Timeline

The historical timeline that follows on the next page is a compilation of the events discussed in this book, and cross-referenced with a number of other sources, including: A Rubik’s Cube Chronology, researched and maintained by Mark Longridge; Kronológia, a timeline compiled by Olivér Nagy; and Magyar Kocka, an incredibly comprehensive book written in 1984 by András Mezei consisting of interviews with notable figures involved with the success of the Magic Cube.

Jump to: 1944–1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986–present.

1944–1973

  • July 13th, 1944. Ernő Rubik is born in Budapest, Hungary.
  • 1962. Mr. Rubik enrolls at the Budapest University of Technology majoring in architecture.
  • 1963. Seven Towns, Ltd. is founded.
  • 1967. Mr. Rubik receives his diploma from the Budapest University of Technology and enrolls in post-graduate classes in Interior Architecture and Design at the Hungarian Academy of Applied Arts.
  • June 1969. The Politechnika Industrial Cooperative is founded by Lehel Takács and Gyulá Nemcsók to manufacture plastic games for capitalist countries.
  • 1971. Upon receiving his diploma at the Budapest University of Technology, Mr. Rubik is appointed as a lecturer of the Hungarian Academy of Applied Arts.
  • 1973. Politechnika rents local municipal sports facility building and establishes a new unit within the company concentrated on tooling and molding.

1974

  • May 1974. Mr. Rubik is inspired to create the cube as a teaching aid to help his students with group theory and three-dimensional visualization.

1975

  • 1975. Politechnika constructs manufacturing facility in Ecser, Hungary.
  • January 30th, 1975. Mr. Rubik applies for a Hungarian patent for his invention.

1976

  • Late 1976. Mr. Rubik approaches Politechnika to produce his Magic Cube (AKA Bűvös Kocka).

1977

  • March 28th, 1977. Mr. Rubik is granted the Hungarian patent for his invention (no. HU00170062).
  • December 1977. Mr. Rubik’s magic cube are distributed for the first time. 5,000 units were distributed initially, but after a successful debut 12,000 more were placed on the market before the end of the year.
  • December 1977. Tibor Szentivanyi, a puzzle collector living in Budapest, discovers the Cube and writes to James Dalgety of Pentangle Puzzles in the United Kingdom.

1978

  • Early 1978. Pentangle Puzzles negotiates a deal with Hungarian state trading company KONSUMEX, securing exclusive rights to distribute the Magic Cube within the United Kingdom. The first Magic Cubes are distributed to the Western market.
  • February 1978. KONSUMEX brings the Cube to the 1978 Nuremberg Toy Fair, but has little success generating interest in it.
  • August 1978. Bela Szalai discovers the Cube while visiting relatives in Budapest.
  • September 13th, 1978. Bela Szalai orders 1,000 cubes wholesale from Hungarian manufacture Politechnika.
  • December 1978. Dr. Tibor Laczi discovers the Cube while on a business trip to Budapest.

1979

  • February 1979. Dr. Laczi, with KONSUMEX’s permission, brings the Cube to the 1979 Nuremberg Toy Fair and meets Tom Kremer of Seven Towns, Ltd.
  • June 17th, 1979. The first article about the Cube appears in The Observer magazine. Written by David Singmaster, the article is titled “Six-Sided Magic.”
  • August or September 1979. Logical Games, Inc. purchases an additional 2,000 cubes from Hungarian state trading company KONSUMEX.
  • September 1979. After only five days of negotiations, Seven Towns, Ltd. licenses the rights to the Cube to the Ideal Toy Corporation.
  • September 30th, 1979. Lehel Takács, the president of the Politechnika Industrial Cooperative, retires.

1980

  • January 10th, 1980. Mr. Rubik signs a contract with the Ideal Тоy Corporation allowing them to use his name for the Rubik’s Cube™.
  • February 1980. By this time, all 3,000 cubes purchased by Logical Games, Inc. have been distributed within the United States.

