The History Of The Rubik's Cube

How many possible permutations are there on a Rubik’s Cube? How did the Rubik’s Cube come out of the Soviet block before even Tetris did? And did the creator get rich off of his investment or not? It’s the 50th anniversary of its creation so today we’re looking at the history of the Rubik’s Cube.

In 1974, in a modest apartment in Budapest, Hungary, a young architecture professor named Ernő Rubik was pondering a problem. As he taught his students about spatial relationships and geometric structures, he found himself searching for a better way to demonstrate how individual pieces could move independently without the entire structure falling apart. Little did he know that his solution would become one of the most beloved and influential puzzles in human history.

Ernő Rubik was born in Budapest, on July 13, 1944, during the tumultuous final year of World War II. His arrival into the world came at a time when his country was caught between Nazi occupation and advancing Soviet forces. His father was a highly regarded aircraft engineer who specialized in the design of gliders. His mother was a poet and artist who worked as a literature teacher.

Growing up in Soviet-controlled Hungary, young Ernő developed a fascinating blend of his parents' interests. From his father, he inherited a deep appreciation for mechanical problems and three-dimensional thinking. His mother's artistic influence nurtured his creative side and appreciation for beauty in design. The combination would later prove crucial in his most famous invention.

Rubik's childhood was marked by curiosity and a love for solving puzzles. He spent countless hours in his father's workshop, learning about mechanical principles and developing spatial awareness through hands-on experience with tools and materials.

After completing his secondary education, Rubik enrolled at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. He studied architecture and graduated in 1967. His choice of architecture as a profession was key - it combined his interests in art, design, and structural engineering.

Following graduation, Rubik remained in academia, taking a position as a professor at the Budapest College of Applied Arts (now called the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design). Here, he taught interior design and worked in the geometry department, focusing on the development of teaching materials and visual aids for students learning about complex geometric principles.

This time was crucial in developing his teaching philosophy. Rubik believed strongly in the power of learning through hands-on experience and physical manipulation of objects. He often created his own teaching tools when existing materials proved inadequate for explaining complex spatial concepts to his students.


Working with blocks of wood and rubber bands in his mother's apartment, Rubik created the first prototype of what would later be known as the Rubik's Cube. The initial design was rough – wooden blocks held together by rubber bands, screws, and paper clips. The first prototype didn't have colored stickers. Rubik marked the sides with different colored paper attached with paper clips, as he was just trying to demonstrate structural movement. But the fundamental mechanism was revolutionary: a structure that could twist and turn while remaining intact, with each face capable of rotating independently.

Rubik's original goal wasn't to create a puzzle. He was more interested in solving the structural problem of moving parts independently without the whole mechanism falling apart. It wasn't until he scrambled his creation for the first time that he realized he had inadvertently created a fiendishly difficult puzzle. As he later recalled, "It was wonderful, to see how, after only a few turns, the colors became mixed, apparently in random fashion. It was tremendously satisfying to watch this color parade. Like after a nice walk when you have seen many lovely sights you decide to go home, after a while I decided it was time to go home, let us put the cubes back in order. And it was at that moment that I came face to face with the Big Challenge: What is the way home?"

The first person to solve the Cube was, of course, its inventor. But this was no simple task. Without any precedent, without any solving methods or best practices to fall back on, Rubik spent over a month working on returning his creation to its original state.

The early cubes were sold in Hungarian toy shops under the name (Magic Cube). They were built by hand, with each cube taking several hours to assemble. The initial production run was small, with only a few thousand cubes made.

The cube's journey to global phenomenon began when it caught the attention of Tom Kremer, a Hungarian-born toy expert living in London. Kremer discovered the cube at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in 1979 and immediately recognized its potential. He negotiated the worldwide rights and licensed it to Ideal Toys.