YOU CAN DO THE RUBIK'S IMPOSSIBLE
Hints and Tips
WHAT IS THE RUBIK'S IMPOSSIBLE?
The Rubik's Impossible is a Rubik's Cube made with lenticular tiles. Lenticular tiles are comprised of two colors and the visible color is determined by the viewing angle.
HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE
This guide offers hints and tips to help you solve the Rubik's Impossible using the same layered method used to solve the Rubik's Cube, with a few additional algorithms. If you do not know how to solve the Rubik's Cube, see the Solution Guide on: www.YouCanDoTheCube.com and learn to solve the Rubik's Cube before you conquer the Rubik's Impossible.
? Throughout the guide you will see this symbol to indicate helpful tips. Take the time to read the tips closely.
The gray areas on the Rubik's Impossible mean that at the stage you are working on, the color of the gray pieces doesn't matter.
TIPS FOR SUCCESS
- Examine your Rubik's Impossible carefully before scrambling it.
- Take your time and be patient.
- You may find that because the Rubik's Impossible is a visual challenge, some of the algorithms you have memorized to solve the Rubik's Cube may not be top of mind. So keep our Rubik's Cube solution guide handy on www.YouCanDoTheCube.com
- Be sure your hands are clean to minimize smudges.
- Being in a well-lit environment makes it easier to identify the colors.
- Holding the Rubik's Impossible farther away – arm's length – could help seeing the colors “transition”.
- Use small sticky notes to keep track of pieces you are looking to move.
GET TO KNOW YOUR RUBIK'S IMPOSSIBLE
SOLVED STATE
Your Rubik's Impossible comes in its solved state.
SOLVED REFERENCE GUIDE
Cut out the solved Rubik's Impossible grid on page 5 to refer back to once your Rubik's Impossible is scrambled.
CENTER PIECES
The center pieces, like the original Rubik's Cube, do not change color and are fixed to the internal core.
DOMINANT TILE COLOR
Each tile has a dominant color. They're the same face colors as the original Rubik's Cube. When correctly solved, each tile's dominant color will be the color of its center piece when viewed at the same angle.
SECONDARY TILE COLOR
Most tiles also have a secondary color. You can see these colors as you rotate the Rubik's Impossible. The Transition Angle is the angle of view when the tile switches color. Tiles with the same dominant color will transition at the same transition angle. Each solved face has a different transition point.
LETTER COLOR KEY
In this guide the dominant and secondary colors of each tile are represented with their color letter initial on the reference grid.
W = WHITE, B = BLUE, O = ORANGE, Y = YELLOW, G = GREEN, R = RED
TILE COLOR REFERENCE
To show the two possible colors on each tile, the dominant color is the bold letter in the top left corner and the secondary color is the letter in the bottom right corner. The dominant color is outlined around each tile.
B = Dominant, Y = Secondary
R = Dominant, G = Secondary
RUBIK'S IMPOSSIBLE GRID
When correctly solved, the grid opposite can be held at an angle so ALL tiles are BLUE, the dominant solved color. When the face is tilted, the tiles will transition to the secondary colors shown by the letter other than “B” located in the lower right corner of each tile. If there is only one letter and color on the tile, that tile is an Anchor Tile (AT). Anchor Tiles are explained on page 3.
Anchor Tiles (AT) and Anchor Corners (AC) on the grid are shown by colored circles in the bottom left of their tile.
TILE LINES
Notice that each tile has lines or ridges which you can feel with your fingernail. The lines on the center pieces of the grid indicate the orientation of the tile lines of every tile on each face when correctly solved. The lines help determine if pieces AROUND the center piece are correctly placed.
If the tile lines on the center piece are correctly oriented but the tile lines on another piece on that face do not match the center line orientation, then that piece is NOT correctly placed.
ANCHOR TILES
Anchor Tiles are tiles that do NOT transition in color and are therefore ONLY ONE COLOR. These tiles are shown with ONE COLOR and ONE INITIAL.
CENTER PIECES
All CENTER pieces are Anchor Tiles and just like a standard Rubik's Cube, the relationship between the center pieces does not change.
ANCHOR CORNER (AC)
There is only ONE Anchor Corner. This is RED, GREEN and WHITE.
ANCHOR TILES (AT)
There are SIX Anchor Tiles that match the center piece when correctly solved.
