by Paul Martz
From the Editor: I believe this is Paul’s first contribution to our magazine. He started going blind in 2004, and in 2014, he switched to screen readers, learned Braille, and bought his first tactile cube. That’s when he began to identify as blind. He worked for thirty years as a software developer. In his retirement, he writes. Beyond the Rubik’s Cube book, he is a published author of science fiction. He also blogs about blind technology at the AppleVis website. In addition to all of this, he reads voraciously. Here is what he says about the Rubik’s Cube:
NFB’s partnership with Spin Master to develop the Rubik’s Sensory Cube is exciting news. It sets a standard for tactile cube markings, increases the legitimacy of non-visual cubing, and opens cubing to a much wider audience.
What? You’re not excited? You should be.
Solving the cube provides many benefits. It’s a great tool for exercising both short- and long-term memory that develops tactile sensitivity, fine motor skills, and problem-solving ability—valuable skills for anyone living in today’s fast-paced world.
The cube is also relaxing and meditative. When solving, I enter the same flow state that many authors, musicians, and athletes experience. It’s a pleasant form of concentration that exercises my brain, nervous system, and muscle memory.
Never mind all that. It’s infectiously fun. It’s a craze that has endured for decades, attracting new enthusiasts every day from ages seven to seventy. Once you learn to solve a cube, you’re unlikely to put it down.
I’ve been a cuber since the Ideal Toy Company launched the Rubik’s Cube in 1980. At the time, I was a seventeen-year-old puzzle nut with low vision. Solution guides hadn’t been published yet, and the internet was a distant science fiction dream. To solve the cube, I spent weeks filling a notebook with ideas and observations until I had devised my solution.
When I lost my remaining vision to retinitis pigmentosa, I switched to off-brand tactile cubes or modified standard cubes with bump dots. The quality has been variable, and of the many cubes I own, no two are exactly alike. I’m looking forward to comparing a Rubik’s Sensory Cube to my ad hoc solutions.
Today, I solve the cube in World Cube Association events, competing alongside my sighted peers. I’m part of a global cubing community that puts me in contact with other cubers around the world. I’m not setting any world records, but as a sixty-plus senior solving a tactile cube, I’m rather proud of my unofficial one-minute, seventeen-second personal best.
Nonetheless, two barriers impede our ability to participate in this stimulating pastime. The cubing community has innumerable websites, videos, software tools, and solution guides devoted to solving the cube. As you might expect, most of this information is visual, creating an accessibility issue for the blind community.
Fortunately, this is a problem I can fix. I’m writing a solution guide intended for blind readers. The book and companion website will provide text-based instructions for solving the 3x3 cube with no images or diagrams. I hope to publish the book in Braille sometime next year.
The second barrier is a lack of standardization. The original Rubik’s Cube uses six colors in a standard arrangement, often known as BOY, for the clockwise ordering of the blue, orange, and yellow sides. Sighted cubers can pick up any cube and find the colors in their expected locations.
In contrast, there are no standards for tactile cubes. Different manufacturers use different tactile shapes and arrangements. Once you become accustomed to a particular arrangement and style of textures, it will take a significant amount of time and practice to adjust to another tactile cube. The success of the Sensory Cube and Rubik’s brand strength will pressure other manufacturers to adopt its texture style and arrangement as a standard.
I applaud NFB and Spin Master for partnering on this important development. An affordable high-quality accessible alternative to the standard cube has been long overdue. The success of the Sensory Cube might inspire other toy manufacturers to create more inclusive products. And making this classic puzzle accessible includes us in a pastime that has historically been closed.