As someone who has a Rubik’s cube as a kid, which never again regained solid color sides after I first started playing with it, people with the ability to solve these puzzles never cease to amaze me. That’s right, even Justin Bieber. Music career be damned, the thing about Justin Bieber that most impresses me is his ability to solve a Rubik’s cube in under two minutes.
But even that is nothing compared to the guy in the above video, “Dutch Rubik’s Cube speedsolver” Mats Valk, who just secured a brand new world record by solving the puzzle in just 4.74 seconds. Think about that. Valk beats out the previous record holder, a 14-year-old boy named Lucas Etter who broke the record last year at 4.9 seconds. Insane.
If that Rubik’s Cube looks different than the one you grew up with, according to the video description it was custom made by Cubicle Labs, which describes it as such: “Forty-eight neodymium magnets are inserted into strategic points in the cube, arranged in a rotationally symmetric pattern. This magnetization creates a tactile and compliant feel with a clean, clicky feedback regardless of piece orientation.” At $49, it also costs a bit more than the Rubik’s Cube you grew up with, but the ability to solve the puzzle in under five seconds? Priceless.
