The Cubic Circular magazine was written and produced by David Singmaster in the early Eighties. The first issue was a small 16 page pink booklet, of about 19.5 × 14cm. Later issues were on yellow paper and slightly larger at 21 × 14.5cm (A5 format). There were only 5 magazines published, of which 3 were double issues:
Issue 1: | 16 pages | Autumn 1981 |
Issue 2: | 16 pages | Spring 1982 |
Issue 3 & 4: | 36 pages | Spring & Summer 1982 |
Issue 5 & 6: | 28 pages | Autumn & Winter 1982 |
Issue 7 & 8: | 48 pages | Summer 1985 |
David Singmaster still has copies of the Cubic Circular available, so I highly recommend acquiring them from him directly, as they are collectible items. David can be contacted via e-mail (zingmast at sbu.ac.uk) or at:
David Singmaster
87 Rodenhurst Road
London, SW4 8AF
United Kingdom
David Singmaster has very kindly allowed me to reproduce the magazines on
this site. I have tried to keep it as close to the original as possible, so I have kept the
images in the same style (even though most pictures have been redrawn) and kept the same page
numbering. A sheet with corrections was included with the first issue, pertaining
mostly to the article about Ernö Rubik, so I have inserted it at that point. I have
occasionally inserted a comment or correction of my own, and to be clearly distinguishable
from David's original text my comments are in italics and in square brackets,
[like this - J ].
Below are the Tables of Contents. All page numbers are links, as well as the buttons.
Issue 1 Autumn 1981 | ||
2 | Welcome, Advertisement and Introduction | |
3 | Ernö Rubik and his Cube | |
5 | Cube Variations | |
5 | Sticker Variations | |
6 | 23 | |
7 | 43, Truncated cubes | |
8 | Ball and Globe | |
9 | Octagon Prism, Pillow Cube | |
10 | Pyraminx - The Magic Tetrahedron | |
12 | Clubs | |
12 | Shortest Times and Competitions | |
14 | Funny Moves | |
14 | Errata to my Notes | |
15 | General Anecdotes | |
16 | Marital Anecdotes | |
Issue 2 Spring 1982 | ||
2 | Introduction | |
2 | News | |
3 | New Books | |
3 | Newsletters | |
3 | Competitions, Times, etc. | |
4 | Lead Hazards ? | |
6 | Other Medical Anecdotes | |
8 | Technical Notes | |
8 | 34, counting arguments, 43 | |
9 | Sliding Piece Puzzles | |
9 | 4×4, Crossover | |
9 | Sliding Cube Puzzles | |
10 | Cylindrical Puzzles | |
11 | Remarks on Difficulty | |
13 | Trillion, Interlocking Cycle Puzzles | |
14 | Hungarian Rings, Disc Chess, Rotascope | |
15 | Equator | |
16 | Switchable Cycle Puzzles, Orbit, Diogenes, Vip Sphere | |
Issue 3 & 4 Spring & Summer 1982 | ||
2 | Editor's Corner | |
2 | Songs | |
2 | Answer | |
3 | Cubic Quarterlies | |
4 | The First World Championship | |
7 | Other Competitions, Cubic Cannabis | |
8 | New Cube Products | |
12 | Siamese Cube, Skewb | |
13 | A. Pryl - Fool! | |
14 | Rubik's Revenge - The 43 | |
17 | Winning Ways on the U Group | |
18 | The 53 | |
19 | The Magic Dodecahedron and Alexander's Star | |
21 | Magic Polyhedra | |
25 | Rubik Robots | |
26 | Pretty Patterns | |
34 | Orders of Elements | |
36 | The Magic Disc | |
36 | Comments on the U Group | |
Issue 5 & 6 Autumn & Winter 1982 | ||
2 | Editor's Corner | |
2 | More on the U Group | |
2 | Cubathons | |
3 | The n-Dimensional Cube Solved | |
4 | Miscellany | |
5 | New Cube Products | |
7 | Tsukuda's Square | |
8 | More Clubs | |
9 | Generalized Hungarian Rings | |
10 | The Incredi-Ball (or Impossiball) | |
10 | Going Ape over the Cube | |
11 | Some Geometric Puzzles | |
11 | A. Eight Cube Rings | |
13 | B. Twelve Tetrahedra Rings | |
14 | C. Cubic Snakes | |
15 | Some Notes on the 43 | |
18 | Pyraminx | |
19 | Pyraminx Patterns | |
22 | Cubism and Religion | |
23 | Prehistory of the Cube | |
24 | Local Maxima | |
25 | The Trials of the Cube | |
25 | A Czech Check Problem | |
26 | God's Algorithms | |
28 | First Day Cover | |
28 | Block of 4 Stamps | |
Issue 7 & 8 Summer 1985 | ||
2 | Editor's Corner, Oxford Series in Recreational Mathematics | |
3 | Sources in Recreational Mathematics. Centre for Mathematical Recreations and Puzzles. Puzzling Announcements. | |
4 | New Cube Products. | |
6 | Rainbow Patterns. | |
7 | Shepherd's Bloody Cube. | |
8 | More on the U Group. More on Local Maxima. Some Pretty Random Patterns. | |
9 | Some Comments about the 43. A 34 Simulator. | |
10 | The Theory of the n3. | |
12 | The 53. | |
13 | Rubik's Mate - The Siamese Cubes. | |
14 | Geometry of the 63 and 73. | |
15 | The Skewb or Pyraminx Cube. | |
18 | God's Algorithm for the Pyraminx, | |
19 | Uriblock. More on the Hungarian Rings. | |
20 | Some Notes on Polyhedra. | |
24 | Regular Polyhedra, | |
25 | Kepler-Poinsot Polyhedra. | |
26 | Honeycombs. | |
27 | Semi-regular Polyhedra. | |
28 | Archimedean Polyhedra. | |
30 | Archimedean Tessellations. | |
31 | Uniform Polyhedra. Regular-faced Polyhedra. | |
32 | Tessellations and Tilings. | |
34 | Addendum. | |
35 | Sliding Cube Puzzles. | |
36 | A Rubric on Rubik Cubics. By Claude Shannon. | |
39 | The XL-25. | |
43 | Curious Cubic Correspondence. | |
45 | A 43 Competition. 1000DM in Prizes. A Cubic Sick Joke. | |
46 | Rubik's Foundation. Youngest Cubist? Cubic Mail Box. Rubik Cubik Magik. A Novel Appearance. | |
47 | The History and Further Trials of the Cube. A Rumour. | |
48 | Some Pyraminx Variations. A Mad Comment. |
The text and original drawings are copyright © David Singmaster, reproduced here with permission. Conversion to html and additional commentary by Jaap Scherphuis.