The inventor of the Rubik's Cube took this long to first solve it

Erno Rubik was the inventor of Rubik's Cube. He was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1944.

As a young boy, Rubik liked to draw and sculpt. Years later, he studied architecture and became obsessed with geometric designs. He eventually became a professor and taught a class called "descriptive geometry" - where he encouraged students to use two-dimensional images to solve three dimensional problems.

When Erno Rubik was 29, he was in his bedroom tinkering. He has described his bedroom as looking like the "inside of a child's pocket." It was littered with crayons, strings, sticks, various odds and ends - and lots of cubes.

One day, he tried connecting eight wooden cubes together so they could move around and exchange places. And it promptly fell apart. After several experiments, he figured out a unique design that contained an interesting paradox: It was a solid object that was also fluid.

Rubik decided to add 54 colourful stickers to the cube, with each side sporting a different colour - yellow, red, blue, orange, white and green. That way the movement of the pieces was visible and trackable.

Then Rubik kept twisting the cube until he realized something: There was no way back. He had twisted it so much, the colours were now all mixed up. He had no clue how to restore it to its original state.

One month later, Rubik finally solved it.

Realizing the cube could be restored to its original state, he submitted an application to the Hungarian Patent Office for a "spatial logic toy" called the "Magic Cube."

In the beginning, it was difficult to find a manufacturer willing to produce it, because it didn't look like a toy. Rubik was told no one would want to play with it. Then, in 1977, one plastic toy company finally agreed to produce 5,000 Magic Cubes. Then they went on sale in Hungarian toy shops.

Two years later, 300,000 Magic Cubes had been sold.

But Hungary was still behind the Iron Curtain and exports were strictly controlled. So Erno Rubik decided to take his creation to international toy fairs. Again, there wasn't much interest abroad. Until one day at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in 1980, a marketer named Tom Kremer spotted the Magic Cube. He thought it was fascinating.

He struck a deal to bring it to America. A company called Ideal Toy was given the contract - but insisted on changing the name first. They suggested Rubik's Cube.

That was a strategic decision - because Rubik's name was so unique, it could be trademarked. The Ideal company brought Erno Rubik over to America to demonstrate his cube at the New York Toy Fair in 1980. They needed stores to get excited about it.

Rubik wasn't the most charismatic salesperson - he was a shy professor with a limited command of English. But Ideal needed him there for one very specific reason. He was the only one who could actually solve the Rubik's Cube live in front of the toy buyers.

You could say that demonstration kinda worked.

Within just three years, 100 million Rubik's Cubes were sold - with the help of this commercial:

Rubik's Cube became a worldwide craze.

The Museum of Modern Art selected Rubik's Cube for its permanent collection. The first Rubik's Cube World Championship was held in Hungary in 1982. The winner solved the puzzle in just 22.9 seconds.

Soon, Rubik's Cube become part of pop culture.

Today, nearly 50 years after its invention, Rubik's Cube is still a huge seller. Over 450 million have been sold - making it the best-selling toy in history. And the pandemic has boosted sales. The current speed record for solving Rubik's Cube is just 3.47 seconds.

Which is mind-boggling - considering there are 43 quintillion possible combinations - but only one successful one. And just last year, the famous Cube was purchased for $50 million by the Canadian company, Spin Master Toys.

It is a unique and remarkable brand. Even in this computer-driven, digital age, Rubik's Cube is projected to sell 20 million units this year alone.

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