Since 2003, the World Cube Association, the international governing body of the Rubik's Cube, has organised competitions worldwide and recognises world records. ==History== ===Precursors=== In March 1970, Larry D.
Nichols was granted on 11 April 1972, two years before Rubik invented his Cube. On 9 April 1970, Frank Fox applied to patent an "amusement device", a type of sliding puzzle on a spherical surface with "at least two 3×3 arrays" intended to be used for the game of noughts and crosses.
Nichols was granted on 11 April 1972, two years before Rubik invented his Cube. On 9 April 1970, Frank Fox applied to patent an "amusement device", a type of sliding puzzle on a spherical surface with "at least two 3×3 arrays" intended to be used for the game of noughts and crosses.
The Rubik's Cube is a 3-D combination puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik.
He received his UK patent (1344259) on 16 January 1974. ===Rubik's invention=== In the mid-1970s, Ernő Rubik worked at the Department of Interior Design at the Academy of Applied Arts and Crafts in Budapest.
Rubik applied for a patent in Hungary for his "Magic Cube" (Bűvös kocka in Hungarian) on 30 January 1975, and HU170062 was granted later that year. The first test batches of the Magic Cube were produced in late 1977 and released in Budapest toy shops.
In 1986, the appeals court affirmed the judgment that Rubik's 2×2×2 Pocket Cube infringed Nichols's patent, but overturned the judgment on Rubik's 3×3×3 Cube. Even while Rubik's patent application was being processed, Terutoshi Ishigi, a self-taught engineer and ironworks owner near Tokyo, filed for a Japanese patent for a nearly identical mechanism, which was granted in 1976 (Japanese patent publication JP55-008192).
Rubik applied for a patent in Hungary for his "Magic Cube" (Bűvös kocka in Hungarian) on 30 January 1975, and HU170062 was granted later that year. The first test batches of the Magic Cube were produced in late 1977 and released in Budapest toy shops.
With Ernő Rubik's permission, businessman Tibor Laczi took a Cube to Germany's Nuremberg Toy Fair in February 1979 in an attempt to popularise it.
It was noticed by Seven Towns founder Tom Kremer, and they signed a deal with Ideal Toys in September 1979 to release the Magic Cube worldwide.
in 1980 via businessman Tibor Laczi and Seven Towns founder Tom Kremer.
Rubik's Cube won the 1980 German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle.
Similar puzzles have now been produced with various numbers of sides, dimensions, and stickers, not all of them by Rubik. Although the Rubik's Cube reached its height of mainstream popularity in the 1980s, it is still widely known and used.
Ideal wanted at least a recognisable name to trademark; that arrangement put Rubik in the spotlight because the Magic Cube was renamed after its inventor in 1980.
The puzzle made its international debut at the toy fairs of London, Paris, Nuremberg, and New York in January and February 1980. After its international debut, the progress of the Cube towards the toy shop shelves of the West was briefly halted so that it could be manufactured to Western safety and packaging specifications.
"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. ===1980s Cube craze=== 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.
At the end of 1980, Rubik's Cube won a German Game of the Year special award and won similar awards for best toy in the UK, France, and the US.
By 1981, Rubik's Cube had become a craze, and it is estimated that in the period from 1980 to 1983 around 200 million Rubik's Cubes were sold worldwide.
However, in some Communist countries, such as China and the USSR, the craze had started later and demand was still high because of a shortage of Cubes. ===21st-century revival=== Rubik's Cubes continued to be marketed and sold throughout the 1980s and 1990s, but it was not until the early 2000s that interest in the Cube began increasing again.
Rubik applied for more patents in 1980, including another Hungarian patent on 28 October.
By 1981, Rubik's Cube had become a craze, and it is estimated that in the period from 1980 to 1983 around 200 million Rubik's Cubes were sold worldwide.
