I don't think I ever once had the patience to solve a cube that someone handed me. The puzzle just never interested me, much like a 15-puzzle fails to interest

I don't think I ever once had the patience to solve a cube that someone handed me. The puzzle just never interested me, much like a 15-puzzle fails to interest me. But I certainly spent lots of time playing with the mechanism itself, trying to divine how it was built. So to answer your question I'd have still bought one today if I'd never seen it before, computer games notwithstanding. It remains a clever hack.