The Rubik’s WOWCube: More Than Just A Digital Puzzle

The Game Awards week was filled with more than just video games this year. While I was in LA to attend the awards, I was offered the opportunity to check out the Rubik’s WOWCube, a new, digital version of everyone’s favourite Rubik’s Cube. I had only seen pictures of the device online, but after seeing it in person, I can absolutely see the appeal.

The Rubik’s WOWCube started as a digital play on the Rubik’s Cube, but it has developed into so much more than a matching game with screens. The device can be decorative, educational, functional and fun. It has even been authenticated by Stem.org! We were able to sit down with CMO of Rubik’s WOWCube, Napoleon Smith III, ahead of the busy Christmas shopping season to learn more about the device and why people are talking about it.

How about you start us at the beginning? What made the Rubik’s WOWCube come to be?

Napoleon Smith III: It was actually a 14-year-old kid who came up with the idea. And he lived in Russia, him and his dad, and they decided to move to the United States, and now they’re American citizens. And I saw him about five years ago at a Maker’s Fair, and they came up with a prototype. So, this has been four or five years in the making.

He had an idea that the Rubik’s Cube should be digital, and they were crazy enough to actually try to pull that off. What you’re dealing with here, you’re dealing with 24 screens, eight CPUs, eight different speakers. And then also, what it has to do is each one has to talk to each other simultaneously. Each one has to put power to each other and transfer data. So that’s actually like the flux capacitor of it all, the ability for it to do that.

This is just your traditional game of Rubik’s. But it can do all kinds of other games. You have probably over a hundred different games and apps that it can do. Now that you have screens, you can get a lot more fun with it.

Did the Rubik’s WOWCube start just being a digital Rubik’s Cube, and then more games kind of came to light as they figured out what it could do?

Napoleon Smith III: There’s been a lot more uses for it. Some people have put a chess timer on it, and now we have manga games for Choose Your Own Adventure. We’ve put Asteroids on it. You have a Pac-Man-type game. This is cool because it’s not about colours anymore. You can do characters. If I were good at this, I’d be able to match one and show you that the characters come to life.

I’ve never been successful with a Rubik’s Cube, so I don’t blame you. Is the Rubik’s WOWCube technically a simpler game, then, since it’s only four squares on each side?

Napoleon Smith III: It is, but there’s so many different ways you can play just because each has an individual CPU. It is, in a way, a gaming console. It’s not your typical one that you have at your house, but in a way, it is a gaming console. I also have my aquarium on it; I have my timer that wakes me up in the morning on it. It’s really pretty multi-useful than just that.

Now I’m seeing Marvel characters on the Rubik’s WOWCube here currently, but are they official Marvel characters?

Napoleon Smith III: No, those are the ones that we are just playing around with. We’re starting to get a lot more stuff on it. Spin Master owns Rubik’s Cube, and we got the licensing rights from them. They’ve been a really great partner with this, helping us get licensing rights and things like that.

Has Rubik’s Cube had any input on how it was designed, how it was built, or the games that you can play on it?

Napoleon Smith III: Not really. They’ve given us some good advice on what kind of IP and characters to put on it. So that’s kind of our second phase with them is digging into their libraries. And then they have licensing rights with everybody, because they have all kinds of toys, probably the second biggest toy company, Spin Master. They’ve been pretty great in helping us with those relationships to get licensing on this.

I know that these are just Rubik’s WOWCube prototypes right now, but the news of this is out there. What has the response been like from consumers?

Napoleon Smith III: Really great. We launched it at Comic-Con. We did something at San Diego Comic-Con. In New York, we had a huge event, and we did start our pre-sales there, which went gangbusters. Now we have it to where if you order it now, it’ll be under the Christmas tree. We’ll be ready for Christmas.

How many prototypes of the Rubik’s WOWCube did you have to go through before this?

Napoleon Smith III: Quite a few. So, this iteration, you’ll feel the heaviness of that. Now, feel this.

Oh, okay.

Napoleon Smith III: The heavier one you twist and the lighter one you twist, and you’ll notice they are night and day as far as how easy that is. It is a lot lighter, and it is less easy to break.

How are you working on keeping costs down for something like this? You said eight CPUs, 24 screens?

