For the first time, the popular mechanical puzzle called the Rubik's Cube (very often mistakenly called the Rubik's Cube) became known in 1974, when the Hungarian sculptor Erno Rubik presented his creation to the world. In the original (classic version) the puzzle consisted of three rows of multi-colored cubes, consisting of 24 elements in 54 color faces. For this, the puzzle was called 3x3x3. All parts are made of plastic and can rotate around its own axis.

Each visible side such a cube consists of 9 faces of the same color, which are random in their original state. In the future, he needs to rotate the cube around the axes until all the colors of one side come together. The game is considered over when all 6 faces of the die consist of the same color elements.

It is worth noting that today the Rubik's Cube is considered one of the most popular toys. Over the entire period from the moment of its creation, over 350 million such products have been sold in the world.

It is important to note that in the future, the Rubik's Cube received some improvements and varieties. Today, modifications are known from 2x2x2 (when you need to fold only 2 faces on each side), to 17x17x17 (this is more of a computer puzzle). Toys are also produced in the form of trapeziums, pyramids, gigaminxes and other varieties. But the most popular is still the classic version of 3x3x3.

Rubik's Cube World Records 3x3x3

Chronology of world records Rubik's Cube 3x3x3
year 2013 In 2013, the Dutch teenager Mets Valk managed to set another speed record for solving the classic Rubik's Cube. At the moment when all sides of this mechanical puzzle were painted in the same colors, the stopwatch recorded an unprecedented result - only 5.55 seconds.
2015 The record set by Mats Valk did not last very long. Already in April 2015, another teenager from America managed to surpass the world leader by assembling the puzzle in a record 5.25 seconds. Thus, another record was left for him.
2015 But this achievement did not last long. Already in November 2015, a teenager from America, Lucas Etter, managed to set an updated world record by collecting the classic version of the Rubik's Cube puzzle in a record 4.904 seconds. And he did it on the first try! At that time, the teenager was only 14 years old.
2016 Already in November 2016, a student from Australia, 20-year-old Felix Zemdegs, managed to set another record for collecting the classic version of the Rubik's Cube loved by everyone. He managed to "keep within" in just 4.73 seconds.
2017 But all this was not the limit of perfection. Already in the current 2017, it took American teenager Patrick Pons just 4.69 seconds to complete the classic version of the Rubik's Cube. Thus, he becomes the next champion in solving this exciting problem.

It is not surprising that the appearance of this puzzle and a huge number of such toys in the hands of teenagers provoked an unprecedented stir, and gave impetus to competitions between them. Initially (at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries), such competitions had a relatively formal format. But with the advent global network when the opportunity arose in fact in live record your results and share them with other cubers, work with this puzzle has accelerated significantly. Even informally, a time limit was set for a real super champion - namely, he must collect the classic version of the Rubik's Cube in a time interval not exceeding 10 seconds.

For the first time this milestone was overcome in May 2007 by the Frenchman Thibault Jacquelineau. During assembly, he managed to meet the record time for that time - it took only 9.86 seconds for all the faces of the puzzle to be painted in the same colors. It is important to note that this record did not last long. He was “beaten” twice in 2007 and in 2008, and later almost sensational moments began to appear in cubing. So already in July 2008, Eric Akkersdijk sets the phenomenal speed of assembling a magic cube in the classic version at that time - it took only 7.08 seconds to complete the full assembly cycle. As an unprecedented result for that time. True, this record did not last long. It was already surpassed in 2010 with a new result of 6.77 seconds. And this is also not the limit.

Of course, 3x3x3 is the most commonly used puzzle variant in competitions, but other variations are also starting to develop gradually today. Already today, records are officially set in the nominations of high-speed assembly of puzzles with parameters 2x2x2, 4x4x4, puzzles 5x5x5, as well as 6x6x6, and with them 7x7x7 are gaining momentum. At the same time, computer developments do not stand aside, when the assembly of puzzles is entrusted to "artificial" intelligence.

To understand at what stage the competitive process is today, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with several records officially recorded to date.

