The X-Cube is now available at the following locations:
The Kickstarter campaign successfully raised funds for production.
How are you selling the X-Cube?
- Click on either of the above images to be directed to a purchasing page
- Order an X-Cube through Shopstarter by clicking the "Order" tab above.
- Backers purchased the X-Cube through the Kickstarter campaign.
- Marbles the Brain Store, a chain of stores based out of Chicago, is currently carrying the puzzle.
How did you mass produce the X-Cube?
Scott Brown of Marbles introduced me to a trusted manufacturer in Hong Kong that has been operating for a few decades. This manufacturer worked with me to bring the X-Cube to life, and did a stellar job of it.The Story:
When I was in the 7th grade, a teamate of mine in FIRST Lego Robotics taught me how to solve a 3x3x3. It became my first true love. We sat together every day on the school bus, and I spent countless hours learning its quirks. Two years later during the summer of 2008, we took our relationship to the next level. Using a dremel tool and a plastic casting kit, I hand built a 3x3x5 logic puzzle. You can see that here. It's not most well crafted puzzle, but I was proud.
When I was working on the 3x3x5, I came up with a design that allowed the extension of another two faces. I decided I would call rhis one the "X-Cube." But I knew I would not achieve precision building it by hand. That’s when I turned to 3D printing. The cube’s progress was halted until I gained access to such a printer.
Four years later during my sophomore fall semester at Illinois Tech, I was inspired to revisit the project. I brought the X-Cube CAD files to our Idea Shop and had the puzzle 3D printed. I decided to share a video of my creation on Reddit, and I woke up the next day to thousands of views! The video went viral and reached 1.5 million views in 9 days. That's when I knew I needed to share this.
My dream is to be an inventor and entrepreneur, and this project was a great opportunity to start.
