Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/03/14/twistable-snake-reminds-me-of.html
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Ahh many a wasted hour figuring out how to make different things with that or just doing and undoing the ball. Yes that most definitely counts as a fidget toy.
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My son had one and we fought over it!
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weren’t these a Rubik invention? seems weird not to credit him if so.
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I am not sure if it is, or they just marketed it and I didn’t want to get into claiming this "Rubik’s " as it is clearly knock-off.
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Yes, it was definitely invented by Ernő Rubik. According to Wikipedia and according to the Twisty Puzzle museum
Incidentally, the various versions distributed by the Rubik’s brand and the Japanese version by Tsukuda are far superior to the knockoffs currently available everywhere.
Here’s a fansite cataloging many figures (including some hard ones); they can all be rotated in 3d. It also explains the Rubik’s Snake notation and it even has a notation-to-3d player.
http://thomas-wolter.de/rubik_easy_en.html
I have many Rubik’s Snakes and I like how you can also combine two or more to create even more complex figures. Hours of fun!
Edit to add: Here’s a bigger ball made out of two Rubik’s Snakes.
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I’ll second this- I’ve had a few knockoffs, and they’ve all been held together with a monofilament thread, which stretches over time. The genuine ones have a kind of rivet or bolt, which is much more durable.
Have you got any large ones? I remember some huge ones from the 1980s (though I was much smaller at the time).
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Along those lines, may I also suggest:
These thankfully decreased in price substantially, perhaps due to the emergence of fidget cubes and fidget spinners, such that one is no longer obliged to pay MoMA’s astonishing prices.
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These are made with the ball joint and come with a kit that allows you to add/remove links.
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aha – thank you! i love when my memory holds up on random things like this. TAKE THAT, GOOGLE! heh
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Yes, the one on my picture is from the 90s and it the same size as the one from the 80s. There are many tiny versions and they are rarely any good. These big ones are really solid and they have a very satisfying click sound when they snap in place after every rotation, which contributes to the overall experience.
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