Today is the 40th anniversary of the Rubik’s Cube.  The cube was invented by Hungarian sculptor and architecture professor Erno Rubik in the spring of 1974, and he spent weeks trying to solve his own invention.  Erno Rubik got a patent approved for his cube in 1977 and made a deal with a toy company to get his block beyond the Communist bloc.  The toy started out as all wood called the “Magic Cube”, and was reformatted into what we see today in the 1980’s.  When the reformatted toy came out in the 1980’s, popularity skyrocketed and it became one of the bestselling puzzle toys ever.  Roughly one out of eight people on the planet have tried their hand at solving the cube.  And after today, that number will go up because many more people have played with this interactive cube!

The Rubik’s Cube features six faces, each covered by nine solid-color stickers; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and white. The object of the game is to twist and turn the rows to create a full block of the same color stickers on each side.  That means one whole side must be all white, one side must be all orange, and so on.  Rubik initially utilized his cube as a teaching tool to help students understand 3D objects; its actual purpose was to solve the structural problem of moving parts independently without the apparatus falling apart.  And yes, there is even a World Cube Association (WCA) that offers competitions in 18 events in more than 50 countries.  Not bad for a toy invented in the Communist 1970’s.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/MCZlA4EmN-s]

So, to play the Google Doodle Rubik’s Cube.  Just click on the cube and let it grow.  You can click on the Cube to twist it, and Google keeps track of how many moves you’ve made so far.  Having fun playing with this awesome Google Doodle, and see how much time you have wasted before you realized it.  To play the Google Doodle Rubik’s Cube, go to:  http://www.google.com/doodles/rubiks-cube

Here are some keyboard shortcuts:

And thanks to Google Chrome, you can now get the code to create your own interactive Rubik’s Cube.  To get the code, go to: https://chrome.com/cubelab

Related articles

• How to solve the Rubik’s Cube Google Doodle (cheat’s guide)
• Rubik’s Cube invention: from speedcubing to a Google doodle
• Celebrate 40 Years of the Rubik’s Cube By Playing Google’s Doodle
• The Rubik’s Cube is 40! Celebrate by Playing With One on Google All Day
• Rubik’s Cube: Check Out The Interactive Google Doodle

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