Mobile game Rubik’s Match gets seal of approval from Rubik’s Cube inventor

Fifty years ago, Ernő Rubik invented his first working prototype of the Rubik’s Cube, the irresistible little moving box that remains a staple for puzzle enthusiasts around the world. And now, a new free mobile game is available with the inventor’s seal of approval, titled Rubik’s Matchdeveloped by Nørdlight Games.

“Puzzles have always been close to my heart and mind,” Ernő Rubik said, via a press release on Rubik’s Match“As a child, I would spend hours playing tangram or 15-piece puzzles, and I also enjoyed solving chess problems. Some puzzles fascinated me because of their complexity, others because of the simplicity of their basic ideas, still others because of their beauty or novelty. I always preferred the difficult puzzles, not the easy ones.” According to PR, Rubik “took part in the early tests of the game in Stockholm and collaborated on one of the levels.”

Rubik’s Match is somewhat different from the original Rubik’s Cube, as it’s primarily a match-3 puzzle game, with cartoon-themed designs inspired by the original cube. The catchy synth pop music was a highlight for me as I worked through several puzzles on my iPhone earlier today. So far, it’s more like playing Bejeweled than solving a Rubik’s Cube, but that’s not a bad thing for me, someone who enjoys Bejeweled a lot. I already have a feeling that the puzzles will get harder the more I play, and I’m curious to see how that plays out.

Ernő Rubik also provided this brain-teasing quote to Polygon, which I’ll have to keep in mind as I tackle the game’s tougher puzzles: “Inspiration is unpredictable. You keep working on a problem in your mind and something quite unexpected helps you find a solution. It could be a passage from a novel or the pebbles on the bank of a river. You have to be ready and receptive to be inspired and act on it.”