Timeless games

Rubik’s cube

The best-selling puzzle* in the world was, in the 1980s, found in the homes of all young people and adults. Today the “magic cube” is back in fashion!

Invented in 1974 by Erno Rubik, professor of architecture and Hungarian sculptor, at first it was called Buvuos Kocka, meaning “magic cube”. Only from 1980 did it become known as “Rubik’s cube”. It is one of the best-selling games in history and certainly the best-selling puzzle in the world: we are talking about hundreds of millions of cubes sold!

Competitions and records

In the 80s, it reached the height of its popularity, but it is still bought today by many people, and there are tutorials on YouTube and

Speed Cubing competitions*.

The speedcubers, divided into 06

different categories*, compete in international competitions to solve the Rubik’s cube in the shortest possible time. Since 2003, the World Cube Association has been organising championships and competitions all over the world, setting impressive records. For example, the record of 3.47 seconds to solve it is by the Chinese Yusheng Du, while a

Polish boy solved the cube with his feet in just over 20 seconds!

The shape

It’s a magical 3D cube, with six faces covered in nine stickers each, and each face with a different colour: white, yellow, red, green, blue and orange. An internal mechanism allows the faces to rotate independently of each other, so the colours of the cube can be mixed. The many players in the community define 20 as “the number of God”, i.e., the maximum number of moves* with which a champion is able to solve the cube, whatever the initial combination*. According to National Geographic, the cube was also present among the indigenous Wayana, an Amazonian tribe that lives very isolated from the world.

Erno Rubik said...

“The cube brings together a problem to be solved using the hands and the brain. This type of experience happens many times separately, but rarely together. “The idea behind my cube is very fascinating: a solid object placed on a table is stable*, while the cube, when you play, seems alive!”

There is a heavy shovel, the “cube smasher”, designed for those who, very angry and tired after their unsuccessful attempts to solve it, want to destroy it J

Glossary

categories: group of people united by a certain characteristic (age, nationality ...) combination: union of several elements (here the coloured boxes) competitions: races, fights to win moves: single actions of a player, movements puzzle: intelligence game stable: that does not move, stationary