Editing Rubik's Cube (section)

===1980s Cube craze===
[[File:Expo 82 Rubik's Cube.jpg|thumb|left|The world's largest Rubik's Cube was constructed for the [[1982 World's Fair]] in [[Knoxville, Tennessee]].]]
After the first batches of Rubik's Cubes were released in May 1980, initial sales were modest, but Ideal began a television advertising campaign in the middle of the year which it supplemented with newspaper advertisements.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dougherty |first=Philip H. |date=30 July 1981 |title=Advertising Ideal Toy's Son of Rubik Cube |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/30/business/advertising-ideal-toy-s-son-of-rubik-cube.html}}</ref> At the end of 1980, Rubik's Cube won a German Game of the Year special award<ref name="carlisle">{{Cite book |last=Carlisle |first=Rodney P. |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaplay00carl |title=Encyclopedia of Play in Today's Society |publisher=Sage |year=2009 |isbn=978-1452266107 |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaplay00carl/page/n622 612] |url-access=limited}}</ref> and won similar awards for best toy in the UK, France, and the US.<ref name="europa">{{Cite web |title=Interview with Ernő Rubik |url=http://www.create2009.europa.eu/ambassadors/profiles/erno_rubik.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180527190611/http://www.create2009.europa.eu/ambassadors/profiles/erno_rubik.html |archive-date=27 May 2018 |access-date=26 October 2016 |publisher=Europa}}</ref> By 1981, Rubik's Cube had become a craze, and it is estimated that in the period from 1980 to 1983 around 200&nbsp;million Rubik's Cubes were sold worldwide.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Singmaster |first=David |title=The Lighter Side of Mathematics: Proceedings of the Eugène Strens Memorial Conference on Recreational Mathematics and Its History |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1994 |isbn=088385516X |editor-last=Guy |editor-first=Richard K. |page=[https://archive.org/details/lightersideofmat0000unse/page/340 340] |chapter=The Utility of Recreational Mathematics |author-link=David Singmaster |editor-last2=Woodrow |editor-first2=Robert E. |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/lightersideofmat0000unse/page/340}} Singmaster [http://www.cube20.org/cubelovers/CL28/046.txt estimates] the numbers sold were between 100 and 300 million. His estimate is based on sales of 50 to 100&nbsp;million legitimate cubes and perhaps a higher number of imitations.</ref> In March 1981, a [[speedcubing]] championship organised by the [[Guinness Book of World Records]] was held in [[Munich]],<ref name="carlisle" /> and a Rubik's Cube was depicted on the front cover of ''[[Scientific American]]'' that same month.<ref name="batchelor">{{Cite book |last1=Batchelor |first1=Bob |url=https://archive.org/details/1980s0000batc/page/97 |title=The 1980s |last2=Stoddart |first2=Scott |publisher=Greenwood |year=2007 |isbn=978-0313330001 |page=[https://archive.org/details/1980s0000batc/page/97 97]}}</ref> In June 1981, ''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported that Rubik's Cube is "a puzzle that's moving like fast food right now ... this year's [[Hula hoop|Hoola Hoop]] or [[Balance board|Bongo Board]]",<ref name="allen">{{Cite news |last=Allen |first=Henry |date=10 June 1981 |title=The Cube |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1981/06/10/the-cube/6142c377-a12c-4c0a-ad26-a06538749964/}}</ref> and by September 1981, ''[[New Scientist]]'' noted that the cube had "captivated the attention of children of ages from 7 to 70 all over the world this summer."<ref name="herman">{{Cite news |last=Herman |first=Ros |date=10 September 1981 |title=Cubic mastery |work=New Scientist |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jpr_dn_0IfEC&pg=PA678 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819133107/https://books.google.com/books?id=jpr_dn_0IfEC&pg=PA678 |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 August 2020 }}</ref>

As most people could solve only one or two sides, numerous books were published including [[David Singmaster]]'s ''Notes on Rubik's "Magic Cube"'' (1980) and Patrick Bossert's ''You Can Do the Cube'' (1981).<ref name="carlisle" /> At one stage in 1981, three of the top ten best selling books in the US were books on solving Rubik's Cube,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Singmaster |first=David |title=The Lighter Side of Mathematics: Proceedings of the Eugène Strens Memorial Conference on Recreational Mathematics and Its History |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1994 |isbn=088385516X |editor-last=Guy |editor-first=Richard K. |page=[https://archive.org/details/lightersideofmat0000unse/page/340 340] |chapter=The Utility of Recreational Mathematics |author-link=David Singmaster |editor-last2=Woodrow |editor-first2=Robert E. |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/lightersideofmat0000unse/page/340}}</ref> and the best-selling book of 1981 was James G. Nourse's ''[[The Simple Solution to Rubik's Cube]]'' which sold over 6&nbsp;million copies.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hanauer |first=Joan |date=5 January 1982 |title=The man who wrote the best-selling book of 1981 |work=United Press International |url=http://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/01/05/BEST-SELLER/3264379054800/}}</ref> In 1981, the [[Museum of Modern Art]] in New York exhibited a Rubik's Cube, and at the [[1982 World's Fair]] in [[Knoxville, Tennessee|Knoxville]], Tennessee a six-foot Cube was put on display.<ref name="carlisle" /> In 1983, [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC Television]] released a cartoon show called ''[[Rubik, the Amazing Cube]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Terrace |first=Vincent |title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 |publisher=McFarland |year=2008 |isbn=978-0786486410 |page=915}}</ref> In June 1982, the [[1982 World Rubik's Cube Championship|First Rubik's Cube World Championship]] took place in [[Budapest]] and would become the only competition recognized as official until the championship was revived in 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scheffler |first=Ian |title=Cracking the Cube |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2016 |isbn=978-1501121944 |page=88}}</ref>

In October 1982, ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that sales had fallen and that "the craze has died",<ref name="nytimes">{{Cite news |date=30 October 1982 |title=Rubik's Cube: A Craze Ends |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/30/business/rubik-s-cube-a-craze-ends.html}}</ref> and by 1983 it was clear that sales had plummeted.<ref name="carlisle" /> However, in some countries such as China and the USSR, the craze had started later and demand was still high because of a shortage of Cubes.<ref>{{Cite news |date=22 February 1982 |title=China facing Rubik Cube shortage |work=United Press International |url=http://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/02/22/China-facing-Rubik-Cube-shortage/4252383202000/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Reed |first=Steven R. |date=8 December 1982 |title=Russians Queue for Rubik's Cube |work=United Press International |url=http://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/12/08/Russians-Queue-for-Rubiks-Cube/9098408171600/}}</ref>