Rubik's Cube · History
How Rubik's Cube began and how its rules changed, in a short timeline — then try it yourself in the lessons and practice pages.
1974
A teaching aid in Budapest
Hungarian architecture lecturer Ernő Rubik built the first working cube to help students grasp three-dimensional relationships. It took him over a month to solve it for the first time.
1975
Hungarian patent
Rubik filed for a Hungarian patent. The toy went on sale in Budapest shops in 1977 as Bűvös kocka, the "magic cube".
1980
Global launch as Rubik's Cube
Ideal Toy Corporation licensed it for international release and renamed it after its inventor. It won Germany's Game of the Year, and over a hundred million were sold within a few years.
1981
A twelve-year-old bestseller
British schoolboy Patrick Bossert published You Can Do the Cube, which sold over 1.5 million copies. The same year the cube entered the permanent collection of New York's Museum of Modern Art.
1982
The first World Championship
Held in Budapest with competitors from 19 countries. Minh Thai of the USA won with 22.95 seconds. The craze faded soon after and competition paused for 21 years.
2003
Revival: Toronto Worlds
The internet reconnected scattered enthusiasts and a second World Championship was held in Toronto. The World Cube Association followed in 2004, standardising rules and records.
2010
God's Number is 20
Tomas Rokicki, Herbert Kociemba, Morley Davidson and John Dethridge, using computing time donated by Google, proved every position can be solved in 20 moves or fewer.
2018
Under four seconds
Feliks Zemdegs set 4.22 in May; in November Yusheng Du of China set 3.47 in Wuhu, a record that stood for almost five years.
2023
3.13 seconds
In June, Max Park of the USA set the 3x3 single world record of 3.13 seconds in California.