Rubik's Revolution

Brand recognition sells, and whether or not you prefer the Rubik's Revolution game pack or the original Rubik's cube will probably have little bearing on how well the Revolution sells for the next few months. While Rubik's Revolution features several games and does not involve twisting the cubes, both elements of the first cube, it is the first variation to which Erno Rubik, creator of the first Rubik's cube, has agreed to give his name. That alone makes the Revolution worthy of a closer look.

Each face of the cube has a pressure-sensitive light cavity that clicks when you push down on it. For all of the games, you spin the cube in your hand and press the buttons instead of swiveling chunks of the cube against each other. The toy speaks to you when you turn it on; expect quality equal to its price. There are six games, and the voice asks you to pick one.

Blue is Light Speed, where the clock ticks away and you spin the cube to find the lighted face and click it off. Sounds simple, right? The closer you are to time, the more difficult it becomes to coordinate your fingers to click on opposite sides of the sphere consecutively. Code Cracker is another game with a completely different goal: unlock the code of lights and sides with guesswork. Pattern Panic is a 3-D version of Simon; you need to remember the light sequence and repeat it back each time as it becomes longer. The goal of Cube Catcher is to
find the correct pattern to click in order to have as few faces lit as possible in a certain amount of time. The cube lights up random lights based on each click.

Some caveats: the default volume is loud and you'll need to adjust it every time you turn Revolution on, you have to hold the silver and yellow sides of the cube when you flip the switch. Fortunately, you're less likely to become bored with six games built in, and it isn't so much a mystery that only a few puzzle breakers can crack as it is a challenge for exercising your hands and eyes and honing your reflexes.

The Rubik's Revolution has already received widespread media attention and reviews from popular gadget blogs. You may have a hard time finding it in stores this holiday season, so play it safe and 

 

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