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Rubik's Cube
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{{Short description|3D combination puzzle}} {{Pp-vandalism|small=yes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Use British English|date=August 2016}} {{Infobox toy | name = Rubik's Cube | image = Rubiks cube solved.jpg | othernames = Magic Cube, Cube | type = [[Combination puzzle]] | inventor = [[Ernő Rubik]] | invented = {{Release year|1974}} | country = [[Hungary]] | company = Rubik's Brand Ltd ([[Spin Master]])<ref name="Evans">{{Cite news |last=Evans |first=Pete |date=27 October 2020 |title=Canadian company that owns classic toys Etch A Sketch and Aerobie buys Rubik's Cube for $50M |publisher=[[CBC News]] |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/spin-master-rubik-s-cube-1.5778252}}</ref> | from = 1977: as Hungarian Magic Cube, first test batches released in Budapest{{Break}}As Rubik's Cube, worldwide, 1980 | to = present | website = https://rubiks.com }} [[File:Rubik's cube.svg|thumb|right|An illustration of an unsolved Rubik's Cube]] The '''Rubik's Cube''' is a [[Three-dimensional space|3D]] [[combination puzzle]] invented in 1974<ref name="sporting">{{Cite book |last=Fotheringham |first=William |url=https://archive.org/details/fotheringhamsext0000foth/page/50 |title=Fotheringham's Sporting Pastimes |publisher=Anova Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-86105-953-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/fotheringhamsext0000foth/page/50 50]}}</ref><ref name="castel">{{Cite news |last=de Castella |first=Tom |date=28 April 2014 |title=The people who are still addicted to the Rubik's Cube |work=BBC News Magazine |publisher=BBC |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27186297 |access-date=28 April 2014}}</ref> by [[Hungarians|Hungarian]] sculptor and professor of architecture [[Ernő Rubik]]. Originally called the '''Magic Cube''',<ref name=":0" /> the puzzle was licensed by Rubik to be sold by [[Pentangle (puzzle supplier)|Pentangle Puzzles]] in the UK in 1978,<ref>{{Cite web |title=25th Anniversa[r]y of Erno Rubik's Magic Cube. First introduced to the Western World by Pentangle Puzzles in 1978. |url=https://www.puzzlemuseum.com/month/picm03/200301mcu.htm |access-date=29 November 2020 |website=puzzlemuseum.com}}</ref> and then by [[Ideal Toy Company|Ideal Toy Corp]] in 1980<ref name="encsci">{{Cite book |last=Daintith |first=John |title=A Biographical Encyclopedia of Scientists |publisher=Institute of Physics Pub |year=1994 |isbn=0-7503-0287-9 |location=Bristol |page=771}}</ref> via businessman Tibor Laczi and Seven Towns founder [[Tom Kremer]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Michael Shanks |date=8 May 2005 |title=History of the Cube |url=http://documents.stanford.edu/67/276 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120065022/http://documents.stanford.edu/67/276 |archive-date=20 January 2013 |access-date=26 July 2012 |publisher=Stanford University}}</ref> The cube was released internationally in 1980 and became one of the most recognized icons in popular culture. It won the 1980 [[Spiel des Jahres|German Game of the Year]] special award for Best Puzzle. {{As of|2024|1}}, around 500 million cubes had been sold worldwide,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Prakash |first1=Prarthana |title=How the Rubik's Cube has lived to 50 years—and continues to be popular among members of Gen Z and beyond |url=https://fortune.com/europe/2024/01/14/rubiks-cube-erno-rubik-spin-master-50-years-speed-cubing-games-gen-z/ |website=Fortune Europe |access-date=3 April 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Adams |first=William Lee |date=28 January 2009 |title=The Rubik's Cube: A Puzzling Success |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1874509,00.html |url-status=dead |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201200141/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1874509,00.html |archive-date=1 February 2009 |access-date=5 February 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Jamieson |first=Alastair |date=31 January 2009 |title=Rubik's Cube inventor is back with Rubik's 360 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/4412176/Rubiks-Cube-inventor-is-back-with-Rubiks-360.