My Dad's Brain "Exercise": the Rubik's Cube

My father got a Rubik's Cube for Christmas when he was 71 - though the label, which my mother kept, suggests that it might have been a gift for her!

In any event, my father was intrigued with the puzzle and immediately set out to master it.

With the help of this little manual, he developed a system -  though he confided its limitations: it took a lot more moves to right the pattern than he had made to mess it up!

Here - in coded form - is his system for solving it.


This is my mental exercise, he would tell us as he sat down several times a day to "do" his Rubik's cube. It's amazing how much my memory has improved since I started doing it.







My son recently reminded me of grandpa's passion when he showed me this online video of a young man, in a competition, solving the cube puzzle - blindfolded - in less than 30 seconds.

How astounded my father would be! I wonder if he would have been challenged to kick it up a notch and try to solve it blindfolded, too!