The Strange Connection Between A Golden-Age Star And The Rubik’s Cube

When it comes to puzzle toys, few can touch the iconic Rubik’s Cube. This wonderfully challenging and colorful block has been testing our brains for nearly five decades now, but it didn’t take off right away. The world didn’t actually fall in love with the toy until the 1980s. So how did the famous toy finally catch on? In a fascinating turn of events, one of the Golden Age of Hollywood’s most glamorous stars played a pivotal role in helping the Rubik’s Cube’s popularity reach dizzying new heights.

How it all started

This incredible story began all the way back in 1974. During that period, a man by the name of Ernő Rubik was working for the School for Commercial Artists in Budapest, Hungary, as a teacher. He ran design and architecture classes at the institution, pulling from his own experiences as an architect.Yet one problem continued to frustrate Ernő during those lessons; it would soon fuel a personal obsession.

Obsessive drive

Ernő wanted his classes to properly get to grips with the concept of three-dimensional movement, but he struggled to find the perfect way to showcase it. His search for a solution spanned months, as the architect put a number of different cubic models together. From paper to wood, they were kept in place by utensils such as paper clips, elastic bands, and glue. Ernő still wasn’t satisfied with the results, though. And that drive for perfection ultimately led him to a breakthrough.

Magic Cube

Yes, after various disappointments, Ernő found his solution in the form of a colorful cubic model. He dubbed it the Bűvös kocka, which translates asMagic Cube. And it’s fair to say that Ernő was taken in by the object’s spell as soon as he started turning the blocks. The Hungarian realized that his teaching tool doubled as a mind-bending puzzle that got harder the more you tinkered with it. He shared some fascinating insight about that time in an epic essay titled Rubik on Rubik.

“Color parade”

Ernő recalled, “It was wonderful to see how, after only a few turns, the colors became mixed, apparently in random fashion. It was tremendously satisfying to watch this color parade. Like after a nice walk when you’ve seen many lovely sights you decide to go home, after a while I decided it was time to go home, let us put the cubes back in order. And it was at that moment that I came face-to-face with the Big Challenge: what is the way home?”