In March 1981, a speedcubing championship organised by the Guinness Book of World Records was held in Munich, and a Rubik's Cube was depicted on the front cover of Scientific American that same month.
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", 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." As most people could solve only one or two sides, numerous books were published including David Singmaster's Notes on Rubik's "Magic Cube" (1980) and Patrick Bossert's You Can Do the Cube (1981).
At one stage in 1981, three of the top ten best selling books in the US were books on solving Rubik's Cube, and the best-selling book of 1981 was James G.
In 1981, the Museum of Modern Art in New York exhibited a Rubik's Cube, and at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee a six-foot Cube was put on display.
Middle layer moves are denoted by adding an M to the corresponding face move, so RIM means a 180-degree turn of the middle layer adjacent to the R face. Another notation appeared in the 1981 book The Simple Solution to Rubik's Cube.
David Singmaster first published his solution in the book Notes on Rubik's "Magic Cube" in 1981.
The easiest layer by layer methods require only 3–8 algorithms. In 1981, thirteen-year-old Patrick Bossert developed a solution for solving the cube, along with a graphical notation, designed to be easily understood by novices.
There are a number of speedcubing competitions that take place around the world. A speedcubing championship organised by the Guinness Book of World Records was held in Munich on 13 March 1981.
As of 1981, the official Rubik's Brand has licensed twisty puzzle cubes only up to the 5×5×5.
In 1981, the Museum of Modern Art in New York exhibited a Rubik's Cube, and at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee a six-foot Cube was put on display.
In June 1982, the First Rubik's Cube World Championship took place in Budapest and would become the only competition recognized as official until the championship was revived in 2003. In October 1982, The New York Times reported that sales had fallen and that "the craze has died", and by 1983 it was clear that sales had plummeted.
The 2003 World Rubik's Games Championship was the first speedcubing tournament since 1982.
Today, the patents have expired and many Chinese companies produce copies of—and in nearly all cases, improvements upon—the Rubik and V-Cube designs. ===Patent history=== Nichols assigned his patent to his employer Moleculon Research Corp., which sued Ideal in 1982.
The faces were named Top (T), Bottom (B), Left (L), Right (R), Front (F), and Posterior (P), with + for clockwise, – for anticlockwise, and 2 for 180-degree turns. Another notation appeared in the 1982 "The Ideal Solution" book for Rubik's Revenge.
In 1982, David Singmaster and Alexander Frey hypothesised that the number of moves needed to solve the Cube, given an ideal algorithm, might be in "the low twenties".
The first world championship was the 1982 World Rubik's Cube Championship held in Budapest on 5 June 1982, which was won by Minh Thai, a Vietnamese student from Los Angeles, with a time of 22.95 seconds. Since 2003, the winner of a competition is determined by taking the average time of the middle three of five attempts.
By 1981, Rubik's Cube had become a craze, and it is estimated that in the period from 1980 to 1983 around 200 million Rubik's Cubes were sold worldwide.
In June 1982, the First Rubik's Cube World Championship took place in Budapest and would become the only competition recognized as official until the championship was revived in 2003. In October 1982, The New York Times reported that sales had fallen and that "the craze has died", and by 1983 it was clear that sales had plummeted.
In the United States, Rubik was granted on 29 March 1983, for the Cube.
In 1984, Ideal lost the patent infringement suit and appealed.
In 1986, the appeals court affirmed the judgment that Rubik's 2×2×2 Pocket Cube infringed Nichols's patent, but overturned the judgment on Rubik's 3×3×3 Cube. Even while Rubik's patent application was being processed, Terutoshi Ishigi, a self-taught engineer and ironworks owner near Tokyo, filed for a Japanese patent for a nearly identical mechanism, which was granted in 1976 (Japanese patent publication JP55-008192).
However, in some Communist countries, such as China and the USSR, the craze had started later and demand was still high because of a shortage of Cubes. ===21st-century revival=== Rubik's Cubes continued to be marketed and sold throughout the 1980s and 1990s, but it was not until the early 2000s that interest in the Cube began increasing again.
