realize that it is potentially difficult. And having worked on them, and shown them to Mom, Dad (retired engineer), brother (mathematician), and sister (college professor), I know that these puzzles are exceptionally challenging, even to adults. 

I would bet that most people on this forum can’t solve the more difficult of the 7 puzzles, without finding instructions somewhere (which I have not found). Don't take that as an insult; it is about the puzzle. It is interesting that AndrewRocks sees connections to speedsolving. This puzzle is NOT AT ALL ALGORITHMIC unlike Rubik’s, and as an ex programmer bored with algorithms, that is a reason I like the puzzle. It is definitely difficult, and unless you think Rubik’s is the world’s only puzzle, please don’t take shots at a new puzzle you have never tried.


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## 5BLD (Oct 15, 2011)

Im not much of a fan of puzzles which don't turn. Also the method used would be rather trial-and-error, as is the puzzle. I guess it could be interesting but not for me.
And I doubt it will help blockbuilding or even more broadly cubing than cubing itself.
I'm feeling like Kirjava about improving Roux.


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## Stefan (Oct 15, 2011)

Which of the seven puzzles did I solve, and what are the others?



Spoiler


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## Owen (Oct 15, 2011)

Cool, but far from ultimate.


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## qqwref (Oct 15, 2011)

dw said:


> The box says “patent pending”, so it seems neither you nor I nor anyone else has previously used these as a puzzle. And as for the comment “ … used for adding…” etc, I guarantee you that you could NEVER have solved these puzzles in grammar school. Perhaps you should have been thinking about how to use these as a puzzle; you might be the one with a patent.


Somehow I get the feeling you are the creator of this puzzle, making an effort to try to act like you aren't.

Anyway, he's saying that he has seen this type of interlocking block before. I have too; in fact I got a set of them a few years back to play with. I doubt a lot of people ever thought to patent a puzzle based on them, but that doesn't mean people didn't play around and try various difficult constructions on their own. The concept of building a cube with all different colors on each side is a relatively simple one (many people have independently thought to do that very thing with the 3x3x3 and 2x2x2 cubes) so it's very possible someone else spent a few minutes/hours playing around with the idea before.



dw said:


> I know that these puzzles are exceptionally challenging, even to adults.


Are they challenging because they require complicated logic, or because they require a large amount of trial and error? I've seen many puzzles of the second type (Jaap lists many like this, under the 'Pattern Matching Puzzles' section) and in general they don't seem to revolve around serious logical insight as much as attempting lots of possibilities until you find a correct one, and that isn't very interesting to me. So I hope this puzzle is not one of those.



dw said:


> I would bet that most people on this forum can’t solve the more difficult of the 7 puzzles


Not much of a bet, if they are supposed to be difficult; however I would also bet that most people on this forum haven't bought the puzzle, and don't plan to, and thus don't even know what the 7 puzzles are. I think it's quite possible that if someone posted the 7 puzzles the smartest people here would manage to solve the hardest ones within a few days to a week. I do understand the need for secrecy though, if you are trying to sell the puzzle


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## Cheese11 (Oct 15, 2011)

Like many other people have said, this idea isn't all that original. My friends and I would always try to do this in grade 3 during math. Not like we ever succeeded, but come on, we were 7.


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## dw (Nov 20, 2011)

*Trashed by Site Moderators; Some Final Comments*

It seems like comments here are dominated by Site Moderators (I would guess that there are PAID moderators, who else would write thousands of comments), and the agenda appears to be to promote Rubiks brand products (or maybe stopwatches???). Anyway my request not to trash a NEW puzzle without trying it or understanding it went completely unheeded; the moderators are trashing a puzzle they don’t understand. 

If you tried the puzzle, or even gave it some serious thought, you would realize YOU CAN”T POSSIBLY SOLVE THIS BY MERELY TRYING RANDOM ARRANGEMENTS. YOU HAVE TO THINK MATHEMATICALLY TO SOLVE THESE PUZZLES, AND THAT IS WHAT MAKES THEM INTERESTING. ANYONE WHO GIVES THIS PUZZLE SOME SERIOUS THOUGHT CAN SEE THAT. And to the comment that “we tried this in 3rd grade”, a 3rd grader can’t even understand how this puzzle works and has NO CHANCE of solving one of these without adult help. I would bet no one under the age of 10-12 can solve any of these. THIS IS A MATHEMATICALLY INTERESTING PUZZLE: I have seen lots of mathematical puzzles, but never this one. If you invented this in 3 rd grade—maybe in your dreams.

