Puzzle, Rubik's Wahn

Description:

This puzzle is a version of a Rubik’s Cube with each face showing a 5 X 5 square instead of the usual 3 X 3 square. The German name Rubik’s Wahn is usually translated as Rubik’s Mania. This puzzle is very much more complicated to solve than the traditional 3 X 3 X 3 Rubik’s cube and the 4 X 4 X 4 Rubik’s Revenge Cube (2006.0061.06).

While the traditional Rubik’s cubes has more than 43,000,000,000,000,000,000 (18 zeros) possible arrangements of the small cubes, Rubik’s Revenge has more than 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (45 zeros) possible arrangements, and this puzzle, Rubik’s Wahn, has more than 282,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (72 zeros) possible arrangements.

This puzzle was invented by Udo Krell of Hamburg, Germany, (US Patent number 4,600,199) and was made in about 1983. It is among Rubik’s Cube related items from the Cube Museum, which operated in Grand Junction, Colorado, from 1988 to 1991. For more information about the Rubik’s Cube and other twisting puzzles that use the same or similar mechanisms see 1987.0805.01.

Reference:

RubikZone [Number of Combinations] website.