By the following year, the Magic Cube could be found in London, Paris, and even New York, thanks to a deal struck with Rubik to commercialize and distribute the cube worldwide. The only stipulation for distribution was that the name be changed, and the Rubik's Cube went global in 1980. The new model is much lighter than the previous versions, making it easier and faster to solve. Also see Video on how to solve the Rubik's Cube The average person takes three hours to solve a Rubik's Cube for the first time, but competitors, known as Soeedcubers, can solve one in as little as seven seconds. Speedcubing is a sport in which competitors attempt to solve the classic 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube in the shortest amount of time possible.

The World Cube Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of Every two years, thousands of competitors travel from all over the world to compete in the Rubik's Cube World Championships. The ultimate winner is crowned Cubing King or Queen. Minh Thai of the United States won the first speedcubing World Championship in Budapest in 1982, solving the cube in only 22.95 seconds. This may not seem impressive when compared to Yusheng Du of China, who holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to solve a Rubik's Cube, which is 3.47 seconds. Ben Katz and Jared DiCarlo developed a robot that can solve the cube in less than a minute, or 0.38 seconds.