# How many cubers are out there?



## rubikmaster (Dec 31, 2011)

What do you think,guys?How many cubers are out there in the world?And I don't just mean SPEEDcubers,but all cubers,all people who know how to solve a Rubik's cube.Please vote on the poll and also post some of your opinions in the comments.This may sound stupid but I think there are about 15-20 million cubers in the world.


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## TheMachanga (Dec 31, 2011)

I accidently voted the lowest one on instinct, but I think there has to be more than 1,000,000. I mean, Dan Brown's video has like, 20+ mil view right? Plus there are even more how to solve the cube videos.


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## Dene (Dec 31, 2011)

I chose 5-10 million, but really all anyone could do is speculate.


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## hcfong (Dec 31, 2011)

It is believed that roughly 4 out 500 people in the world can solve a rubik's cube, and with a population of 7 billion, it's either in the high 20 -50 million bracket or in the 50 million plus. I voted for 20-50 million.


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## cubecraze1 (Dec 31, 2011)

dan brown does have 21 million but you have to think about the people who give up as well, the first part has 21 million but then the second part has only 13 million so i think around 5-10 million cubers that know how to solve the rubik's cube


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## RNewms27 (Dec 31, 2011)

If we are implying that 1 time solved= cuber than around 100,000,000 because that is what I've seen so far in this thread. Any other speculation needs something to justify a cuber from a noncuber that has solved one before.


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## Anthony (Dec 31, 2011)

hcfong said:


> It is believed that roughly 4 out 500 people in the world can solve a rubik's cube, and with a population of 7 billion, it's either in the high 20 -50 million bracket or in the 50 million plus. I voted for 20-50 million.


lol. Source?


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## HelpCube (Dec 31, 2011)

hcfong said:


> It is believed that roughly 4 out 500 people in the world can solve a rubik's cube, and with a population of 7 billion, it's either in the high 20 -50 million bracket or in the 50 million plus. I voted for 20-50 million.


 
I think you forgot about the entire continent of Africa. I would be shocked if 1 in 2000 people could solve a rubik's cube in Africa.

Also, keep in mind that there is a higher percentage of teenagers who know how to solve the cube than adults.


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## ZamHalen (Dec 31, 2011)

I would say that Dan Browns video would be a terrible source as there are 2 now, along with the fact that I'm sure a lot of people were like, "WHAT IS ALGORITHM?!? IT 2 HARD.....D:< TEACH PATTURN",then stopped watching.(I know I did that a few times at first.)
I'd say about 500,000-1,000,000 maybe a few thousand more but that would be giving a very high estimate.


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## Dene (Dec 31, 2011)

ZamHalen said:


> I would say that Dan Browns video would be a terrible source as there are 2 now, along with the fact that I'm sure a lot of people were like, "WHAT IS ALGORITHM?!? IT 2 HARD.....D:< TEACH PATTURN",then stopped watching.(I know I did that a few times at first.)
> I'd say about 500,000-1,000,000 maybe a few thousand more but that would be giving a very high estimate.


 
Na, you're way too far under. Do you realise that the cube has been around for 30 years now? You think in that time only maybe one million have learnt to solve it?


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## aronpm (Dec 31, 2011)

Dene said:


> You think in that time only maybe one million have learnt to solve it?


 You think that most of the kids who get cubes for Christmas are able to figure it out or look up a solution, without getting bored and throwing it into a cupboard?


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## Cuberty (Dec 31, 2011)

This is a very undlear topic, is it the number of people who have touched a solved cube, solved it once, or are able to solve it multiple times?


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## Dene (Dec 31, 2011)

aronpm said:


> You think that most of the kids who get cubes for Christmas are able to figure it out or look up a solution, without getting bored and throwing it into a cupboard?


 
No, but do you know how many _billion_ cubes have been sold? Only a tiny percentage would need to have been solved.


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## aaronb (Dec 31, 2011)

So the question is how many people could solve the cube, if you handed them one right now in a random state, I would guess it would be about 500,000.


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## aronpm (Dec 31, 2011)

Dene said:


> No, but do you know how many _billion_ cubes have been sold? Only a tiny percentage would need to have been solved.


