Walk into almost any Kiwi home in the early 1980s, and there was a good chance you’d find a Rubik’s Cube sitting on a bookshelf, coffee table, or bedroom desk. Some were proudly solved. Most were hopelessly scrambled.
Long before YouTube tutorials, smartphone apps, or Google searches, millions of people spent hours twisting and turning the colourful puzzle, convinced they were just one clever move away from cracking the code. For many of us, the Rubik’s Cube wasn’t just a toy. It was a challenge, a frustration, a conversation starter, and a rite of passage.
Today, more than 50 years after its invention, the Rubik’s Cube remains one of the world's most recognisable and best-selling puzzles. But its story is every bit as fascinating as the puzzle itself.
A Puzzle Born in Budapest
The Rubik’s Cube was invented in 1974 by Hungarian architect and professor Ernő Rubik. Originally called the "Magic Cube", it wasn't created as a toy at all. Rubik was looking for a way to demonstrate three-dimensional movement to his students and developed a mechanism that allowed the pieces to rotate independently while remaining connected. He patented the design in 1975, and the puzzle first appeared in Budapest in 1977.
What began as an educational tool soon revealed an unexpected challenge.
After scrambling the cube for the first time, Rubik himself reportedly found it difficult to restore. That realisation revealed the genius of the invention. The puzzle was simple enough for anyone to pick up, but difficult enough to keep you occupied for hours.
The Cube Craze of 1980
While the cube was invented in 1974, 1980 was the year everything changed.
Released internationally with the help of toy company Ideal, the Rubik's Cube rapidly became a global phenomenon. It won Toy of the Year in 1980, and by 1982 more than 100 million cubes had been sold worldwide.
Everywhere you looked, people were cubing.
Students carried them to school. Office workers kept them on their desks. Families challenged each other around the dinner table. Newspapers published solving tips. Television shows featured cube experts. For a brief period, the Rubik's Cube was arguably the biggest puzzle craze the world had ever seen.
And remember, this was the pre-internet era.
There was no quick search to reveal the answer. If you wanted to solve a Rubik's Cube, you either had to work it out yourself or find someone who already knew the secret.
The Book That Taught a Generation
That challenge created an entire cottage industry of solution guides and instructional books.
Perhaps the most famous was You Can Do The Cube, published in 1981 by a British schoolboy named Patrick Bossert. Patrick was only 13 years old when his step-by-step guide became a worldwide bestseller. The book eventually sold more than 1.5 million copies and introduced countless people to their first successful Rubik's Cube solve.
Many Kiwi families will remember having a well-thumbed copy somewhere in the house.
In fact, our family's original Rubik's Cube still sits on a bookshelf at Mum's house, still turning smoothly after all these years. Somewhere in that same bookcase is a battered copy of You Can Do The Cube. A reminder of a time when solving the puzzle required patience, persistence, and a good instruction book rather than a quick online video.
Just How Many Combinations Are There?
Part of the Rubik's Cube's magic comes from the sheer size of the challenge.
A standard 3x3 Rubik's Cube has:
43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible combinations
That's more than 43 quintillion different positions.
Yet despite this astronomical number, every legitimate scramble can be solved.
That remarkable fact leads us to one of the most fascinating discoveries in modern mathematics.
God's Number: The Cube's Amazing Secret
For decades, mathematicians wondered what was the maximum number of moves required to solve any Rubik's Cube position.
In other words, if a perfectly intelligent being could always find the shortest possible solution, what is the longest solution they would ever need?
This became known as God's Number.
After years of mathematical research and extensive computer analysis, researchers proved in 2010 that God's Number is 20. No matter how thoroughly a Rubik's Cube is scrambled, it can always be solved in 20 moves or fewer if those moves are chosen perfectly.
Think about that for a moment.
A puzzle with more than 43 quintillion possible positions can always be solved in no more than 20 optimal moves.
It's one of those rare facts that sounds impossible until you realise it's mathematically proven.
Even more surprising, only a tiny fraction of cube positions actually require the full 20 moves. Most can be solved in considerably fewer.
More Than Just a Toy
The Rubik's Cube has survived trends, technological revolutions, and generations of changing toys.
What makes it special is that it rewards curiosity. Some people enjoy casually twisting the colours. Others learn solving methods. Thousands compete in speedcubing events around the world, completing cubes in mere seconds.
Yet the appeal remains exactly the same as it was in 1980.
A Rubik's Cube is a challenge that fits in the palm of your hand.
Why the Rubik's Cube Still Matters
More than fifty years after Ernő Rubik first built his "Magic Cube", children, parents, grandparents, mathematicians, engineers, and puzzle enthusiasts continue to be captivated by it.
Few toys can claim that kind of legacy.
Whether you're picking up your first cube, teaching your children to solve one, or rediscovering the cube you had back in the 1980s, you're taking part in a story that spans generations.
And if your cube is currently scrambled beyond recognition, take heart.
According to mathematics, you're never more than 20 moves away from a solution.
Looking for a Rubik's Cube in New Zealand?
Browse our range of Rubik's Cubes at Toys101 and discover why this classic brain teaser continues to challenge and delight new generations of puzzlers.
