Computer Simulations of Rubik-type Puzzles ------------------------------------------ This is a list of various computer Rubik's Cube simulations listed in rough chronological order. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rubik's Cube Programs --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cubesys by Bernie S. Greenberg Runs on LISP machine, MACLISP, originally for Multics operating system By Jan 29, 1981 it was completely mouse-driven. Developed by Greenberg at MIT as an artifical intelligence project. Cubesys was also used to produce the cube graphic for the March 1981 issue of Scientific American. rubik_is.exe by Mark Longridge Rubik_is.exe is my own creation. It is basically an NxNxN orthrographic simulation of a Rubik's cube that runs under msdos and on Amiga. N is a value from 2 to 10 inclusive. It also has a cycle editor, and all slice moves are supported. Also has an insolubility check (immediately determines a legal or illegal state) and squares group database. Finds optimal solution and symmetry level to any squares group position. Qsolve 1.2 by Mark Longridge My earlier work, Qsolve is a 3x3x3 cube simulation and solver for the commodore C64. It is quite fast, being able to solve the cube from any legal scramble in less than 10 seconds. Features colour editor, solution replay with pause, solution printout, stopwatch, and arrow notation window. Rubik by Bill Kinnersley A superb simulation of a 3x3x3 cube. It smoothly rotates sides and slices of the cube. Unfortunately all you can do is watch, however it is the best animated Rubik's cube I've ever seen. There is no date listed in the source code but there is reference to this program in a Usenet message dated Jul 25, 1986. Amiga version only, appears on Fish Disk #29. Rubik by Martin Round Another great Rubik's cube simulation, able to rotate the view of the cube in X, Y or Z and rotate the sides. Although not has fast as Kinnersley's demo in rotating the cube smoothly, the program can be speeded up by selecting a coarser rotation. Also able to solve the cube. Amiga version only, appears on Fish Disk #362. Skewb by Raymond S. Brand A good 3D simulation of the cube, which can go 2x2x2 to 10x10x10. You can change the number of layers while it's rotating, although like my programs it is a colour scroll only (cube doesn't move). Amiga version only, appears on Fish Disk #9. Rubik by Roger Uzun A Rubik's cube solver with 2D and 3D versions, translated from BASIC to C Language for the Amiga. This version has a clever point and click method for inputting the arrangement of the cube. The original BASIC version was by John Murphy for the NorthStart DOS 5.0 computer. Appears on Fish Disk #285. Cube by Martin Gitelson Another cube solver for the Amiga. Appears on Fish Disk #733. Rubik03b by Calvin Culver Excellent 3d (with a pictorial view) which works with EGA or Hercules graphics on the IBM PC. Lots of features including save, load and solve. The solving algorithm is neither as fast or as efficient as my own in Qsolve, however the author claims to have a thorough check for insolvability for the cube. (Although the program can't determine an illegal state immediately, it flags an illegal state when it can not proceed any further with the solution.) cube by Carl Raymond An interesting text only program which appeared in 1992 and can determine orders of cube operators. It can also save and load operators to a file. Thecube by P.K. Winter Another pictorial 3d cube simulation which requires VGA graphics on the IBM PC. This one appears to be quite recent, having been written in 1992! Neat sound effects via the PC speaker, also records your solving time after a scramble. Nice features: click on centre cube to rotate a side clockwise or counter-clockwise, has orthrographic view on screen with the pictorial view. Funcube by Anthony Ostuni Rubik's Cube simulation with save, load, new and redraw options. Has cube surrounded by circular areas which you click with the mouse in a similar fashion to Doug Cox's program. IBM version only. Cube by Doug Cox Rubik's Cube simulation with VGA graphics. Cube is surrounded by letters which cover all possible moves. IBM version only. Rubik's 5^3 by Ray Winter A surprising simulation of the 5x5x5 cube, again surrounded by letters which cover all moves, including slice moves, and all rotations in space. This is the only cube program I've seen so far that supports an OOPS! or undo function. C64 Version only. The Cube by KillTime Software, 1993 Version 1.0 A microsoft windows Rubik's cube program. Makes a game out of solving the cube. Simulation only, computer does not solve. Graphics are isometric. Cube by Thomas Erlebach Developed on a Unix workstation, currently work is being done to port to MS DOS for the IBM compatibles. A run of 10 solutions of well scrambled patterns yielded an