 
Yeah, roughly 0.35 [source]


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## hcfong (Dec 31, 2011)

Anthony said:


> lol. Source?




http://villaslife.cn/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&sectionid=4&catid=16&id=78&Itemid=39

Not sure if it's a reliable source, but I got it from the recent sightings in the media thread.


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## rubikmaster (Dec 31, 2011)

Ok,so there have obviously been some confusions about the meaning of the word cuber so I'm gonna clear that up now.My definition of a cuber is a person who can solve it anytime he picks it up.


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## Nestor (Dec 31, 2011)

I voted 500k - 1m, since I consider a cuber a person that can solve the cube _*confidently*_ at any given time and not just people who did it a few times in their life and then tossed it away. If we include ALL persons that at one time solved the cube, the 30 million mark is easily surpassed.


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## cityzach (Dec 31, 2011)

I don't really think Dan Brown's videos have anything to do with how many cubers there are in the world. I have a handful of friends that have used his tutorial to solve the cube, but that doesn't make them a cuber. My guess is there's around 100,000-200,000.


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## Jaycee (Dec 31, 2011)

Dene said:


> No, but do you know how many _billion_ cubes have been sold? Only a tiny percentage would need to have been solved.


 
About 0.35 as of January '09. >__>

EDIT : Bigtime Ninja'd. That's what I get for not reading the rest of the thread.


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## jonathankim98 (Dec 31, 2011)

I know this is stupid but would dead cubers could technically count (e.g. Your granny solved it once).


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## Dene (Dec 31, 2011)

aronpm said:


> Yeah, roughly 0.35 [source]


 
Outdated and inaccurate data. I didn't say Rubik's brand cubes.


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## aronpm (Dec 31, 2011)

Roughly 100 million cubes were sold by 1982, so the other 250 million sales were spread over 30 years, that's <10 million per year, so the current sales would be more like 370 million. Oh no, my point is ruined.

Also, I highly doubt that the number of knockoff cube sales outnumbers official sales by a factor of 10.

You said something factually wrong, just accept the fact and stop trying to weasel out of it by arguing.


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## rubikmaster (Dec 31, 2011)

jonathankim98 said:


> I know this is stupid but would dead cubers could technically count (e.g. Your granny solved it once).


Ummm,the question was How many cubers ARE out there?Not how many were out there.And yes,your question was stupid.


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## ben1996123 (Jan 1, 2012)

I voted 10 - 20 million.


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## insane569 (Jan 1, 2012)

Theres about 17,000 people in the WCA database so i said 10,000-20,000 give or take
Might be off since alot of people don't go to comps.


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## Dene (Jan 1, 2012)

aronpm said:


> Roughly 100 million cubes were sold by 1982, so the other 250 million sales were spread over 30 years, that's <10 million per year, so the current sales would be more like 370 million. Oh no, my point is ruined.
> 
> Also, I highly doubt that the number of knockoff cube sales outnumbers official sales by a factor of 10.
> 
> You said something factually wrong, just accept the fact and stop trying to weasel out of it by arguing.


 
The number of sales over the period from the early 80's to the mid 2000's would have been minimal while the brand wasn't so big for that period of time. The very recent boost in popularity of the Rubik's brand would almost certainly have been accompanied by a boost in sales. I would expect that the past few years have had 20-30 million or more each year sold. I have no evidence for that claim, only common sense. 

And you clearly have no idea of the knock-off trade if you think that the sales there are minimal. In my experience, which is a fair amount, people that I have come across with cubes have generally not had Rubik's brand cubes, but rather cheap crappy knock-offs. My first experience with cubes was with knock-offs. And look at countries like China and India, where knock-off sales are huge. You're naive if you don't think cube sales have been in the billions.


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## aronpm (Jan 1, 2012)

You're naive if you think that every second or fourth person in the world owns a cube.


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## Dene (Jan 1, 2012)

Over a period of 30 years, and people can have more than one cube.


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## aronpm (Jan 1, 2012)

If people can have more than one cube, you can't use the cube sales figure to determine how many people own cubes, and by extension how many people can solve them.


