TCG Toys will launch Rubik’s-branded jigsaw puzzles featuring trademarked square die-cut pieces. The new Rubik’s collection will go on sale this fall, ahead for Rubik’s 40th anniversary celebrations in 2020.
“Rubik’s Cube is known the world over for its colorful 3D puzzle Cube that has confounded puzzlers for years and now TCG is ‘twisting’ Rubik’s game play even further with jigsaw puzzles featuring pieces that are all the same shape,” said Kelly Elwood, vice-president of marketing and licensing for TCG Toys. “Ours is a unique puzzle collection that is sure to attract both Rubik’s Cube and puzzle enthusiasts alike.”
“With our brand extension program, we want to encourage consumers to ‘Think Outside the Cube’, and the innovative puzzles created by TCG Toys do just that. By taking the Rubik’s brand and applying key brand values of its iconic visual identity, they have created something that is more than the sum of its parts,” said Lori Heiss-Tiplady, vice-president of brands for Rubik’s master licensee, The Smiley Company. “Devilishly challenging just like the Cube itself, these puzzles will provide hours of brain-bending fun for puzzling fans.”
Puzzles will be available in 200-piece and 300-piece options. Each features digitally pixelated images created via an app that replicates mosaics made from stacked Rubik’s Cubes. The puzzles are made with TCG Toy’s patented Sure-Lox technology. The 200-piece puzzles feature images such as the Statue of Liberty and the Neuschwanstein Castle. The 300-piece puzzles include hot air balloons in flight and a London scape featuring Big Ben. Puzzles are for ages 14 and up.
Rubik’s Cube was introduced internationally in 1980 and has since sold an estimated 450 million units.