Records Rubik's Cube 2x2x2

  • In January 2014, the unsurpassed Australian cuber Felix Zembegs was able to please his fans with another unprecedented result in terms of the speed of solving the Rubik's Cube - he managed to correctly set the colors on all its sides in just 0.88 seconds.
  • Another fairly impressive record for the speed of solving a Rubik's Cube with parameters 2x2x2 at the world championship in September 2015 was set by Lucas Etter, which took place in Nashville. It took him only 1.51 seconds to do this.
  • In 2016, the new world record for solving the 2x2x2 Rubik's Cube was reached by the Pole Maciej Czapiewski, who took only 0.49 seconds to set all the faces!


 Records Rubik's Cube 4x4x4

  • In 2014, the fastest time to solve a 4x4x4 Rubik's Cube was recorded by the German cuber Sebastian Weier, who took just 21.97 seconds, a record at that time.
  • Later, already in 2015, 19-year-old Australian Felix Zembegs managed to solve the 4x4x4 Rubik's Cube in just 4.9 seconds at competitions in China.

Speedcubers, who is it? Speedcuber is a person who solves a Rubik's Cube for speed. And basically, anyone who timed a Rubik's Cube is a speedcuber. And let his result be 40 minutes, anyway this person is a speedcuber.

However, any novice speedcuber is able to assemble this puzzle in less time. But what are real pros capable of in this matter? Do you know anything about them?

The first world record was set by a 16-year-old Vietnamese-American student, Minh Thai, who was able to solve the puzzle in 22.95 seconds. This happened at the world's first speedcubing championship - World Rubik's Cube Championship 1982. This is especially impressive when you consider that the record was set not on a modern high-speed cube with magnets, but on one of the first versions of the Rubik's cube, which had a very mediocre torsion.

After that, there was a lull. Not because there were no tournaments, but because there was no organization that could streamline the results of all participants.

In 2004, this place was taken by the WCA - World Cube Association (World Cube Association). From that moment on, the results of all participants are stored in the database.

Since those distant times, records have been updated more than once. The rules and dice have changed, new disciplines have been added, and, of course, new champions have appeared.

The best in the business

One of the best speedcubers of this decade, the record holder among record holders is Felix Zemdegs. This young Aussie has already set 117 world records and holds the current world record in the 3x3x3 cube - 4.22 seconds single attempt and 5.8 seconds average over five 4x4 and 5x5 Rubik's Cubes with one hand.


His results are impressive, although he started, like all speedcubers. In 2008, when he was 12 years old, he became interested in speed cubing and began to train. By January 2010, he was the first person in the world to solve a Rubik's cube in less than 10 seconds. Since then, he has won everything and won competitions. And at the age of 17, at the World Championships, Felix proved that he is the best speedcuber in the world.

It may seem that Felix Zemdegs does not meet competition in tournaments, but this is by no means the case. It has many competitors from different countries.

One of his main competitors is Max Park. The American athlete already has 12 world records. Of course, after the results of Felix, this is not so impressive, but if you go deeper, each of them is amazing.

What is his record for the average time of five assemblies of the Rubik's Cube with one hand. He was the first in the world to do this in less than 10 seconds. He also holds the records in the 6x6 and 7x7 dice, both in a single assembly, and in the average time of five assemblies, as well as in the average time on a 4x4 dice.


And the next record holder is known not only for his records - Mats Falk (this is how his surname is read from Dutch). His last name began to be mentioned many times more after he signed a contract with QiYi MoFangGe, one of the world's top brands. Their flagship model was named after him, you all know about this cube yourself - it is now one of the best.

Mats was able to set 5 world records. But the most offensive situation happened to him at the Jawa Timur Open 2016 tournament. It was there that he set a world record of 4.74 seconds, but not for long. A little later, at the same competition, Felix Zemdegs made an assembly of 4.73 and broke Mats' record.


And from Kevin Hayes, Max Park took all the records, not only world, but also national, because they are both from the USA. Still, Kevin was the first person in the world to complete a 7x7 cube in less than 2 minutes, and he has already set 20 world records.

Moreover, Yuksin is cooperating with the American. They want to name a 7x7 cube in his honor, and maybe even a whole series of large cubes. And since Yuksin knows how to make fast and high-quality puzzles, the series will undoubtedly turn out to be chic.

It may seem that all the best speedcubers are abroad, but this is not so. There are many worthy speedcubers in our country.