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## Dene (Jan 1, 2012)

Of course not, but it can at least provide direction towards an answer.


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## tx789 (Jan 1, 2012)

The amount on this forum and on chinesse forums and youtube 
Me myself and PI has heaps (and who would subscribe if you weren't interised and how many would the number who don't go on youtube or foroumor haven't completed
500,000 at least


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## Jaycee (Jan 1, 2012)

It really depends on what your definition of cuber is.


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## Jaysammey777 (Jan 1, 2012)

5.8% of 7 billion people =406 million people
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_percent_of_people_can_solve_a_Rubik's_Cube
Because the internet doesn't lie <3


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## Jaysammey777 (Jan 1, 2012)

Jaycee said:


> It really depends on what your definition of cuber is.


 
He stated in the first post Anyone who has solved a Rubik's cube/

otherwise a Speed cuber would be 15 thousand or so


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## freshcuber (Jan 1, 2012)

The number of speedcubers, people who practice solves with the intent of getting faster, is probably much less than 50,000. The number of people who could pick up a scrambled cube and solve it at any given point in time is of course much greater. To throw out a number I'd guess anywhere from 5-20 million


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## Thompson (Jan 1, 2012)

hcfong said:


> http://villaslife.cn/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&sectionid=4&catid=16&id=78&Itemid=39
> 
> Not sure if it's a reliable source, but I got it from the recent sightings in the media thread.


 
I really enjoyed reading that!


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## Jaysammey777 (Jan 1, 2012)

freshcuber said:


> The number of speedcubers, people who practice solves with the intent of getting faster, is probably much less than 50,000. The number of people who could pick up a scrambled cube and solve it at any given point in time is of course much greater. To throw out a number I'd guess anywhere from 5-20 million


 
relook at my post because I said no such thing as 50,000. rather 15,000 which I'm more leaning toward 20 now.


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## aronpm (Jan 1, 2012)

Jaysammey777 said:


> relook at my post because I said no such thing as 50,000. rather 15,000 which I'm more leaning toward 20 now.


 
He wasn't responding to you.


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## freshcuber (Jan 1, 2012)

Jaysammey777 said:


> relook at my post because I said no such thing as 50,000. rather 15,000 which I'm more leaning toward 20 now.


 
I don't see how my post was related to yours at all. As aronpm said. I was just responding to the thread.


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## Jaysammey777 (Jan 1, 2012)

freshcuber said:


> I don't see how my post was related to yours at all. As aronpm said. I was just responding to the thread.


 
sorry I misinterpreted.


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## Cool Frog (Jan 1, 2012)

Less than 500. Everyone else are just like all the other voices.


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## Cheese11 (Jan 1, 2012)

I thought it meant SPEEDcubers. Also, one time solved is not a "Cuber", it's someone who figured it out just cause they could.
So I voted for 200, 000 - 500, 000 (Speedcubers)


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## Georgeanderre (Jan 1, 2012)

200k to 500k Speedcubers, although it wouldn't surprise me if there were less than 200k.


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## KenBrace (Jan 4, 2016)

Well let's see. This forum has around 30k members. CrazyBadCuber has about 120k subscribers.

I'm guessing there are somewhere between 100,000 - 200,000 people out of 7 billion who can solve a rubiks cube.


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## Ordway Persyn (Jan 4, 2016)

If we're going by people who have solved a cube than I voted for 20-50M, as far as more dedicated cubers go (speed cubers and puzzle collectors) probably about 1-2M


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## EpiCuber7 (Jan 4, 2016)

I remember seeing that there are about 40 thousand or something cubers on WCA a while back so probably around 50 thousand total WCA cubers now, inactive or active
but if you mean just people that know how to solve a Rubik's Cube I reckon about 500 thousand
but I voted 100 thousand - 200 thousand because it was the lowest option


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## MoyuFTW (Jan 4, 2016)

KenBrace said:


> Well let's see. This forum has around 30k members. CrazyBadCuber has about 120k subscribers.
> 
> I'm guessing there are somewhere between 100,000 - 200,000 people out of 7 billion who can solve a rubiks cube.



Haha. RedKB has even more at 209k


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