[STEAM] Diving deep into the Rubik’s WOWcube | hands-on review

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In 2026 the Rubik’s Cube is officially a video game console.

Released in October 2025, the

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transforms the age-old puzzle toy into a gaming computer. Each face of the two-by-two cube contains a screen, with players able to navigate the menu, play games and control other apps by rotating the cube and using haptic controls.

To learn why and how the Rubik’s WOWCube is bringing the age-old puzzle toy into the world of gaming, GamesBeat spoke to its creators at a New York Comic **** release event — and got our hands on a sample copy, provided courtesy of WOWCube creators Cubios, Inc., for review.

The story of the Rubik’s WOWCube

The WOWCube dates back to late 2016, when inventor Ilya Osipov and his 12-year-old son Savva came up with the idea of making a Rubik’s-Cube-like device with screens on all sides, allowing video game characters to run from screen to screen. By early 2017, the pair had built the first prototype of the device using an Arduino and a 3D printer, registering the company Cubios, Inc. to manufacture and sell the product in April 2017.

After two more years of development, Cubios hired veteran tech CEO Max Filin to help bring the WOWCube to market, with the company pre-selling 3,000 units in 2020. In 2021, Time magazine named the WOWCube among its

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. A particular inflection point for the company came in 2024, when the company inked a deal with Rubik’s owner Spin Master to use the Rubik’s brand to market its product.

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“It’s a little bit more than a licensing agreement,” Filin said in an interview with GamesBeat last year. “What we signed is a contract where we are able to use Rubik’s colors, characters and everything. We send some royalties for each cube sold and each app sold, and they help us with marketing support.”

At New York Comic **** in October, the Rubik’s WOWCube booth was deluged with curious attendees, many of whom expressed disbelief that a classic toy of their childhoods had been turned into a smart device. Filin spent the event flitting around the booth, but took the time to show me a demo of the WOWCube and walk me through how it worked. His pride and passion for the venture was clear: Filin told me that he had brought a prototype WOWCube to Burning Man just over a month prior to our meeting, and had spent hours during an acid trip staring at the device and telling himself, “I made this.”

The Rubik’s WOWCube comes pre-loaded with a range of classic and classically-inspired games, from the Pac-Man-like “White Rabbit” to a version of “2048” whose gameplay involves twisting the cube in different directions to combine numbers. Players can also download a dedicated smartphone app that they can use to download new games or apps by connecting their WOWCube to their phones via Bluetooth.

The upsides

The Rubik’s WOWCube is an extremely cool and unique device. Because of the way it requires players to perceive their play environment as a three-dimensional cube that they can manipulate, rather than a static screen, it allows for gameplay patterns quite unlike any other gaming device I’ve ever used. For example, I particularly enjoyed the game “Cut the Rope,” which requires players to twist their cubes to “cut” virtual ropes suspended between screens, allowing the game’s protagonist to make their way to a door at the end of each level.

The gameplay patterns of the Rubik’s WOWCube help teach problem-solving and critical thinking, according to observers from the educational space. The product’s packaging features a quote from Andrew B. Raupp, the founder of the STEM research company

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, praising the WOWCube as a product that “brilliantly combines play and learning.”

In addition to being a unique gaming device, the WOWCube also has the potential to be an interesting decoration. Some of its apps are purely aesthetic, filling the cube’s screens with moving lights and colors and allowing the user to manipulate its appearance by turning or twisting the device. A user could easily spend hours playing games on the WOWCube, then get extra value from it by using it is a particularly cool office decoration — a futuristic lava lamp of sorts.

Cubios is firing on all cylinders to promote the launch of the WOWCube, with Filin and other company representatives traveling to CES 2026 in Las Vegas last week to operate a dedicated booth. The company has big dreams for the future of the WOWCube, viewing it as a platform for game developers, not just Rubik’s enthusiasts. At the moment, nine apps are available to WOWCube users — including a timer, stopwatch and globe app — as well as a mix of 45 free and paid games.

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The downsides

The WOWCube is the first gaming device of its kind, and in spite of its years of development, the user experience is still clunky in some ways. Its battery life isn’t the best — I found that I had to keep it constantly charged to ensure I would be able to pick it up and play whenever I wanted — and the smartphone app feels a bit clunky, requiring repeated attempts to connect to my cube and update its firmware.

The cube is also relatively loud; moving between apps on its home screen results in a noticeable “thunk” sound effect for every movement, which was not an issue when I was playing the WOWCube in my office, but a source of some annoyance when I attempted to bring it out to play during a cross-country flight (I use case that I recognize is limited).

Perhaps the biggest sticking point for consumers interested in trying out the Rubik’s WOWCube is its price. At the moment, the Rubik’s WOWCube is on ***** for $399, which the Cubios website says is a discount from its usual price of $499. Although this is an extremely cool device and a technical triumph, its steep price tag could deter gamers who would otherwise put that cash toward a PlayStation 5 or Nintendo Switch 2.

While testing and reviewing the WOWCube, I repeatedly shared it with other people and asked them what they thought it would cost, and I typically received guesses between $100 and $200 in response. Nobody guessed $399. I would recommend this product to anyone who can afford it, but I wouldn’t fault any consumers who balked at the price.

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