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History Of The Rubik's Cube

The Rubik's Cube was invented in 1974 by Erno Rubik, a Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture with an interest in geometry and the study of 3D forms. Erno 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. Ideal Toys renamed it "Rubik's Cube", and the first batch was exported from Hungary in May 1980.

"Rubik's Cube" is a trademark of Seven Towns Limited. Ideal Toys was somewhat reluctant to produce the toy for that reason, and indeed clones appeared almost immediately. 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.

The Rubik's Cube reached its height of popularity during the early 1980s. 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 Britain, 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 1981.

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.