Chapter 2. How to Play

Objective:

Return all the pieces of the cube to their starting positions after the computer has made several shuffling moves.

Kubrick starts with an animated demonstration that randomly chooses cubes of various dimensions, shuffles them and solves them. If you have never seen a Rubik's Cube™ before, the demonstration will give you a general idea of how to play. Just click anywhere with the mouse to stop the demonstration and start playing. You will then see a new puzzle or the puzzle you were last working on, exactly as it was when you left it.

Kubrick has a choice of three views, showing one, two or three cubes, all of which are the same cube viewed from different angles. Use the View menu or toolbar buttons to switch between views.

Use GameChoose Puzzle Type menu item to choose the size of cube and degree of difficulty for the type of puzzle you wish to try. Then use GameNew Puzzle menu item each time you wish to re-shuffle the cube and start a new puzzle of that type.

Making Moves

You can use either the mouse or the keyboard to move the cube.

Use the left mouse button or keyboard to rotate single slices of the cube around any axis, as when solving a puzzle. Square slices (e.g. 4x4 cubies) rotate by 90 degrees at a time. Rectangular slices (e.g. 5x3 cubies) rotate by 180 degrees.

Use the right mouse button to rotate the whole cube around any axis. Or use the C key, within a keyboard sequence. Such moves do not lead to a solution of the puzzle, but you might use them to examine the current position more closely or to get the cube into position for a sequence of solution moves, such as untwisting two corners.

All moves, however they are made, are displayed progressively in the toolbar using the widely-recognized Singmaster Notation. See the section Singmaster Moves for more details.