Only 1% of the World’s population can solve a Rubik's cube, so if you’ve managed to do this, you’re already in the 99th percentile. But what to do then? You could enter a competition to see how good you are compared to your peers. That’s exactly what Mats Valk does (he’s a Rubik’s champion and formerly held the world record with a time of 4.74 seconds).
Mats explains more about the world of Rubik’s Cube competitions and how you can become a competitor.
Where can I find Rubik’s cube competitions?
Rubik’s cube competitions are held every weekend all over the world. The WCA World Championships are held biannually, and so are the European Championships. Euros 2024 will be held in Pamplona, Spain in July. The last World Championship was held in South Korea last year, and the next one will be held in Seattle in the US next year!
It is a big achievement to win these kinds of big competitions, but when you’re just starting, there are over thirty small competitions every weekend all around the world. These competitions are open to everyone; usually, between 50 and 150 people compete in these smaller competitions. The atmosphere is very relaxed and everyone is there to have a good time. Attending those smaller competitions helps to see how you perform compared to others. Maybe you’ll break some records or qualify for bigger competitions.
The WCA, short for World Cube Association, keeps track of all these records and has set some standards for competitions that should be followed worldwide in order to be officially recognized.
How does a Rubik’s cube competition work?
Comparing people by just a single time to determine the winner isn’t fair, as your times may vary. So, in a Rubik’s competition, everyone has to solve the Rubik’s cube five times. Your best and worst times are removed from your 5 attempts, and an average time is taken from the remaining three. So, you can get lucky once and make a mistake once without this impacting your average time. The average is what ranks you in the competition.
Usually, there are three or four rounds. In the first round, everyone competes and a fixed number of people go through to the next round. Between 10 and 16 people typically make it to the finals. In the final, everyone starts from zero again and here the winner is determined.
Scrambles - what are they?
The time it requires to solve a cube depends on the scrambled state of the cube. Some are easier and some are harder than others. To make it all fair, five random states are generated, as well as the moves that should be applied to a solved cube to get to that state. All competitors submit their cubes and the scrambles are applied to their cubes. This way, everyone gets the same five scrambles and everyone can exploit the easy situations that others have too.
Other Rubik’s cube events
Solving the classic Rubik’s cube as quickly as possible is the main event of every competition. For most people competing, that is the event you want to win and that person is usually considered the winner of the competition. The current world record is 3.13, set by Max Park from the United States.
However, there are lots of other events held at most competitions. For example, solving a Rubik’s cube one-handed with the fewest moves possible, or even blindfolded, where both the memorization time and execution time count towards the time noted. The current world record for solving a Rubik’s cube blindfolded is 12.00 seconds.
The Rubik’s cube is referred to as the 3x3x3 cube, as it has 3 pieces in each dimension. Other variations exist as well, for example, the easier 2x2x2 cube, but also the more difficult 4x4x4, 5x5x5, 6x6x6, and even 7x7x7 cube! A total of 18 events are recognized by the WCA, though most smaller competitions only hold a subset of these events.
Timers
The time it takes you to solve a Rubik's cube is recorded up to two decimal places. This means that accurate equipment is needed. During a competition, you get 15 seconds of inspection time. Before this time is over, you need to have started the timer, a so-called stackmat. It can be activated by placing both hands on the timer and it starts running after releasing your hands. Once you’ve solved the cube, you touch the timer again with both hands to stop it. When you’re starting and stopping your timer, you mustn’t be allowed to touch the cube so you can’t do any in-timed moves. You can imagine little time can be won by being able to start and stop the timer efficiently, which can be the difference between winning and losing.
Competitions are held almost every month in the Netherlands. If you are interested in either competing or just watching, have a look at kubuswedstrijden.nl for the latest information.