Most of us grew up solving simple jigsaw puzzles, but two SES freshmen – Greyson Pembleton and Matthew Redden – have taken an interest in a much more complicated puzzle, a Rubik’s cube. 

The fastest that Redden has been able to solve a Rubik’s cube is 22 seconds. Pembleton’s best is only two seconds behind at 24 seconds. The world record for solving the standard Rubik’s cube is 4.22 seconds, but there are also many other types of cube puzzles.

While only 5.8% of the world’s population can solve a Rubik’s cube, both Pembleton and Redden area able to solve around 15 different types of Rubik’s cubes. 

Redden said that a friend sparked his interest in cubes. 

“I started out on a 3bx3, and I’m pretty sure that it took me a whole day just to memorize the algorithm,” he said. “I wrote everything down in a notebook and tried to memorize it at the end of the day.”

Pembleton took a different approach to learning. He watched Youtube videos over and over again for a whole day to be able to get it down. 

“The time flew by while I was learning,” Pembleton said. “I wasn’t trying to spend eight hours on it, but it was just something that I found really interesting.”

“I’ve been [solving Rubik’s cubes] for about three years now,” said Redden. He’s been to several tournaments where there have been over 100 competitors throughout those three years.

Pembleton has been solving Rubik’s cubes for around five years now. He showed his talent at the 6th grade showcase and also competed at two WCA (World Cube Association) tournaments, one in Kansas City and the other in Oklahoma.

“Anyone can solve a Rubik’s cube if they’re determined to,” Pembleton said.

Redden agreed that determination is key to solving the puzzle.

“I gave up like 15 times that day that I was trying to memorize it,” he said.

His advice for anyone wanting to learn how to solve Rubik’s cubes is to not give up and to “keep working at it.”