Description

The Rubik's Cube, a 3-D puzzle game, was invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and architect Ernő Rubik. Originally named the Magic Cube, it was licensed for sale by Pentangle Puzzles in the UK in 1978 and later by Ideal Toy Corp in 1980 through businessman Tibor Laczi and Seven Towns founder Tom Kremer. Released globally in 1980, it quickly became an iconic symbol in popular culture, winning the 1980 German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle. By January 2024, around 500 million Rubik's Cubes had been sold worldwide, making it the bestselling puzzle game and toy. The Rubik's Cube was also honored with induction into the US National Toy Hall of Fame in 2014.

The classic Rubik's Cube featured six faces covered with nine stickers each, displaying one of six solid colors: white, red, blue, orange, green, and yellow. Some later versions replaced stickers with colored plastic panels to prevent wear and tear. Since 1988, the color arrangement has been standardized, with white opposite yellow, blue opposite green, and orange opposite red, and the colors arranged clockwise. An internal pivot mechanism allows each face to rotate independently, mixing up the colors. To solve the puzzle, each face must be returned to display only one color. The Rubik's Cube's popularity peaked in the 1980s, but it remains widely known and used today, inspiring other puzzles with different numbers of sides, dimensions, and mechanisms. Speedcubers worldwide continue to practice and compete for the fastest solving times in various categories, organized by the World Cube Association since 2003.

Engraver: András Szilos