For example, Dmitry Dobryakov. It is he who holds the Russian record for solving the Rubik's Cube both in a single attempt and in the average time. And it is he who will represent Russia at the Red Bull Rubik's Cube World Championship in Boston.

And at one time the whole world recognized the name of Vladislav Shavelsky, who set two world records in such a discipline as assembling a 7x7x7 cube. He also set 13 European records and 27 Russian records in disciplines from 4x4x4 to 7x7x7. He still holds the Russian records for assembling 5x5x5 and 7x7x7 cubes.

Or Roman Strakhov, who has repeatedly set world and European records for solving the Rubik's Cube 5x5x5 blindly. He now ranks third in the world in this discipline.


Also, Russian speedcubing knows the name of Dmitry Kryuzban, who set 60 Russian records and even a European record.

Every year we discover new names and faces that bring Russian speedcubing to the world level. Some of them are close to national records or have already achieved them: Alexey Zharikov, Artem Ganzha, Andrey Che and many others.

How to reach a professional level in speedcubing?

But how to achieve such results? Is it even possible to catch up with such speedcubing mastodons? And how to do it?

Of course, these results are achieved after for long years workouts. But everyone has different abilities and approaches to training, so there is no universal method.

There is a lot different ways assemblies: the Jessica Friedrich method, the Roux method, ZZ and many others. Try different formulas, ways of training and you will find the one that suits you.

And no matter how much you know the formulas, do not stop. Each new formula improves your skill.

But no matter what method you use, you definitely need to learn the Look ahead technique, literally “look ahead”. The bottom line is to think through all your movements in advance.

To train it, you need to use this type of training as slow turn, that is, specifically collect the cube slowly and see all the movements of the elements.

Ben Katz/YouTube

Roboticist Ben Katz and software engineer Jared Di Carlo have created a robot that can solve a Rubik's Cube in 0.38 seconds. This is a record time, says Di Carlo in his blog, although on this moment it has not been officially confirmed.

The Rubik's Cube was invented back in 1974, but the puzzle is still very popular. People who are fond of high-speed assembly of the Rubik's Cube are called speedcubers, and the process itself is called speedcubing (from the English speedcubing). Today's record belongs to the American Lucas Etter, who in November 2015 collected puzzle in 4.904 seconds. Similar competitions are also held among robots: until now, the robot of engineers from Infeon was considered the unofficial "champion". In 2016, he solved the Rubik's Cube in 0.637 seconds. Now, however, Katz and Di Carlo have developed a robot that has improved the previous record holder by 40 percent.

Like all such devices, the researchers robot uses a camera (in this case, the PlayStation Eye), which transmits pictures of the sides of the Rubik's Cube to the computer. It determines the placement of the pieces of the puzzle, and then feeds the data to the min2phase program, which is based on Herbert Kotsemba's two-phase algorithm. In a split second, the computer calculates the optimal solution to the problem, after which it sends a command to the robot, and it moves all the elements in the right way.


To speed up the process, Katz used Kollmorgen ServoDisk motors, which have a very high attitude torque to moment of inertia. In addition, the engineer built a special controller that allows you to rotate the side of the Rubik's cube 90 degrees in just 10 milliseconds. Provided that the puzzle can be assembled, on average, in 19-23 moves, the robot of Katz and Di Carlo should solve the problem in 0.25 seconds. However, in reality, the process takes 0.38 seconds, since now the machine makes one movement every 15 milliseconds.

The developers are confident that in the future they will be able to improve their result. Now the tuning process is time-consuming, because debugging must be done with a high-speed camera, and mistakes sometimes lead to puzzle breakage or FET explosions. However, for a hundred different solutions, it took only 4 Rubik's cubes. The video below shows one of failed attempts puzzle assembly:


Recently programmer Martin Spanel developed software, which allows you to solve the Rubik's cube using augmented reality glasses. It outputs in real time desired action using an AR headset directly on top of one of the faces of the cube.

Kristina Ulasovich

Felix Zemdegs set the world record for solving a 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube with two hands in one attempt

People have long lost hope of competing with robots in terms of the speed of solving the Rubik's Cube. So, the absolute record among robots is 0.38 seconds, and robot designers still boasted that they deliberately paused between movements to reduce the risk of breaking the cube.

