The Rubix Cube

Why did I start to write about this annoying "toy"?

Well, my two children had one each for Christmas and it brought back many frustrating memories of this puzzle.

I, too, had one when I was a child. However I think mine ended up in the bin after many years of tears whilst trying to solve this popular 80s past time. Wish I kept my original, just to show my children that I once suffered :)

So what is the rubix cube?

Invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Erno Rubik, who originally named it the "Magic Cube". In 1980 Rubik licensed the puzzle to the Ideal Toy Corp, who went on to produce the puzzle Worldwide.

The new product went on to become a huge success (and to date has sold over 350 million units). Also becoming one of the biggest selling "must have".

Youngsters & adults went crazy for the puzzle, with many new records being broken via many competitions set up. Media pushed the craze further with many people taking on their 15 minutes of fame by showing their skills with the puzzle. Thus was born "speedcubing".

The first world championship organised by the Guinness Book of World Records was held in Munich on March 13, 1981. All Cubes were moved 40 times and lubricated with petroleum jelly. The official winner, with a record of 38 seconds, was Jury Froeschl, born in Munich. The first international world championship was held in Budapest on June 5, 1982, and was won by Minh Thai, a Vietnamese student from Los Angeles, with a time of 22.95 seconds.

In addition to official competitions, informal alternative competitions have been held which invite participants to solve the Cube in unusual situations. Some such situations include:

• Blindfolded solving 
• Solving the Cube with one person blindfolded and the other person saying what moves to make, known as "Team Blindfold" 
• Multiple blindfolded solving, or "multi-blind", in which the contestant solves any number of cubes blindfolded in a row 
• Solving the Cube underwater in a single breath 
• Solving the Cube using a single hand 
• Solving the Cube with one's feet 
• Solving the Cube in the fewest possible moves 

Below are some the current World records :

• Single time: The current world record for single time on a 3×3×3 Rubik's Cube was set by Mats Valk of the Netherlands in March 2013 with a time of 5.55 seconds at the Zonhoven Open in Belgium. 
• Average time: The world record for average time per solve was set by Feliks Zemdegs at the Melbourne Cube Day 2013, with a 6.54 second average solve time. 
• One-handed solving: A time of 9.03 seconds was made by Feliks Zemdegs at the Lifestyle Seasons Summer 2014. Michał Pleskowicz solved five cubes in an average time of 12.67 seconds at the Cubing Spring Grudziadz 2012. 
• Feet solving: Fakhri Raihaan solved a Rubik's Cube with his feet in 27.93 seconds at the Celebes 2012. 
• Group solving (12 minutes): The record for most people solving a Rubik's Cube at once in twelve minutes is 134, set on 17 March 2010 by school boys from Dr Challoner's Grammar School, Amersham, England, breaking the previous Guinness World Record of 96 people at once. 
• Group solving (30 minutes): On November 21, 2012, at the O2 Arena in London, 1414 people, mainly students from schools across London, solved the Rubik's Cube in under 30 minutes, breaking the previous Guinness World Record of 937. The event was hosted by Depaul UK 
• On November 4, 2012, 3248 people, mainly students of College of Engineering Pune, successfully solved the Rubik's cube in 30 minutes on college ground. The successful attempt is Recorded in the Limca Book of Records. The college will submit the relevant data, witness statements and video of the event to Guinness authorities. 
• Blindfold solving: The record for blind solving is held by Marcin Zalewski of Poland, who solved a cube blindfolded in 23.80 seconds (including memorization) at the Polish Nationals in 2013. 
• Multiple blindfold solving: The record is held by Marcin Kowalczyk of Poland, who successfully solved 35 of 41 cubes blindfolded at the Polish Nationals 2013. 
• Fewest moves solving: Tomoaki Okayama (岡山友昭) of Japan holds the record of 20 moves set at the 2012 Czech Open. 
• Non-human solving: The fastest non-human time for a physical 3×3×3 Rubik's Cube is 5.27 seconds, set by CubeStormer II, a robot built using Lego Mindstorms and a Samsung Galaxy S2. This broke the previous record of 10.69 seconds, achieved by final year computing students at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia in 2011.