Jaap's Puzzle Page

Cubic Circular

The Cubic Circular magazine was written and produced by David Singmaster in the early Eighties. The first issue was a small 16 page pink booklet, of about 19.5 × 14cm. Later issues were on yellow paper and slightly larger at 21 × 14.5cm (A5 format). There were only 5 magazines published, of which 3 were double issues:

Cubic Circular
Issue 1:16 pagesAutumn 1981
Issue 2:16 pagesSpring 1982
Issue 3 & 4:     36 pages     Spring & Summer 1982
Issue 5 & 6:28 pagesAutumn & Winter 1982
Issue 7 & 8:48 pagesSummer 1985

David Singmaster still has copies of the Cubic Circular available, so I highly recommend acquiring them from him directly, as they are collectible items. David can be contacted via e-mail (zingmast at sbu.ac.uk) or at:

David Singmaster
87 Rodenhurst Road
London, SW4 8AF
United Kingdom

You can also get them from the Village Games shop in Camden Lock, London.

David Singmaster has very kindly allowed me to reproduce the magazines on this site. I have tried to keep it as close to the original as possible, so I have kept the images in the same style (even though most pictures have been redrawn) and kept the same page numbering. A sheet with corrections was included with the first issue, pertaining mostly to the article about Ernő Rubik, so I have inserted it at that point. I have occasionally inserted a comment or correction of my own, and to be clearly distinguishable from David's original text my comments are in italics and in square brackets,
[like this - J ].

Below are the Tables of Contents. All page numbers are links, as well as the buttons.


Cubic Circular Logo
 

Issue 1    Autumn 1981

2Welcome, Advertisement and Introduction
3Ernő Rubik and his Cube
5Cube Variations
5     Sticker Variations
6     23
7     43, Truncated cubes
8     Ball and Globe
9     Octagon Prism, Pillow Cube
10Pyraminx - The Magic Tetrahedron
12Clubs
12Shortest Times and Competitions
14Funny Moves
14Errata to my Notes
15General Anecdotes
16Marital Anecdotes
 

Issue 2    Spring 1982

2Introduction
2News
3New Books
3Newsletters
3Competitions, Times, etc.
4Lead Hazards ?
6Other Medical Anecdotes
8Technical Notes
8     34, counting arguments, 43
9Sliding Piece Puzzles
9     4×4, Crossover
9     Sliding Cube Puzzles
10     Cylindrical Puzzles
11     Remarks on Difficulty
13     Trillion, Interlocking Cycle Puzzles
14     Hungarian Rings, Disc Chess, Rotascope
15     Equator
16     Switchable Cycle Puzzles, Orbit, Diogenes, Vip Sphere
 

Issue 3 & 4    Spring & Summer 1982

2Editor's Corner
2Songs
2Answer
3Cubic Quarterlies
4The First World Championship
7Other Competitions, Cubic Cannabis
8New Cube Products
12     Siamese Cube, Skewb
13A. Pryl - Fool!
14Rubik's Revenge - The 43
17Winning Ways on the U Group
18The 53
19The Magic Dodecahedron and Alexander's Star
21Magic Polyhedra
25Rubik Robots
26Pretty Patterns
34Orders of Elements
36The Magic Disc
36Comments on the U Group
 

Issue 5 & 6    Autumn & Winter 1982

2Editor's Corner
2More on the U Group
2Cubathons
3The n-Dimensional Cube Solved
4Miscellany
5New Cube Products
7Tsukuda's Square
8More Clubs
9Generalized Hungarian Rings
10The Incredi-Ball (or Impossiball)
10Going Ape over the Cube
11Some Geometric Puzzles
11     A. Eight Cube Rings
13     B. Twelve Tetrahedra Rings
14     C. Cubic Snakes
15Some Notes on the 43
18Pyraminx
19     Pyraminx Patterns
22Cubism and Religion
23Prehistory of the Cube
24Local Maxima
25The Trials of the Cube
25A Czech Check Problem
26God's Algorithms
28First Day Cover
28Block of 4 Stamps
 

Issue 7 & 8    Summer 1985

2Editor's Corner, Oxford Series in Recreational Mathematics
3Sources in Recreational Mathematics. Centre for Mathematical Recreations and Puzzles. Puzzling Announcements.
4New Cube Products.
6Rainbow Patterns.
7Shepherd's Bloody Cube.
8More on the U Group. More on Local Maxima. Some Pretty Random Patterns.
9Some Comments about the 43. A 34 Simulator.
10The Theory of the n3.
12The 53.
13Rubik's Mate - The Siamese Cubes.
14Geometry of the 63 and 73.
15The Skewb or Pyraminx Cube.
18God's Algorithm for the Pyraminx,
19Uriblock. More on the Hungarian Rings.
20Some Notes on Polyhedra.
24     Regular Polyhedra,
25     Kepler-Poinsot Polyhedra.
26     Honeycombs.
27     Semi-regular Polyhedra.
28     Archimedean Polyhedra.
30     Archimedean Tessellations.
31     Uniform Polyhedra. Regular-faced Polyhedra.
32     Tessellations and Tilings.
34     Addendum.
35Sliding Cube Puzzles.
36A Rubric on Rubik Cubics. By Claude Shannon.
39The XL-25.
43Curious Cubic Correspondence.
45A 43 Competition. 1000DM in Prizes. A Cubic Sick Joke.
46Rubik's Foundation. Youngest Cubist? Cubic Mail Box. Rubik Cubik Magik. A Novel Appearance.
47The History and Further Trials of the Cube. A Rumour.
48Some Pyraminx Variations. A Mad Comment.

The text and original drawings are copyright © David Singmaster, reproduced here with permission. Conversion to html and additional commentary by Jaap Scherphuis.