MY MUDD LIFE
Cube Community
Adam Walker ’22 brings a fun, collaborative cube puzzle competition to Harvey Mudd. By Sarah Barnes
IT’S A GLOOMY, RAINY DAY IN FEBRUARY. HIXON
Courtyard is empty, wet and quiet, except for the sound of rain falling into the koi pond. In colorful contrast, beyond large glass doors on the west end of the courtyard, Galileo Hall is alive with activity. Inside, more than 100 people are participating in a World Cube Association (WCA) competition, organized by Adam Walker ’22 and the Harvey Mudd College Office of Community Engagement. Sitting in Galileo’s sea of blue chairs, milling around in the aisles and waiting their turns to compete are children and parents, teens, college students and a handful of adult participants. Almost everyone in the auditorium is in some stage of solving a Rubik’s Cube or similar cube puzzle; a few are focused on Pyraminx puzzles (like the cubes but in pyramid shapes). Large screens in front of the auditorium display the day’s schedule, showing the order of competitors for each round of each event (3x3x3 Cube, 4x4x4 Cube, 5x5x5 Cube, 3x3x3 One-Handed, and Pyraminx). The atmosphere is friendly, with the colorful squares of so many cubes looking like a cheerful sprinkling of confetti throughout the room. Amid the frenetic scene, Walker sits still except for his hands, which are moving quickly and nimbly to solve a 3x3x3 cube. The stone-faced fifth grader to his left, a competition judge, watches patiently until the puzzle is solved. It doesn’t take long: 8.77 seconds after picking it up, Walker returns his cube, solved, to the table in front of him. A digital clock displays the time, Walker’s best of the day, in red LED. The judge records Walker’s time on a slip of paper which they both initial, then Walker takes his cube and his time to a long table at the front of the room, where more judges record his results on their computers and advance his name to the next round. After that, he’s off, switching back into the busy role of event organizer. A native of Las Vegas, Walker has been cubing since he was 10 years old, when boredom at a party led him and some of his friends to attempt solving
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HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE
Adam Walker ’22 can solve this 3x3x3 cube puzzle in under 10 seconds.
a cube for the first time. Frustration sent them to YouTube for video tutorials on how to solve the puzzle. That night, after his friends had lost interest and moved on to something else, Walker remained in front of the computer watching the tutorials. “After about three hours of videos,” he says, “I was able to solve it in about three-and-a-half minutes.” With constant practice and more videos, Walker eventually got his time down to about nine seconds. That’s when, at age 12, he entered his first competition, and he hasn’t stopped cubing since.
For anyone who’s never been to a WCA competition, the first experience is illuminating. The WCA holdes events in more than 100 countries, where regional organizations are responsible for organizing local competitions. With more than 125,000 registered competitors worldwide, WCA events can draw large crowds. Competitors range from elementary school students to retired adults, with the majority being in their early to late teens. Not unlike a track meet or other organized sporting event, the crowd at a WCA competition is made
