Games - Rubik's Cube

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	Games - Rubik's Cube

Rubik's Cube is a mechanical puzzle invented in 1974 recently celebrating its 25 year in America with a special edition cube with shiny stickers, by the Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. It is a plastic cube which comes in four different versions, the 2×2×2 ("Pocket Cube"), the 3×3×3, the 4×4×4 ("Rubik's Revenge"), and the 5×5×5 ("Professor's Cube"). The 3×3×3 version has 9 square faces on each side, for a total area of 54 faces, and occupies the volume of 27 unit cubes. Typically the faces of the cube are covered by stickers in 6 colours, one for each side of the cube. When the puzzle is 'solved,' each side of the cube is a solid colour.

Originally known as the Magic Cube, it was remanufactured and renamed Rubik's Cube in 1980 and released in the May of that year. It is said to be the world's biggest selling toy, with some 300 million Rubik's Cubes and imitations sold worldwide.

History

Conception and development

The Magic Cube was invented in 1974 by Ernő Rubik, a Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture with an interest in geometry and the study of 3D forms. Ernő obtained Hungarian patent HU170062 for the Magic Cube in 1975, but did not take out international patents. The first test batches of the product were produced in late 1977 and released to Budapest toy shops.

The Cube slowly grew in popularity throughout Hungary as word of mouth spread. Western academics also showed interest in it. In September 1979, a deal was reached with Ideal Toys to release the Magic Cube internationally. It made its international debut at the toy fairs of London, New York, Nuremberg, and Paris in early 1980.

The progress of the Cube towards the toy shop shelves of the West was then briefly halted so that it could be remanufactured to Western World safety and packaging specifications. A lighter Cube was produced, and Ideal Toys decided to rename it. "The Gordian Knot" and "Inca Gold" were considered, but the company finally decided on "Rubik's Cube", and the first batch was exported from Hungary in May 1980.

Taking advantage of an initial shortage of Cubes, many cheap imitations appeared. In 1984, Ideal Toys lost a patent infringement suit by Larry Nichols for his patent US3655201. Terutoshi Ishigi acquired Japanese patent JP55‒8192 for a nearly identical mechanism while Rubik's patent was being processed, but Ishigi is generally credited with an independent reinvention.

Popularity

Over 100 million cubes were sold in the period from 1980 to 1982. It won the BATR Toy of the Year award in 1980, and again in 1981. Many similar puzzles were released shortly after the Rubik's Cube, both from Rubik himself and from other sources, including the Rubik's Revenge, a 4×4×4 version of the Rubik's Cube. There are also 2×2×2 and 5×5×5 cubes (known as the Pocket Cube and the Rubik's Professor, respectively) and puzzles in other shapes, such as the Pyraminx, a tetrahedron.

In 1981, Patrick Bossert, a 12-year-old schoolboy from England, published his own solution in a book called You Can Do the Cube (ISBN 0140314830). The book sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide in 17 editions and became the number one book on both The Times and the New York Times' bestseller lists for that year.

At the height of the puzzle's popularity, separate sheets of coloured stickers were sold so that frustrated or impatient people could restore their cube to its original appearance.

From 1983 to 1984, Hanna-Barbera produced 12 episodes of Rubik, The Amazing Cube, a Saturday morning cartoon based upon the toy, which aired on ABC as part of "The Pac-Man/Rubik, Amazing Cube Hour".

It has been suggested that the international appeal and export achievement of the Cube became one of the contributing factors in the reform and liberalization of the Hungarian economy between 1981 and 1985, which finally led to the move from communism to capitalism. , although some sociologists disagree.

Financially, it was so successfull that Rubik became the first self-made millionaire in a communist country.

Workings

A standard cube measures approximately 2 1/8 inches (5.4 cm) on each side. The puzzle consists of the 26 unique miniature cubes ("cubies") on the surface. However, the center cube of each face is merely a single square facade; all are affixed to the core mechanisms. These provide structure for the other pieces to fit into and rotate around. So there are 21 pieces: a single core piece consisting of three intersecting axes holding the six centre squares in place but letting them rotate, and 20 smaller plastic pieces which fit into it to form a cube. The cube can be taken apart without much difficulty, typically by turning one side through a 45° angle and prying an "edge cubie" away from a "centre cubie" until it dislodges. It is a simple process to "solve" a cube in this manner, by reassembling the cube in a solved state; however, this is not the challenge.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Rubik's Cube ]

Games - Rubik's Cube

History

Conception and development

Popularity

Workings

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