Site Moderators and Rubiks-brand promoters (see comments above) will take everything I said and trash it again, taking my comments out of context, and again without even thinking enough about the puzzle to comment intelligently. With 3 site moderators or more trashing everything-non-Rubiks, I will find another web site where people have freedom to discuss things like this without excessive interference from site moderators. (Perhaps you will let me have the dignity to have the last word???)


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## collinbxyz (Nov 20, 2011)

1) There wasn't one moderator who posted on this thread.
2) I am pretty damn sure the mods aren't getting paid. They simply enjoy puzzles and like this thread. It's not hard to have thousands of comments after a few years like alot of people on this thread.
3) STOP IT WITH CAPS LOCK!!!!!!!1!1!!!!!1
4) What's up with the bump? 
5) 


6) This is a public forum+thread, and people are stating their true opinion. If you don't like it, too bad. Nobody said you have to agree.


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## Stefan (Nov 20, 2011)

dw said:


> If you tried the puzzle, or even gave it some serious thought


 
I did, and I'd still like to get an answer about my solution posted earlier, but you don't seem to care...


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## Escher (Nov 20, 2011)

I'm assuming each of the 7 puzzles are just different values for the number of colours and the number of blocks available for each colour?

In my mind it's analogous to the 'Tetris cube' - gaining a grasp of the concepts required to get to solved state and trial and error from there on. 'Trial and error' not meaning 'randomly do things' but 'test hypotheses'.

You should really stop taking comments out of context (just as you loathe people doing it to you). I played with this exact type of connecting block as a child too, and that's not intended as a slight to the idea of making a puzzle out of it.

Also yeah what collin said, nobody makes any income from the forums themselves. The moderators are spending their free time to keep this place running smoothly.

Take a chill pill.


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## qqwref (Nov 20, 2011)

dw said:


> the agenda appears to be to promote Rubiks brand products


I'm honestly curious how you came to this conclusion. Mind telling us?


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## Stefan (Nov 20, 2011)

AndrewRocks said:


> For example, here's a pic I found on google of a solved one.


 
Hmm, actually, how can that be solved? The same picture appears on ulticube.com with the text _"A photo of a solved UltiCube [...] build a cube with 9 colors in every face"_. But the white, purple and red corners prohibit any more of these colors on the outside, and the third white, purple and red can't all be inside...

:confused:

Edit: Um, more obviously, all three black cubies have been used for the three front sides, so this is definitely not solved as there's no black on the three back sides.


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## MovingOnUp (Nov 20, 2011)

> (Perhaps you will let me have the dignity to have the last word???)



Lol and he begs that you won't point out the flaws in his argument. Oh well. In case you haven't noticed dw most people here are only interested in twisty puzzles. We aren't missing anything if you go elsewhere. (not to mention there aren't many other places to go)


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## zmikecuber (Nov 20, 2011)

Not to seem rude, but dw is not going about his arguments in a very clear and concise manner. it seems rather emotionally based...

though that puzzle does look cool and like alot of fun.  not sure I want to spend the money on it right now though....


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## qqwref (Nov 21, 2011)

Just thinking about the solution a little...



Spoiler



Each piece must be on all 6 faces and appears exactly 3 times in the cube, so using some basic math the possibilities must be:
- two corners, one middle center (one color)
- one corner, one edge, one center (six colors)
- three edges (two colors)

One possible solution:

```
041  638  275
527  104  863
386  752  410
```
EDIT: Haha, this looks suspiciously like Stefan's solution


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## Mike Hughey (Nov 21, 2011)

I think what other people meant when they said they had used these before were something like this:
http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/seo/p|RA529~~.jsp

Edit: Actually, this seems even closer to the same:
http://www.rainbowresource.com/pictures/018741/95f2005d87a42b0e869db7f2

So it seems like the only thing unique about Ulticube is the set of rules for the seven puzzles that you need to solve.


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## Henrik (Nov 21, 2011)

In Denmark (and UK I guess from the URL) we have what is called Centicubes. (referring to Mikes post not Ulticube)

http://www.superstock.co.uk/stock-photos-images/1895-21829

Used in school in all classes up to 10th grade basicly. 

(Centicubes because they are one centimeter on each side)


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