A genius cubed

The puzzle of an era, the design object, the game for adults and children alike, the challenge always within reach. This was the Rubik's Cube, and yes, we would like to think that its invention was the result of a thunderbolt, of a sudden stroke of genius that solved the dead end from which one was unable to find a way out. Its birth, instead, resembles the path to its solution, a long work of refinement of unsuccessful attempts and a step-by-step approach. 'My creation,' Rubik explains, 'did not spring from a fortuitous event, from a dream, from an encounter. I was just tremendously curious. I wanted to discover something, although I didn't know exactly what.'

When Erno Rubik, a fascinating and complex character, described as a modest and reserved Hungarian, the perfect anti-hero of commercial success, tried to propose the Cube to the big international toy companies, many rejected it, considering it too complicated for the market. However, he found a supporter in Tom Kremer, an industry expert, who managed to convince the Ideal Toys Company to invest in the product. In 1980, the Cube was launched on the international market under the name Rubik's Cube. Success was immediate and overwhelming: in the first three years, Ideal Toys sold one hundred million Cubes worldwide. A real Cubomania broke out in the United States, with the puzzle becoming a mass phenomenon. However, the market quickly became saturated and, as early as 1982, the 'New York Times' declared the end of the Cube craze. The Rubik's Cube, however, never completely disappeared. In a drawer, on a bookshelf or in a box in the attic, it has remained in the homes of many. It has experienced success, downfalls and an extraordinary revival thanks to new generations of enthusiasts, the speedcubing phenomenon and the spread of tutorials and videos on the Internet. Even today, the Cube is considered a classic game and a cultural icon, a symbol of ingenuity and creativity, with a special place in the history of games and pop culture.

With "Sei facce di genialità. The Rubik's Cube and its history', journalist and writer Paolo Virtuani pays tribute to the Cube in an essay that is both an intimate and personal account, an account of the genesis and evolution of the famous puzzle, an exploration of its cultural, artistic, mathematical and even musical implications. The Rubik's Cube has meaning for anyone who lived through the 1970s and 1980s, it has a special place in our memory.

And it is precisely the author's personal anecdote, which transports us aboard a Rome-Bangkok flight in August 1981, that opens the story. Between games of Chinese cards and reflections on Baudelaire, Virtuani tries his hand at the Rubik's Cube, symbol of a global mania that divided the world between those who could solve it and those who got lost in the endless moves. And it is not just a game, as democratic and clever as it may be, the Cube's many connections to mathematics, science, art and society show how a simple object can become a symbol of creativity, ingenuity and perseverance for generations. The use of the Cube in schools, in speedcubing competitions and even in music, with the innovative CubeHarmonic project represent the present and future of an object that is also a scientific method. And it is still an icon of different worlds, from science to fashion to design, uniting different ages, worlds and generations at the antipodes of the globe.

Paolo Virtuani, Six Faces of Genius. The Rubik's Cube and its History, Baldini+Castoldi, pp. 128, €18