Rubik's Cube makes comeback


TEMECULA —— The '80s are alive and well at Temecula Valley High School. Some fads are sure to fade into obscurity: think tight-rolled jeans and hairspray liberally applied to six-inch tall bangs. Plastic jelly bracelets had their 15 minutes.

But solving the Rubik's Cube, a trend that swept the nation, and the world, in the '80s, has made a comeback, thanks partly to the Internet. Three students at Temecula Valley High School —— who were born about 10 years after the cube made its first appearance in North America —— are convinced the multicolored puzzle has a place in modern times.

For Ryan Patricio, 15, Landon Guntman and Martin Singson, both 16, solving the Rubik's Cube isn't a fad, it's a sport. It's called "speedcubing," and people earn world record honors —— including Ryan, for solving it in the fastest time.

Ryan is the new world record holder in the one-handed cubing event, where the scores —— tracked by an actual worldwide association —— from three solves are averaged together. His score? Thirty-one seconds. He also finished third in the regular two-handed solve with an agonizingly slow time of 16 seconds.

Patricio traveled to Pasadena April 16 to participate in a tournament at CalTech, and blew the minds of everyone there, said Temecula Valley math teacher Bill McGaugh, who also is a speedcuber.

For people who never solved the puzzle at all, let alone in less than five minutes, it's hard to imagine how fingers could fly that fast. Patricio is happy to oblige with a demonstration.

The three students have been solving the Rubik's Cube for about a year or two, having picked up the puzzle through parents, stores or friends, they said.

Landon and Martin started with the cube first, about two years ago, and Ryan has been solving the puzzle for about 10 months now.

"I remembered seeing (the cube) when I was younger and thinking 'oh, that's a Rubik's Cube —— those are impossible,'" Landon said. He now solves the puzzle with ease.

The students carry the cubes as if they're extensions of their arms, continuously solving them as they speak.

Although Hungarian professor Erno Rubik may not have envisioned a World Cubing Association coming together when he invented the cube for his architecture students, a WCA there is, and it's active. Speedcubers consider solving the cube a sport, and they take it seriously. They communicate with each other via e-mail, and talk method, memorization, touch and technique.

Ryan practices up to two hours a day, and as long as he can on the weekends. He memorizes new algorithms —— for the math challenged, that's a step-by-step problem-solving procedure —— or moves, that help him shave seconds off his time.

He ascribes to the Fridrich method of cube solving, developed by Jessica Fridrich. Ryan takes care of his cube. He takes it apart often to clean it and grease it with silicone lubricant, allowing the panels of individual cubes to glide more smoothly.

The benefits of the sport are manifold, Ryan said: meeting people from around the world in tournaments, doing something few others can do, and with flair. He recently wowed the student body at Temecula Valley with a demonstration of his one-handed cubing skills at an assembly.


