Minus Cube facts for kids
The Minus Cube is a cool 3D puzzle. It's also known as the BLOXBOX or Varikon Box. This puzzle was made in the Soviet Union, a country that existed before Russia. It's a type of mechanical puzzle, which means you solve it by moving parts around.
The Minus Cube comes in a clear plastic box. Inside, there are seven small cubes. Each small cube is made from two U-shaped pieces stuck together. One piece is white, and the other is colored. The box is just big enough to hold eight small cubes, but it only has seven. This leaves one empty space. You can move the small cubes around by tilting the box. A cube will then slide into the empty spot.
The main goal of the Minus Cube puzzle is to arrange the cubes. You want all the faces on each side of the big box to show the same color. Imagine looking at one side of the clear box. All the cube faces you see on that side should be, for example, all red or all blue.
Types of Minus Cubes
There were two main types of Minus Cubes made. They were named after the cities where they were produced.
Moscow Minus Cube
This version was made in Moscow. It usually had red and white cubes.
Sverdlovsk Minus Cube
This version came from Sverdlovsk. Its cubes were typically blue and white.
The only real difference between these two types was how one of the small cubes was put together. This small change made a big difference in how hard the puzzle was! The Moscow Minus Cube was much easier to solve. It had 12 times more ways to be "solved" correctly. This means the Sverdlovsk Minus Cube was 12 times harder to figure out.
However, if you don't stick to just these two types, there are actually 48 different ways a Minus Cube could be made and still be solvable!
See also
