A Rubik's Cube Chronology ------------------------- Researched and maintained by Mark Longridge (c) 1996-2024 Pre-Rubik --------- Feb 2, 1960 William Gustafson files patent for Manipulatable Toy Mar 12, 1963 Gustafson receives US patent 3,081,089 1970 Uwe Meffert invents a model for research of energy flow in different shape solids (pyraminx) Apr 9, 1970 Frank Fox applies for UK patent for spherical 3x3x3 Mar 4, 1970 Larry Nichols files patent for Twizzle (2x2x2 cube) Apr 11, 1972 Nichols receives US patent 3,655,201 Jan 16, 1974 Frank Fox receives UK patent 1,344,259 Post-Rubik ---------- Spring 1974 Erno Rubik gets idea to make the cube Summer 1974 Erno Rubik solves the cube (arguably the first solver) Jan 30, 1975 Rubik applies for patent on cube Oct 12, 1976 Terutoshi Ishige Japanese Patent 55-8192 for 3x3x3 1977 Rubik's Cube starts distribution in Hungary Mar 28, 1977 Erno Rubik receives Hungarian Patent HU00170062 Aug 1978 Bela Szalai first sees cube in Hungary, later manufactures cube in U.S. (Logical Games Inc) Sept 1979 Ideal Toy buys exclusive rights to the cube for one million dollars Jan 4, 1980 Victor Toth wins pioneering cube contest in 55 sec. July 1980 MIT cube lovers group starts up Sept 1980 Omni prints article on cube in Games column Jan 12, 1981 Steven Hanson and Jeffrey Breslow file US Patent for Missing Link March 1981 Scientific American's 1st article on cube March 1981 Uwe Meffert patents the pyraminx Mar 23, 1981 First mention of Rubik's Cube in Time Magazine May 1981 Reader's Digest prints cube story July 30, 1981 Walter Moll receives German patent for Dodecahedron July 31, 1981 Cube contest featuring James G. Nourse as guest June 1, 1981 Uwe Meffert file US Patent for Pyraminx Star Aug 3, 1981 Erno Rubik files for patent on Rubik's Domino Autumn 1981 Singmaster produces 1st issue of Cubic Circular Sept 11, 1981 NBC Magazine broadcasts story about cube on TV Nov 13, 1981 1st American Rubik's Cube Championships Dec 11, 1981 Ron Lancaster organizes cube contest at Oakville Trafalgar High School Dec 12, 1981 United Kingdom Rubik's Cube Championships Jan 29, 1982 Peter Sebesteny files for US Patent for 4x4x4 Feb 21, 1982 Regional Cube Contest (Montreal Quebec) Feb 28, 1982 I attend Canadian Regional Cube Contest (London Ontario) Mar 20, 1982 1st (Only) Canadian Rubik's Cube Championships Mar 21, 1982 Toronto Star article A4 on Duc Trinh Mar 22, 1982 CBC TV Interview of Erno Rubik Hosted by Naomi Loeb Mar 29, 1982 Adam Alexander & Gary Piaget file for US Patent for Alexander's Star Spring 1982 2nd issue of Cubic Circular May 11, 1982 Uwe Meffert receives US Patent USD0264361 for Pyraminx Star Apr 24, 1982 1st and only Dutch National Championships in Utrecht Netherlands May 1982 1st issue of Rubik's Cube Newsletter appears (U.S.) May/June 1982 American Scientist prints cube article Summer 1982 3rd/4th issues of Cubic Circular June 5, 1982 1st Rubik's Cube World Championships July 1982 Hofstadter's article on cube variants (S.A.) Sept 18, 1982 I attend American Regional Cube Contest (Buffalo, NY) Oct 1982 Omni prints article on Cube variants (Megaminx) Oct 2, 1982 Ideal hires me to work as demonstrator of Cube Oct 30, 1982 New York times publishes article about the end of the cube craze Nov 5, 1982 2nd