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=5 February 2009 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/4412176/Rubiks-Cube-inventor-is-back-with-Rubiks-360.html |archive-date=11 January 2022}}{{cbignore}}</ref>{{update after|2026|5|06|reason=Citations need to be updated the}} making it the world's bestselling puzzle game<ref>{{Cite news |date=6 February 2008 |title=eGames, Mindscape Put International Twist on Rubik's Cube PC Game |work=[[Reuters]] |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS147698+06-Feb-2008+PNW20080206 |url-status=dead |access-date=6 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212135842/http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS147698+06-Feb-2008+PNW20080206 |archive-date=12 February 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Marshall |first=Ray |title=Squaring up to the Rubchallenge |url=http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/1000expats/expatsfeatures/tm_objectid%3D15786140%26method%3Dfull%26siteid%3D50080%26headline%3Dsquaring-up-to-the-rubik-challenge-name_page.html |access-date=15 August 2005 |url-status=dead |language=en |archive-date=20 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120065039/http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/1000expats/expatsfeatures/tm_objectid%3D15786140%26method%3Dfull%26siteid%3D50080%26headline%3Dsquaring-up-to-the-rubik-challenge-name_page.html }}</ref> and bestselling toy.<ref>{{Cite news |date=16 August 2007 |title=Rubik's Cube 25 years on: crazy toys, crazy times |work=[[The Independent]] |location=London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/rubiks-cube-25-years-on-crazy-toys-crazy-times-461768.html |access-date=6 February 2009}}</ref> The Rubik's Cube was inducted into the US [[National Toy Hall of Fame]] in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Toy Hall Of Fame 2014 - CBS News |date=6 November 2014 |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/national-toy-hall-of-fame-2014/11/ |publisher=[[CBS News]]}}</ref> On the original, classic Rubik's Cube, each of the six faces was covered by nine stickers, with each face in one of six solid colours:<!-- Note: It has been decided (see Talk page) that [[British English]] spelling (colours, not colors) will be used on this page. --> white, red, blue, orange, green, and yellow. Some later versions of the cube have been updated to use coloured plastic panels instead. Since 1988, the arrangement of colours has been standardised, with white opposite yellow, blue opposite green, and orange opposite red, and with the red, white, and blue arranged clockwise, in that order.<ref name="encgrow">{{Cite book |last=Dempsey |first=Michael W. |title=Growing up with science: The illustrated encyclopedia of invention |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |year=1988 |isbn=0-87475-841-6 |location=London |page=1245}}</ref> On early cubes, the position of the colours varied from cube to cube.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ewing |first1=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s1E4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA4 |title=Puzzle It Out: Cubes, Groups and Puzzles |last2=Czes Kosniowski |date=1982 |publisher=Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge |isbn=0-521-28924-6 |location=Cambridge |page=4 |access-date=19 May 2014}}</ref> [[File:Salaryman and Rubiks Cube - Japan - 2008 2 2.webm|thumb|thumbtime=32|A [[salaryman]] trying to solve a Rubik's Cube in an [[izakaya]] after work in [[Japan]], 2008]] An internal pivot mechanism enables each layer to turn independently, thus mixing up the colours. For the puzzle to be solved, each face must be returned to having only one colour. The Cube has inspired other designers to create a number of similar puzzles with various numbers of sides, dimensions, and mechanisms. Although the Rubik's Cube reached the height of its mainstream popularity in the 1980s, it is still widely known and used. Many [[speedcubing|speedcubers]] continue to practice it and similar puzzles and compete for the fastest times in various categories. Since 2003, the [[World Cube Association]] (WCA), the international governing body of the Rubik's Cube, has organised competitions worldwide and has recognised world records.
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