It was subsequently published as You Can Do The Cube and became a best-seller. In 1997, Denny Dedmore published a solution described using diagrammatic icons representing the moves to be made, instead of the usual notation. Philip Marshall's The Ultimate Solution to Rubik's Cube takes a different approach, averaging only 65 twists yet requiring the memorisation of only two algorithms.
Until 1999, when an amended Japanese patent law was enforced, Japan's patent office granted Japanese patents for non-disclosed technology within Japan without requiring worldwide novelty.
However, in some Communist countries, such as China and the USSR, the craze had started later and demand was still high because of a shortage of Cubes. ===21st-century revival=== Rubik's Cubes continued to be marketed and sold throughout the 1980s and 1990s, but it was not until the early 2000s that interest in the Cube began increasing again.
Following the expiration of Rubik's patent in 2000, other brands of cubes appeared, especially from Chinese companies.
This patent expired in 2000. ===Trademarks=== Rubik's Brand Ltd.
In the US, sales doubled between 2001 and 2003, and The Boston Globe remarked that it was "becoming cool to own a Cube again".
Since 2003, the World Cube Association, the international governing body of the Rubik's Cube, has organised competitions worldwide and recognises world records. ==History== ===Precursors=== In March 1970, Larry D.
In June 1982, the First Rubik's Cube World Championship took place in Budapest and would become the only competition recognized as official until the championship was revived in 2003. In October 1982, The New York Times reported that sales had fallen and that "the craze has died", and by 1983 it was clear that sales had plummeted.
In the US, sales doubled between 2001 and 2003, and The Boston Globe remarked that it was "becoming cool to own a Cube again".
The 2003 World Rubik's Games Championship was the first speedcubing tournament since 1982.
The first world championship was the 1982 World Rubik's Cube Championship held in Budapest on 5 June 1982, which was won by Minh Thai, a Vietnamese student from Los Angeles, with a time of 22.95 seconds. Since 2003, the winner of a competition is determined by taking the average time of the middle three of five attempts.
The tournament led to the formation of the World Cube Association in 2004.
In 2007, Daniel Kunkle and Gene Cooperman used computer search methods to demonstrate that any 3×3×3 Rubik's Cube configuration can be solved in 26 moves or fewer. In 2008, Tomas Rokicki lowered that number to 22 moves, and in July 2010, a team of researchers including Rokicki, working with Google, proved the so-called "God's number" to be 20.
Annual sales of Rubik branded cubes were said to have reached 15 million worldwide in 2008.
In 2007, Daniel Kunkle and Gene Cooperman used computer search methods to demonstrate that any 3×3×3 Rubik's Cube configuration can be solved in 26 moves or fewer. In 2008, Tomas Rokicki lowered that number to 22 moves, and in July 2010, a team of researchers including Rokicki, working with Google, proved the so-called "God's number" to be 20.
The TouchCube was introduced at the American International Toy Fair in New York on 15 February 2009. The Cube has inspired an entire category of similar puzzles, commonly referred to as twisty puzzles, which includes the cubes of different sizes mentioned above, as well as various other geometric shapes.
In 2007, Daniel Kunkle and Gene Cooperman used computer search methods to demonstrate that any 3×3×3 Rubik's Cube configuration can be solved in 26 moves or fewer. In 2008, Tomas Rokicki lowered that number to 22 moves, and in July 2010, a team of researchers including Rokicki, working with Google, proved the so-called "God's number" to be 20.
The 17×17×17 "Over The Top" cube (available late 2011) was until December 2017 the largest (and most expensive, costing more than two thousand dollars) commercially sold cube.
There are also puzzles that change shape such as Rubik's Snake and the Square One. In 2011, Guinness World Records awarded the "largest order Rubiks magic cube" to a 17×17×17 cube, made by Oskar van Deventer.
