Everybody knows that boredom and cold don’t mix. If you’re stationed at a creepy Antarctic research station, for example, you can’t just stand around waiting for the Thing to… do its thing. You need to keep your mind occupied, and diverted from the bitter chill around you as well as possible alien attacks. In other words, you need a Rubik’s Cube made almost entirely of ice. An ice cube, if you will.
The Rubik’s Cube made of ice (“real ice” too, none of that dry ice stuff), is the creation of YouTuber and “twisty puzzle” aficionado Tony Fisher. Fisher has been making twisty puzzles, which essentially seem to be variations on the Rubik’s Cube, since 1980. Over the course of his career, he’s been responsible for numerous whacky and geometrically intricate versions of the cube, including the world’s tiniest Rubik’s Cube, which fits on the tip of one’s finger.
This ice cube takes the twisty puzzle game to the next level however, by using a material that will literally melt in your hands if you don’t solve the puzzle fast enough. Unless, of course, you are actually stationed in the Antarctic, or Hoth for that matter, and are able to puzzle solve in freezing temperatures. Or if you’re just insanely fast like these folks.
Below is a short video detailing how Fisher made the ice cube. And don’t be fooled by the footage at the beginning of the clip above. This cube was not somehow organically grown in a watery petri dish; that’s just footage of the cube melting played in reverse.
What do you think about this Rubik’s Cube made of ice? Is there something deeply satisfying about blocks of ice sliding across one and other as they ache and crack with cold? Or are you fine sticking with the good ol’ non-melting version of the already difficult puzzle game? Give us your thoughts in the comments below!
Images: Tony Fisher
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