This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sourcesin this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Taking advantage of an initial shortage of cubes, many imitations and variations appeared, many of which may have violated one or more patents. In 2000 the patents expired, and since then, many Chinese companies have produced copies, modifications, and improvements upon the Rubik and V-Cube designs. [40] Patent history Sitting on the patio of his home in the hills of Budapest, Rubik, now 76, fiddled with a cube as he recalled its "discovery" and accidental success. (He prefers to use “discovered,” rather than “invented” — as if the existence of the object was somehow pre-ordained).

The invention, eventually renamed the Rubik's Cube, would become the most popular puzzle toy in the world, with more than 350 million sold as of 2018. The cube also inspired numerous artworks and films, and spawned a competitive sport called speedcubing that fills arenas with teenagers racing to complete the puzzle in the shortest amount of time. The puzzle was originally advertised as having "over 3,000,000,000 (three billion) combinations but only one solution". [51] Depending on how combinations are counted, the actual number is significantly higher.

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As a “cubing mom,” Kim began shuttling her son to cubing competitions — and became fascinated with the global popularity of the puzzle. Kim documents the way kids are mastering an analog tool using tools of the digital age — YouTube tutorials, articles, and more — and creating online communities around their love of the cube. "I actually think it's found a new niche in popular culture because of its immersion within the digital landscape," Kim said via video chat. The Rubik's Cube (3x3x3) is a cube shaped Twisty puzzle. It was invented in 1974 by a Hungarian professor named Ernő Rubik. Rubik originally name the puzzle "Magic Cube" however, in 1980 it was renamed after its creator and is generally known since as the "Rubik's Cube". During the 1980s, the Rubik's Cube became a worldwide sensation, and it is estimated that by the mid-80s, 20% of the world's population at the time had played with it - that's 1 in every 5 people on earth! Until today, more than 350 million cubes have been sold worldwide, and it is considered to be the world's best selling toy of all time. As of January 2021, the Rubik's Brand, which was formed around the Rubik's Cube and other puzzles, is owned by the Canadian toy corporation Spin Master.

After the first batches of Rubik's Cubes were released in May 1980, initial sales were modest, but Ideal began a television advertising campaign in the middle of the year which it supplemented with newspaper advertisements. [23] At the end of 1980, Rubik's Cube won a German Game of the Year special award [24] and won similar awards for best toy in the UK, France, and the US. [25] By 1981, Rubik's Cube had become a craze, and it is estimated that in the period from 1980 to 1983 around 200million Rubik's Cubes were sold worldwide. [26] In March 1981, a speedcubing championship organised by the Guinness Book of World Records was held in Munich, [24] and a Rubik's Cube was depicted on the front cover of Scientific American that same month. [27] In June 1981, The Washington Post reported that Rubik's Cube is "a puzzle that's moving like fast food right now ... this year's Hoola Hoop or Bongo Board", [28] and by September 1981, New Scientist noted that the cube had "captivated the attention of children of ages from 7 to 70 all over the world this summer." [29]The first book by the reclusive inventor of the world’s most iconic puzzle, the Rubik's Cube. Erno Rubik inspires us with what he’s learned in a lifetime of creating, curiosity and discovery. Buy An internal pivot mechanism enables each face to turn independently, thus mixing up the colours. For the puzzle to be solved, each face must be returned to have only one colour. It has inspired other designers to create a number of similar puzzles with various numbers of sides, dimensions, and mechanisms. Each of the six centre pieces pivots on a fastener held by the centre piece, a "3D cross". A spring between each fastner and its corresponding piece tensions the piece inward, so that collectively, the whole assembly remains compact but can still be easily manipulated. The older versions of the official Cube used a screw that can be tightened or loosened to change the "feel" of the Cube. Newer official Rubik's brand cubes have rivets instead of screws and cannot be adjusted. Inexpensive clones do not have screws or springs, all they have is a plastic clip to keep the centre piece in place and freely rotate. His application to the Hungarian Patent Office in 1975 called the cube a “spatial logic toy.” At the time, Hungary was behind the Iron Curtain — it would remain a communist controlled Eastern bloc state until 1989 — and as Rubik writes, the country had “no particular affinity for toy production.” In March 1970, Larry D. Nichols invented a 2×2×2 "Puzzle with Pieces Rotatable in Groups" and filed a Canadian patent application for it. Nichols's cube was held together by magnets. Nichols was granted U.S. Patent 3,655,201 on 11 April 1972, two years before Rubik invented his Cube.