The Rubik's Cube is a 3D combination puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. Originally called the Magic Cube, the puzzle was licensed by Rubik to be sold by Pentangle Puzzles in the UK in 1978, and then by Ideal Toy Corp in 1980 via businessman Tibor Laczi and Seven Towns founder Tom Kremer. The cube was released internationally in 1980 and became one of the most recognized icons in popular culture. It won the 1980 German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle. As of January 2024, around 500 million cubes had been sold worldwide, making it the world's bestselling puzzle game and bestselling toy. The Rubik's Cube was inducted into the US National Toy Hall of Fame in 2014.
Rubik's Magic, like the Rubik's Cube, is a mechanical puzzle invented by Ernő Rubik and first manufactured by Matchbox in the mid-1980s.
Speedcubing, also referred to as speedsolving, is a competitive sport centered around the rapid solving of various combination puzzles. The most prominent puzzle in this category is the 3x3x3 puzzle, commonly known as the Rubik's Cube. Participants in this sport are known as "speedcubers," who focus specifically on solving these puzzles at high speeds, or more generally as "cubers". The essential aspect of solving these puzzles typically involves executing a series of predefined algorithms in a particular sequence.
The Rubik's Clock is a mechanical puzzle invented and patented by Christopher C. Wiggs and Christopher J. Taylor. The Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik bought the patent from them to market the product under his name. It was first marketed in 1988.
The Megaminx or Mégaminx is a dodecahedron-shaped puzzle similar to the Rubik's Cube. It has a total of 50 movable pieces to rearrange, compared to the 20 movable pieces of the Rubik's Cube.
The World Cube Association (WCA) is the worldwide non-profit organization that regulates and holds competitions for mechanical puzzles that are operated by twisting groups of pieces, commonly known as twisty puzzles. The most famous of those puzzles is the Rubik's Cube. Since the start of the WCA there have been over 10,000 competitions. The WCA was founded by Ron van Bruchem of the Netherlands and Tyson Mao of the United States in 2004. The goal of the World Cube Association is to have "more competitions in more countries with more people and more fun, under fair conditions." In 2017, they started work to become a non-profit organization and on November 20, 2017, the state of California accepted the initial registration of the World Cube Association.
The Skewb is a combination puzzle and a mechanical puzzle in the style of the Rubik's Cube. It was invented by Tony Durham and marketed by Uwe Mèffert. Although it is cubical, it differs from the typical cubes' construction; its axes of rotation pass through the corners of the cube, rather than the centers of the faces. There are four axes, one for each space diagonal of the cube. As a result, it is a deep-cut puzzle in which each twist affects all six faces.
Bertrand Grospellier, also known as ElkY, is a French poker player and former StarCraft: Brood War and Warcraft III esports player. He has won a World Poker Tour (WPT), a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet and a European Poker Tour (EPT) title, giving him the Triple Crown. He is a partypoker Pro and he currently resides in Prague, Czech Republic. ElkY is ranked #77 on the Global Poker Index. In November 2015 ElkY returned to the esports scene by joining Team Liquid as a Hearthstone player.
Nicolas Hammond is a British Rubik's Cube expert and businessman. He has lived in the US since 1986. He made the world's first Internet banking transaction.
Feliks Aleksanders Zemdegs is an Australian Rubik's Cube speedsolver. He is one of the only two speedcubers ever to win the World Cube Association World Championship twice, winning in 2013 and 2015, and is widely considered the most successful and greatest speedcuber of all time. He has set more than 350 records across various speedcubing events: 121 world records, 214 continental records, and 7 national records.
2017 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.
2018 in sports describes the year's events in world sport. The main events for this year were the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
2020 in sports describes the year's events in world sport. Many sporting events around the world were postponed or cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, which eventually took place in 2021.
The 2012 World Mind Sports Games were held in Lille, France, from 9 to 23 August 2012. The meeting started during the 2012 Summer Olympics and ending shortly before the 2012 Summer Paralympics, both in London. This was the second rendition of the World Mind Sports Games, which was inaugurated in 2008 in Beijing. The mind sport games had about 2000 players from 95 nations—down from 2,763 competitors and 143 countries at the 1st Games. More than half of the gold medals were contested at draughts and Russia, with the strongest draughts squad, won the most gold and most overall medals. China won five gold medals—all five events contested at Xiangqi. Chinese Taipei won four gold medals—four of the five events contested at go.
Mats Valk is a Dutch Rubik's Cube speedsolver. He broke the Rubik's cube single solve world record twice with times of 5.55 seconds in 2013 and 4.74 seconds in 2016. He won the Rubik's Cube European Championship in 2018 and was runner-up for 3x3x3 at the Rubik's Cube World Championships in 2013 and 2015.
The Draughts World Championship is the world championship in international draughts and is held every two years. In the even year following the tournament, the World Title match takes place. The men's championship began in 1885 in France and since 1948 has been organised by the World Draughts Federation (FMJD). The men's championship has had winners from the Netherlands, Canada, the Soviet Union, Senegal, Latvia, Russia and Ukraine.
Wei Yi is a Chinese chess grandmaster.
Rex Wang (Haokun) one of the 10 Chinese team in World Rubik’s Cube Championships in Las Vegas 2013. Rex is also Pyraminx Chinese record holder, Rubik’s Mater Magic Asian record holder and the second place holder in the Physics of the project in McMaster Engineering & Science Olympics Competitions 2012.
Kevin Hays is a former professional American Rubik's Cube speedcuber. Recognized as an expert at solving big cubes, he has won 6 world championship titles and set 21 world records across the three events. He has also set 47 North American records and won 21 US National titles.
Max Park is a Korean-American Rubik's Cube speedsolver, widely considered as one of the greatest cubers of all time. He is the World Champion of 3×3×3 solving and world record holder for the 3x3x3 single solve at 3.13 seconds set on June 11, 2023. Along with Feliks Zemdegs, he is one of only two speedcubers ever to win the World Cube Association World Championship twice, which he did in 2017 and 2023. He is currently tied for 3rd place for the world record average of five 3×3×3 solves at 4.86 seconds, set on February 6, 2023. Park first held this record from April 23, 2017 to June 28, 2017 and was the only cuber other than Feliks Zemdegs to hold the record between September 27, 2009 and June 5, 2021. Park has also set multiple world records in speedsolving in the 4×4×4, 5×5×5, 6×6×6, and 7×7×7 cubes as well as the 3×3×3 One-Handed event. As of September 2, 2023, he has won 479 total events in World Cube Association competitions.
Buenos Aires 
Louisville [1] 
Alpe d'Huez [2] 
Sjoert Brink, 
Jacek Kalita, 
Pierre Zimmermann)
Toronto 
Gold Coast [3] 
Hugh McGann & 
Tom Jacob & 
Giovanni Donati & 
Cali 
Bristol 
Örebro 
Delhi 
Vilnius 
Reykjavík [5] 
Dennis Bilde & 
Sabine Auken & 
Bangkok 
Bodø 
Tokyo [6] 
Bucharest 
Istanbul 
Eilat 
