Date: Tue, 4 Nov 86 17:06 EST
From: David C. Plummer <DCP@QUABBIN.SCRC.Symbolics.COM>Rubik's Magic is available at "Games people play" near Harvard Square
for a little under $15.
As usual, Carol Monica is charging unreasonable prices. Boycott this
moderately obnoxious woman and buy your Magic from Zayre or Bradlee's at
about $7-8.
It's a good puzzle for playing with and relieving the fidgets.
Mathematically it isn't very interesting, nor are there any "pretty
patterns" other than solved1 and solved2.
The "pretty patterns" are more sculptural than geometrical. Can you
make a cube?
Mathematically, there are a couple of interesting points. There are
sixteen achievable 2x4 configurations, linked by a nice little rosette
of generators.
Unsolved stumper: The pattern
XXX
X X
XXX
appears unreachable, but we haven't been able to prove it. Can someone
come up with a proof? (Or -- hope against hope -- has anyone achieved
it?)
I find the mechanical aspect more pleasing than the cube. "Magic" is more
satisfying to manipulate than almost any of its predecessors. The
linking principle can be generalized to any number of squares. I am
considering breaking a couple and wiring them together to make Big
Magic.