If you were born in the 1980s, chances are you had one sitting on a coffee table at some point. A hopelessly scrambled 3x3x3 multi-colored cube that you would occasionally pick up and futilely fiddle with before slamming it back down in frustration: the Rubik’s Cube.
Cubisms
If you were born in the 1980s, chances are you had one sitting on a coffee table at some point. A hopelessly scrambled 3x3x3 multi-colored cube that you would occasionally pick up and futilely fiddle with before slamming it back down in frustration: the Rubik’s Cube.
Nearly 30 years after its invention by Hungarian architect Erno Rubik in 1980, that frustrating nine-sided puzzle is back in a big way, partly thanks to some pop culture boosters.
First, director Michel Gondry (of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep fame) posted a video of himself on YouTube.com solving a Rubik’s Cube with his feet (although there are people who can do this, Gondry faked it–the video is in reverse). Then there was Will Smith showing off his speed-cubing skills in The Pursuit of Happyness.
Speed cubing, by the way, is the competitive art of solving the cube in as little time as possible. Smith may have solved it in a matter of minutes, but the world’s best, in international tournaments officially sanctioned by the World Cube Association, can do it in a matter of seconds. About 11 seconds to be exact. Spurred on by online communities and hardcore cubers posting videos of their best solving times on video sharing sites like YouTube.com, speed cubing has a growing community of competitors, many of whom invent increasingly complicated methods for solving the puzzle. The World Cube Association held 33 international competitions in 2006 alone, nearly half of the 72 held since 2003.
The cube’s simple-yet-complex appeal has had a resurgence with more than just the freakishly nimble-fingered as well. As of Feb. 20, the 25th anniversary version of the cube, manufactured by Hasbro, is the top selling toy on Amazon.com (it retails on the site for $6.99, with included hint book).
The puzzle is actually easier to solve than you might think, although just twisting the thing around randomly isn’t likely to yield satisfactory results. In fact, there are simple combinations of moves that you can learn to move a specific tile to a specific location on the cube. With practice, the average person can learn to solve a 3x3x3 cube in about five minutes. More complex strategies exist for trying to solve the cube quickly or in the fewest number of moves.
Fun Rubik’s Cube facts
The Rubik’s Cube and its imitations are one of the most popular toys of all time, with more than 250,000,000 sold worldwide to date.
The puzzle’s success made Erno Rubik the first wealthy individual in communist Hungary during the 1980s.
The current world speed cubing record for a standard 3x3x3 cube, held by Toby Mao, is 10.46 seconds
A standard 3x3x3 cube has 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible positions (that’s 43 quintillion).
Solvable cubes as large as 11x11x11 (603 pieces) have been built by a company called Olympic Cubes. Speed cuber Frank Morris has solved the company’s 5x5x5 cube in as little as one minute, 46.28 seconds, and their 7x7x7 cube in less than six minutes, 30 seconds.
Computer models exist for three-dimensional cubes as large as 20x20x20. The web site www.gravitation36.com/magiccube5d features a computer model of a 5-dimensional, 3x3x3x3x3 cube (called a “penteract”). Only seven people claim to have solved it.
Competition
Not all methods of solving a cube are officially sanctioned by the World Cube Association, but cube enthusiasts keep dreaming up new ways of solving them, including:
-Solving a 3x3x3 cube one-handed-Solving a 3x3x3 cube using the feet-Solving a 3x3x3 cube blindfolded-Solving a 3x3x3 cube looking in a mirror-Solving a 3x3x3 cube using chopsticks-Solving a 3x3x3 cube with a knife and fork-Solving a 3x3x3 cube underwater in a single breath
Impress (or scare away) your friends
Speed cubers and Rubik’s Cube enthusiasts maintain an extensive online community, sharing tips, solutions and strategies. Here are some web sites that can help turn you into a cube-solving whiz:
www.rubiks.com
www.nerdparadise.com/puzzles
www.olympicube.com
www.worldcubeassociation.org
