Oh, you’ve tried to solve Rubik’s Cube. Who hasn’t? Though for many, the result is the desire to sledgehammer the puzzle and watch cube shrapnel spray everywhere, Chris Krueger, a 19-year-old from Aurora, solves it all the time. While blindfolded.
In fact, the University of Southern California junior, who is majoring in biology and Chinese, recently set the world record for blindfolded Rubik’s Cubing: 1 minute, 15.6 seconds. The trick, he reports, is to memorize the scrambled patterns on the cube before the blindfold goes on.
We chatted with Krueger before he took off to Washington, D.C., for the summer to coach high school students on the USA Biology Olympiad team. This fall, he’s headed to Beijing, China, where he will spend the year studying Chinese. And playing Rubik’s Cube.
When did you start messing with Rubik’s Cubes? When I first went to (USC) in September of 2005. I picked it up from a friend. It took me three months to solve it the first time. In March of 2006 I started solving it blindfolded. There are lots of people who do it blindfolded. Most of the U.S. competitors are centered around Cal-Tech.
For your first solve, did you refer to any books, or did you figure it out by yourself? I’m stubborn. So I went about it on my own. I solved it a few times on my own, then I went to other people and found more efficient methods. I wanted to be able to say I’d done it on my own once.
When did you start competing? My first competition was in May of 2006. I helped run things at the competition, at first, because I didn’t think I was any good. I still don’t think I’m any good. I only do the blindfolded competitions, not the speed solves. There’s also one-handed events, and different sized cubes.
What do you like about Rubik’s Cube? It’s a good way to pass time that’s more active than just sitting and watching TV. You are actually doing something. It improves pattern recognition, dexterity, eye-hand coordination. And it’s a lot of fun. And the competitions are a lot of fun.
Now that you can do it blindfolded, do you think Rubik’s Cube is easy? It’s definitely not easy. I still consider myself a beginner, in terms of speed solve. I’m still using a very basic solution. If I wanted to get those 11-second times – the world record for one style of speed solve is 11.76 seconds – there’s lots more for me to learn.
How often do you practice? Rather infrequently. It’s sporadic. I’ll not practice much and there will be a competition coming up, and I’ll practice a lot before the competition. Then it trails off. If I know I’ll have some down time, like at an airport, I’ll bring one with me. But I don’t spend hours practicing. Some people do that.
Do you have a favorite cube? I just have the one I started with. It’s starting to get worn out, though. I probably need to get a new one.
Is there ever anything new in Rubik’s Cube world? There’s one company that everybody is really interested in, that has figured out how to produce larger-order cubes. They can do six and seven (rows across of squares – the current standard is three squares across, but some cubes have up to five squares across), and everyone in the community is excited about when they will start mass-producing those. They say they can go all the way up to 11.
What else do you do for fun? Videogames. Computer games. Academic competitions.
Any idea what you’ll do after college? I have no idea. I’ll find out when I get there.
Do you get blisters doing Rubik’s Cube? I don’t. I’ve never heard of anyone who has.
