Skip to main content

The WowCube is more than a video game gimmick

I was charmed by a strange little gaming device earlier this year at CES 2022. The WowCube is essentially a digital Rubik’s Cube with 24 screens. Players can twist it to play puzzle games or put an image onto it and use it as a neat little home conversation piece.

It comes at a time where we’re seeing lots of video game gadgets outside of the usual console giants. The Steam Deck is revolutionizing how players access PC games, the Analogue Pocket is a must-own for players with lots of old handheld games, and the crank-controlled Playdate is so strange that it’s captured the curiosity of the gaming world. The WowCube exists in that same space as a device that fuses toys, video game consoles, and tech gadgets into one device.

Recommended Videos

When I sat down with Max Filin, the CEO of WowCube creator Cubios, it immediately became clear that the black box is more than a cute gimmick. It’s a shockingly impressive technical feat that could shape the world in some very unexpected ways one day.

Twist it

The most surprising thing about the WowCube is that it deftly delivers on its wild pitch. The device is a dense black box made up of eight cubes, with four screens on each side. When you fire it up, each screen lights up with a different app icon. Tap on one and the screens will light up with a tactile game that’s controlled by twisting.

A Wowcube displays a game with a ladybug as it sits ion a table.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Many of the current games available on it at present are straightforward. In one game, players move a ball around the cube, collecting points. Rotating the cube creates different pathways for the ball to move through. Another title is a 3D version of 2048, a puzzle game where players match numbers until they multiply up to 2048. The latter is what I ended up spending the most time with, as it’s a tactile twist on an already addictive puzzler.

While the current version works without a hitch, it took time to nail down how to piece it together. The original prototype of the device was much less graceful than the current version. It was a much bulkier box with thick plastic bordering each screen. It was a low-resolution device with Arduino CPUs packed inside. As you might imagine, though, getting a rotating cube of screens to work was no easy task. It would require an inventor’s touch.

“You can’t put one CPU, one battery, and one motherboard in and then wire them to 24 screens. There’s nothing on Earth that can support 24 screens at the same time as you change the geometry,” Filin says. “The core of our project was to make the modules absolutely autonomous.”

Three Wowcube prototypes sit on a desk.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

I was genuinely shocked when Filin disassembled the device entirely, breaking it down into individual cubes that still displayed visuals apart from the rest of the components. The team had essentially found a way to create eight computers that would connect to each other via magnets and charge on one dock. Theoretically, the WowCube could be broken down to its components and reassembled as a flat 4×2 screen or really any shape. Filin describes it as “the operating system for toys,” likening what they’ve created to tech that powers smart devices like cars and refrigerators.

“It’s way more than just a hardware toy; it’s the distribution of eight autonomous computers, and this technology is behind it,” Filin says.

Beyond gaming

While the team at Cubios will develop its own apps and games for the device, anyone will be able to create their own. The company even hired one 20-year-old developer after she made a magic eight-ball app where users could ask the cube a question and twist it to get an answer. The only reason WowCube isn’t widely open to developers yet is because the team isn’t big enough yet to keep up with the demand from interested devs.

The Wowcube's components sit on a table.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

As far as gaming devices go, it might sound a little niche — and it is. But like a lot of new tech, the WowCube is only starting with video games, because it’s a tried-and-true way to bring users in and a way to stay focused. When Filin begins talking about the wider potential for the tech, his imagination starts twisting around like the device itself.

“In 2019, I met a friend of mine who owns a clinic for people who are injured in car accidents,” Filin says. “He said ‘You have a device that could potentially be a super puzzle where you can change the difficulty.’ We could give puzzles to patients who want to recover from a head injury. We can put white here and white here. No buttons. You twist, you connect, it blinks, very easy. It’s brain development.”

It’s way more than just a hardware toy; it’s the distribution of eight autonomous computers, and this technology is behind it.

Filin goes on to list several more potential use cases, like helping kids with autism or adults with Alzheimer’s disease. He lists several verticals that Cubios is pursuing, some of which are surprising. One long-term project has the team focused on early childhood development. Another could see the device being used as a controller for smart home devices.

Open-source possibilities

Of course, some recent buzzwords come up in the conversation too.

“The cube is what I call the perfect depot for your NFT collection,” Filin says, using the device’s aquarium-like display app as a potential example. “It shows your art. Or you could buy those fish or sell them like an NFT. You can breed them! I take one module with a fish and put it to another cube. They breed, I have a unique fish. It appears here in the aquarium.”

The Wowcube displays several apps while sitting on a desk in front of a keyboard.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Filin says that the company already has the white label (a product or service produced by one company that other companies rebrand) for ideas like that, and many more. However, it’s not moving on them yet as it wants to remain focused on the gaming aspect for now. Considering that it’s an open-source platform, though, buyers won’t have the same limitations at launch. They’ll have access to eight autonomous computers that can interact with one another.

Filin hopes to get devices into people’s hands by Christmas, though the current component shortage has a way of wreaking havoc on a device made up of eight computers. If all goes well, people will be able to start pre-ordering it starting in April in most of the world. Folks in the U.S. may have to wait a little longer, though Filin notes that some distribution plans are in the works, with “soft confirmations” from some big retailers.

The WowCube may not replace your PlayStation 5, but if Cubios’ lofty aspirations come to fruition, it could become a multitool for the modern era.

Topics
Giovanni Colantonio
As Digital Trends' Senior Gaming Editor, Giovanni Colantonio oversees all things video games at Digital Trends. As a veteran…
A Sega Account can earn you perks, in-game items, and much more
Goro Majima in Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

Sega now has its own account, similar to existing systems for Xbox, PlayStation, and Blizzard. And like those other systems, it gives users free perks — starting with a costume for Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. Sega revealed the system in a notice on its website that laid out the rules and regulations, as well as the benefits.

"By creating a SEGA Account, you'll receive the latest news about SEGA/ATLUS games, events, and promotions. Additionally, your SEGA Account grants you access to exclusive bonuses and the ability to link accounts on various gaming platforms!" the notice reads. The announcement isn't a long one, but it does hint at more features coming in the near future.

Read more
The Nintendo Switch 2 marks the end of the ‘toy’ video game console
The Switch 2 on a blue background.

I still have a clear memory of Christmas Day 2001. After a morning of eagerly unwrapping my gifts, my parents rolled out one more surprise that I'd been so desperately anticipating. I tore off the wrapping paper and there it was: the Nintendo GameCube. Without a second of hesitation, I pulled it out of the box and started poking and prodding every button on the little box. It wasn't just a fancy new electronic device; it was a toy.

That used to be the dual function of a video game console. Each one was unpredictable, bringing entirely new innovations or gimmicks that begged to be played with as much as the games. The ones that didn't at least got playful with their design. That's slowed with each passing generation. Vibrant colors has been replaced with black and white plastic. Xbox console designs now border on brutalist. Everything is slowly converging to one unified vision of what a video game console looks like.

Read more
Sony axes two more live-service games, including one God of War spinoff
A titan wielding a grenade launcher in Destiny 2..

In an apparent response to the Concord disaster, Sony has cancelled two live-service games, including one potential God of War title. However, in a bit of good news in light of the layoffs rocking the game industry, Sony says neither of its two studios are at risk of closure.

Jason Schreier of Bloomberg reports that Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games, both PlayStation studios, were working on two separate live service games — a venture Sony has been heavily invested in. Last year, Sony saw one of its worst failures in the launch of Concord, alongside a massive success with Helldivers II. Live service games have proven to be a risky venture, but they are extremely profitable when done well.

Read more