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Events | News | StudentsMarch 14, 2025

Calling All (Rubik's) Cubers

Written By: Ian Silvester

Click, swirl, twist, repeat. Solve the white cross and corners, then the yellow. 

Though many can鈥檛 achieve the feat, for those who are able to solve a Rubik鈥檚 cube, speed is the name of the game.

At the University of Arkansas 鈥� Fort Smith, Michael Lander, a sophomore music history major, pulls a speed cube鈥攁 Rubik鈥檚 cube with miniature magnets separating tiles for a frictionless turn鈥攆rom his pocket. He spins it, mixing up the colored squares before setting it down on the table before him. A moment later, Michael picks his cube back up, and with a few rapid flicks of the wrist, it is solved in under a minute.

That鈥檚 fast, but his personal best is an incredible 6.73 seconds. The current  is more than twice as fast, at 3.08 seconds.

For anyone who knows Michael, cubing has been a way of life for years. He recounts watching his brother play with a two-by-two (a smaller version of the Rubik鈥檚 Cube) in 2017.

鈥淗e learned how to solve it, so I thought, 鈥榃ell, if he can do it, I should be able to do it too.鈥� So, I did,鈥� Michael laughed.

By the following spring break, Michael鈥檚 mom saw how much he and his brother enjoyed solving and asked them if they wanted to try competing.

Since his first competition in 2018, Michael has attended nearly 50 across the country. At one point, he even achieved the rank of 309^th best cuber in the world. Over the years, he also became a delegate for the  and now splits his time between competing on his own and organizing and planning other competitions.

鈥淭here鈥檚 nobody else that does it here. I want this community to keep flourishing. When I first started [competing] in 2018, there was a total of like nine Oklahoma competitions ever. Last year alone, we had 10 Oklahoma competitions!鈥� 

Memorizing the more than 43 quintillion combinations has been helpful as he learns to navigate college life, too. 

鈥淐ubing is a very good study break,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ut it鈥檚 the memory retention, too. It鈥檚 learning an algorithm completely different from anything you鈥檝e learned before and then putting it into practice. Cubing has helped me learn better ways to study.鈥� 

As Michael nears the end of his first semester at 妻友社区, he said he is excited to bring the cubing community to campus and continue his competitions. The next one is next week, in fact.

鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be the first-ever Arkansas championship for speed cubing!鈥� he said.

Newcomers to advanced cubers are welcome to the competition, which starts at 8 a.m. on March 29-30 at the Fort Smith Convention Center. More information is available at: .

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