More than just a Rubik's

Rubik’s are more than just a cube. From the 21st century Revolution to new spins on the classic Rubik’s cube, Rubik have been making challenging and addictive puzzles since 1977.

There’s the Rubik's World, the Rubik's Sudoku Puzzle, Rubik's Revenge, the Rubik's Mini Cube and Professional Cube, the Rubik's Brain Racker, the Rubik's Twist Puzzle, the Rubik's Tac Toe and the list goes on.

Cube Fact

• Ernő Rubik invented the Cube in the spring of 1974 in his home town of Budapest, Hungary. He wanted a working model to help explain three-dimensional geometry and ended up creating the world’s best selling toy.
• Rubik’s inspiration for the Cube’s internal mechanism came from pebbles in the River Danube whose edges had been smoothed away.
• Rubik called his invention the ‘Magic Cube’. It was renamed the Rubik’s Cube by the Ideal Toy Corporation in 1980.
• More than 300 million Rubik’s Cubes have been sold worldwide. If all the cubes were placed on top of each other it would be enough to reach the North Pole from the South Pole!
• At the height of the Rubik’s craze in the mid-1980s, it was estimated that one-fifth of the world’s population had played the Cube.
• ‘Cubing’ still infects people of all ages. ‘Cubaholics’ are said to suffer from ‘Rubik's wrist’ and ‘Cubist's thumb’!
• Rubik’s Cube has featured in hundreds of books, magazines, movies and even had its own TV series on ABC in America. Millions of web pages, blogs and YouTube videos are now dedicated to cubing.
• The Cube has inspired everything from fashion, architecture and music to films, plays and political speeches. There is also a dedicated art movement known as ‘Rubikubism’.
• There are edible cubes, jewel-encrusted Cubes and even MP3 playing cubes! The biggest Cube in the world, on display in Knoxville, Tennessee, is 3 metres tall and weighs over 500kg.
• National and international ‘speedcubing’ championships have been held regularly since 2003. The World Cube Association now runs competitions where players have to solve the Cube one-handed, as well as having to solve the Cube using only your feet. There is even a competition where players have to solve the Cube as quickly as possible blindfolded!
• In May 2007, Thibaut Jacquinot of France became the first person to complete the Cube in under 10 seconds in open competition, setting a world record time of 9.86 seconds. The current world record for a single solve was set by Erik Akkersdijk at the 2008 Czech Open with a time of 7.08 seconds.
• The speed Cubing Championships were held in Budapest in October 2007 and were attended by Ernő Rubik himself.
• In 2007 the Rubik's Cube beat stiff competition to be recognised in the annual CoolBrands list by the Superbrands organisation.

THE CUBE IN NUMBERS

A standard ‘3x3x3’ Rubik’s Cube has 6 coloured sides, 21 pieces and 54 outer surfaces.

This means there are more than 43 quintillion possible configurations, or 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 to be exact. But there is only one solution.

"God’s algorithm is the name given to the formula for solving the cube in the least possible number of moves."

Allowing a second for each turn, it would take 1400 trillion years to go through all the possible configurations. By comparison, the universe is around 13 billion years old.

Widely used in schools and universities, the Rubik’s Cube can help explain complex particle physics and mathematical algorithms.

‘God’s algorithm’ is the name given to the formula for solving the cube in the least possible number of moves. Scientists put this figure at 25.

The mathematics of the 3x3 Cube

As the centre pieces of each face of the Cube do not move, the total number of possible configurations is calculated by multiplying the number of possible arrangements of the corner pieces by the number of possible arrangements of edge pieces.

There are 8 corner pieces, so the number of possible arrangements equals 8! (or 8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1), which is 40320. Each corner piece has 3 different orientations, so this figure must be multiplied by 3⁸(3x3x3x3x3x3x3x3), which equals 6561. But when the Cube is almost complete, the number of possible moves diminishes, so the equation must be adjusted. In this case, once the second from last corner piece is placed, the last piece can have only one automatic orientation, so 6561 must be divided by 3⁷, which is 2187. Finally, the total possible arrangements of corner pieces

40320 x 2187 = 88,179,840.

With the 12 Edge Pieces, the number of possible arrangements equals 12! (12x11x10…), which is 479,001,600. However, unlike corner pieces, it is impossible to exchange just two edge pieces, so once the third from last is placed, the remaining two can have only one possible arrangement, which means this figure must be divided by 2, leaving 239,500,800. Each edge piece has two different orientations, so this must now be multiplied by 2¹², which gives 6561. This figure must also be adjusted because once the third from last edge piece is placed, one of the remaining two can be reoriented but the last will always have a fixed orientation in relation to it. So 6561 must be divided by 2¹¹, which is 2048. Finally, the total possible arrangements of edge pieces

239,500,800 x 2048 = 490,497,638,400.

So the total possible arrangements of Rubik's Cube

88,179,840 x 490,497,638,400 = 43,252,003,274,489,856,000.

Or, to put it another way,

4.3 times 10 to the power of 19.

history of rubiks

• 944
  

  Ernő Rubik is born in Budapest, Hungary. He grows up to become an architect, designer and university professor.

• 1974
  

  Rubik creates the first working prototype of the cube. This is the official birth date of the world’s favourite toy.

• 1975
  

  Rubik patents the ‘Magic Cube’ and Hungarian toy-manufacturerPolitechnika begins the difficult task of mass-production.

• 1977
  

  The first ‘Magic Cube’ is sold in a Budapest toyshop.

• 1980
  

  Ideal Toy Corporation begins exporting the cube from Hungary. The ‘Magic Cube’ is renamed the ‘Rubik’s Cube’.

• 1981
  

  A publication entitled ‘You Can Do the Cube’ was produced by Patrick Bossert, a 12-year-old schoolboy from England. The book goes on to sell 1.5 million copies.

• 1982
  

  The first annual International Rubik’s Championships are held in Budapest. More than 100 million cubes have now been sold and Rubik’s enters the Oxford English Dictionary.

• 1990
  

  Ernő Rubik becomes President of the Hungarian Engineering Academy. He later establishes the International Rubik Foundation to support talented young designers.

• 1995
  

  Diamond Cutters International creates the ‘Masterpiece Cube’ for Rubik’s 15^th birthday – a fully-functional, 185 carat Cube made of solid gold and encrusted with coloured jewels.

• 2005
  

  The cube celebrates its 25^th anniversary on 26 July. A special, limited edition Rubik’s Cube is produced to mark the occasion.

• 2007
  

  World Rubik's Cube Championships are held in Budapest from 5-7 October, marking the 25^th anniversary of the competition. Ernő Rubik was there to award the prizes in person.

• Today
  

  Ernő Rubik is now enjoying his retirement but the Rubik’s Studio continues to design games and work with young designers in Hungary and beyond.