Dan Knight was the victor this time, winning with a time of 20.00 seconds. In this year, the second World Championship took place. The WCA is today recognised as the official speedcubing association and any potential World Records must be set under WCA regulations and delegation before they are recognised. The WCA has helped grow speedcubing and has taken the hobby to many new countries. This was the first official organisation that would be responsible for the running of official speedcubing competitions and monitoring of national and international achievements. In 2003, Ron Van Bruchem and Tyson Mao founded the World Cube Association. The Fridrich method (also known as CFOP, an acronym for the stages of the puzzle) is regarded today as the best speedcubing method, and the world record single and average times have been held by Fridrich solvers for many years, despite Fridrich herself estimating that the method would not be efficient for consistent times under 13 seconds. In 1997, Jessica Fridrich published her methods for solving the Rubik’s Cube online. However, as the Rubik’s Cube became less of a common sight in Christmas wish lists, speedcubing was born and began to thrive. Valued at $1.5 million, it is the most expensive Rubik’s Cube in the World. The cube did make occasional appearances in the news, however, such as the Masterpiece Cube that was created in 1995 by Diamond Cutters Int. It still remained on the shelves and still sold incredibly well, but the hype that originated back in its starting years had pretty much died off. The Ortega Corners-First method that is still used by some today was based off of Thai’s book.ĭuring the next two decades, as the World began to move on to different toys and inventions (especially with the daily technological advances that hooked the attention of the World), the Rubik’s Cube faded from the public view.
#WHAT YEAR DID WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS COME OUT HOW TO#
He then later published a book entitled “The Winning Solution”, which also taught others how to solve the Rubik’s Cube. The victor was Minh Thai, an American teenager, who solved the cube in 22.95 seconds. 20 competitors, all selected from smaller competitions in their home countries, came together to solve the Rubik’s Cube as fast as possible. In 1982, the first Rubik’s Cube World Championship was held in the capital of Hungary. Patrick Bossert also saw success in 1981, as his book entitled “You Can Do The Cube” which taught the reader how to solve their own cube sold 1.5 million copies. The cube today has sold over 3 times that figure, making it the best-selling toy of all time. In 19, the Rubik’s Cube received the UK Toy of the Year award, and in the first 3 years of its release it sold 100 million units. In the same year, David Singmaster published the first layer-by-layer method, a method which is still used by many puzzlers and beginner speedcubers even today.
During this time, the name was changed to credit the inventor, and thus the Rubik’s Cube was officially born. It had to be changed slightly as the West had different regulations in regards to packaging and safety specifications. In early 1980, the Rubik’s Cube made its international debut in toy fairs across the world. This was due to “Iron Curtain” that separated Europe prior to the decline of communism at the time, and this made any worldwide distribution difficult.
It took several years before the cube was actually released worldwide, a total of 4 between patent receipt and release.
The version that was released meant the cube could not easily be pulled apart or broken, ideal qualities of children’s toys.
The cube was released for the first time in Budapest toy shops in late 1977. The cube kept this name for the 5 years following, before being renamed after its inventor. In 1975 Rubik received a patent for his “Magic Cube” in Hungary. It was here where Rubik realised he couldn’t actually solve what he had created, and spent a month figuring out how to do so. The cube was fairly large and made out of wood, with corners that were cut down due to the size of the object. 1974Īfter many different prototypes and versions of the cube being created, in 1974 Erno Rubik finally finished his final prototype 3×3 Rubik’s Cube. We have a separate article about the evolution of cubing hardware. In this article, we’re going to take a look at some of the key dates throughout the history of the Rubik’s Cube, including different variations of puzzles and, the most popular branch, speedcubing. The Rubik’s Cube has one thing that most modern hobbies and pastimes can’t challenge – A history and worldwide accolades that prove its impact on society all throughout its lifetime. Most intellectual and brain-stretching hobbies are fairly modern and rely on technology. There are many different hobbies nowadays for all different types of people. Home » Rubik's Cube » The history of the Rubik's Cube - Timeline with important dates Important Dates in Rubik’s Cube History