Google has added another game to their growing collection of interactive Doodles… and it’s totally radical.
Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the 40th birthday of one of the most famous puzzles of all time. Initially known as the Magic Cube, the ingenious little contraption didn’t catch on with the rest of the world until it was rechristened as the Rubik’s Cube in 1980. From there, it grew from fad to phenomenon to an enduring symbol of the 1980s. With more than 350 million cubes sold (as of 2009), it’s considered the best-selling toy ever. And for many people, the ability to quickly solve a Rubik’s Cube is seen as a sign of a genius-level intellect. I’m not sure I’ve ever solved a Rubik’s Cube, but Wikipedia has an amazing list of speed records including:
- 5.55 Seconds: Fastest Solve (set by Mats Valk)
- 9.03 Seconds: Fastest Solve Using Only One Hand (set by Feliks Zemdegs)
- 23.8 Seconds: Fastest Solve While Blindfolded (set by Marcin Zalewski)
- 27.93 Seconds: Fastest Solve Using Only Feet (set by Fakhri Raihaan)
- 3.25 Seconds: Fastest Solve… by a Robot
If you don’t have a Rubik’s Cube lying around your house, be sure to give today’s Google Doodle a whirl. Even after it leaves the Google homepage, you’ll be able to find it in the Google Doodles Archive.
