The race to crack Rubik’s code
I’ve warily picked up and put back Hasbro’s `999 Rubik’s Race several times over my last few visits to the games store. I’ve never been able to solve the Rubik’s cube and wondered if this would be more pain than pleasure. As it turned out, I was delighted and succumbed on my last visit! Rubik’s Race is the “frenzied face-to-face strategy play-off” the box promises. Each round lasted about three minutes. I won some. I lost some. The pace of play was intense. Happily, the ability to solve the Rubik’s cube is irrelevant!
Rubik’s Race set up was delightful. The game base and the slap-shut winner frame are design triumphs. Four tiles of six colours each are placed randomly on each player’s tray. The trays are 5x5 grids, with one empty tile space to enable movement. The upright frame is a dramatic visual device separating you from your opponent, and becomes your victory flourish, as you slam it down the moment you match the pattern on the scrambler cubes.
The scrambler is this gorgeous bonsai Rubik’s cube box with one 3x3 stack of cubes. Give the transparent scrambler a good shake. The pattern on the top face is what you’re both racing to solve. It’s the little details in the rules of play, the redundancy of the border row in the player trays, the use of the winning frame, and how an actual Rubik’s cube can be used in place of the scrambler, that make Rubik’s Race an inspired strategic buy!
The author may be contacted at arup_kavan@yahoo.com
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