8541RB Reading for Me Level 4 Part A

Factual
The Rubik’s Cube
Have you ever tried to solve a Rubik’s cube and failed miserably? Don’t
feel bad. It took the inventor of the cube more than a month to get it
right the first time.
Erno Rubik developed the Rubik’s cube in 1974. At the time, he was a
professor at the Academy of Applied Arts in Budapest. He had a degree
in architecture. He taught geometric design at the academy. He found
geometric shapes very interesting.
One day, he tried to put together nine small cubes. He wanted the cubes
to stick together, but he also wanted them to move around. This cube
fell apart almost immediately. After many tries, he finally came up with
a design that worked. He used 27 small cubes. Erno decided to paint the
sides of the blocks different colours. He chose orange, red, blue, green,
white and yellow. He fiddled with the cube and realised he couldn’t get it
back to how it was. He wasn’t even sure that it was possible to get them
back into place. It took him a month to solve his own creation.
Erno named his cube the Magic Cube. A Hungarian toy company
manufactured 5000 Magic Cubes in 1977. Two years later, 300 000 cubes
were sold all over Hungary.
An American, Tom Kremer, spotted the cube at a toy fair in 1979. He
decided to bring it to America. His company changed the name to Rubik’s
Cube. It was wildly popular. More than three million units were sold
between 1980 and 1983. The cube even had its own animated TV series,
Rubik, the Amazing Cube.
Many books were published with tips and tricks on how to solve a Rubik’s
cube. In 1982, the first Rubik’s Cube World Championship took place in
Budapest.
In the years following 1983, the popularity of the cube started to fade.
Many people believed the craze had passed.
A Rubik’s cube revival happened in the 2000s. It
became trendy to own a cube again. Speedcubing—a
race to see who could solve the cube first—became
very popular. Cubers also love to post videos online
to share their strategies.
Erno Rubic is now 77 years old. It takes him a minute
to solve the cube. A big improvement from one month!
He continues to design new puzzles to this day.
64 Reading for Me Level 4 (Part A) 978-1-922843-63-0 R.I.C. Publications ® Prim-Ed Publishing