Stocking stuffer: The Cube is back

There's nothing puzzling about the appeal of this 80s icon. The Rubik's Cube was an icon of the decade -- what the Pet Rock was to the 70s or the Chia Pet was to ... oh, hell, nobody wants to claim that as their icon.

Difficult to solve but even more difficult to give up on, the Rubik's Cube was invented by Erno Rubik in Hungary in 1974 but didn't reach the U.S. until 1980. More than 100-million of the puzzles were sold between 1980 and 1982. 

You might be surprised to know the Rubik's Cube phenomenon is still going strong. Today, Hasbro, which acquired the puzzle's U.S. rights in 2002, sells several hundred thousand of them each year, according to the company.

The Cube could see another surge in popularity with the December release of the Will Smith movie The Pursuit of Happyness. The movie is based on the rags-to-riches story of Chicago millionaire Chris Gardner (played by Smith). The Rubik’s Cube plays a role in the movie as a way to showcase the resolve and skill of Smith, who's able to solve the puzzle quickly. (The Fresh Prince recently appeared on Oprah to promote the movie and solved the puzzle fast in front of the audience.)

Of course, learning the solve the puzzle quickly is the real challenge. Cube champion Tyson Mao was brought to the movie set to train Will Smith.

Some more Cube trivia:

• Sheets of colored stickers were once sold to enthusiastic but frustrated puzzle owners who couldn't solve the puzzle. They could simply replace the stickers to make it look solved.
• A standard cube has 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible positions.
• All cubes can be solved in 27 or fewer moves.

Tomorrow on Stuck in the 80s: An interview with Rubik's Cube champ Tyson Mao and his tips on how to solve the puzzle.

Comments

[Kristen Smith]

I can't seem to get it right. But I'll always keep trying.

[alex courrau]

I can solve it too. Just got my best of 20.51 today. If you can remember about 10 moves then you can solve it every time, it's not that hard :).

[Carla]

Sherri... I saw this topic and started reading and found that you posted exactly what I was going to write. It was so easy to pop them pieces out and put them all back to show everyone how you solved the puzzle!! Too funny!

[ddcrow]

i love cubing so much, my best time is 41 secs and im still trying to get faster, at least under 30 secs

[ITO]

i love cubing and i have only been doing it for about 2 months. i saw a clip of ryan patricio solving one in 21 secs with one hand! now i solve my cube sub 50sec (two hands) and i got all my friends into it at school. *go MAO'S your crazy*

[Six]

Who let the nerds out?

[Abel]

Yeah Rubik's Cube rules!!
Hahaha... btw, i just got my first sub-20 average few days ago:)
Check out my website, i'm working on a solution page... and oh yes, there's a beginner's solution too... I'm trying to make it simple as possible:D

[Tyler]

Maximum amount of moves for shortest route is about 21 moves. Most, however, are around 16-17. It's just about impossible for a human to find that route though, unless given hours and hours of inspection time.

[Olivier]

Hi guys!

I'have started two month ago... Now I able to solve a RBC 1by1 :D

I'm just kiding ^^'

No, really, I can solve a 2by2, 3by3 and I progress in the 4by4 (I need some practice for the final solve :) )

I really like it! (But I'm not able to solve it really fast :p )

[James]

RE: your recent Podcast debate:

I shared a motel room in Southern Michigan with Sean Daly a during an ill-fated stretch in the late 90s.

Trust me, he is the Dell Griffith.

[Chris Downey]

Well, I have to say that you dont have to be great at math or puzzles to solve the cube. Im fairly new to the world of cubing.

You can learn to do anything on the Internet, just look around.

[Spears]

I suck at mathematics and puzzles, so I've never been able to completely solve you. I tried the other day and failed miserably.

Check back later for advice from a world champ Cube solver.

[SPIKY SANDY]

You know, I hated that cube in the 80's (can you tell I can't solve it? Bitter, party of one!) and I was chuckling when I saw it in the commercial for the Pursuit of Happyness. Actually, those that can solve it still impress me. I can solve one side! Hurray for me!!!

[Craig]

Go Jaap!!! Yah, Rubik's cube is definitely really fun to play with...I average around 17-18 seconds on it. It isn't hard to master...if you know where to look ;)

[Jaap]

The previous comment is incorrect - 27 is the correct proven bound (but it is thought that 20 should be enough).

The number 18 came from an easy way to show that there are positions that need _at_least_ 18 moves to solve. Computers have since found large numbers of positions that require 20 moves, but none so far that require 21.

Hi, cubing is fun! Way to Will Smith! The cube can btw be solved in a max of 18 moves...

Where's the challenge in solving the cube is you are going to cheat at it anyway? I can solve it very quickly and am still trying to improve my time to be less than 20 seconds. Besides, having a loose cube is good for one-handed solves.

[Sherrie]

My tried and true solution to the Rubik's Cube circa 1983- a butter knife. I'd carefully pry loose each individually colored cube and put it back together in the right order. Cheating, yes, but it worked for me. Unfortunately you couldn't do it more than a few times before the cube got really loose and the pieces fell out. Did anybody else lay out hard earned allowance money for a "how to solve Rubik's Cube" book? I never truly solved it without benefit of a butter knife, despite the claims of the book.
Sherrie