The event was hosted by Depaul UK. On 4 November 2012, 3248 people, mainly students of the College of Engineering Pune, successfully solved Rubik's cube in 30 minutes on college ground.
The trademarks have been upheld by a ruling of the General Court of the European Union on 25 November 2014 in a successful defence against a German toy manufacturer seeking to invalidate them.
However, European toy manufacturers are allowed to create differently shaped puzzles that have a similar rotating or twisting functionality of component parts such as for example Skewb, Pyraminx or Impossiball. On 10 November 2016, Rubik's Cube lost a ten-year battle over a key trademark issue.
A working design for a 22×22×22 cube exists and was demonstrated in January 2016, and a 33×33×33 in December 2017.
The 17×17×17 "Over The Top" cube (available late 2011) was until December 2017 the largest (and most expensive, costing more than two thousand dollars) commercially sold cube.
A working design for a 22×22×22 cube exists and was demonstrated in January 2016, and a 33×33×33 in December 2017.
On 2 December 2017, Grégoire Pfennig announced that he had broken this record, with a 33×33×33 cube, and that his claim had been submitted to Guinness for verification.
The world record fastest average of five one-handed solves is 9.42 seconds, also set by Max Park at Berkeley Summer 2018. Feet solving: The world record fastest Rubik's Cube solve with one's feet is 15.56 seconds, set by Mohammed Aiman Koli of India on 27 December 2019 at VJTI Mumbai Cube Open 2019.
On 8 April 2018, Grégoire Pfennig announced another world record, the 2x2x50 cube.
The world record fastest average of five one-handed solves is 9.42 seconds, also set by Max Park at Berkeley Summer 2018. Feet solving: The world record fastest Rubik's Cube solve with one's feet is 15.56 seconds, set by Mohammed Aiman Koli of India on 27 December 2019 at VJTI Mumbai Cube Open 2019.
The world record average of five feet solves is 19.90 seconds, set by Lim Hung (林弘) of Malaysia on 21 December 2019 at Medan 10th Anniversary 2019.
Since 1 January 2020, 3x3x3 With Feet is no longer an event recognized by the WCA, and no results are being accepted. Blindfold solving: The world record fastest Rubik's Cube solve blindfolded is 15.50 seconds (including memorization), set by Max Hilliard of the United States on 1 August 2019 at CubingUSA Nationals 2019.
The world record mean of three for blindfold solving is 18.18 seconds, set by Jeff Park of the United States on 14 December at OU Winter 2019. Multiple blindfold solving: The world record for multiple Rubik's Cube solving blindfolded is 59 out of 60 cubes, set by Graham Siggins of the United States on 9 November 2019 at OSU Blind Weekend 2019.
Siggins inspected 60 cubes, donned a blindfold, and solved successfully 59 of them, all under the time limit of one hour. Fewest moves solving: The world record of fewest moves to solve a cube, given one hour to determine one's solution, is 16, which was achieved by Sebastiano Tronto of Italy on 15 June 2019 at FMC 2019.
The world record mean of three for the fewest moves challenge (with different scrambles) is 22.00, also set by Sebastiano Tronto of Italy on 15 June 2019 at FMC 2019. ====Other records==== Non-human solving: The fastest non-human Rubik's Cube solve was performed by Rubik's Contraption, a robot made by Ben Katz and Jared Di Carlo.
On 27 October 2020, Spin Master said it will pay $50 million to buy the Rubik's Cube brand. ==Imitations== Taking advantage of an initial shortage of cubes, many imitations and variations appeared, many of which may have violated one or more patents.
Since 1 January 2020, 3x3x3 With Feet is no longer an event recognized by the WCA, and no results are being accepted. Blindfold solving: The world record fastest Rubik's Cube solve blindfolded is 15.50 seconds (including memorization), set by Max Hilliard of the United States on 1 August 2019 at CubingUSA Nationals 2019.
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