Japanese toymaker MegaHouse recently unveiled the world’s smallest Rubik’s Cube, an aluminum cube measuring only 0.19 inches per side and weighing just 0.33 grams, but with a price tag of $5,320.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original Rubik’s Cube invented by Hungarian sculptor Erno Rubik, Japanese toymaker MegaHouse set out to create the world’s smallest Rubik’s Cube. The company came up with the idea for the project about four years ago and started working on it in 2022. Although making a metal square only 0.5 cm in width doesn’t seem that difficult in this day and age, making a functional Rubik’s Cube with rotating faces was a big challenge. MegaHouse had to team up with a precision-cutting company to ensure that all the tiny parts worked as intended.
“The 5-millimeter Rubik’s Cube is the result of the trinity of machines, cutting tools and players’ passion,” Kiyokazu Saito, president of Iriso Precision, said.
Weighing just 0.33 grams, the world’s smallest Rubik’s Cube is about a 1,000th of the size of the original, but costs hundreds of times more. Unveiled only a few days ago on the MegaHouse website, this wonder of engineering has already been made available for pre-order for the head-spinning price of 777,777 yen ($5,320), with first orders expected to be shipped in April of next year.
With such a high price tag, the world’s smallest Rubik’s Cube is likely to become a collector’s item, as most people will likely not want to spend over $5,000 on a puzzle they’ll probably need precision pliers to solve.
MegaHouse’s creation was awarded the Guinness Record for the World’s Smallest Rotating Puzzle in August.