There was more life on the deck of the Marie Celeste than here. No banners, no welcome committee, no sign of life, nothing. Then I spotted them.
The reason that there are not banners or welcome committees is that cubing is not a
spectator sport. Unlike many other sports, cubing competitions are made to appeal to the athletes, not the spectators. That is the reason that it doesn't appear welcoming in the way that other sports venues might.
Three lanky, malnourished lads sporting black rucksacks and instantly recognisable as Cubers. Geeks to you and me. My son is one. We followed them into the school gym where the bright colours and noise of the 280 odd (in both senses of the word) competitors contrasted sharply with the empty silence of the playground a minute before.
Cubers are not neccesarily geeks, and they
definitely do not look malnourished. Let's take a look at the world record holders in many of the main disciplines.
Mats Valk(3x3 record holder),
Feliks Zemdegs (3x3, 5x5, 7x7 record holder),
Marcin Zalewski (3x3 blindfolded),
Oliver Frost (4x4 and 5x5 blindfolded), and many other big name cubers all appear to have classic good looks, and do not appear to be malnourished or geeky in appearance.
Kevin Hays (6x6 world record holder) is a very accomplished competitive swimmer.
Drew Brads (best pyraminx solver in the world) is a basketball player.
Chris Olson (best 2x2 solver in the world) is a frisbee player. "Geek" implies abnormal interests and subpar social skills, and I don't agree that cubers in general have either of those problems.
For those of you who have never been to a Rubik's Cube competition before you have missed a treat. It is like watching magic. If you have ever tried and failed to solve a cube – that annoying little puzzle that looks so simple but is fiendishly difficult...
You, like many others who don't know how to solve cubes, have made the mistake of thinking "I don't understand how to solve cubes. That must mean that solving cubes is difficult." And you are very wrong. The only thing that is difficult is doing it completely on your own without a tutorial. And you know what else that's true of? The level of math you would teach a 9 year old. If studying math in school wasn't a given, the odd person who could do basic algebra would be considered just as magical, skilled, and yes, nerdy, as the people who can solve Rubik's cubes. Conversely, if solving Rubik's cubes was taught to every kid at every elementary school, being able to solve a cube in 20 seconds would be so commonplace it wouldn't even be thought of as requiring any skills that aren't ubiquitous among humans. You do not have to be intelligent or dexterous or gifted in any way to solve a cube. You merely have to spend a few days learning the techniques; something that you and the other people who think you're watching something magical are utterly unwilling to do. But by all means, keep thinking of me and my fellow cubers as geniuses. It's flattering.
The lovely thing, however, is that all the Cubers are really a community and they do not really compete with each other. The main thing is just to be in the same room as other like-minded people. Rather beautifully, it is not the winning that matters, it is the taking part. Yes, really!
This is the part of your article where you really hit the nail on the head. That's one of the perks of being part of a small sport--the community is small enough that everyone there is an human being, not just another competitor. It is a wonderful community that anybody is welcome to be part of.
And there is no doubt that although there is a nerdy element amongst Cubers they are a clever bunch and likely to be very high achievers. The annoying little plastic puzzle has managed to silently transcend the world of toys and is now delineating a select band of highly intelligent individuals.
I actually would agree that the cubing community is very intelligent, but not for the reasons you implied earlier in the article. I would reverse cause and effect, and instead of saying that solving cubes requires intelligence, I would say that intelligent people are more likely to be interested in solving a puzzle. You definitely do not have to be intelligent to solve a cube. It's also worth noting that the highly intelligent people in this community are more frequently the ones that develop solving methods, understand cube theory, and create cube related software, and less frequently the ones who are fast solvers.
Nerdy they may be how I wish I were one of them.
Then become one. It's less difficult than you expect, and we'd be happy to have you join us.