average of 64 qtw. Written in ANSI C, this program is quite portable having no machine dependant code. Input and output of cube arrangements is by ASCII file only. It solves the cube from all 24 start positions and then uses the shortest of these 24 solutions. Cube by Dik Winter (based on Herbert Kociemba's algorithm) The world's best cube solver thus far! Input is by entering a string of moves or by arrangment from stdin. So far all patterns submitted to the program have solved in 20 moves (q+h) or less. Runs on Sun4 and Amiga (must have 2 megs of memory) Cube by Mike Reid (based on Herbert Kociemba's algorithm) More competition for the title of "Best Rubik's Cube solver". This version shows Mike Reid's optimizations for the q turn metric, and (even better) the code was generic enough to allow compiling under djgpp for MS-DOS! Source code and MS-DOS executable now available on the Internet as of Aug. 19th, 1997 Cube Explorer by Herbert Kociemba Not to be outdone by the people he has inspired, Herbert Kociemba the originator of the algorithm used by the best cube solving programs has created Cube Explorer for Win95. Boasts a 32-bit version of the Kociemba algorithm with an ingenious pattern finder. Very easy to use and feature laden. Herbert continues to improve his program. Highly recommended. 3Dcube by Warren Ward True 3-dimensional Rubik's cube program for VGA IBM with MS DOS. Rotates cube very smoothly in X, Y and Z planes. Mix and Save functions. Mouse supported. The numbers 1 through 6 to rotate sides. Implements standard tournament colours. File for documentation (3dcube.doc) is dated Dec. 24, 1994. Cubic by Geoffrey Chappell Another microsoft windows rubik's cube program circa 1991. Has option of setting the frames of animation for a twist (1 to 3). Uses mouse to move sides, slices, and the entire cube! Colours for cube are user selectable. Perhaps the best of all the user interfaces of ANY cube program. Cube by Andrew Lee & Hubert Lin (1993) Uses mouse or keyboard. Can rotate all six sides and rotate the cube on all 3 axis. Isometric graphics. MS DOS, VGA with turbo C source! Kubik 1.9.3 by Alexei Lebedev A Rubik's Cube Simulator for the Macintosh. You can rotate and turn the cube in real-time using the mouse or keyboard equivalent. You should find this freeware at http://www.shareware.com Rubik Unbound by Karl Hornell (1996) A great Rubik's Cube java applet which inspired at least one other program. Krubik 1.06 by Pieter Eendebak (1998) A rubik's cube program built using Qt/KDE from the KDE 1.0 era. Displays a 3d rubik's cube which is manipulated with the mouse. Based on code from Karl Hornell's Rubik Unbound java applet. QtCube by David A.S. Crofts (2005) A unique continually wobbling cube simulation built using Qt 3.3.8 IsoCubeSim by Michael Gottlieb (2006) The only cube simulation I have seen that simulates cubes of size AxBxC. Displays a 3d rubik's cube which is manipulated with the mouse. Comes with built in timer and is written in java. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Puzzle Programs --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Puzz by Martin Round A great sliding tile puzzle utility! Round includes several puzzles to use with this program including get-my-goat and flying puzzle. Uses mouse to select a move. The sample puzzles have great graphics! Amiga version only. Argh by David B. Howorth Another decent sliding tile program. Like Puzz it includes the flying puzzle. Mlloyd by Bob Lancaster An interesting game built around Sam Lloyd's 15 puzzle. In this case the author gives you the solvable version of the puzzle. Go through 4 rounds of increasing difficulty and try to solve it in the fewest possible moves. IBM version only. Yawn! by Lorenz Wiest Another sliding tile puzzle program. This one uses a small portion of the screen, and can be adjusted from 4x4 to 7x7. The author suggests you play with Yawn! while waiting for compiles. Amiga version only. Triskelion by Neil J. Rubenking A rather unusual version of the Hungarian Rings puzzle. In this one, there are 3 overlapping circles. This runs on IBM compatibles at least EGA graphics. TakTix by Alan Weiss A 2-player puzzle game, similar to the coin-op game Ataxx. Moves consist of placing or moving pieces in a 7x7 square playing field. To make a move first select a square already occupied by a piece of your color. You may either place a new piece in an adjacent square or move the selected piece to a new location two squares away. IBM version only. Frac & Frac 4D by Max Shapiro Frac is a 3 dimensional stacking program similar to Blockout. Update: New version IFrac is available for Linux & Windows available at http://ifrac.tripod.com/pc/ Beetris by Max Shapiro Similar to Tetris. Uses hexagonal pieces. Some of these programs can be found on the internet or at http://cubeman.org/cubesoft.html