Rubik's Revenge

This is actually a funny 80s story. Like many kids, I begged for - and received- a Rubik's Cube for Christmas. Not an actual Rubik's Cube, but one of the many puzzle cubes sold at the time. (this is it in this picture taken by Sam Castro at the Press - thanks Sam). When I mixed it up, my dad said he would give me a couple of bucks if I solved it. I thought, 'hey, a couple of bucks would be nice.' There was only one problem, I couldn't solve the thing to save my life. I tried everything. I turned the left side clockwise. I turned the top side topwise. I could solve two, maybe three sides, and that was it. Then I started thinking. You know, I bet they had to put this thing together, and if they put it together it can be taken apart and put back together in the right order. So I cracked the thing open, put the pieces back in their right order and ta daa, puzzle solved. I collected my winnings...but then my dad found out how I "solved" the cube, and demanded his money back. I eventually got a book on solving the Rubik's Cube, and solved it legit. I even got a couple of bucks from my dad for doing it. He still brings the cube incident up. And I still maintain that I did solve it. Back then it may have been the wrong way, but today they call it thinking outside of the box.