Cuthberts Open 2013

There was a fantastic turn out at the Hatfield Galleria last weekend for the Cuthberts Open 2013 - the first time that the Galleria has hosted a speed cubing competition and it was an event that caught everyone's attention. Cuthberts were proud to be the official sponsors and thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone get into the Rubik's cube spirit.

People of all ages were amazed by the speed that these cubers work at, and it was great to see so much enthusiasm for a cube which started life as a simple children's toy. Judging by the number of cubes we sold over the weekend it looks like the event may well have inspired quite a few people to have a go themselves.

The competition itself was fast and furious - when you compare how long it takes you to solve a cube at home (if indeed you can!) and then look at the speed which these cubers work there often is no real comparison. In some cases, blink at the wrong time and you would have missed quite a bit of action.

Full results from the competition are available on the World Cube Association website. It's worth concentrating on the figures though. The best time logged over the weekend for solving a standard 3x3 Rubik's Cube was 6.58 seconds (by world number 3 Alexander Lau). 6.58 seconds! That's mind bogglingly fast. Even the winner of solving one of these blindfolded managed it in 43.98 seconds (the UK's Oliver Frost) I'm yet to manage to solve the 2x2 cube that I was given as part of my research for writing this article - yet the Cuthberts Open saw someone solve it in 1.67 seconds. I'm left wondering if I've been given a trick one that's impossible to solve!

As if the mental ability to solve these cubes isn't enough the manual dexterity required is also very impressive. Cuthberts caught up with world number three Alexander Lau and watched him solve a standard 3x3 Rubik's cube. Just watch how fast his hands move!

Many thanks to everyone that was involved in making the Cuthberts Open 2013 such a success - organisers, competitors and supporters. We very much hope that the cubing world will return to the Hatfield Galleria soon. If you missed all the action and are inspired to have a go yourself head down to one of our stores as all three will be stocking a range of cubes.

Introducing the Cuthberts Open 2013

How many of you have tried to solve a Rubik's Cube? The iconic 3x3 cube has had people scratching their heads since it's invention in 1974, but for some people just solving it isn't enough. They instead start trying to see how quickly they can solve it. Start trying to solve 2x2, 4x4, 5x5, 6x6 and even 7x7 cubes. Even start trying to solve the standard 3x3 cube with just one hand, or blind-folded, or with their feet. Welcome to the crazy world of speedcubing!

Cuthberts is delighted to announce that you'll soon be able to see all this for yourself as speedcubing is coming to the Hatfield Galleria for the Cuthberts Open 2013. On the 5 and 6 October 2013 the Galleria will be hosting this two day competition for speedcubers from around the world. Competitors are already registered from Belgium, China, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Poland and South Africa, as well as some home-grown cubing talent from the United Kingdom. If you or your children want to see how it's done then come on down and join us.

Russia hosted a winter open earlier this year and this video should give you a good feel for the excitement of speedcubing.



The full schedule of events in the Cuthberts Open 2013 is available here and the competition will be taking place on the upper level of the Galleria. The competition is organised by the UK Cube Association (UKCA) who in turn are part of the World Cube Association. If there's anything you ever wanted or needed to know about Rubik's Cubes then these are the people to talk to!

If you come along and are inspired to have a go yourself then the Cuthberts store in the Galleria will have a full range of Rubik's products for you to take home to try.