Active Games Posts

How To: Play traditional Mancala

Mancala is a classic board game that is played as seriously as Westerner's play Chess in some Asian and African cultures. Traditionally, Mancala is played with either a wooden gameboard or even with holes in the ground or stone. The game pieces are made of marbles, seeds or stones and are distributed evenly on the board.

How To: Solve the Rubik's Cube cross faster than anyone

Want to be fast at solving the cross of the Rubik's Cube, like two or three seconds fast? Well, this video tutorial will show you how to solve the Rubik's Cube cross faster than anyone. These insights into how to make the cross will no doubt make you a great speedcuber. Just pay attention to the orientation and the rest of these Rubiks Cube cross tips and tricks.

How To: Organize a Halloween Scavenger Hunt

An alternative to trick-or-treating every Halloween is to have kids participate in a scavenger hunt. The activity provides the same excitement and still allows you to be with your kids while they participate. A scavenger hunt can be easily organized – here are some steps in preparing for a Halloween scavenger hunt:

How To: Solve a 2x3x3 Rubik's Domino Cube

There are all sorts of crazy Rubik's cubes these days, from the gargantuan 7x7x7 models all the way down to the 2x2xx2. Whatever happened to the plain old 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube? Whatever the case, this video is about one of the weirder styles of cube, the 2x3x3 "Domino". It's not even a cube! This video will show you how to solve a Rubik's domino from any starting position. The instructions are very clear, and should have you solving this interesting "cube" in no time.

How To: Play the game of pool (billiards)

Don't ever even think about walking into a pool hall without knowing the basics of the game... You might end up paired up with a pool shark and not even know! In this short video, get an introduction to the fundamentals of pool, sometimes known as pocket billiards.

How To: Solve a Rubik's Cube blindfolded & in five easy steps

NOTE: Chapter One is a demonstration, click on chapter two to learn how to solve the cube. This cool and very smart video teaches you how to solve the popular (and annoying) Rubik's Cube in just five steps. Sounds easy, doesn't it? First, check out this video of Leyan Lo as he achieves the world record for the fastest blindfolded solve. He beat Tyson Mao's record by about 30 seconds, they are both friends.

How To: Solve a Rubik's Cube in 5 minutes

To solve a Rubik's cube, you will need to begin by keeping in mind the 7 steps. To learn about the cube itself, you will need to take it apart. The cube has 3 types of pieces. The center pieces do not move. They are actually fixed. Every piece is unique, and every piece has a unique place.

How To: Use a sliding shot to hit the center of the Bey Stadium in Beyblade

A standard straight up and down Beyblade launch usually sends your Beyblade spinning around the edge of the Bey Stadium. If your opponent's Beyblade is in the center of the stadium this means that you will lose a lot of power before you hit them and probably lose the round. This video will show you how you can angle your launcher to do a sliding shot that will cross the middle of the stadium and win you more Beyblade.

How To: Solve a 5x5 Rubik's Professor Cube

In order to solve a 5x5 Rubik's Professor Cube, you'll need to, of course, already know how to solve a 3x3 Rubiks Cube. First, you'll need to get the centers solved first, then you pair the edges (with the algorithm 2D*, R, F', U, R', F, D'*), and solve parity (with the algorithm 2R*, 2B, 2U, L*, 2U, R'*, 2U, R*, 2U, 2F, R*, 2F, L'*, 2B, 2R*), then you continue to solve it just like a normal 3x3 cube until it looks brand new, out of the plastic box.

Checkmate and... Checkmate: Bizarre Three-Way Chess Game

In a recent episode of The Big Bang Theory, character Sheldon Cooper designed a highly complicated three-person game of chess, with an odd-shaped nonagon board and two new pieces—serpent and old woman. Seemingly pioneering, in truth, three-player chess has been around since the early-1700s, with many different variations, most of which retain the basic game structure and sixteen pieces that each player controls.

News: Android App Solves the Unfathomable Mexaminx (Think Rubik's Cube on Steroids)

The Android Megaminxer is mind-bogglingly elaborate, impressively combining multiple geeky mediums to solve an incredibly complex puzzle. ARM, the genius behind the stunt, uses LEGOs (a Mindstorms NXT kit to be exact) to build a robot responsible for the mechanics; they then employ an Android app as the brain, which solves a Rubik's Cube—oh wait, not a simple Rubik's (that would be too easy), but a Megaminx, which is a dodecahedron with 12 faces, each face containing 5 edges. Like the classic...

How To: Turn and solve Rubik's Cubes one-handed faster

Okay, solving a Rubik's Cube one-handed in 15 seconds is pretty impressive. If you find solving a Rubik's Cube with two hands to be lacking in challenge and flair, try doing solves using only one hand. There is a technique to it, and this video will teach it to you. Basically, you just turn R and U a lot and rotate the cube.

How To: Solve the classic wooden ball puzzle

Brainteasers can be a lot more than a tease, they can be downright frustrating! If you own the mind bending wooden ball puzzle and are about to toss it in the trash, don't despair, this how-to video takes you step by step through the process to help you put the ball back together and return your sanity to somewhat normal. So sit down, breath easy, pick up your wooden ball and figure out how to solve this puzzle and find some peace.

How To: Solve the difficult wooden ball puzzle

Have you got wooden balls? That you can't solve? This clear and helpful how-to shows how to solve the classic, brain teaser, wooden ball puzzle once and for all! This puzzle can really be a challenge, which you likely realized moments after you disassembled it and the pieces sat lonely and ignored on your desk for months. Well, no more, check out this video and you know how to master puzzle balls once and for all! Come on, figure it out!

How To: Solve the wooden ball puzzle

If you love brain teasers and own the wooden ball puzzle, but haven't been able to solve it, this video is for you. The wooden ball puzzle can be a real challenge, but this how-to walks you through the process, slow and easy to make sure you get it. In addition, this video shows how to solve both the large and the small wooden ball puzzle. So, if you're at the end of your rope, don't despair, help for you and your wooden balls is on the way! Solve the wooden ball puzzle.

How To: Solve a 2x2 Rubik's Cube, yes, the small one

This video shows you how to simply solve a 2x2 Rubik's Cube. WARNING!!!! If you have not learned the algorithms from a 3x3 tutorial, you must learn them now or you will not be able to solve this Rubik's Cube, because it's so hard... Really. I'm not lying. Unless you just want to figure it out yourself, because I'm sure you're no idiot, right?

How To: Solve the Mirror Blocks puzzle by Rubik's Cube

OK, you've beaten everything from the 2X2 Rubik's cube all the way up to the 6X6. Now it's time to try something different. This video shows how to solve the Rubik's cube Mirror Blocks cube. It's tricky at first but follow the video and figure it out! Don't forget to check out part two of this video

How To: Solve a Rubik's Mirror Blocks Cube

OK, you've beaten everything from the 2X2 Rubik's cube all the way up to the 6X6. Now it's time to try something different. This video shows how to solve the Rubik's cube Mirror Blocks cube. It's tricky at first but follow the video and figure it out!

How To: Solve the V-Cube 6

In this two part video, you'll learn how to solve the huge puzzle square, the V-Cube 6. In order to figure it out, you'll need to know how to solve the 3X3 4X4 and 5X5 cubes. Also, don't forget to watch the other part of this video.

How To: Solve the V-Cube 7

If you've solved the classic Rubik's cube and are looking for a bigger challenge, try stepping up to the V-Cube 7, currently the biggest puzzlecube out there. This tuturial walks you through sides, centers, edges to help you work it out. This is a two part video, so make sure to watch both parts.