It was reported that this puzzle was invented by the architect and teacher Erno Rubik in Budapest, Hungary in the 1970s as an aid to help his students recognize spatial relationships in three dimensions. It also has been reported that the same puzzle was apparently designed independently by Terutoshi Ishige, an engineer in Japan.
A patented copy was manufactured in Hungary and became available in Europe in 1978, and became widely available during the 1980 Xmas season in North America. This Museum copy was acquired in 1981.
The following information and sketches were copied from J.G. Nourse, The Simple Solution To Rubik's Cube, New York: Bantam Books, 1981.
At first glance, the Cube, except for the 6 colors, appears similar to the Soma Cube (see the Soma Puzzle elsewhere in the Puzzle Section), but it is a very different puzzle. The Rubik's cube does not come apart. The large cube is composed of 6 sides or faces. In the center of the large cube is a mechanism to which the center small cube of each of the 6 faces is attached.
Each face is composed of 9 smaller cube-like pieces, with hidden inner tabs on the edge and corner cubes. The tabs ride along a curved inner track formed by the backs of other cubes in each plane. Pressure exerted by each holds neighboring cubes in place.
An entire face can be rotated because of the center mechanism. It seems all of the small cubes can move, but only the cubes on the corners and edges actually move.
A number of variations of the original cube have appeared on the market over the years, such as mini-cubes as part of a key chain, rounded cubes in the shape of a column, and cubes with pictured sides. There have been regional and international competitions in which the colors of the cube have been re-arranged, and contestants race with the clock to restore a single color to each face. References (such as the Nourse cited above) include pictures of patterns which a player can attempt to duplicate using the cube.
NOTE: This page was originally created and posted on the Web on October 6, 1997. Subsequently it has been modified and periodically updated. Last update April 11, 2010