Childrens Toyshop
Welcome to The Childrens Toyshop, here you will find all the latest and traditional toys in our toyshop. You can search and locate the best selling Toys Games & Puzzles to purchase online and have delivered to the door. We have a large selection of Toys with reviews.
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Toys : Rubik's Cube
Rating: 
- Rubik's cube review
I originally bought this cube at Argos. At Argos, the packaging is slightly different - it comes in a see-through box - and it was slightly more expensive. However, the cube has now died after fairly heavy use (one of the inner joints snapped), hence the need for a replacement.
The cube comes with a fairly thin "How To" guide which is not particulary easy to follow. The best "How To" Rubik's cube tutorial I have found is by a Swedish guy called Lars Petrus. (I don't think Amazon will let me give a website on this review but it is easy to find). It has extremely clear animations that you can work through interactively and at your own pace and which show you exactly which move you need to make. If you are new to the Rubik's Cube, I think you would need at least an hour to read through the explanations and to solve it, but after that your times would rapidly come down. My best time is around 90 seconds which impresses small children, but much slower than the world record which is a truly mind-boggling 10 seconds.
My only problem with this particular cube is that some of the stickers came off fairly quickly and the red ones faded (and obviously it snapped with my attempts at high-speed cubing after about 6 months). However, the same complaints are made of the "original" Rubik's Cube Company cube. Hence I have only awarded 3 for durability.
This cube was fairly stiff to turn at the start. It can be lubricated simply by getting a normal graphite pencil and drawing on the all the black inner parts of the cube, then rotating it forwards and backwards. The graphite should help reduce friction between the inner surfaces. This not only makes it quicker for solving but also easier for children to turn. My daughter who was about 5 at the time enjoyed "solving" it once I had completed it. I then made an extra 2 or 3 moves to make a pretty check pattern which she could then solve again.
Overall it is a fantastic toy that is as much fun now as it was when it originally came out. It is brilliant for airports or stations or any situation when you don't know how long you are going to be waiting around for. I still find it quite a mental challenge to remember the different move-sequences needed to complete each stage. However, with the online tutorials available now there has never been a better time to learn how to solve it and this cube is probably about as good as any out there.
Basically, a tenner well spent.
Rating:
- Frustration and Embarrassment
This puzzle is durable and makes the owner use their mind and improve their dexterity. Whether it is educational is doubtful, although as I already said it encourages the user to think. Plus side: You can use it just about anywhere. It does not use batteries or mains electricity (a big plus for me, the bill payer), there are no small parts to lose and a sense of achievement is attained if you master the puzzle. Down side: Can become boring after a while and as I am finding out can lead to frustration.
After spending a great deal of time and energy a number of years ago, I finally mastered the mystery of the Rubik Cube and could solve the puzzle in a time that I, at least thought was impressive.
How frustrating. I bought a Rubik Cube with the intention of impressing my young grandson. How are the mighty fallen. Imagine my embarrassment when I found that I no longer had the knack for getting all those movable coloured cubes in the right order. Is this the beginning of the end, or is it the end of the beginning, or . . . nurse!! nurse!!
- Rubik's cube reviewI originally bought this cube at Argos. At Argos, the packaging is slightly different - it comes in a see-through box - and it was slightly more expensive. However, the cube has now died after fairly heavy use (one of the inner joints snapped), hence the need for a replacement.
The cube comes with a fairly thin "How To" guide which is not particulary easy to follow. The best "How To" Rubik's cube tutorial I have found is by a Swedish guy called Lars Petrus. (I don't think Amazon will let me give a website on this review but it is easy to find). It has extremely clear animations that you can work through interactively and at your own pace and which show you exactly which move you need to make. If you are new to the Rubik's Cube, I think you would need at least an hour to read through the explanations and to solve it, but after that your times would rapidly come down. My best time is around 90 seconds which impresses small children, but much slower than the world record which is a truly mind-boggling 10 seconds.
My only problem with this particular cube is that some of the stickers came off fairly quickly and the red ones faded (and obviously it snapped with my attempts at high-speed cubing after about 6 months). However, the same complaints are made of the "original" Rubik's Cube Company cube. Hence I have only awarded 3 for durability.
This cube was fairly stiff to turn at the start. It can be lubricated simply by getting a normal graphite pencil and drawing on the all the black inner parts of the cube, then rotating it forwards and backwards. The graphite should help reduce friction between the inner surfaces. This not only makes it quicker for solving but also easier for children to turn. My daughter who was about 5 at the time enjoyed "solving" it once I had completed it. I then made an extra 2 or 3 moves to make a pretty check pattern which she could then solve again.
Overall it is a fantastic toy that is as much fun now as it was when it originally came out. It is brilliant for airports or stations or any situation when you don't know how long you are going to be waiting around for. I still find it quite a mental challenge to remember the different move-sequences needed to complete each stage. However, with the online tutorials available now there has never been a better time to learn how to solve it and this cube is probably about as good as any out there.
Basically, a tenner well spent.
Rating:
- Frustration and EmbarrassmentThis puzzle is durable and makes the owner use their mind and improve their dexterity. Whether it is educational is doubtful, although as I already said it encourages the user to think. Plus side: You can use it just about anywhere. It does not use batteries or mains electricity (a big plus for me, the bill payer), there are no small parts to lose and a sense of achievement is attained if you master the puzzle. Down side: Can become boring after a while and as I am finding out can lead to frustration.
After spending a great deal of time and energy a number of years ago, I finally mastered the mystery of the Rubik Cube and could solve the puzzle in a time that I, at least thought was impressive.
How frustrating. I bought a Rubik Cube with the intention of impressing my young grandson. How are the mighty fallen. Imagine my embarrassment when I found that I no longer had the knack for getting all those movable coloured cubes in the right order. Is this the beginning of the end, or is it the end of the beginning, or . . . nurse!! nurse!!