The Rubik’s Cube was patented by Hungarian architecture professor Ernő Rubik in 1976, first sold in the UK in 1978, and internationally by 1980. There were some precursors like a 2x2x2 cube, but they never had the right magic. Rubik’s cube took the world by storm, becoming a massive global phenomena, with an active scene today. As of 2024, about 500 million had been sold, making it the world’s best selling toy.

Rubik’s intention was not even to create a toy:

his actual purpose was solving the structural problem of allowing many small parts to move independently while still remaining part of a single, coherent mechanical system. … He did not immediately realise that he had created a puzzle: this only became apparent after he scrambled his newly constructed Cube for the first time and then attempted to restore it… it took him about a month of trial and error to solve his own creation

3x3x3 and 13x13x13 cube:

There have been product tie-ins to everything from breakfast cereal (Chex!) to Barbie to McDonalds.

It spawned competitions such as blindfolded cubing and speedcubing. The speedcubing WR today is held by Xuanyi Geng of China. Here is a video of his 2.52s run. He can freely examine the cube, but the timer starts when he removes his hands from the pad.

If you’re serious about your cubing, don’t forget your cube lube!