The 8 Best Rubik’s Cubes for Teasing Your Brain and Testing Your Skills
Solve these classic cubes, try brand new puzzles, and compete with your friends with the best games the 50-year-old brand has to offer.
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Some toys never go out of fashion. Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Rubik’s continues to be the most popular puzzle cube brand in the world, with around 500 million sold, according to Yahoo Finance. While the classic Rubik’s cube may still be its biggest hit, the company has expanded significantly over the last 50 years, offering other puzzles and board games as well.
With an ever expanding number of cube sizes, the infusion of new games and puzzles in the spirit of the original toy, and improvements made to old classics, there are more Rubik’s products than you can keep track of. Don’t get lost in the colors—for birthdays, game nights, and rainy Saturdays alike, check out our list of the best Rubik’s Cubes and games that the company has to offer.
The Best Rubik’s Cubes
- The Standard Cube: The Original 3x3 Rubik’s Cube
- Best Table Game: Rubik’s Gridlock Game
- Best Non-Cube Puzzle: Rubik’s Pyramid
- Best Multiplayer Game: Rubik’s Cage Strategy Game
- Best Challenge: Rubik’s Professor 5x5 Cube
What to Consider
What Does Rubik’s Make Besides Cubes?
Rubik’s has combination puzzles in different sizes and shapes, including pyramids, 5x5 cubes, and even twisting puzzles that you rearrange into geometric shapes. Beyond the classic cubes, Rubik’s now has several games that play on the color combining that put the brand on the map. These include head-to-head color match races, grid-style puzzles, and even a three-dimensional version of tic-tac-toe.
Rubik’s now offers a full range of puzzles, cubes, and brain teasers, which may scratch the same sort of itch as the original. That said, if you’re a speed cuber or looking to get into competitive cubing, we don’t recommend a classic Rubik’s Cube.
While the company may have invented the puzzle, even the smoothest Rubik’s cubes don’t have the motion and movement capabilities to handle top-level performance in competitive speed cubing, where players compete to solve puzzles like the Rubik’s Cube. Despite being the original cube, Rubik’s isn’t competitive cubers’ preferred brand—other options, like the Gan 11 M Pro from CuberSpeed, have smoother motions and perks like internal magnets to speed up solve times.
Number of Players
The traditional Rubik’s Cube is made for solo use. Many of the newer Rubik’s games accommodate two to four players at a time. These games are typically head-to-head and are either speed- or strategy-based. If you’re looking for something solo, opt for classic cubes or brain teaser puzzles with one-player challenges.
Level of Difficulty
All Rubik’s games and puzzles have a suggested age printed on the box. While they are certainly not gospel, buying a game above the age range of the user might run the risk of them struggling to understand or enjoy it. That said, with many of the Rubik’s items meant to be tinkered with, pored over, and figured out over a long period of time, don’t shy away from buying them as a gift for someone who loves to problem solve, regardless of age.
The Amazing Math Inside the Rubik’s Cube
How We Selected
My goal was to include Rubik’s products that hold true to the original spirit of that first cube while incorporating new social and competitive elements (for replay value and a bit of extra fun). I started with several categories to fill: the best games to play with friends or family, the best that flip the original cube form factor on its head, and the toughest puzzles, to name a few. With those in mind, I began my search for the best Rubik’s puzzles by scouring the full list of games the brand makes prioritizing a good mix of play styles and creative takes on the classic. There are, of course, some classic choices that most people know and love already, too.
While the phrase “Rubik’s Cube” has become colloquially synonymous with any 3x3 or 5x5 combination puzzle, I stuck to official Rubik’s games. We went through all of the company’s offerings and selected items that offered the most variety of play and the most creative takes on the classic game. Here you’ll find Rubik’s products that show off the original spirit of the first cube while incorporating new social and competitive elements that add replay value and a bit of extra fun.
Tom Price is an Associate Editor of Reviews for Popular Mechanics, and also contributes to Runner's World, and Bicycling. He has previously covered product reviews, startup news, and even professional wrestling. In his free time, he enjoys watching pretentious TV, low-brow movies, and exercising for beauty, not health. If you are interested in exploring more of his work, check out his website.
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