Against this background, the achievements of people look faded, but no one thinks to cancel the championships. After all, championships are held in checkers, chess, go, poker and other games where the computer has surpassed the human. People compete with each other and demonstrate the amazing abilities of the human mind. May not be as fast as computer program, but the brain of Homo sapiens is also able to calculate options and make decisions with great speed.

Another proof of this is the new record for solving the Rubik's Cube in 3×3×3 format. The world record now stands at 4.221 seconds - again held by a 22-year-old Australian named Feliks Zemdegs, who has held records before and was a multiple world champion.


According to the Australian press, Felix bought his first Rubik's Cube in 2008 at the age of 12, inspired by speed cube solving videos he found on YouTube. An hour later he picked it up.

A month later, the guy already coped with the puzzle in half a minute. In less than two years, the boy won the Melbourne Cube Day 2010 championship with a world record.

In an interview huffington post after winning the second Rubik's Cuban World Cup, he said that this trick is available to everyone, it just takes practice and patience. Almost all participants in such championships learned how to solve the Rubik's cube using manuals from the Internet or on YouTube: “It just takes a little practice and patience. But once you understand the way to solve it, everything becomes very formulaic. You understand that for the first stage you need to make such movements, then go to the next stage and solve this part. It's kind of a beginner's method. And then, as you learn more and practice, you start picking it up more intuitively.”

“I'm always very impressed with people who have found a solution themselves, and I think it's incredibly difficult,” says the record holder. “I couldn’t even imagine that – it’s one of the most impressive things.”

According to the table of records, this is already the eighth record of Felix Zemdegs. He installed the very first one in 2010 (7.03 seconds). Then, within two years, he improved his own achievement five times, and then the palm passed to another athlete. Finally, Felix regained the record in 2016 (4.73 seconds), then lost again, and now he again improved the world record by 37 hundredths of a second at once.

Felix has one piece of advice for those who want to find a way to solve the Rubik's Cube on their own. He recommends submitting 54 colored cube squares not stickers, but fragments.

The champion also refuses to recognize himself as more gifted than the other competitors. He does not agree that he has some kind of talent: “Literally anyone can learn this. Obviously, to achieve a high result, you need some ability in pattern recognition, spatial thinking, finger dexterity. I'm not sure if this necessarily correlates with general intelligence, but it definitely requires spatial reasoning. And in order to achieve high speed in reality, it just takes a lot of practice and dedication.”

By the way, Felix holds several other current world records in other disciplines: the record for the average of five attempts, with the exception of the slowest and fastest (5.99, 5.28, 5.25, 6.13 and 9.19, average 5, 80 s), as well as a world record for assembly with one hand (6.88 s, set in 2015, on

American schoolboy Colin Burns has managed to set a new time record for solving the famous Rubik's Cube. The new achievement is 5.25 seconds. The teenager did everything faster than the previous record holder by 0.30 seconds. It is difficult to imagine that such a speed of assembling a puzzle is generally possible, but practice shows that people sometimes do what few people expect from them.

Looking for school furniture? Then buy a school desk at osnova-m. Optimal prices and fast delivery will make the purchase of a school table even more pleasant.

It should be noted that the Rubik's Cube is already 40 years old and during this time great amount records. In addition, this puzzle is recognized as one of the most successful of those that have been created in the history of mankind. The Rubik's Cube allows you to develop spatial thinking and fine motor skills and is also ideal for people of all genders and ages.

If you want to test yourself, you can buy such a puzzle in any toy store, especially now there are numerous variations on the market, some of which provide for certain complication of the task. However, to begin with, it is recommended to practice on the standard version of the puzzle, because even mastering it is not as easy as it seems at first glance.

Colin's record was fixed during the competition for the prizes of the World Cube Association, which took place in the town of Doylestown (Pesnylvania, America). Very soon, these data will be officially confirmed, after which the record will get on the pages of the next edition of the Guinness Book of Records, along with hundreds of other new, and no less interesting achievements.

It is important to note that the Rubik's Cube records are trying to be set all the time, and the previous one was officially certified in 2013. Given the interest in this puzzle and the number of people doing something like this on an ongoing basis, then there is a high probability that the next achievement will not be long in coming. In the meantime, Colin Burns can rightfully be considered the person capable of solving the Rubik's cube faster than anyone on this planet.