AC = ANCHOR CORNER
AT = ANCHOR TILE
AMBIGUOUS PIECES
There are THREE ambiguous pieces on the Rubik's Impossible. Ambiguous pieces are edges that share the same transition tile colors.
There is ONE edge 1 that is ORANGE/BLUE or BLUE/ORANGE.
There are TWO edges 2 and 3 that share the same FOUR colors. Each contains a RED/GREEN tile and a BLUE/ORANGE tile.
? YOU DETERMINE AN AMBIGUOUS PIECES DOMINANT COLOR BY ITS TRANSITION ANGLE:
The ambiguous piece will transition from its secondary color to its dominant color at the same angle as the other solved tiles.
RUBIK'S IMPOSSIBLE SOLVED REFERENCE GRID
Cut out the solved Rubik's Impossible reference grid on page 5 and fold/glue the solved paper Rubik's Impossible to refer back to. You can also download this reference grid from www.YouCanDoTheCube.com
RUBIK'S IMPOSSIBLE HINTS & TIPS
LAYER ONE
? MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE RUBIK'S CUBE GUIDE HANDY
The Rubik's Impossible is a different challenge to the Rubik's Cube so it's handy to have a little reminder of some of your memorized algorithms.
For the complete guide on how to solve the Rubik's Cube using the layered method, download our solution guide on: www.YouCanDoTheCube.com
Creating the white cross
Try solving the WHITE face first using the layered method. We recommend starting with the WHITE face because there are TWO Anchor Tiles and none of the THREE ambiguous pieces.
The WHITE cross contains an Anchor Edge Tile.
After solving the WHITE cross and BEFORE placing the WHITE corners, make sure the TILE LINES on the WHITE center matches the WHITE edges. If it doesn't, follow the algorithm below holding the WHITE cross on the up face.
LAYER ONE
Solving the white corners
One of the WHITE corners is the ANCHOR CORNER.
Another WHITE corner contains a BLUE ANCHOR TILE.
Color reference - white face
When your Rubik's Impossible matches the grid above you can move to the next stage!
HOLDING YOUR RUBIK'S IMPOSSIBLE
Hold your Rubik's Impossible with the WHITE on the UP (U) face.
Orient the center tile lines
BEFORE flipping the cube over, orient the tile lines on the four centers of the middle layer.
If there is a center that is not oriented the right way, holding the center that needs to be reoriented on the FRONT FACE, follow the algorithm below. Do this for each center in the middle layer that needs to be oriented.
RUBIK'S IMPOSSIBLE HINTS & TIPS
MIDDLE LAYER
HOLDING YOUR RUBIK'S IMPOSSIBLE
Hold your Rubik's Impossible with the YELLOW on the UP (U) face.
Solving the middle layer
When solving the middle layer watch out for the ambiguous edges.
The BLUE/ORANGE edge pieces secondary colors are also BLUE and ORANGE. So, after placing the piece, if the dominant colors do not have the same transition angle, then the piece needs to be removed and placed back in the other way.
The edge piece that goes between the BLUE and RED centers, and the edge piece that goes between the GREEN and ORANGE centers have the same transition colors. So, after placing one of these edges, if the dominant colors do not have the same transition angle, then that edge goes in the other location.
Color reference - middle layer
When your Rubik's Impossible looks like the picture here, you have solved the middle layer and you can now solve the final layer!
RUBIK'S IMPOSSIBLE HINTS & TIPS
FINAL LAYER
Solving the yellow cross
When orienting the YELLOW cross:
One of the edges has a YELLOW Anchor Tile.
Another edge contains YELLOW on both of its tiles.
YELLOW CENTER TILE LINES
If the other five centers were already correctly oriented, then the YELLOW center will automatically orient.
Solving the yellow corners
When orienting the YELLOW corners, one of the corners contains two YELLOWS. When correctly placed the YELLOW/RED tile will be on the YELLOW face.
ANCHOR TILES
There are THREE different Anchor Tiles on THREE different YELLOW corners: GREEN, RED and ORANGE. Use these Anchor Tiles as a positioning reference.
Color reference - yellow face & corners
YELLOW EDGES
At this stage your YELLOW edges may be in a different location than the color reference above. You will need to orient these pieces in the final step.
You've solved the yellow face & corners! Only a few more moves to solve the Rubik's Impossible. We'll let you take it from here.
