It all began last August when Henry innocently bought a 2x2 Rubik's Cube at our local toy shop. It was, of course, only a matter of a few moments before it was scrambled. Like most of us, he thought, "how hard can it be to solve this, right?" Wrong. It ended with a lot of tears and frustration. So, we went online and started researching 'how to solve a Rubik's Cube'. It wasn't long before we were familiar with terms like "algorithms" and "back inverted" and within a few days Henry could fully solve his 2x2. We moved on to the 3x3, then The Void, the Pyraminx and finally the Mirror Cube (scary hard!). Long story short, this is how the Rubik's Cube has slowly taken over our lives. Kidding, kidding.....kinda.
In January we attended a Rubik's Competition in Houston. Henry competed against 65 boys (only 1 girl!), ages 8-adult (It felt like quite the boys club). He competed in the 2x2, 3x3 and Pyraminx. We're pretty proud of him - it was a big deal to go up on stage in front of so many people (although other people were up on stage at the same time) and be timed for a Rubik's solve. I'm sure I couldn't do it!
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| People came from all around the WORLD for this competition. Those guys in the background had flown in from China. What! |
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| All the older guys you see in the black jackets are on the USA Rubik's Cube National Team. When did that become a thing? |
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| practice practice practice |
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| Havalah was one of many, many supportive sisters, and has since become quite the little 2x2 solver herself! |
If you watch the videos, you'll see that the boys have a few seconds to pick up the cube and examine it before the timer starts.
Watch for Henry's expression at the end of this one. Priceless.
We were stunned to find out that the world record time for solving the 3x3 is five seconds!! Not to mention there is a blindfold solve in under 20 seconds. I mean.
Henry's average stats at present: about 55 seconds for the 3x3, fifteen seconds for the 2x2 and fifteen seconds for the Pyraminx. He wants me to mention that his best times are: 3x3 - thirty-nine seconds; 2x2 - six seconds and Pyraminx - six seconds. He'll keep practicing for next year's competition, hoping to shave a few seconds off his average time in each category and hopefully become proficient in the 4x4. In the meantime the Rubik's Cube will continue to come everywhere with us. ;)
***Thank you Hilary for telling us about Rubik's Cube competitions! Henry will be forever grateful!
***Thank you Hilary for telling us about Rubik's Cube competitions! Henry will be forever grateful!
3 comments:
How cool!! I am impressed because I have never been good at doing these :) Henry is so good; I loved seeing the videos of him in action. It seemed like a competitive environment. I had no idea there were rubik's cube competitions. Good luck preparing for next year!!
With times like that, I knew his hands would have to move quickly, but I couldn't actually picture it. My goodness, those hands are fast, Henry...wow! ~Hilary
This is possibly one of the cutest/coolest things I've ever seen!
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