Puzzling Legacy

The traveling exhibit, celebrates the innovations and insights inspired by 40 years of playing with the world’s most popular puzzle. Physical and digital challenges invite visitors to consider the toy’s timeless worldwide appeal and its ability to foster creativity in the fields of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics. Organized into three zones, Invent, Play and Inspire, the exhibition is an exploration of Rubik’s Cube’s cultural impact. The Invent Zone features original prototypes of the Rubik’s Cube, artifacts, period footage, and interviews with Erno Rubik, tracing the Cube’s evolution from a Hungarian workshop into a worldwide fad. The Play Zone employs games to test the cognitive skills used in problem solving while a giant working Cube exposes the puzzle’s core mechanism. The Inspire Zone features large display of twisty puzzles inspiring visitors to create their own. The Chrome Cube Lab provides artists and programmers with the latest web technologies to explore the Cube with Wi-Fi enabled through a built-in connectivity grid under a raised floor system.

Engineering a Solution

kubik maltbie worked closely with the designer throughout the development process to provide design engineering, prototyping, fabrication, graphics productions, AV systems hardware, interactives, casework, and the initial exhibit installation at LSC. A full exhibit set-up was performed in kubik maltbie’s workshop for testing prior to installation onsite. The exhibit features numerous interactive elements such as a moveable Cube Boy, a large Rubik’s Cube with a head, arms, and legs, and the Haikube which features a three-line haiku poem on each face of a cube that changes as the cube is moved. A popular feature of the exhibit is the Robot Solver, a machine designed to solve any Rubik’s Cube; visitors twist a cube, which they then give to the machine and watch as the puzzle is solved before their eyes.