BILLINGS — Speedcubing is the sport of solving Rubik's cubes and similar puzzles in the shortest possible time. And on Saturday, the fast growing competition made its Billings debut.
"I just thought it was the coolest thing, I had never seen a cube before, so I just wanted to learn how to solve it. Then my older sister had a Rubik’s cube in her room, so, I picked it up and went on YouTube and learned how to solve it," said Speedcuber, Colton Hulin on Saturday.
His story of discovering the sport is similar to many that attended the event.
"I got into it during Covid. There was nothing to do, so I just learned how to solve a Rubik’s cube," said Speedcuber, Brody Daniel on Saturday.
The first ever Speedcubing competition was held at the 4-H building at MetraPark and saw 46 participants compete.
Tate Ackerman was a competitor Saturday and fell in love with the sport two years ago. After attending an event in Helena last year, he was determined to get one to Billings. So, with the help of his mother Kim, it became a reality.
"I kind of got started with my cousin giving me a cube and I messed it up. I liked it, but it’s more that I just got linked to it, but I want to just keep getting faster and faster until I can’t get faster anymore," said Tate on Saturday.
The competition was open to all ages and those competing are some of the best cubers in the state.
Competitors solved nearly a dozen different puzzles five times each, they then took the average of the middle three scores to determine their top scores in each event.
Some solved the puzzles one handed and there was a category to do it blindfolded as well.
The blindfolded segment took more time to finish, but many of the competitors finished the puzzles in a matter of seconds.
A feat that the average person accomplishes in hoursthese competitors regularly achieved in a fraction of the time.
"They go on and learn all these algorithms and so, it’s a language, these kids talk in their own speedcubing language and learn all these different ways to solve it," said Kate Ackerman on Saturday.
For the competitors, it provided an opportunity to not only sharpen their puzzle solving skills but also create new friendships as well.
"It’s cool because you get to cheer each other on and it doesn’t matter if you win or lose, everyone is just happy about what they get," said Tate Ackerman.
"You can always get better with it. There’s never an end-point on how good you can get with it and you increase your speed with solving every cube because there’s a bunch of different puzzles, it’s just a fun challenge," added Daniel.
"It feels good when you solve it, you feel proud of yourself, but the other part isn’t even the cubing itself, but all these great people around here that you get to meet and talk to. Everybody’s really nice," Hulin added.
