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Rubik's Cube World Championships

Posted by samzenpus on from the the-thrill-of-athletic-competition dept.

cadaeibfed writes "Coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the iconic puzzle's introduction to the world was the second Rubik's world championship, held in Orlando, FL this weekend. Competing under official World Cube Association rules, competitors from around the world vied for recognition in this nerd olympiad. Some new world records set include the 4x4 solve, solving using only feet, and blindfolded solving. The winner, Jean Pons of France, finished with an average solution time of 15.10 seconds on a standard 3x3 cube. Here are the full results."

3 of 202 comments (clear)

  1. Cube Theory = Group Theory by ankarbass · · Score: 5, Interesting

    While just solving the cube quickly may be interesting. I think it's far more interesting that the cube movements can be thought of elements of a subgroup of a very large permutation group, S48 to be precise. If you have some math background and like abstract things you might want to take a look at Adventures in Group Theory : Rubik's Cube, Merlin's Machine, and Other Mathematical Toys which, despite the title is a fairly serious little math book.

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  2. Friend of mine can do this by raoul666 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Young guy, mid teens. I first saw him do it at a poker tournament I was running. We were using the cube as the dealer button, so whenever it go to him, he'd start working on it. By the time the next hand had started, even if we hadn't even seen the flop, it'd be solved and back on the table. He was probably doing it in 35-45 seconds, but still, it was amazing to watch.

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  3. Fun with Rubik's Cube geeks... by Geeky · · Score: 5, Interesting

    1. Take cube apart.

    2. Put back together in random order so it can't be solved.

    3. Give to cube geek.

    4. Watch them sweat as their moves don't work.

    5. .. er, profit?

    Of course, these serious cubers would probably take one look at the cube and immediately tell you it had been tampered with.

    Sad news. I'm old enough to remember these when they first came out. I feel very, very old. Anyone remember Rubik's snake?

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