Cubic Circular

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

You can also get them from the Village Games shop in Camden Lock, London.

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 Ernő 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		Ernő 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.

Jaap's Puzzle Page

Cubic Circular

Issue 1 Autumn 1981

Issue 2 Spring 1982

Issue 3 & 4 Spring & Summer 1982

Issue 5 & 6 Autumn & Winter 1982

Issue 7 & 8 Summer 1985