Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Matyas Kuti may finally get to meet the man behind his obsession in the town they both call home.

Kuti, a Budapest ninth-grader, is the European champion at solving the Rubik's Cube. Today, the holder of seven global speed records will compete at the world championships in the Hungarian capital. Inventor Erno Rubik is planning a rare appearance at the event, 25 years after the first tournament.

``He's a very reserved man,'' says Kuti, spinning one cube while another dangles from his belt. ``There were requests to meet, but it didn't happen. He promised to be at the world championship, but who knows if he'll actually come or not.''

The 14-year-old is part of a new generation of devotees to the cube, a product of communist eastern Europe that managed successfully to invade the West. The twistable devices with their multicolored panels are selling better than during the first boom from 1980 to 1982, when more than 100 million were snapped up, according to Rubik Studio Kft., the founder's company.

``You could see it spread around the world and it was great to watch,'' says Gabor Koncz, director of the Hungarian Culture Foundation in Budapest. ``The fashion is back. There are young people who hadn't even been born then and are now discovering it for themselves.''

While the cube has made a comeback, Rubik the man prefers to remain in the shadows, declining all requests for interviews.

Tired of Crowds

Now 63, Rubik still lives and works in Budapest, running Rubik Studio, which owns the trademark. The company, which doesn't disclose sales figures, is based in a house behind a modern office building and sells games from other inventors under the Rubik brand.

``He doesn't like crowds,'' says Janos Kovacs, executive manager of Rubik Studio, adding that Rubik restricts public comments to the odd university lecture and goes into his office once a week. ``He doesn't like performing. He got tired of it.''

Yet Rubik, whose signature Kuti and friends would copy from sales receipts as replacements for the real autographs they couldn't get, plans to make an appearance at the World Rubik's Cube Championships, which run through Oct. 7, Kovacs says.

The son of a poet and a glider-plane designer, Rubik studied architecture at Budapest University of Technology and sculpture and interior design at a college of applied art in the city.

Rubik still works on building projects and his firm had a hand in designing Siemens AG's Hungarian headquarters as well as the Nepliget bus station in Budapest, both glass-and-steel structures with large flat surfaces.

Easing Loneliness

He patented his cube after puzzling over a way to allow individual colored blocks to move on both axes without falling apart. The cube was born out of Rubik's interest in ``space alteration,'' according to his Web site.

The device, which first appeared in Budapest toy stores in 1977, has joined such items as the Biro ballpoint pen and safety matches that have their origins in Hungary.

``Everybody's proud that there is a genius Hungarian who invented it,'' says Budapest Mayor Gabor Demszky, who spent the 1980s organizing anti-communist protests and dodging secret police rather than solving the puzzle.

The cube's revival is owing to its simplicity, Koncz says. ``I can put it in my pocket and take it out anywhere, anytime. It eases the loneliness of a person in the crowd.''

Kuti, who can solve the classic cube in 11.75 seconds and is the world's best blindfolded spinner, first picked up a cube when he found one at his grandmother's house in January 2006. He turned to the Internet for a solution, found an online community of enthusiasts, and less than two years later will be twisting in all 17 different events at the world championships, which also include using the feet and various sized cubes.

Fast Hands

His current time to complete the standard 54-panelled cube is comparable with an Olympic sprinter over 100 meters. The prize for that event is 5,000 euros ($7,050), or a quarter of all the money distributed at the championships, according to organizers.

Kuti is one of about 300 ``cubers'' from 32 countries, including Brazil, Japan and the U.S., who will compete this weekend. He practices two to three hours a day, greasing and filing the mechanism inside his cube to increase speed.

``My hands are faster than my mind,'' he says, constantly glancing down at the colored patterns in his grip. ``As soon as I started playing with it, I knew I had to compete.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Balazs Penz in Budapest at bpenz@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 4, 2007 19:30 EDT