Rubik's Cube: the invention of a professor who couldn’t solve his own puzzle
Budapest, the Iron Curtain, and a stroke of genius: the incredible story of the world’s best-selling cube. 🧩
Everyone has held a Rubik's Cube in their hands, and many have put it down, admitting defeat. Don’t worry: its creator, Hungarian professor Ernő Rubik, also took more than a month to solve his invention. JoJo tells you the whole story in this video.
Coming up in the video
- Why an architecture professor tinkered with a cube in his Budapest apartment
- The mechanical puzzle to solve before the colorful one: keeping the pieces together
- How long it took its inventor to solve it
- How the cube crossed the Iron Curtain to conquer the world
- From forgotten toy to global speedcubing phenomenon
An object designed for teaching, not playing
At first, the cube wasn’t a toy but a teaching tool: it showed his students how shapes can move independently without the whole thing falling apart. The colorful challenge came later, almost by accident.
From Budapest to the speedcubing podium
Created in a country that was then closed to Western trade, the cube took years to reach international markets. Today, hundreds of millions have been sold, and the best players solve it in seconds, whereas its inventor spent weeks on it.
Good to know: you don’t need to be a math genius to do it. With a beginner method learned step by step, most children can solve a cube after a few days of practice.
Watch the video for the full story, then pick up your cube again: you’ll never look at it quite the same way.
