KOCHI: Six years after its invention in 1974, the Rubik’s cube was released worldwide. A seeming crossover between a toy and a complex puzzle, the magic cube as it was referred to by its inventor Erno Rubik became an overnight sensation with people wracking their brains on how to orient all the tyles. Over the years, the cube has not only spawned more complicated versions of itself but has also been a source of obsession for many, including the latest national record holder. A Class VII student at Choice School, Karthik Gupta was recently accredited by India Book of Records for solving the standard 3x3x3 cube the most number of times in an hour.
Karthik solved each cube in under 30 seconds to beat the previous record by twice the margin at 144. A commendable feat considering he only first held the cube only a year ago.
“Generally what happens at school is that if someone picks up a new hobby, all the friends are glued to the same like PUBG or football. So a year ago, kids in Karthik’s class started fiddling with Rubik’s cube, trying to solve it.
That is how Karthik also got preoccupied with it. He found that he had a slight edge at solving as compared to his friends so he started helping them with the same. That was how it began,” says Mahesh Gupta, Karthik’s father.
Eventually, the 12-year-old started watching YouTube videos trying to find the quickest way to align all the colours. He attempted solving more complex versions of Rubik’s including the mirror cube (a basic 3x3x3 cube with shape modification), a pyraminx, skewb, windmill and the megaminx (with 12 faces). “Karthik has close to 12 different types of cubes in his collection that he can solve. And he learnt it all by himself with help from online videos. He is keen on enrolling for classes to improve his speed. But no institute in Kochi offers dedicated Rubik’s coaching,” adds Mahesh, a businessman.
With a nascent zeal for setting records, Karthik realised that he could surpass the existing feat of solving the standard cube 70 times in an hour. However, beating the record with a significant margin was important. “Just to push him, I told Karthik to see to it that his record holds for a long time. So he started practising consistently and was closing at around 110 times per hour.
That’s when we decided to contact the India Book of Records. They sent an adjudicator to oversee the entire process,” says Mahesh. However, little did Karthik imagine he would exceed all expectations. “Every time I practised at home I could solve the cube about 125 to 130 times. I was really glad when I hit the 140 mark during the adjudication process. All my friends have congratulated me. Now, I want to try it blindfolded or with just one hand, I hope to break the blindfold record as well,” says Karthik whose best time is a megre 15 seconds.