Puzzle Masters: Rubik's Cubed

Hilary DubinStaff WriterWhat can you do in 19 seconds? Put your hair up? Tie your shoes? Sophomore Ben Gelfand can solve a Rubik’s cube.Sophomores Gelfand, Robert Kanjo and Nick Giannetti are the Rubik’s cube experts of Samo. Armed at most times with some variation of the colorful three-dimensional “twisty puzzle,” these sophomores have truly mastered the art of cubing.“I guess I like them because it’s a challenge against yourself to get better and faster,” Gelfand said. “It’s just fun.”Currently, the three boys are engaged in cubing with the goal of solving the puzzles as fast as possible, but it wasn’t always about speed.“When I first got one, it was about learning to solve it, and it wasn’t until last year that I really practiced and got faster,” Gelfand said.According to Kanjo, Gelfand was the first of the group to get into the hobby, and the other two later caught on.“I got into cubes because in fourth grade my friend gave me one for my birthday, and I promised her I would be able to solve it by my next birthday, which I was [able to do],” Gelfand said.By the time they were in eighth grade, Kanjo wanted in. Giannetti did not learn until last year, which was when the boys started to get more serious about the hobby. According to Kanjo, the trio attends competitions at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) about three times a year. The competitions are held in a recreational room on campus and organized by a Caltech student.“The competitions are really fun. It’s also nice because we work with the coolest people there,” Kanjo said.According to Giannetti, at the competitions, the boys compete against other cubers to see who can complete puzzles the fastest. Though up to 50 people are present at one competition, each match is between only three to four people. Giannetti said that some of the most intense cubers compete blindfolded; before solving, they are given 15 minutes to look at the cube, and then they must solve it from memory.Gelfand, Giannetti and Kanjo do not compete blindfolded, but Samo sophomore Tyler Hakomori was at one point one of the best blindfolded cubers in the nation. Though Hakomori is no longer entranced by the thrill of cubing, he competed in blindfolded cubing when he was in middle school. Hakomori said that in 2009 he competed in one competition in San Diego and ended up getting second place, which landed him the ranking of 33rd best blindfolded cuber in the nation and 259th in the world.“[Cubing blindfolded] takes more concentration,” Hakomori said. “When you’re just doing a regular Rubik’s cube it gets kind of monotonous, but when you do it blindfolded you really have to engage.”For both the blindfolded and regular competitions, time is measured using a timer that starts when one’s hands are removed from it, and stops when touched again. According to Kanjo, the boys bought one of these timers last year so that they could practice timing themselves more accurately.Last year, when the boys’ interest in cubing reached its peak, they would bring their cubes to school and even practice during class, yet Giannetti says it did not detract from their schoolwork.“We did it instead of twiddling our thumbs because it’s more of a thing that you can do without thinking about it, once you’ve done it enough,” Giannetti said.According to Kanjo, this would sometimes cause frustration with their teachers, so the boys don’t bring their cubes to class with them as much as they did last year. Kanjo said math teacher Pat Dunn was one teacher who was particularly bothered by the presence of Rubik’s cubes in class.“While it’s an impressive skill and something that’s a fine way to spend your leisurely time, it’s not something that should interfere with the things that students are supposed to be doing in the classroom,” Dunn, who had all three of the boys, said. “But when I asked them to put it away, they were cooperative.”Language Department Chair and Spanish teacher Heather Wethern also taught two of the three boys, and would often see cubes during her lessons.“It seemed like they would always have Rubik’s cubes in class. Multiple Rubik’s cubes,” Wethern said, “I would take one away and then another one would appear.”Though Rubik’s cubes have no place in class during lectures, they do have some mathematical value.“It is problem solving, so any kind of thinking like that could be deduced to the real skills that are the basis of math,” Dunn said.Once a person knows how to solve a cube, there is little mathematical reasoning necessary to gain speed, but originally figuring out how to solve the puzzle takes some skill.“For the method, it’s pretty much knowing which algorithm (set of moves) to do at the right time,” Gelfand said, “I know about 50 different algorithms that I use interchangeably.”According to Giannetti, the basis behind each algorithm is to get a certain piece of the cube to a certain place. For example, if you know that there is a red square that needs to be in a specific spot on a different side of the cube, there is an algorithm that you could use to get that piece to where you want it.According to Kanjo, Gelfand can solve a multitude of shapes besides cubes and can even come up with his own algorithms. Gelfand’s collection of “twisty puzzles” is quite extensive, full of a variety of shapes and colors, and he can solve almost all of them.“I have just over 100 twisty puzzles ranging from 2 by 2’s to 9 by 9’s and then puzzles that are 12 sided as well as pyramid shaped and many, many others,” Gelfand said.Whether you can solve one hundred puzzles or just the original cube, Giannetti believes that cubing is a fairly social hobby and a great icebreaker.“You meet a lot of people through it; you would be surprised how many people, when they see you holding some crazy puzzle, would come up and ask you what that is and if its even possible to solve. That’s pretty fun,” Giannetti said.Not only does cubing have social benefits, but also it often promotes qualities that can be used in other aspects of life.“Things become easier to problem solve because you know that there’s a way to do it,” Giannetti said. “Cubing has sort of given me a new outlook on everything.”hdubin@thesamohi.com