by Mitchell Hang

This story was updated on Nov. 22 at 10:10 AM.

Speedcubing returned to the Adele H. Stamp Student Union Saturday after almost two years without a competition Saturday. 200 speedcubers, including University of Maryland students, attended Slow N Steady Fall 2021 in the Grand Ballroom.

At the nine-hour event, competitors raced against each other to solve a Rubik’s Cube the fastest. The competition was sponsored by TheCubicle, an online store that specializes in selling speedcubes and other related items.

The last Slow N Steady competition was held at Stamp on Feb. 23, 2020. 

Keaton Ellis, a fourth year doctoral student in economics, helped organize this year’s event. 

“In addition to requiring every attendee to be vaccinated or provide proof of a negative COVID test, we are changing the logistics of the competition to require less people movement between competitors’ solves,” Ellis said. “This does constrain how quickly we move through rounds and so we limited the number of competitors to 200.”

Gaetan Almela, a sophomore computer science and math double major, has been speedcubing for about six years, starting in his freshman year of high school.

“[It’s] just like any competition I had attended before,” Almela said. “The atmosphere is really good at making you hyped about cubing, and for me it’s important to keep the flame going.” Almela, who is originally from France, said the pandemic was “bland” without competitions, so he was excited to get back to speedcubing.

Competitors could solve numerous different types of speedcubes, including the standard cube with three pieces on each side, a larger cube with six pieces on each side and a 12-sided puzzle known as the “Megaminx.” They could also solve the standard 3x3x3 cube one-handed or blindfolded.

Adam Gradess, a junior computer science and studio art double major, also helped to organize Slow N Steady Fall 2021.

“As more people find these competitions, it’s exciting to see how our competitions are written about, and how big of an audience we can reach,” Gradess said. “Specifically, when the Netflix documentary, ‘The Speed Cubers,’ came out, solving Rubik’s Cubes felt even more legitimate and recognized.”

The history of speedcubing goes back to 1982, when the first World Rubik’s Cube Championship was held in Budapest. Vietnamese-American Minh Thai set the first world record for solving a Rubik’s Cube in 22.95 seconds. Many competitors have since broken Thai’s record, thanks to faster solving techniques and newer speedcubes. 

The world record for solving a standard 3x3x3 Rubik’s Cube stands at 3.47 seconds. Yusheng Du of China set the record in November 2018.

For many competitors, it’s ultimately not about who got the fastest time, but rather the joys of having fun, making friends and self-improvement that come with speedcubing.

“At first [speedcubing] was just for fun and trying to get faster, now it’s more so for the social aspect,” Almela said. “I got into it because I thought it looked cool, but I kept doing it because it was fun and I made some good friends along the way.”

As speedcubers practice and compete, they learn to overcome difficulties and make friends — whether speedcubers or not. 

“Speedcubing was more about self-improvement… learning how to deal with failure and how to appreciate the small wins,” Gradess said. “To some extent, it has made me a more outgoing person.”

Ray Bai, a sophomore mathematics major at the University of Virginia, won the main 3x3x3 Cube event with an average time of 7.10 seconds. Christopher Sun came in second place with an average time of 7.49 seconds, and Carson Widjaja came in third with an average time of 7.59 seconds. Each of the winners received a certificate and gift cards to TheCubicle.

Featured image: A person solving a standard 3x3x3 Rubik’s Cube at Slow N Steady Fall 2021. Photo by Mitchell Hang.