Teenager Stuns Fellow Geeks By Solving Rubik's Cube In Record 5.25 Seconds
It's time for a confession -- I've never solved a Rubik's Cube, at least not without cheating (peeling off the stickers and rearranging them is surely against the rules). I never will, and I'm okay with that. But I can appreciate that others have solved the maddening cube of half a dozen solid colors, though none faster than Colin Burns, a teenager who thrilled a crowd of onlookers over the weekend at Central Bucks West High School in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
It took Colins a mere 5.253 seconds to solve Rubik's 3x3x3 contraption, besting the previous record held by Mats Valk from the Netherlands, who accomplished the same feat in 5.55 seconds. Colins is one of only eight people to have correctly lined up the scrambled colors in less than 10 seconds during an official competition, according to a website that keeps track of such things.
"Although this result has not been uploaded to the WCA database just yet, we can confirm that this is (or will be soon) the new official WCA world record for the 3x3x3 single solve category. To our best knowledge, it has been performed in an official competition, with all the rules being followed, even the scramble has been checked for its correctness," a WCA representative told Mashable.
Here's the video of the feat, just be warned that the ensuing celebration is quite boisterous, so you may want to turn down the volume on your speakers or headphones. Or up, if you feel like making a raucous and scaring the pets (or co-workers).
It took Colins a mere 5.253 seconds to solve Rubik's 3x3x3 contraption, besting the previous record held by Mats Valk from the Netherlands, who accomplished the same feat in 5.55 seconds. Colins is one of only eight people to have correctly lined up the scrambled colors in less than 10 seconds during an official competition, according to a website that keeps track of such things.
The website hasn't been updated yet, but Colins can rest assured knowing that he's the new record holder.
Here's the video of the feat, just be warned that the ensuing celebration is quite boisterous, so you may want to turn down the volume on your speakers or headphones. Or up, if you feel like making a raucous and scaring the pets (or co-workers).
The Rubik's Cube was invented in 1974, long before Colins was born. It was originally called the Magic Cube before being licensed to Rubik. A popular puzzle in the 1980s, it consists of six faces covered by nine stickers in white, red, blue, orange, green, and yellow. The object is to return each face to a single color -- no easy task considering there are over 43 quintillion combinations.
