World Rubik's Cube championship
Published: 12 October 2009
Author: Naomi Isaacs
[ 3 ] Recommendations
Rubik's enthusiasts have gathered in Germany for the competition
Nimble-fingered enthusiasts of the cult Rubik’s Cube puzzle have gathered in Düsseldorf, Germany, for this year’s World Rubik’s Cube championship.
Now in its 5th year, the competition brings together around 350 of the world’s finest Rubik’s brains to puzzle it out for a range of titles.
Events whereby entrants compete to solve Rubik’s Cubes in the fastest possible time, known in cubist parlance as “speedcubing”, are amongst the most popular, though not without risk. Lubricating the Rubik’s cube is a commonly-accepted practice, allowing for faster manipulation of the cube and helping to avoid sprains and strains.
The current world record for solving a classic 3x3 Cube, of which there are 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible configurations, is an amazing 7.08 seconds, set in 2008 by Dutchman Erik Akkersdijk.
A range of more unorthodox Rubik’s events are also on offer for the more intrepid puzzle-solvers, including a competition to see who can solve the Cube in the fastest time with their feet and a blindfolded Cube completion task.
The competition, organised by the World Cube Association (WCA), is testament to the phenomenal success of the humble coloured cube.
The toy was invented in 1974 by Hungarian architecture professor Ernő Rubik as a device to help teach his students about 3D objects.
It has since gone on to achieve global success, becoming a popular, albeit frustrating, toy in the mid-1980s.
The Cube has inspired a television series, stage play, an art movement (Rubikubism) and, according to the Rubik’s company, contributed to the reform of Hungary’s communist economy in the early 1980s.
Today, an estimated 350 million Rubik’s Cubes have been sold worldwide, making it the world’s best selling puzzle game ever.
SIDEWAYS News for fresh perspectives
