The Rubik's Cube is a 3-D 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 Ideal Toy Corp. in 1980 via businessman Tibor Laczi and Seven Towns founder Tom Kremer. Rubik's Cube won the 1980 German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle. As of January 2009, 350 million cubes had been sold worldwide, making it the world's top-selling puzzle game. It is widely considered to be the world's best-selling toy.
The Pocket Cube is the 2×2×2 equivalent of a Rubik's Cube. The cube consists of 8 pieces, all corners.
Minh Thai is a Vietnamese-American speedcuber. He was a sixteen-year-old high school student from Los Angeles when he won the first world championship on June 5, 1982 in Budapest by solving a Rubik's Cube in 22.95 seconds. He is also the author of the book The Winning Solution (1982), a guide to solving the cube. Later, Ortega Corners-First Solution Method for Rubik's Cube is based on Minh Thai's Winning Solution.
Speedcubing is a sport involving solving a variety of combination or twisty puzzles, the most famous being the 3x3x3 puzzle or Rubik's Cube, as quickly as possible. For most puzzles, solving entails performing a series of moves that alters a scrambled puzzle into a state in which every face of the puzzle is a single, solid color. Some puzzles have different requirements to be considered solved, such as the Clock, for which all the dials must be moved into the 12 'o clock position. The standard puzzle sizes are 2x2x2, 3x3x3, 4x4x4, 5x5x5, 6x6x6, and 7x7x7 and the different variations, 3x3x3 one handed, 3x3x3, 4x4x4, 5x5x5 blindfolded, and formerly, 3x3x3 with feet. There are also different shapes of the famous puzzles, including Pyraminx, Megaminx, Skewb, and Square-1. An individual who competes in speedcubing is known as a speedcuber.
Lars Erik Petrus is an accomplished speedcuber.
Leyan Andrew Lo held the world record of 11.13 seconds for the fastest Rubik's Cube solve until Toby Mao in 2006 had a solve of 10.48 at the U.S. nationals competition in San Francisco. Leyan appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where he solved a Rubik's Cube in 18.9 seconds. He also holds the former world record for the fastest blindfolded Rubik's Cube solve, at 1:28.82.
Bob Burton is an American speedcuber, most famous for competing in and organizing competitions all over the world and his former world records on the Rubik's Magic and Rubik's Master Magic.
Christopher Michael Hardwick is an American competitive speedcuber.
Ron van Bruchem is a well known Dutch speedcuber living in Almere. He helped create the current resurge of Rubik's Cube enthusiasm by founding the international speedcubing community and organizing international competitions. He is also a founder, delegate and former chairman of the World Cube Association, an organization aiming at the spread of speedcubing as a regulated sport. He is also the host of the website speedcubing.com.
Tobias "Toby" Mao is a former world-class Rubik's Cube solver. Hailing from Hillsborough, California, Toby graduated from Crystal Springs Uplands School in 2007 and went on to study mathematics at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He is the younger brother of Beauty and the Geek second-season participant Tyson Mao, with whom he taught Will Smith to solve a Rubik's Cube for the 2006 film The Pursuit of Happyness. In 2006, Toby set the world record in speedcubing by solving the 3x3x3 cube in 10.48 seconds.
Yu Nakajima is a Japanese Rubik's Cube solver.
Eric Limeback is a Canadian speedcuber. He is known for his 11/11 3x3x3 multiblindfold Canadian record solve, as well as his standard 3x3x3 blindfolded solving. Limeback was the first Canadian to record a sub-30 second official 3x3x3 blindfolded solve. Limeback began solving the Rubik's Cube in 9th grade. He graduated from Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute in 2010. He formerly held the Guinness World Record for the most 3x3x3 cubes solved in 24 hours, 5800, set from 3–4 October 2013 at Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.
Feliks Aleksanders Zemdegs is an Australian Rubik's Cube speedsolver. He is the only speedcuber to ever win the World Cube Association World Championship twice.
Anthony Michael Brooks is an American speed cubing champion. He specializes in the 2x2 cube and classic 3x3 cube, and has been officially ranked in the top five in the world in both categories as recognized by the World Cube Association. Since learning to solve the cube in March 2008, Brooks has become known for developing advanced speedsolving methods as well as frequently promoting speedcubing in the media. While working as the Liberty Science Center's Speedcuber-in-Residence, Brooks set the Guinness World Record for most Rubik's Cubes solved underwater in a single breath, and also led the team that currently holds the world record for solving the Groovik's Cube, the world's largest functioning Rubik's Cube. In July 2017, Brooks was featured on the debut season of FOX's Superhuman TV show.
CubeStormer II is a robot built primarily with Lego Mindstorms and a Samsung Galaxy S2 for solving a Rubik's Cube. The project was commissioned by ARM Holdings and designed and built by Mike Dobson and David Gilday.
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 and won the European Championship 2018.
Collin Burns is a speedcuber from the United States who formerly held the world record for solving the Rubik’s cube in 5.25 seconds.
Krishnam Raju Gadiraju is an accomplished Indian speedcuber and unicyclist. He is a six-time world record holder and the first Indian to ever set a world record in speedcubing and unicycling.
Max Park is a Korean descent American Rubik's Cube speedsolver who formerly held the world record average of five 3x3x3 solves, 6.39 seconds, set on 23 April 2017 at OCSEF Open 2017. Prior to this, the record had been held by Feliks Zemdegs of Australia, who had improved it 9 times over 7 years from 9.21 seconds on 30 January 2010 to 6.45 seconds. Park is the only cuber other than Feliks Zemdegs to have set the record since 27 September 2009. He has also set multiple world records in solving the 4x4x4, 5x5x5, 6x6x6, and 7x7x7 cubes, and 3x3x3 one-handed.
Arumugam PK or PK Arumugam is an Indian Rubik's Cube speed solver. He is a three-time world record holder and the first person to solve more than 1000 Rubik's cubes while riding a bicycle.
