It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a Rubik's Cube on steroids!
NO - It's Scruble Cube!!!!
I know I was!
On first glance I didn't know if I was supposed to use it to spell words or write chemical equations!
The object of the Scruble Cube is to form words on the cube using letter pegs of different values. Words can begin and end anywhere on the cube and are formed in a single line. Words may be formed around the cube surface using adjacent letters so that more than one cube surface is part of the word formed. The Scruble Cube game contains premium pegs (such as: 2x Word Score, 2x Letter Score, etc ) for added word and letter point scoring.
Players take the cube and begin their turn. Turns may be either timed, or untimed until a suitable word is formed.
The first player forms a word consisting of three or more letters. The score is added up by combining the letter points for that word.
To complete your turn, announce the word point total for your word and record it on the score sheet. Then pass the cube clockwise to the next player.
Unlike a crossword puzzle, the next player may form an entirely new word that is separate from any other word in order to get a new score. But, if the second player is able to form a crossword like connection to an existing word, that player will receive the score for both words.
The game ends when one player exceeds a target number of points or a predetermined number of founds have been played. A typical Scruble Cube target in 100 points or 10 rounds.
And, if using the Scruble as a spelling puzzle isn't challenging enough for you, RSV Productions has also come up with free, ingenious lesson plans for Math, English, Spelling, Language and Science for grades 3-10.
Getting accustomed to looking for letters all around a 3-D object instead of a flat board took some getting use to. My 13 and 10 year olds had no problem finding words. For my 8 year old, this was over whelming. So, we took turns helping her start off a word or end a word.
Sadly, we were unable to use the cube with the lesson plans due to the untimely demise of our cube. After being warned about the fragility of the cube when dropped, I had my children play with it sitting down on the carpet. One afternoon while getting the cube out for playtime, it slipped out of my hands, hit the floor and shattered into many pieces.
While I think this product is great and a good way to get a mental workout, given our experience with it falling apart I would not recommend purchasing it until a sturdier model is manufactured.
Scruble Cube retails for $24.95 and is for ages 8 and up. You can read more at: http://www.scrublecube.com/
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Disclaimer: I received this item free of charge in exchange for an honest review.