History of the Rubik’s Cube
The Rubik’s Cube was created in 1975 by Erno Rubik, a Hungarian engineer and teacher at the Academy of Architecture. Initially, the author conceived the mechanism as a visual aid for students. In 50 years, the puzzle has gone from a teaching model to the most popular toy in history!
The history of the cube without Rubik’s
- Before Erno Rubik, several inventors had attempted the idea of such a three-dimensional puzzle:
- William Gustafsson received a patent for 2×2 and 3×3 cubes back in 1958.
- In 1970 the Englishman Frank Fok invented the 3×3 sphere. Frank managed to get a patent for his invention only in 1974.
- On the other side of the Atlantic in the same 1970 Larry Nichols created a working prototype 2×2. In 1972 he received a patent for his invention. Magnets were used to attach the elements and no matter how hard Nichols tried to promote his invention, the technical disadvantages discouraged manufacturers.
The invention of the Rubik’s cube
Erno Rubik received a patent for his invention in 1975. In 1977, he patented the 2×2 cube. The advantage of Rubik’s puzzles over the early prototypes of other inventors was a more advanced mechanism.
Erno tested various types of connecting elements, including magnets, but did not achieve the desired result. Many sources describe how an epiphany came upon him. This half story can be compared to the apple that fell on Newton’s head.
Rubik, tired of fruitless experiments, was sitting on the bank of the Danube and gazing into its waters. He noticed that thanks to the current, the sharp edges of the river pebbles were being sharpened and the stones were taking on a perfect shape. Then he decided to remove all the extra faces from the small cubes that would make up the puzzle. How out of 156 faces, 54 remained. Centre pieces with one face, edges with two different coloured faces and corners with three different coloured faces
From invention to popularity
Produced in limited editions, the Magic Cube began to gradually gain popularity in Hungary. In 1978, the toy attracted the attention of German businessman Tibor Lakzi. Lakzi agreed with Rubik on co-operation and took the prototype to the Nuremberg toy exhibition in order to find a distributor in Germany, but to no avail.
Many people were put off by the cube’s appearance and complexity. There was no certainty that it would be of interest to the general public. The Rubik’s Cube was considered a toy for narrow academic circles.
However, the puzzle attracted the interest of Tom Kremer, the owner of the English company Seven Towns Ltd. As a result of the agreement, Kremer undertook the search for a large foreign customer, and Lakzy organised production in Hungary.
In autumn 1979, a contract was signed with the American company Ideal Toy Corporation for the supply of 1 million cubes. In order to settle the nuances under the American legislation, a historic decision was made to sell the puzzle under the name ‘Rubik`s cube’. For Europe, Rubik’s invention remained the ‘Magic Cube’.
The period from 1980 to 1982 was the first peak of popularity. In 1980 Erno Rubik personally presented the cube at all major toy industry exhibitions. And in 1982 in Budapest the first championship on speed assembly of Rubik’s cube took place.
In the early 80’s the cube appeared in the USSR. Sources claim that the Soviet Union paid Hungary 5 million dollars for the right to produce the toy on its territory.
It looks doubtful that the USSR simply agreed to pay a large sum for those times to the puppet government of socialist Hungary. It is quite possible that under the guise of payment for the right to make Rubik’s cube there was a disguised financial aid to the socialist bloc country.
Since the late 80s, the world’s interest in the Rubik’s cube began to decline rapidly. The reason for this was several factors at once.
In a short period of time a lot of original and fake cubes were made. As a result, distributors had significant stocks of unsold toys in their warehouses. The search for ways to improve the mechanism stopped.The main emphasis was on the quick sale of stock remains.
Development of the digital game industry. The emergence of personal game consoles (dandy, sega) and personal computers exploded the toy market.
The cube in the 21st century
Since the early 2000s, the Rubik’s cube has been gradually gaining popularity. A significant role in this was played by the improvement of the mechanism of the puzzle, as well as the spread of the Internet. Thanks to the Internet, people could find instructions for assembling the cube in a few clicks.
After the invention of his main brainchild, Erno Rubik switched to finding new puzzles for his Rubik`s brand. Today’s Rubik`s cubes practically do not differ in twisting from the toys of the late 90s and early 20s. Even the famous crunch has been preserved.
At the same time Chinese manufacturers actively worked on improving the mechanism of the puzzle. The first breakthrough was made by Dayan. In the status of market leader, the company released 5 cubes and each of them made a furore. Dayan 5 cube is still considered a cult cube.
The next stage in the development of the Rubik’s Cube mechanism was the addition of magnets. The benefits of magnets were first seen by ordinary puzzle enthusiasts.
Sources say that single attempts to make the cube magnetic were in 2013. True then the speedcube community did not accept these experiments. The trend came back again in 2016 and it was only in January 2017 that the first mass-produced magnetic Gan 356 air UM cube was released.
A few months later, MoYu released the GTS V2 M cube. The cube was so successful that it is still popular today despite the abundance of new models. MoYu’s GTS V2 M cube holds the current record for assembling a 3×3 cube: 3.47 seconds.
Now the flagship companies in the production of Rubik’s cubes are Gan, QiYi and MoYu. Their puzzles have speed mechanisms, are equipped with magnets for better control during assembly, and also have a set of additional parts for customising the cube to your needs.
Cubic in media
Today, there are far more people with smartphones than with a Rubik’s cube. But the image of the puzzle itself is increasingly being used in the media space. Vodafon and KIVI have released advertising campaigns using the image of Rubik’s cube. Puma released a clothing line in collaboration with Rubik`s brand. Absolutely all talent shows on Ukrainian television do not do without participants collecting Rubik’s cube.
