Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
You may have heard that Webster University is full to bursting with international chess champions. Well, those grandmasters ain’t got nothin’ on Washington University sophomore Kevin Hays, who holds the world speed record for solving a 6-by-6 puzzle cube (matching up 36 squares per side).
• I’m the reigning world champion in 5-by-5, 6-by-6, and 7-by-7 cubes. I’ve also had the 6-by-6 world record for about 2 ½ years.
• I started mostly doing the 3-by-3, and then I got bigger cubes for my birthday. During nationals my first year in 2009, I got fourth in the 6-by-6, and then I won it in 2010, 2012, and 2013.
• To practice, I just sit down and do tons of solves over and over again. I use a timer app that gives me a computer-generated scramble. It makes it so that it’s completely random every time.
• I solve the cube using algorithms. An algorithm is a set of moves where if you have, say, two pieces on the cube, you can move them without changing anything else on the cube. It’s a technique. I’ve memorized about 120 algorithms.
• I try to plan out the first set of the solve and then memorize what moves I’m going to have to do for the first step. Then while I’m doing the first step, I’ll look for the second step, so it’s a completely fluid process.
• When I started, I couldn’t turn that fast. But over the last 4 ½ years, my fingers have been moving a lot faster.
• Solving the cube is about pattern recognition, and having a good memory and problem-solving skills in general, I guess.
• Rubik’s cubes were definitely more popular back in the day, in the ’80s, but they kinda came back in the early 2000s with the speed thing.
• I can solve all the competition puzzles: the 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, and 7-by-7 cubes. The world record for the 2 is 1 second. I average like 3.5 seconds. The world record for the 3 is 5.5 seconds. My best official speed was 7 seconds, but my best ever was a 5.9. The world record on the 4 is 25 seconds; my best is 27. The world record on the 5 is 50.5 seconds, and I have a 51.9. The world on the 6 is 1 minute, 40 seconds, and that’s my record. The world record on the 7 is 2 minutes, 40 seconds, and I have a 2 minutes, 41 seconds.
• Right now, I’m not practicing that much, but before worlds, I was doing it about three hours a day for two months.
• In 2010, I was four turns away from the 6-by-6 world record, and the cube shattered into pieces in my hands. The bigger cubes are pretty fragile. That was terrible. I eventually did get the world record later.
• I bring my own cube, and they scramble it for me at competitions. I have cubes that are specially made to turn fast. I also lubricate them with a silicone-based lubricant.
• I own upwards of 40 cubes. Most are old and outdated. I have 10 that I actually use.
• Now that I’m good and have world titles, people think it’s pretty cool. But way back in the day, when I wasn’t fast, they thought it was lame.
• My parents think it’s awesome. My mom really likes coming to competitions.
• My majors are math and computer science. I don’t really know what I want to do as a career yet.
• I’m also a swimmer on the WUSTL team. I do the 50- and 100-meter breaststroke.
