Last month, over three hundred and fifty Rubik's Cube enthusiasts gathered in Dusseldorf, Germany to compete in the 5th annual World Rubik's Cube Championship.

While the contestants gather to battle out for many different events, the most coveted one remains 'Speedcubing' - solving the original 3x3x3 puzzle, as quickly as possible.

This year, the Speedcubing title was won by 17-year old Breandan Vallance from Scotland , who took home 5,000 Euros and a trophy for completing the puzzle in an average time of 10.74 seconds.

While impressive, he was unable to beat last year's time of 7.08 seconds, set by Erik Akkersdijk from the Netherlands.

Besides the main event, the championship also has nineteen other competitions, which include solving the puzzle in different ways - using the feet, one hand, blindfolded and completing it with the fewest moves.

Twenty-nine years after it was introduced, the Rubik's Cube remains one of the best-selling toys in the world. Over the years, other variations of the cube such as the Rubik's Master Magic and Rubik's clock, as well as, larger versions of the original cube have come to market.

However, it is the original 3x3x3 puzzle that remains the most popular. Experts estimate that this tiny cube can be be configured in 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 (about 43 quintillion) ways and that's only by turning the sides of the cube!

To put the number in perspective, if laid on the the ground, it is enough to cover the earth with 273 layers of cubes, despite the fact that every cube layer will increase the Earth's radius by 57mm - Simply mind boggling isn't it?

We wonder if Hungarian born sculptor and architect, Emo Rubik had even his wildest dreams ever thought that his invention would be this successful. To learn more about this puzzle and get hints on solving it go to www.rubiks.com.

netoarama.com, rubiks.com, wikipedia.org