Editorial Review

Tinker Toys have entertained kids for decades--ever since their 1913 invention by Charles Pajeau, who was inspired by children playing with pencils and empty spools of thread. This set features 102 versatile wooden spools, connectors, and brightly colored dowels packed in an easy-to-store keepsake canister. Simply add a child's imagination for hours of creative fun. --Jane Snyder ... Read more

Reviews (22)

discouraging
I bought my 4 1/2 year old this set for Christmas. I noticed that time after time he was getting very frustrated trying to build from the diagrams that came with the tinker toys (Junior set). He always came up a few parts short to build the Space Alien and just about all the rest of the examples. At first I thought he had managed to lose a part or two during the Christmas unwrapping, playing on Christmas day. I then took the canister and took an inventory of the parts shown on it and to my amazement all the parts were there. I then started counting the parts necessary to build each of the items on the example sheet and it became apparent that no one could build these examples (or at least most of them) as the examples were showing more parts than was provided by the Junior set. It has been a totally bad experience with this toy and I don't even try to get him to play with it anymore.

Oddz On and Hasbro should be ashamed of themselves for tricking these children into thinking they can build the examples. It is these two companies that are not playing with a full deck!

I like this for my older kids :)
I bought this set when my girls were smaller (around 3), and they never played with it. It was hard for them to put the pieces together and just became another annoying toy with a thousand pieces. I was disappointed as I loved them as a kid. However, now that the older ones are 6 and 8, they are asking for them. I am sure now they will have lots of fun putting them together and will understand the concept and can clean up the toys themselves also. Just thought another review might help if you have younger children :)

An Old Toy for a New World
We love this toy. We wish we had more pieces, not because there aren't enough to follow the instructions, but because you're inspired to keep building when you're playing with it. My four- and eight-year-old kids are equally thrilled with it. In fact, the last thing we want to do is follow instructions! A great toy for the mad visionaries in your house.

Regarding Missing Parts
I just read the review saying that the diagrams included with the set couldn't be created because the set did not include all parts. Just to set the record straight, I have personally constructed EVERY one of the diagrams (including the space alien), and ALL parts were indeed included.

My only complaint would be that it is often difficult to see from the pictures which parts to use in where, but that is certainly not a complaint with the toy itself.

Anyway, it's a great toy, and again, it has all the pieces necessary to complete all of the various creations shown for this set.

This is a great toy.
We got my son this set last Christmas when he was 3 1/2y.o and he plays with this all the time still. It's great if your kid likes to build. This is the one toy of his that has sustained the test of time - it is constantly all over our family room. The only down side is that we are constantly cleaning them up. Kids seem to love to pour them all out. He can make more complicated things then we can now. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Even if you've been living on Mars since the 1970s, you've probably heard of Rubik's Cube, the bestselling puzzle in history. Just in case, though, here's a recap: it's a 3-by-3-by-3-inch cube with rotating faces made up of nine squares that can be scrambled into (so it's said) 43 quintillion combinations. Getting the cube back to its original position (so that all nine squares of the same color make up each face) is incredibly challenging for most, though it can be mastered and solved. For those not gifted with superhuman spatial intuition, this mindbender comes with a solution hints booklet, which examines the cube's properties and offers clues for solving the puzzle. Whether it's a difficult toy or retro '80s kitsch you're seeking, Rubik's Cube is for you. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Reviews (37)

You can do the cube!
...Was the title of a book I bought out of sheer frustration when I was a kid in the mid-eighties, stuck with a mixed-up Cube I couldn't solve. Well, the book was very helpful and allowed me to solve my Cube on a regular basis, so eventually I got bored and put my Cube aside.

I left home in 1992 to join the Army and my stepmom put all my childhood stuff in storage. I didn't get a whole lot of my stuff back til I came back to the Memphis area (for the second time) in 2001... and there, amongst my things, was that selfsame Rubik's Cube.

And lo and behold if it doesn't still work beautifully after nine years in storage! Doesn't even need to be lubricated, all the stickers are still intact (even if some of them have nicks in them) and... it's still mixed up, doggone it, and now I wish I had my book again!

Definitely a fun toy. I have heard most kids these days would rather zonk out on the computer than play something that might actually provide an intellectual challenge. It's a shame, too.

The one--the only
We've all see this toy before, haven't we?

