In 1974 a Hungarian architect, sculptor, engineer named Erno Rubik wanted to make an aesthetically pleasing object which also fullfilled an engineering challenge. He chose the 3 by 3 cube made out of smaller interlocking cubes that could all turn in space and therefore change relative positions in the cube. Once he figured out how to build it, then it took him a month to figure out how to solve it back to all colors matching om each side. I believe that when Mr. Rubik built the Cube he - at first - had no idea how complex and wonderful a thing he had.

Soon his work of art was a popular puzzle toy in his home country of Hungary and people were interested in marketing it all over the world. So in 1980, the Ideal Toy Company bought the right to sell Rubik's Cube in the United States. And - if you grew up in the 80s - the rest is history. By 1981 everyone in my 4th grade class had at east one of these things. I had two - a regualr one and one of those little keychain ones.

In Europe they were calling it Magic Cube, but I think that name was stolen by other companies abroad for knock-off cubes because no international copyright had been made on the name, and no international patent had been filed on the Cube itself. So the name "Rubik's Cube" sorta stuck and I think that's pretty much what the whole world calls it now. And it just sounds cool too. It's good that Erno has a cool surname, one that sounds good with the word "cube" after it. It also makes a good name for a multicolored little cube guy who only has feet and can do magical stuff.

So, let's face it, in the early 80s the cube thing was a fad. Most of us had one and almost none of us could solve it. There were keychain cubes, cubes with pictures on them, cubes with the names of fast food printed on them, cubes with odd colored dayglow stickers, which a lot of people peeled off and restuck because they couldn't solve their cubes. They probably ended up with some wild color configurations. And the rest of us took our cubes apart and popped them back together in a solved state in order to impress our friends. And when the fad was over, it was over.

In fact, the last I heard of Rubik's Cube for many years was the cartoon, Rubik the Amazing Cube, which first aired in the fall of 1983 on the tail end of the cube craze. At that point we all knew what a Rubk's Cube was, but we had no idea where our cubes were. They were likely buried under at least two sedimentary layers of other Christmas and birthday gifts. As I watched Rubik on TV I don't recall feeling compelled to find my cube and learn how to solve it. I guess if it had been alive like the cube in the cartoon I would have felt differently. I just thought Rubik was really cool. I made lots of drawings of him.

In 1985 Ideal went out of business, but I think that since then there has always been at least one cmpany making and selling Rubuik's Cubes in the US. And in the last few years things have picked up. An 80s resurgence and the Internet have had a lot to do with it. Not to mention the fact that no one ever forgot what a Rubik's Cube was or what it did. The concept is so simple and universal. The object of the puzzle is almost completely obvious, and, even after solving the cube, many people find its mystery only deepens. I'd be one of them.

I actually rediscovered the cartoon and then the cube. I'd really never forgotten Rubik. When I thought about Saturday mornings in my childhood, Rubik was my most vivid memory And as soon as my new Rubik's Cube came in the mail and I unwapped it, everything about it was completely familiar, the colored stickers, the smooth plastic cubes sticking to each other and clicking into place, the familiar springy tension sound. I was fascinated all over again.

I've got a little family of Rubik's Cubes now, even one that I built. For some reason the animators of Rubik the Aamzing Cube chose a non-sandard color pattern that I like to use for my cubes, so I've replaced the stickers on a couple of them to match that configuration. I'm no record speedcuber, but I'm trying to understand. I still wonder if Mr. Rubik has any idea what a wonderful thing he has invented.