The weekend-long event will feature mind-boggling competition ranging from speed and blindfolded cubing, to one-handed and foot-cubing, as well as a spectacular three-hour finale featuring super-human feats of cubing. New world records will be set by contestants competing in three age groups: 18 and under; 19 to 39; and 40 and over. Winners from each group will advance to the Final for a shot at the title, RUBIK'S CUBE World Champion.

Approximately 45 competitors will represent the United States at the championship. Top competitors include 14-year old Andy Camann of Newton, Massachusetts; 24-year old Dan Knights of San Francisco, California; 19-year old Chris Hardwick of Raleigh, North Carolina and 51-year old Jim Mittan of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Forty-three Quintillion Configurations

The RUBIK'S CUBE was invented in 1974 by Erno Rubik, a professor at the Hungarian Academy of Crafts and Design in Budapest. His original intent was to create a cube with parts that could move around a center axis. He painted each side a different color for demonstration purposes, and accidentally stumbled upon the puzzle we now know and love as the RUBIK'S CUBE.

RUBIK'S CUBE appears fairly simple to solve, but it hides an astonishing forty-three quintillion (43,252,003,274,489,856,000) different configurations! The fewest number of moves it takes to solve a completely scrambled cube is 22, by some calculations.

Just solving the RUBIK'S CUBE is a challenge, but solving it in seconds is a real feat. Currently, The Guinness Book of World Records 2003 names American Minh Thai as the world's fastest cuber at 22.95 seconds. No doubt new records will be set in Toronto by competitors said to master the cube in under 17 seconds.

The RUBIK'S CUBE: Classic Fun and Games

RUBIK'S CUBE launched in the United States in 1980. Since that time it has reached pop icon status and continues today to puzzle and delight children of all ages. Each of its six faces is a different color, and each face is divided into nine squares. With a few random twists, the faces become varied mixes of red, yellow, orange, white, green and blue squares. The object is to restore the cube to its original state, with each face again a single color. The RUBIK'S CUBE is for ages 8 and up and is available at all major toy and game retailers in the U.S. for an approximate retail price of $9.99. For more information please visit www.rubiks.com.

About Hasbro

Hasbro Games manufactures and markets games and puzzles under the brand names Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers. Included in its product line are some of the world's best-known games and puzzles including: CANDY LAND, the MONOPOLY game, SCRABBLE Brand Crossword Game, YAHTZEE, TWISTER, THE GAME OF LIFE, TRIVIAL PURSUIT and BIG BEN Puzzles. The company also markets its games in three focused initiatives: MY FIRST GAMES (pre-school games), FAMILY GAME NIGHT (family games) and GET TOGETHER GAMES (adult games).

Hasbro (NYSE:HAS) is a worldwide leader in children's and family leisure time entertainment products and services, including the design, manufacture and marketing of games and toys ranging from traditional to high-tech. Both internationally and in the U.S., its PLAYSKOOL, TONKA, MILTON BRADLEY, PARKER BROTHERS, TIGER and WIZARDS OF THE COAST brands and products provide the highest quality and most recognizable play experiences in the world.

(C)2003 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.

SCRABBLE is a trademark of HASBRO in the U.S. and Canada.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT is the registered trademark of Horn Abbot Ltd. for the games distributed under exclusive license to Hasbro, Inc.

RUBIK's Cube (R)is a registered trademark of Seven Towns