Napoleon Smith III: When you’re turning a Rubik’s Cube into a digital one, the way they did it, it’s definitely been overengineered. But you know, our costs are between $299 to $399.

And that’s American?

Napoleon Smith III: Yes, American. We’ll have different SKUs in the future. But the way we see this one now, it’s kind of like getting that first Tesla Roadster, you know? It has all the technology. And if you add up how much 24 screens cost, you can imagine. You’ll probably think that’s a savings after you see that.

So is the Rubik’s WOWCube more geared toward adults, kids, or somewhere in between?

Napoleon Smith III: In between. We like to say our real sweet spot is, you know, that 6- to 7-year-old all the way to that 110-year-old. [laughs] So right in the middle, that’s where you’re going to be really focusing on.

What’s your favourite part about the Rubik’s WOWCube? You said you have your timers on it, your aquarium. What do you have fun with?

Napoleon Smith III: It’s pretty much any of the games. But my favourite thing about it is that I can go to any restaurant, bar or even at the airport. I just go there, and you just put it down, and I’ve never seen anything like it, because there’s just really nothing else like it out there. It’s an incredible conversation piece.

I’ve seen a lot of kids have fun and strike up conversations with each other with this. But as far as games, I like my timer that I use on it. There’s one that puts my stock quotes and stuff on it and text messages, and so each one can do something different. And then we also have it where, I think it’s this one…

I feel like you’re going to pull out a Magic 8 Ball in a minute.

Napoleon Smith III: We do have an 8 Ball game! Right here. So, when you find the game you want, you just side tap it. And that’s your 8 Ball. Let’s see, what do we have on this one? We’ve got a Pac-Man game type, and then we have some really cool educational games where you could choose your presidents.

I like that one. That’s just kind of like your screensaver one or your next globe. And so this one is, if you pick your president, you find it. It’ll tell you all about the president and all the history of them. We have a lot of games like this, if you match a place or a location, it’ll tell you about it.

What you’ll also be able to do is, we have the WOW studio [WOWCube Connect] that’s on your phone. So, you just download the app, and here’s where it stores all your stuff.

Oh, okay. So, you can set up what you want.

Napoleon Smith III: You can set up what you want. What’s cool about it is that I have my studio in here, and what my studio allows me to do is it allows me to create, put all my own pictures in there. Oh, so now I’m playing Rubik’s with my own images.

And how was the decision made to include sound rather than just screens and pictures?

Napoleon Smith III: We know sound is very important. And actually, in the newer versions coming out, sound will be even more important. We’re going to start focusing on more music apps, games and stuff, too. So, we really want it to be more of a media device than just a gaming device. The next versions are insane. It’s going to be about the music and the content that you can put on it.

I don’t know how technical we can get. What kind of tech is inside of the Rubik’s WOWCube?

Napoleon Smith III: I mean, the tech is impressive. I mean, it doesn’t go to what a game console does, but what I have noticed about it is it takes you away from these screens. You know, it lets you have a little bit more fun again with tech with touch. Especially, I’ve noticed with kids, you’re happy that they’re playing with this because it’s finally you got them off the screen for a while, you know.

Here, I even have it when I play chess, which I hardly do, but I have noticed that my chess players love the timers and stuff that we have on it. And all you do is just go like that to start your time, and it goes.

What do you want to get across about the Rubik’s WOWCube? Especially if we’re heading into Christmas.

Napoleon Smith III: Yeah. You know, I think the coolest thing to me, and what I love about this, is that Rubik’s Cube was the number one selling toy for quite a few years. It’s actually the second most-selling toy of all time.

What’s the first?

Napoleon Smith III: The Barbie doll.

Oh, that’s fair. I’ll give it that.

Napoleon Smith III: So, to me, to see something from my childhood that we can see with other kids…to me, the coolest thing is what can we put under the Christmas tree that will be the coolest possible thing that you can give somebody under the Christmas tree? And I think that this has to be one of the coolest Christmas gifts out there.

So that’s what’s exciting. A lot of people don’t know what to get their dad or their kids. And, to me, if you buy them one of these, they’re going to be pretty happy. That’s awesome. So I want to get the award for best Christmas gift.

The Rubik’s WOWCube is available to order now from their official site, and you can even snag a special Snow-Globe Christmas App if you order it now.