INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — A hotel banquet room full of teenagers working to solve Rubik’s Cubes must be the sound brain synapses make when they’re firing.
About 165 kids from a dozen states traveled to Independence, Missouri on June 2 through 4 for the Cubing USA Heartland Championship. The event featured Rubik’s Cubes of all shapes and sizes.
Jose Ortiz Jr. of Oklahoma explained why he was there.
“It gets me out of the house, once in a while,” he said, “because I’m relatively introverted.”
A reporter asked Ortiz what is the best time he has ever recorded.
“Five-point-eight,” he said, confidently. Then he quickly corrected himself.
“Five-point-seven?” he said, looking at his friends sitting at the same table. “Five-point-seven.”
That’s a measure of seconds. Some of these kids solve Rubik’s Cubes in less than six seconds.
Anthony Irizarry is no kid. The twenty-something has been around the Rubik’s cube block a few times.
“This is my 84th competition,” said Irizarry.
A reporter asked him what is considered a good time.
“Anything under 12 seconds is pretty good,” he said. “I wish I had that.”
A reporter said he was surprised Irizarry had never recorded a time under 12 seconds, given his years of experience.
“I have a 6.95, but it’s single, not average. These people are averaging 6 seconds.”
Allison Herndon, of Troy, Illinois, attended with her son.
“He’s doing well,” she said. “We’re waiting right now to see If he’s going to advance on the 3 x 3 cube competition. That was his goal, this time.
Columbia, Missouri, resident Neil Brothers said he believes Rubik’s Cubes are educational.
“Yeah, I think it’s a good game to learn,” said Brothers, “because you learn math skills and also computer science algorithms.”
Rubik’s Cubes first became popular more than 40 years ago. Jacob Fees, a 13-year-old from Brentwood, said the key is figuring out the algorithms. A reporter asked Jacob how many Rubik’s Cubes his family owns.
“A two by two, a three by three, a four by four, Kilominx, Square One, Pyraminx and Skewb,” said Fees.
World Cube Association delegate and regional organizer Dan Smith said diligent record-keeping and standards of high integrity are necessary at these events if the organization ever needs to make its case to the Guinness Book of World Records.
“If we have a world record here,” said Smith, “we want the Guinness folks to recognize that, and I’ve been part of world records before.”
Little did he know, Smith would be part of documenting a world record, again. Later, Ryan Pilat, 15, of Texas, broke the record for the Square One puzzle, with a time of 3.73 seconds. Organizers said the previous record was 3.87 seconds.
Organizers said similar Rubik’s Cube competitions have taken place in 113 countries.