Rubik's Cube

Rubik's Cube is a 3-D Combination Puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian Sculptor & Professor of Architecture Erno Rubik.

Originally called the Magic Cube, the puzzle was licensed by Rubik to be sold by Ideal Toy Corp in 1980

In a classic Rubik's Cube, each of the six faces is covered by nine stickers, each of one of six solid colours: white, red, blue, orange, green, and yellow.

In currently sold models, white is opposite yellow, blue is opposite green, and orange is opposite red, and the red, white and blue are arranged in that order in a clockwise arrangement

Rubik's Cube reached its height of mainstream popularity in the 1980s, it is still widely known and used.

Speedcubing (or speedsolving) is the practice of trying to solve a Rubik's Cube in the shortest time possible. There are a number of speedcubing competitions that take place around the world.

The first world championship organised by the Guinness Book of World Records was held in Munich,Germany on March 13, 1981. All Cubes were moved 40 times and lubricated with Petroleum Jelly  The official winner, with a record of 38 seconds, was Jury Froeschl, born in Munich

The first international world championship was held in Budapest,Hungary on June 5, 1982, and was won by Minh Thai , a Vietnamese student from Los Angeles,USA, with a time of 22.95 seconds.

In addition to official competitions, informal alternative competitions have been held which invite participants to solve the Cube in unusual situations. Some such situations include -

• Blindfolded solving
• Solving the Cube with one person blindfolded and the other person saying what moves to make, known as "Team Blindfold"
• Multiple blindfolded solving, or "multi-blind", in which the contestant solves any number of cubes blindfolded in a row
• Solving the Cube underwater in a single breath
• Solving the Cube using a single hand
• Solving the Cube with one's feet
• Solving the Cube in the fewest possible moves 

Records

• Single time: The current world record for single time on a 3×3×3 Rubik's Cube was set by Mats Valk of the Netherlands in March 2013 with a time of 5.55 seconds at the Zonhoven Open in Belgium.

• Average time: The world record for average time per solve was set by Feliks Zemdegs at the Melbourne Cube Day 2013, with a 6.54 second average solve time.

• One-handed solving: A time of 9.03 seconds was made by Feliks Zemdegs at the Lifestyle Seasons Summer 2014. Antoine Cantin, from Clarence-Rockland, ON averaged 12.56 seconds over five cubes at the Toronto Open Spring 2014.

• Feet solving: Fakhri Raihaan solved a Rubik's Cube with his feet in 27.93 seconds at the Celebes 2012.

• Group solving (12 minutes): The record for most people solving a Rubik's Cube at once in twelve minutes is 134, set on 17 March 2010 by school boys from Dr Challoner's Grammar School, Amersham, England, breaking the previous Guinness World Record of 96 people at once.

• Group solving (30 minutes): On November 21, 2012, at the 02 Arena in London, 1414 people, mainly students from schools across London, solved the Rubik's Cube in under 30 minutes, breaking the previous Guinness World Record of 937. The event was hosted by Depaul UK

On November 4, 2012, 3248 people, mainly students of College of Engineering Pune,Maharashtra,India successfully solved the Rubik's cube in 30 minutes on college ground. The successful attempt is recorded in the Limca Book of Records.The college will submit the relevant data, witness statements and video of the event to Guinness authorities.

• Blindfold solving: The record for blind solving is held by Marcin Zalewski of Poland, who solved a cube blindfolded in 23.80 seconds (including memorization) at the Polish Nationals in 2013.

• Multiple blindfold solving: The record is held by Marcin Kowalczyk of Poland, who successfully solved 35 of 41 cubes blindfolded at the Polish Nationals 2013.

• Fewest moves solving: Tomoaki Okayama of Japan holds the record of 20 moves set at the 2012 Czech Open.