3D Puzzle Cube
About 3D Puzzle Cube
3D Puzzle Cube brings the world's most iconic hand puzzle into your browser in full three-dimensional glory. A classic 3×3×3 cube floats in front of you, its six faces gleaming in bold primary colours: red, orange, white, yellow, green, and blue. The challenge has remained unchanged for over four decades — twist every face until each side shows a single solid colour.
Interaction is entirely mouse-driven. Drag on the background to orbit the camera and view any angle you like. Drag on a cubie in any direction and the game reads your gesture, identifies which face slice you meant to move, and animates that face rotating a crisp 90 degrees in the direction you intended. There are no buttons to press for specific moves — just drag where you want things to go. A small move queue ensures rapid consecutive drags are all honoured in order, so you can work quickly without losing input.
Hit Scramble & Solve to start a timed challenge: the cube is shuffled with 20 pseudo-random moves (no consecutive opposite-face cancellations) and the timer starts with your first move. Every move you make is counted. The win screen shows your time, total moves, and your best time across all sessions stored in the browser. Free Play mode removes the timer and win detection entirely — useful for learning cube algorithms or just enjoying the feel of the interaction.
How to Play 3D Puzzle Cube
- Click 'Scramble & Solve' to shuffle the cube and start a timed puzzle, or 'Free Play' to explore without a timer.
- Drag on the dark background to orbit the camera — view the cube from any angle to plan your next move.
- Drag on any cubie face to rotate that face. The direction of your drag determines which face slice rotates and which way.
- Solve all six faces to show a single colour on each side. The timer stops when the last face locks in — try to beat your best time!
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the drag-to-rotate mechanic work?
When you start dragging on a cubie, the game projects your mouse movement onto the face plane and takes the cross product of the face normal and your drag direction to determine the rotation axis. It then picks the layer that contains the cubie you touched and rotates that entire face 90 degrees in the direction you dragged. Drag left on the top face = rotate the top layer left; drag up on the right face = rotate the right layer up.
Can I rotate by 180 degrees in one drag?
No — each drag gesture triggers exactly one 90-degree face rotation. To do a 180-degree turn, simply drag the same face twice in the same direction.
Does Free Play mode count toward my best time?
No. The best time in localStorage is only updated when you complete a solve in Scramble & Solve mode. Free Play has no timer and no win detection.
How is the scramble generated?
The scrambler picks 20 random face moves, avoiding consecutive moves on the same face and on opposite faces (which would cancel each other out). This guarantees a well-scrambled cube that can't accidentally undo itself.
Can I play on mobile?
Yes — drag your finger on the dark background to orbit the camera, and drag on any cubie to rotate that face. Touch drag gestures work the same as mouse drags, including in both Scramble & Solve and Free Play modes.
