Someone call ESPN2, because we've found the next new hot nerd-sport craze -- the Exploratorium is hosting the 2006 International Rubik's Cube Competition this next Saturday! As the calendar announcement proudly states, "In past years, many world records have been set at such tournaments including the 3x3x3 cube single solve (11.75 seconds), the one-handed solve (23.76 seconds), and the blindfold solve (1:58:32)."
We're not entirely sure why the event lasts from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. if everyone's going to solve the cube blindfolded in less than two minutes, but they seem to have had fun last year. Anyone can enter the contest for the price of museum admission, but do note that you'll be going up against such cube luminaries as:
Jessica Fridrich, the creator of the most popular speed cubing system, the Fridrich Method; Lars Petrus, 4th-place finisher in the 1982 Rubik's Cube World Championships representing Sweden; Shotaro Makisumi, a 14-year-old freshman from Japan attending high school in Pasadena and number one in the world of the 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube, average solve at 14.52 seconds; and Tyson Mao, holder of the blind solve record at 1: 58:32.
We assume it's considered cheating to peel the stickers off and repaste them on the denuded squares in color order (which is our standard method of Rubik's Cube solving).
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i just clicked on the "this saturday!" link...the explo calendar says the competition is next sat. 1/14.
....oh man, I totally thought we were already in the second week of January! Man, I gotta stop drinking so much. Thanks for catching that; I'll correct the post.