Although I owned Rubik's Magic rings as a kid, a similar but easier-to-solve toy, I never owned the most famous, the original Rubik's cube. I tried, but always got stuck after figuring out one of the sides.

Fast forwarding to a few months ago, I saw it again at a friend's house and was inexplicably hooked. I knew it was only a matter of time before I ordered it.

This cube has proved to be reasonably durable and is fun if you like puzzles. Don't bother to buy a guide to how to figure it out, as there are TONS of solutions on the Internet, from the basic ones to the fast solutions which require a lot of memorization. Whether you cheat or figure it out yourself, it will certainly keep you entertained and is a good value for the money.

O why dost thou torture me so?!
Like everyone else who grew up in the 80s, this hellish nightmare of a puzzle briefly held a prominent place among my collection of playthings, right between the Legos™ and old-school TransFormers®. Sadly, unlike the Legos, I was never able to match my cube's colors up too well. And unlike my TransFormers, which were fairly simple to convert from one mode to another, I was unable to convert this import from Hungary into its proper mode (AKA all faces made up of the same color). After jumbling it up I spent the next several weeks tryin' to get the thing back to its original solid-color-faced state, to no avail. Which I'm sure is the same experience everybody else who grew up with this symbol of the "me" generation had to contend with.

Like all fads, my interest in the cube eventually began to wane to the point where I'd pick it up only on a rare occasion & spend a little bit of time trying to figure it out. Needless to say, I was no more successful on these occasions than I was before. In fact, as I worked on it more and more, in my mind I could hear this demonic puzzle mocking me, and belittling me for thinking that I had the skill and perception to solve it. Sure, I coulda' done what everybody else did-- take the thing apart and then put it back together so that each face was a solid color-- but that was a coward's way out. And besides, I was afraid I was gonna break the thing. And replacing it would've been a bit pricey for someone who was only gettin' a dollar allowance each week...

Fast-forward to the modern day. I see this booger for a really good price, and decide to purchase it. Why did I get it after all of the aforementioned childhood frustrations, you ask? Well, part of it has to do with my endless desire to re-live my childhood. Another part of it has to do with my masochistic tendencies. But the biggest part of it has to do with me having an excuse to write a review of the product, and annoying you with my memories and opinions about that product. Which of course is what I'm doin' right now. Anyhoo, this latest incarnation of the immortal Rubik's cube resembles and works like the original in just about every way. The only difference I can sense is a cosmetic one: the white center cube features the product's logo and website domain (www.rubiks.com). Also thrown in is Solution Hints booklet, which supposedly can help the user straighten out the jumbled mess he's created. After mixing up the new cube really good, I decided to take as much advantage as I could of the booklet's hints. The suggestions it revealed were somewhat helpful; with them I managed to arrange one face into a single solid color. Other than this small victory, however, I'm still workin' on the other faces. With luck, patience, and several shots o' caffeine, I'll probably have this bad-boy knocked out by the time I'm eligible for Social Security benefits...

Post Script: Anybody remember that segment of "That's Incredible!" where this teenager used his feet to solve a Rubik's cube while he whizzed around on a boogie board being towed by a speedboat? Man, was that whacked out or what?! And people call ME a weirdo...

'Late

An Almost Indestructible Burst of Mind-Boggling Fun
The challenge of Rubik's Cube is simple to explain: take the 3 X 3 X 3 cube (54 squares) of scrambled colored tiles and twist, turn, and rotate the sections until you arrive at a cube with each side having all tiles the same color. Deceptively simple. The task actually requires good spacial reasoning and mental imagery (right cerebral hemisphere) combined with strong nonverbal logic (left cerebral hemisphere), as well as good fine motor control and enduring patience. Some players will be tempted to expedite the process through creative methods (Xacto knife and Super Glue to remove and repaste the tiles), some will seek even quicker means to ease their frustration (ball pen hammer), and others will choose to purchase the monochromatic version of Rubik's Cube and enjoy the Zen-like peace of a conflict artfully avoided.

Rubik's Cube is nearly indestructible (I've seen very strenuous attempts fail utterly) and, for those who do master the main solution, the instruction book offers other challenges (e.g., rearrange the cube so that each side has a center square of one color and all other squares a second color).

