Squaring Off with Rubik's Cube
Amazing facts about one of the world's most popular puzzles
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This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Rubik’s Cube. More than 450 million have been sold since its invention in 1974, making it one of the bestselling toys in history, ahead of even the Slinky. The Rubik’s Cube was named Toy of the Year in 1980 and was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2014.
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The ‘Rubik’ in Rubik’s Cube is Hungarian professor of architecture Erno Rubik, who first created his twisty mechanical puzzle to teach his students concepts of three-dimensional movement. Rubik spent about a month trying to unscramble his first prototype, which, at the time, he wasn’t sure could even be solved. He called it the Magic Cube. After it became popular around campus, Rubik decided to pursue a patent.
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Despite the overwhelming success of the cube, Rubik continued his career in academia. In 1983 he founded Rubik Studio, where he designed other mechanical puzzles and furniture. In 2009, 35 years after creating his cube, he released another geometric puzzle—spherical this time—called the Rubik’s 360.
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The first Rubik’s Cubes retailed for $1.99 [Rs 15.6 at the time]. Today, you can buy one for about $10 [Rs 839]. But one very special cube is worth a lot more: $2.5 million. The Masterpiece Cube, designed by Diamond Cutters International, was created in 1995 and is made of gold, diamonds and other precious stones such as rubies, emeralds and sapphires—and yes, you can still solve it.
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After the cube was released in the United States, books on how to solve it soon followed. In 1981, You Can Do the Cube, written by 13-year-old Patrick Bossert, sold more than 7,50,000 copies in short order, making him the youngest author to hit the New York Times bestseller list.
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A standard Rubik’s Cube measures 21/4 inches on each side, but Pe...
1
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Rubik’s Cube. More than 450 million have been sold since its invention in 1974, making it one of the bestselling toys in history, ahead of even the Slinky. The Rubik’s Cube was named Toy of the Year in 1980 and was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2014.
2
The ‘Rubik’ in Rubik’s Cube is Hungarian professor of architecture Erno Rubik, who first created his twisty mechanical puzzle to teach his students concepts of three-dimensional movement. Rubik spent about a month trying to unscramble his first prototype, which, at the time, he wasn’t sure could even be solved. He called it the Magic Cube. After it became popular around campus, Rubik decided to pursue a patent.
3
Despite the overwhelming success of the cube, Rubik continued his career in academia. In 1983 he founded Rubik Studio, where he designed other mechanical puzzles and furniture. In 2009, 35 years after creating his cube, he released another geometric puzzle—spherical this time—called the Rubik’s 360.
4
The first Rubik’s Cubes retailed for $1.99 [Rs 15.6 at the time]. Today, you can buy one for about $10 [Rs 839]. But one very special cube is worth a lot more: $2.5 million. The Masterpiece Cube, designed by Diamond Cutters International, was created in 1995 and is made of gold, diamonds and other precious stones such as rubies, emeralds and sapphires—and yes, you can still solve it.
5
After the cube was released in the United States, books on how to solve it soon followed. In 1981, You Can Do the Cube, written by 13-year-old Patrick Bossert, sold more than 7,50,000 copies in short order, making him the youngest author to hit the New York Times bestseller list.
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A standard Rubik’s Cube measures 21/4 inches on each side, but Pennsylvania manufacturer Super Impulse sells one that is a scant ¾ inch on each side, the size of a single die. On the other end of the spectrum, Dubai’s Knowledge Park is home to the world’s largest version, measuring nearly 10 feet on each side and weighing more than 660 pounds (300 kgs).
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There are more than 43 quintillion possible configurations of the classic 3x3 cube—that’s a 43 with 18 zeros after it! So you may be surprised that any Rubik’s Cube can be solved in 20 moves or fewer. This computation is the result of mathematical research into what’s sometimes called God’s number—the minimum number of turns required to solve a particular puzzle. A bank of computers at Google took a total of 35 years of dedicated service to compute the answer of 20.
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For some, simply solving the Rubik’s Cube isn’t enough. ‘Speedcubers’ race to solve it as quickly as possible. More than 2,00,000 people have participated in competitions sanctioned by the World Cubing Association, the governing body that establishes rules and maintains official records. Solvers at these events race under a variety of constraints, such as using only one hand or even being blindfolded.
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The first cubing world championship was hosted in Rubik’s native Budapest in 1982. The fastest solving time then was 22.95 seconds, held by Vietnamese American Minh Thai. But since then, the record has been broken many times, most recently in 2023 by Max Park, who solved it in just 3.13 seconds! Park is featured in the 2020 Netflix documentary The Speed Cubers.
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Ever heard of tennis elbow and swimmer’s ear? But how about ‘Rubik’s wrist’? Hours of obsessively solving the Rubik’s Cube leaves some solvers with related injuries. ‘Cubist’s thumb’, a separate ailment, is a form of tendinitis. In the 1980s, Cube-a-holics Anonymous support groups popped up to help manic cubers curb their addiction.
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Quite the pop culture icon, the Rubik’s Cube has made many cameos in films and TV shows including Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and The Big Bang Theory. It’s also part of the permanent collection at New York’s Museum of Modern Art and has been the subject of numerous exhibitions. One example, Beyond Rubik’s Cube, a travelling exhibit that premiered on the toy’s 40th anniversary in 2014, travelled internationally for seven years.
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Anyone can try the cube—even those with visual impairments. Customized stickers are available to swap in more easily distinguishable colours from the standard palette of red, yellow, blue, orange, green and white. And some special versions even feature raised symbols, allowing blind solvers to give it a go.
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Now 80 years old, Erno Rubik remains as passionate about his cube as ever, not only as a recreational puzzle but also as an educational tool. A programme called You Can Do the Cube brought Rubik’s Cubes into US classrooms in 2008 and cemented their status as a STEM toy. The next installment, Rubik’s Academy, plans to use the cube to teach concepts such as spatial reasoning and perseverance.