Show HN: Scroll through all 43252003274489856000 Rubik's Cube states

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

A new web toy lets users scroll through all 43 quintillion possible states of a standard Rubik’s Cube, prompting both delight at its “weird internet” charm and curiosity about its technical underpinnings. Commenters trade ergonomic and UX suggestions, math tidbits about permutations and search spaces, and links to related projects like Hamiltonian paths through cube states and “every UUID” visualizations. The project also sparks broader reflections on combinatorial explosion, perceived versus actual problem difficulty, and the often whimsical ways we apply computing power.

Overall reaction

  • Many commenters find the project delightful, “weird internet” in a good way, and very satisfying to play with.
  • Several praise the execution and visual design; a few compare it favorably to similar “every X” projects like listing all UUIDs.
  • Some playful skepticism/joking appears (“But, why?”, “literally doom scrolling”), but generally tone is positive.

Usability and interaction feedback

  • Early on, URL/hash changes did not update the view without reload; this was quickly fixed.
  • Requests: auto-rotate, auto-scrolling, fine-grained single-step navigation, showing quickest solutions per state, and sorting states by “distance to solved.”
  • The step size for keyboard arrows is confusingly large and only decrements; the mouse scroll jump size can be adjusted but doesn’t fix arrow behavior.
  • One person suggests making each state change a history entry as a (jokingly “sociopathic”) prank.

Bugs and technical issues

  • Multiple reports of “Application error: a client-side exception…” on iOS Safari/Firefox, including in Lockdown mode.
  • In “FX” mode, some think center tiles are bugged because they never move; others explain this matches real Rubik’s cube mechanics.
  • There’s a claim that face-move notation is reversed (F vs F’ etc.) compared to standard cubing tools.
  • 2D color interpolation is criticized for using RGB; OKLCH is suggested to avoid muddy, desaturated blends.

Math, scale, and combinatorics

  • Several comments discuss the 43,252,003,274,489,856,000-state space, scroll distance, and time required to traverse all states.
  • Some are surprised how “small” the number feels once written with commas, and compare it to much larger numbers like 52! for shuffled cards or counts of chess positions/games.
  • There is mention of Hamiltonian paths on the cube’s state graph and the idea of ordering states so consecutive ones differ by a single move (Gray-code-like).

Rubik’s cube culture and related ideas

  • Numerous personal anecdotes about learning/solving cubes, taking them apart, parity/twisted-corner issues, and speedcubing vs algorithm design.
  • Suggestions range from using cube states as password seeds to minting them as NFTs, used as springboards for broader discussions on NFTs, intrinsic value, and economic bubbles.
  • One comment describes a zero-house-edge casino game based on partially scrambled cubes and skill-based payouts.