--- title: Rubik's Cube Google Doodle Honors Toy's 40th Birthday description: Celebrates the 40th anniversary of the world's most addictive math toy canonical: https://time.com/104482/rubiks-cube-google-doodle/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-19T12:03:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:44.085Z og:title: Happy Monday: Today's Google Doodle is an Interactive Rubik's Cube og:description: Celebrates the 40th anniversary of the world's most addictive math toy og:url: https://time.com/104482/rubiks-cube-google-doodle/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf05564ebf02d4377/6986900d13c79f512d192270/screen-shot-2014-05-19-at-7-53-32-am.png?branch=production&width=580&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 580 og:image:height: 326 og:image:alt: Google Doodle May 19 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Happy Monday: Today's Google Doodle is an Interactive Rubik's Cube twitter:description: Celebrates the 40th anniversary of the world's most addictive math toy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf05564ebf02d4377/6986900d13c79f512d192270/screen-shot-2014-05-19-at-7-53-32-am.png?branch=production&width=580&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Get Ready to Procrastinate: Today's Google Doodle is an Interactive Rubik's Cube > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: How Google Makes its Doodles [Watch (HLS stream): How Google Makes its Doodles](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/upF0qp1E.m3u8) (3:23)  _Published 2018-07-07. Our videographer went to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California to meet some of the designers and coders who create the special, clever variations on the Google.com logo known as_  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent May 19, 2014 12:03 PM UTC   by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent May 19, 2014 12:03 PM UTC Prepare to spend your whole day procrastinating, because Monday’s Google Doodle is an interactive Rubik’s cube to honor the 40th birthday of the addictive puzzle. You can click the Cube to twist it, and Google keeps track of how many moves you’ve made so far, so you can spend the whole day beating your own score instead of working on that important project. You’re “Googling stuff.” The Rubik’s cube has been the toy of choice for nerds, geniuses, and loud kids in the back of the car ever since it was invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor Erno Rubik. It’s the world’s most fun math problem, and you’ll probably never solve it—but good luck spending the rest of the day trying. **MORE:** _How Google Made the Valentine’s Day Doodle_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/104482/rubiks-cube-google-doodle/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/104482/rubiks-cube-google-doodle/"},"headline":"Get Ready to Procrastinate: Today's Google Doodle is an Interactive Rubik's Cube","datePublished":"2014-05-19T12:03:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:44.085Z","description":"Celebrates the 40th anniversary of the world's most addictive math toy","url":"https://time.com/104482/rubiks-cube-google-doodle/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Google","Appreciation","Google Doodle"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf05564ebf02d4377/6986900d13c79f512d192270/screen-shot-2014-05-19-at-7-53-32-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf05564ebf02d4377/6986900d13c79f512d192270/screen-shot-2014-05-19-at-7-53-32-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Google Doodle May 19","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/104482/rubiks-cube-google-doodle/","name":"Get Ready to Procrastinate: Today's Google Doodle is an Interactive Rubik's Cube"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Creator of the Cube: Erno Rubik","description":"In this exclusive interview, creator Erno Rubik talks about how he designed the Cube and shows off his new toy, the Rubik's 360","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/WleVlZbA/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2009-02-05T01:30:40.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WleVlZbA.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/104482/rubiks-cube-google-doodle/","duration":"PT5M","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/104482/rubiks-cube-google-doodle/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How Google Makes its Doodles","description":"Our videographer went to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California to meet some of the designers and coders who create the special, clever variations on the Google.com logo known as","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/upF0qp1E/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-07-07T16:09:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/upF0qp1E.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/104482/rubiks-cube-google-doodle/","duration":"PT3M23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/104482/rubiks-cube-google-doodle/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```