1981

  • January 1981. The Cube Craze peaks. Ideal Toy cannot adequately manage their supply and the market is flooded with fakes from East Asia. Pentangle has a backlog of 400,000 orders that it cannot fulfill and must stop taking orders.
  • Mid 1981. Politechnika is renamed to Politoys.
  • August 3rd, 1981. Politoys files a patent for a “spatial logical toy” (an generic term for the game) in the United States.
  • Autumn 1981. The first issue of David Singmaster’s Cubic Circular newsletter is published.
  • October 1981. The Builders, Installers, Cleaners, Economic Association of the Dunamenti Production Cooperative (Dunamenti Termelőszövetkezet) in Göd, Hungary, establishes a cube assembly plant in Dunakeszi to help keep up with demand. The site reportedly assembles some 80,000 cubes per month.
  • November 17th, 1981. Ideal Toy Corporation, frustrated with the unlicensed knock-offs flooding the market, files a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission.
  • Late 1981. Ideal Toy Corporation sues Logical Games, Inc. alleging trademark infringement, unfair copying of trade dress, and unfair competition. The case is heard by the U.S. Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.21 Following the May 1982 acquisition of Ideal Toy by CBS, Inc., the suit is instead referred to as CBS, Inc. v. Logical Games, Inc.

1982

  • Early 1982. 822,000 of Ideal Toy Corporation’s order of one million cubes is returned back to Politoys for quality concerns.
  • Spring 1982. The second issue of David Singmaster’s Cubic Circular newsletter is published.
  • May 1982. Ideal Toy Corporation is acquired by CBS, Inc. for USD $58 million.
  • June 1982. Ferenc Manczur quits the cooperative. He is replaced temporarily by the cooperative’s co-founder and chairman Gyulá Nemcsók, and then later by Zoltán Tomori.
  • June 2nd, 1982. The first Rubik’s World Championships, organized by Tibor Szentivanyi, are held in Budapest, Hungary with representation from 19 countries.
  • Summer 1982. The third and forth double-issue of David Singmaster’s Cubic Circular newsletter is published.
  • Summer 1982. Politoys is on the brink of bankruptcy.
  • Autumn 1982. The fifth and sixth double-issue of David Singmaster’s Cubic Circular newsletter is published.

1983

  • 1983. Mr. Rubik founds Rubik Stúdió, where he and his employees design furniture and games.
  • March 29th, 1983. Politoys is granted the United States patent for “spatial logical toy” (№ US4378116A).
  • January 1983. The United States International Trade Commission files an investigative report titled In the Matter of Certain Cube Puzzles (№ 3337-TA-112), spurred by a complaint by Ideal Toy Corporation in November of 1981.
  • Summer 1983. Politoys still has unsold stock worth in the order of 23 million Hungarian forints. They are no longer manufacturing cubes.
  • August 30th, 1983. An appeal by Logical Games in the matter of of CBS, Inc. v. Logical Games, Inc. is heard and argued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
  • October 12th, 1983. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirms the district court’s ruling of CBS, Inc. v. Logical Games, Inc.
  • November 21st, 1983. Rehearing for the case of CBS, Inc. v. Logical Games, Inc. is denied by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

1984

No notable events.

1985

  • Summer 1985. The seventh and eighth double-issue of David Singmaster’s Cubic Circular newsletter is published. This is the last Cubic Circular Singmaster would publish.

1986–present

  • November 2002. Politoys goes under liquidation.
  • February 2005. Politoys is dissolved.
  • 2013. Rubik’s Brand, Ltd. is formed by Seven Towns, Ltd. to coordinate the popular toy’s licensing, marketing, and legal activities.
  • October 27th, 2020. Spin Master Toys announces a deal to acquire Rubik’s Brand, Ltd. for USD $50 million.
  • January 5th, 2021. The acquisition of Rubik’s Brand, Ltd. by Spin Master Toys is completed.