It's been 50 years since the Rubik's Cube first launched, and it's captivated audiences ever since. With a special 50th anniversary retro cube on the list of this year's top toys, the puzzle's popularity is still going strong. Suitable for children (and adults) aged eight and over, the Rubik's Cube is a brilliant option if you are concerned about screen time, and it's small and compact enough to make a perfect travel toy. And it was one of the most popular toys when millennials were kids, alongside Beanie Babies and Game Boys. Plus, it doesn't need batteries. Result!
Plus, it's super engaging. Before you even try it (or find a method to help you solve it), it feels like it should be relatively easy to solve, right? After all, it's small enough to fit into your hand, and it's suitable for kids (hello, dexterity and problem-solving skills), I mean, really, how hard can it be? Well, as 10 year old me discovered in a pre-internet era, it was flippin' hard - the original Rubik's Cube has 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 combinations (that's just over 43 quintillion for those like me, who just can't comprehend that many digits) and only one solution. And 10-year old me was stumped (and impatient).
