Andrea Nguyen (9) slammed her hands on the table in triumph as she finished her main event, solving a 3×3 Rubik’s cube blindfolded in 31 seconds, earning her fourth place overall at the West Coast Cubing Western Championships on May 25th. Ending the competition by beating the woman’s Canadian record for the fastest time a 3×3 cube was solved blindfolded.
Nguyen said she was happy to hit her goal of keeping her average; even though she had to spend more time on some of her solves than she normally would have.
“I definitely met my goal because I average around 35 [seconds], and I was very, very happy to get the 37 [second time]. But then the 31 [second time was] just great in finals.”
Nguyen attends competitions to build connections with other people in the cubing community and to try and push herself to beat her previous personal bests. She had been practicing certain algorithms months in advance to prepare herself for the competition.
“[Cubing] competitions are very fun because all your cubing besties are there and you can just talk to them,” Nguyen said. “It’s actually really nice to be able to hang out with them because usually in day-to-day life, you [don’t find many people who cube, so] no one knows what I’m talking about when I say cubing-related key words.”
During the competition, Nguyen explained the new system that was implemented and how it affected her performance.
“The thing is I was really worried because they just changed the format. So instead of getting 3 solves to get a time, you get like 5 solves. So, some people, DNF is not finished, so they’ll DNF every single one of their solves. Even if you’re a really fast solver you won’t make it to finals because you messed up all your solves. I was kind of worried about that happening because I know if I just get a result, even if it’s a bad time for me, it’ll make finals. But then when I got the 37 [second time], that’s why I was really happy and relieved, more so than the 31 [second time].”
Nguyen said that practicing for competitions can be relaxing now that she is familiar with some of the patterns that make it easier for her to visualize a strategy for solving the cube.
“It’s very relaxing, even though it feels like you’re timing yourself and it can seem stressful,” Nguyen said. “It just feels zen and sometimes you can listen to music and it just feels super relaxing. Then [there’s] also the amount of dopamine that you get when you get a super fast time; [that] is pretty motivating. The thing is that some people are like, ‘Oh, but it takes so much great energy to solve cubes for an hour.’ But a bunch of people that I teach [say], ‘It doesn’t take too much brain energy when you’re used to it.’ Because it’s just recognizing patterns, and once you get used to it, it’s not so bad.”
Before Nguyen attended the competition, she said she felt confident in her ability to beat the record.
“No one does 3×3 blindfolded. A lot of people assume that it’s a lot harder than it is, but it just takes a long time to learn. It’s not actually impossible, just very time-consuming. The female record for Canada is 1 minute and 14 seconds, which is like, ‘Wow, how do you [solve] it in 1 minute and 14 seconds?’ But compared to the world record, of 11 seconds, that’s extremely doable. I can definitely beat that [because] I average 35 seconds.”
Nguyen encourages her friends and classmates to cube with her to build a community around cubing. By encouraging her peers, she brings them into the cubing community and shares her love of cubing with them.
“It feels very good to have taught people cubing, but sometimes they’re like, ‘Oh, I don’t think I can solve it, I’m not smart enough for that,’” Nguyen said. “And then when they solve it, it’s a really good feeling of accomplishment. Cubing has also helped me get my community because whenever you meet someone who cubes, it’s a lot easier to talk with them. I also have a lot of friends who come to cubing competitions. So whenever you go to competitions, it just feels like you’re surrounded by people you really know.”