American Rubik's Cube Championships Winter 1982 5th/6th issues of Cubic Circular Feb 15, 1983 Hanson & Breslow receive US Patent 4,373,729 for Missing Link Mar 29, 1983 Erno Rubik receives US Patent 4,378,116 for Rubik's Domino Mar 29, 1983 Erno Rubik receives US Patent 4,378,117 for 2x2x2 cube May 4, 1983 Cecil Smith's cube collection featured on WCSC-TV June 25, 1983 United Kingdom Rubik's Revenge championship July 12, 1983 Rubik receives US Patent 4,392,323 for Rubik's Snake Dec 20, 1983 Peter Sebesteny receives US Patent 4,421,311 for 4x4x4 Apr 3, 1984 Joseph F Hyland et all receives US Patent 4,440,395 for Rubik's Game Nov 27, 1984 Matsumoto Takao receives US Patent 4,484,406 for a different Rubik's Snake Mar 26, 1985 Adam Alexander et all receives US patent 4,506,891 for Alexander's Star Summer 1985 7th/8th issues of Cubic Circular June 1985 Cube appears on cover of Byte Magazine (Algorithms) Sept 10, 1985 Tibor Horvath receives US Patent 4,540,177 for a different 4x4x4 March 1986 Discover prints excellent story on Erno Rubik July 15, 1986 Udo Krell receives patent for 5x5x5 cube, Pyraminx Ultimate, Pyraminx Crystal, and more. US Patent 4,600,199 July 28, 1986 Erno Rubik files for US patent on Rubik's Magic Dec 9, 1986 Rubik et all files for patent for Electronic Rubik's Cube 1987 Oxford press publishes Rubik's Cubic Compendium March 1987 Cadbury uses over-sized cube in commercial Aug 11, 1987 Erno Rubik receives US patent 4,685,680 for Rubik's Magic Oct 1987 Jearl Walker's article on Rubik's Magic (Hinge) S.A. Apr 29, 1988 Cecil Smith opens his Cube Museum (has 4,900 cubes) May 1, 1988 Daily Sentinel shows Cecil's Cube Museum on front page July 26, 1988 Los Angeles Times reports on Rubik's Clock Apr 4, 1989 Rubik et all receives US patent 4,817,952 for Electronic Rubik's Cube Feb 1990 1st Issue of Domain of the Cube newsletter June 11, 1990 Beyond Tomorrow features Rubik Studio, Magic and Clock on TV Dec 26, 1990 Hrsel & Kopsky file for US patent for Square 1 July 1991 Omni prints article on new puzzles, e.g. Moody Ball Aug 15, 1991 First mention of Square 1 in cube-lovers March 4, 1992 2 MCH FUN issues press release on Smart Alex Aug 28, 1992 Hank Chang files patent for 3x3x3 Assembly Cube Feb 1993 DOTC newsletter advertised in Games Magazine Feb 15, 1993 Richard Snyder starts shipping his Square 1 book Oct 5, 1993 Hrsel & Kopsky receive US patent USD0340093 for Square 1 Dec 21, 1993 Hank Chang receives US patent 5,271,688 for assembly cube Dec 7, 1994 Martin Schoenert puts cube lovers on World Wide Web May 16, 1995 First mention of Rubik's Dino Cube in cube-lovers May 23, 1995 Uwe Meffert files for US patent for the Orbix puzzle Dec 13, 1995 USA Today reports on Million Dollar Rubik's Cube, created by Diamond Cutters International for it's 15th Anniversary Jan 22, 1996 Creation of the Domain of the Cube web page Oct 15, 1996 Uwe Meffert receives US patent 5,564,702 for Orbix Sept 1999 Rubik's company Androsoft launches Rubik's Games software Apr 2001 Jonathan P Brown builds robot out of Lego to solve Rubik's Cube Aug 23, 2003 2nd Rubik's Cube World Championships 2008 Rubik's World game released for the Nintendo DS and Wii 2009 Rubik's TouchCube first appears from Techno Source 2016 Gocube first appears from Particula Tech