With bits of wood and bare rubber bands, the young Hungarian Professor Ernő Rubik created a small prototype cube that went on to become the world’s most popular toy.
It was originally intended as a basic teaching model to demonstrate three-dimensional geometry to his design students at the Budapest College of Applied Arts. True to its first name, the ingenious “Magic Cube” ended up a hit selling more than 350 million times after it slipped through the Iron Curtain. The complex mechanical puzzle continues to fascinate and frustrate fans who frown and fight to figure out the one solution in some 43 quintillion, or a mind-numbing 43,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible combinations.
On the classic Rubik’s Cube, each of the six solid coloured faces is covered by nine stickers, rotating on a central axis. I struggled with borrowed cubes, argued with friends, neglected homework, chores and sleep, and years later watched with amusement and some gratification as my two children tried to twist the sides into elusive uniformity. Before long, though, they were able to view video guides and learn about the white cross, turn corners and manage middle layers.
