Rubik's Cube is Making a Comeback

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 three-dimensional forms.

Over one hundred 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 May 2005, the Greek Panagiotis Verdes constructed a 6×6×6 Rubik's Cube. and on May 23 2006, Frank Morris, a world champion Rubik's Cube solver, tested this version. He had previously solved the 3×3×3 in 15 seconds, the 4×4×4 in 1 minute and 10 seconds, and the 5×5×5 in 2 minutes. The 6×6×6 took him 5 minutes and 37 seconds to solve. Morris himself thanked the inventor for making it and purportedly stated that the bigger the Cube is, the greater the pleasure. In July 2006, Mr. Verdes successfully constructed the 7x7x7 cube, and on October 27 2006, a video of Frank Morris testing the cube was released. Videos of these tests can be viewed at: http://www.olympicube.com.

In 1981, Patrick Bossert, a twelve-year-old schoolboy from England, published his own solution in a book called You Can Do the Cube. The book sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide in seventeen 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 colored stickers were sold so that frustrated or impatient Cube owners could restore their puzzle to its original appearance.

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. Financially, the Cube was so successful that Rubik became the first self-made elite in a communist country.