Rubik's Cube Competition

by Tarun C.

Disclaimer: This Article Was Written In The Rubik Font. 

The cubes were clicking and clacking until bang! -someone finished their solve. Applause filled the Lykes as more and more people finished solving their cubes. After the teachers tallied the scores, Mrs. Ellinor approached the podium. “And the winner is … Rowan C.!” This was Berkeley’s (First-Ever) Annual Rubik’s Cube Competition.

As many of you know, the Rubik's Cube is a 6 sided logic puzzle with 8 corner pieces (three colors), 12 edge pieces (two colors), and 6 centerpieces (one color). However, very few of the Middle Division students actually know how to solve the cube, but the few that do formed the Rubik’s Cube Club. Sponsored by Mrs. Ellinor, the Rubik’s Cube Club, which meets on Mondays during lunch in m106, provides camaraderie for cubers and promotes learning how to solve the Rubik’s Cube. 

Recently, the Rubik’s Cube Club hosted the First Annual Berkeley Preparatory Middle Division Rubik’s Cube Competition. Competitors had to solve the cube three times. Afterward, their worst time was dropped, and the average of the two other solves was their score. Rowan C. ‘26 and Oliver H. ‘27, were two of the founders of the club when they were in sixth grade and are widely known in the Middle Division to be the fastest solvers. Rowan won against Oliver by around 3 seconds, earning fifty points for Cope and a Chick-Fil-A lunch “cubed”. The overall results were as follows: Rowan C ‘26 26.0535, Oliver H ‘27 29.6445, Megan J ‘28  52.2425, Ryan R ‘28 56.217, Lilah S ‘28 around 58, Krish K ‘28 1:07.827, Kai G ‘27 1:24.715, and Rahul R ‘28 with an unconfirmed time. The scramblers were Eshaan S ‘28, Mason K ‘28, Ethan D ‘28, Aidan P ‘28, Olivier C, ‘28, Lily G ‘28, Neel K ‘28, and Saharsh R ’28.

But how do people actually solve the Rubik’s cube? According to the winner, Rowan, “The main way I learned was by watching youtube tutorials and by just practicing it a lot.” The first method most cubers learn is the “J Perm Beginner's Method”. Although it may take time to learn, according to Rowan, “Stick with it, because learning the cube won't be instant; it might take a week to learn everything you need to know to solve it.” 

Although you may not be fast, keep in mind that you are trying to do something that other people can’t. Once you learn to solve the cube, it’s time to start timing yourself. According to our current champion, it’s okay if your first time is horrible, as Rowan’s first time was around 9 minutes. From whatever time you start with, you get PB (personal best) after PB, and you feel great because only you caused the personal best to happen. Your times will get shorter and shorter as you get faster and faster. 

After improving your times to about 2 minutes, it’s time to start learning advanced methods. The most popular one is CFOP but there are other methods like Roux and ZZ. Look up tutorials to learn them, and soon enough, you will get sub-minute times. It will take time, however, as Rowan started in 5th grade to get where he is now. According to Rowan, “I use advanced CFOP to solve the cube. I might learn some ZZLL but mostly nothing else. I believe that anyone can solve the Rubik's cube if they put in the time and dedication to learn it.”

After getting really good at the 3x3, it’s time to start learning other WCA (World Cubing Association) Events, so you can compete in competitions. These are the events: 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, 6x6, 7x7, Rubik’s Clock, Skewb, Pyraminx, Square One, and the Megaminx. Let the cubing journey begin! 

The Spring competition was also a Cope and Mitre event, where Rowan C. '26 graciously offered to be on a relay team, so others may have a chance to win.  Besides the 3 x 3 relay, students could enter the 2 x 2 and the Pyraminx. For Mitre, Lilah S. '28 won the Pyraminx with an average time of 13.14. In the 2 x 2 competition, Ryan R. '28 won for Cope with an average time of 7.8. 

In the 2 x 2 with an average time of 7.8, Ryan R. took it for Cope!

In the 3 x 3 relay, two teams competed for Cope and two teams competed for Mitre. While only the fastest team overall qualified for the prize, the teams were combined to qualify for the prize.

The relay team with the overall fastest time was the Mitre team of Saharsh, Aidan, and Tunner with a time of 2 minutes 2.4 seconds.

In second place overall was the Cope team of Neel, Emmy, and Rowan with a time of 2 minutes, 4. 3 seconds.

The overall relay winner, with a total time of 4 minutes 20.6 seconds, was Mitre! We will learn if this impacted the final Cope and Mitre results for the whole year on Honors Night!