CWU students strut stuff at Rubik’s Cube tournament
A Central Washington University math major took first place in two puzzle-solving events at the Sleepless in Seattle 24-hour Rubik’s Cube Tournament in February.
COURTESY PHOTO/CENTRAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
ELLENSBURG — Two Central Washington University students made a good showing at the Sleepless in Seattle 24-hour Rubik’s Cube Tournament last month, according to a statement from the university.
CWU mathematics major Ethan Davis won two events at the Feb. 18-19 competition in Everett, including 3x3x3 Multi-Blind, where competitors memorize several cubes, put on a blindfold and try to solve them all without looking, the statement said. Davis also won in an event called Megaminx, in which he solved his puzzle in less than 30 seconds, putting him among the top 10 competitors in the history of the event, the university said.
Meanwhile, according to the statement, CWU mechanical engineering major Eli Kirk solved a Rubik’s Cube in less than nine seconds and took third place in an event called “Skewb,” in which competitors try to solve a skewed cube.
The World Cube Association (WCA) governs competitions like Sleepless in Seattle for mechanical puzzles commonly known as “twisty puzzles,” the statement said. The most famous of these puzzles is the Rubik’s Cube, invented in 1974 by Hungarian professor Ernő Rubik. Every year, the WCA selects an assortment of puzzles as its official events.