Received: from Xerox.COM (TCP 1500006350) by AI.AI.MIT.EDU 6 Aug 88 20:38:38 EDT Received: from Flora.ms by ArpaGateway.ms ; 06 AUG 88 17:33:10 PDT Sender: Hoffman.es@Xerox.COM Date: 6 Aug 88 17:33:32 PDT (Saturday) Subject: Re: Rubik's Clock In-follow-up-to: My message of 26 Jul 88 13:25:00 PDT (Tuesday) <880726-132412-1483@Xerox> From: Rodney Hoffman To: Cube-Lovers@AI.AI.MIT.EDU Message-ID: <880806-173310-2387@Xerox> Recently, I posted (twice -- sorry!) a short note from the 'Los Angeles Times' about Rubik's Clock. Another paper had just a little more information. From the 'Los Angeles Herald Examiner', July 26, 1988: RUBIK'S PUZZLING NEW TWIST Father of cube craze offers clock toy for those with time on their hands LONDON (AP) - The Hungarian professor [pictured] who frustrated millions with his Rubik's Cube is introducing his latest mind-twister -- a puzzle he says even he hasn't solved, a spokeswoman for the toy company marketing the product said yesterday. But Erno Rubik's failure has not arisen from a lack of ability, merely a lack of time to puzzle out the secrets of Rubik's Clock, said Melanie Bateman of Matchbox Toys Ltd. "Really, it's not because it's impossible, he's just too busy to take the time to do it," she said, adding that the new toy will be launched at a major London toy store on Saturday. Rubik's latest brain-teasing toy requires a player to get 18 clocks on both sides of a plastic disc to strike midnight simultaneously by twisting wheels that turn some of the hands but not others, said Bateman. Speaking of his latest invention, Rubik warned in a press release: "Don't cheat by being taught how to do it by someone else. It is much more satisfying to decode the puzzle on your own." "It is important to remember that your brain needs to be kept in shape ... My new puzzle can help because it enables you to focus entirely on finding the formula which, although it may seem frustrating at the time, will do you good," he added. Rubik's Clock will retain for about $12, Bateman said. Rubik, 44, a professor of architecture and design at the Academy of Arts and Crafts in Budapest, invented the multicolored Rubik's Cube as a teaching aid. After the success of the cube, which sold more than 120 million units worldwide, he founded a private business, Rubik's Studio, in conjunction with the Hungarian government.