Is this product fun? I think that many players will enjoy the Cube greatly until they first solve it, and then put it on display in a convenient spot for purposes of tormenting peers. Enthusiasts will continually re-scramble and re-solve Rubik's Cube, just as cats will endlessly swat at dangling bits of yarn. Fanatics (a.k.a. "true lovers of the game") will try the alternative solutions.

Dolphins tend to enjoy Rubik's Cube as a tool for removing dental tartar.

*gnaws on the yellow and green sides of an already well-gnawed cube*

There's a Reason Why This is a SOLID 5 Star Toy!
Ahh...the memories! If I had to pick just one icon of the 80's, it would be Rubiks cube! If you think about it, this cube sums up an entire decade in one masterful stroke of genius! Like this cube, the 80's were FUN, Colorful, confusing, and sometimes frustrating!
I don't know how many people know this (and I haven't read every review), but this cube was actually invented behind the "Iron Curtain" in the early 70's. Yep, a Commie made the worlds best selling puzzle in Hungary! The irony kills me! At the height of the Cold War! It was just blind luck that the Cube made it to the US after touring toy shows throughout Europe with little interest.
I think the last count of cubes sold worldwide since 1980 was somewhere between 500 to 800 million! Sheesh! Gives me hope that there are some people who are actually interested in exercising their brains!
The best memories I have of this cube was getting in trouble at school for bringing it to class! Back in 1981 the teacher would usually start the day off by confiscating everyones Rubiks cube! She would have a whole drawer full of cubes before class even started! Also, there were kids who made a lot of money off solving the cube for you!
I HIGHLY recommend you buy this for your child and just watch them play with it! It's so much fun! To date I still have NEVER solved this thing without taking it apart and I still have my mini Rubiks key chain which comes in handy, especially when you're waiting in line somewhere! People crowd and around and EVERYBODY has a story about this incredible toy!
There were more Rubiks puzzles that were put out between 1980 and 84 including the Pyramid, the Missing Link, and The Snake!
Note: You can still find original, early 80's, books on solving the cube! Just check for used online bookstores. I found one! ... Read more

Reviews (22)

discouraging
I bought my 4 1/2 year old this set for Christmas. I noticed that time after time he was getting very frustrated trying to build from the diagrams that came with the tinker toys (Junior set). He always came up a few parts short to build the Space Alien and just about all the rest of the examples. At first I thought he had managed to lose a part or two during the Christmas unwrapping, playing on Christmas day. I then took the canister and took an inventory of the parts shown on it and to my amazement all the parts were there. I then started counting the parts necessary to build each of the items on the example sheet and it became apparent that no one could build these examples (or at least most of them) as the examples were showing more parts than was provided by the Junior set. It has been a totally bad experience with this toy and I don't even try to get him to play with it anymore.

Oddz On and Hasbro should be ashamed of themselves for tricking these children into thinking they can build the examples. It is these two companies that are not playing with a full deck!

I like this for my older kids :)
I bought this set when my girls were smaller (around 3), and they never played with it. It was hard for them to put the pieces together and just became another annoying toy with a thousand pieces. I was disappointed as I loved them as a kid. However, now that the older ones are 6 and 8, they are asking for them. I am sure now they will have lots of fun putting them together and will understand the concept and can clean up the toys themselves also. Just thought another review might help if you have younger children :)

An Old Toy for a New World
We love this toy. We wish we had more pieces, not because there aren't enough to follow the instructions, but because you're inspired to keep building when you're playing with it. My four- and eight-year-old kids are equally thrilled with it. In fact, the last thing we want to do is follow instructions! A great toy for the mad visionaries in your house.

Regarding Missing Parts
I just read the review saying that the diagrams included with the set couldn't be created because the set did not include all parts. Just to set the record straight, I have personally constructed EVERY one of the diagrams (including the space alien), and ALL parts were indeed included.

My only complaint would be that it is often difficult to see from the pictures which parts to use in where, but that is certainly not a complaint with the toy itself.

Anyway, it's a great toy, and again, it has all the pieces necessary to complete all of the various creations shown for this set.

This is a great toy.
We got my son this set last Christmas when he was 3 1/2y.o and he plays with this all the time still. It's great if your kid likes to build. This is the one toy of his that has sustained the test of time - it is constantly all over our family room. The only down side is that we are constantly cleaning them up. Kids seem to love to pour them all out. He can make more complicated things then we can now. ... Read more