Time Machine Competition

[Mike Hughey]

Imagine you could take a time machine back to 2003 and compete in the World Championships, and you could bring your puzzles with you - how would you do?

It's amazing to see how far cubing has come! For anyone who wants to laugh at the results there, please remember:
1. Many of the ideas we take for granted today had not even been invented yet;
2. For most puzzles other than 3x3x3, at that time most people had probably come up with their own methods for solving, rather than relying on an optimized method that had been improved by a whole community;
3. The hardware at the time was completely awful compared to what we have now. Imagine what someone would have thought if they tried your V5! You'd probably have been disqualified due to the outrageously superior puzzles.

So I hope no one thinks I'm poking fun at the results there or anything - I have the utmost respect for the accomplishments of the people there - they put us on the road to where we are today. But it's still fun to think about.

If you decide to try it, pay attention to the formats of the events - some of them were quite different for that first championship. And I agree with David that it's kind of silly to do Fewest Moves since that one is so dependent on the scramble used. (And the 2003 results for Fewest Moves were actually quite good by today's standards, unlike most of the other events.)

Anyway, I tried most of the events (just generating scrambles according to the formats shown for each), and here are my results (I might try the rest later):
3x3x3: 16th place, between Chris and Macky (just shows how awful I am at 3x3x3!)
4x4x4: World Champion!
5x5x5: World Champion!
3x3x3 BLD: World Champion!
3x3x3 OH: World Champion!
Megaminx: 2nd place
Pyraminx: 2nd place
Square-1: 2nd place
Clock: World Champion!
Magic: World Champion!
Master Magic: World Champion!
4x4x4 BLD: World Champion!

So I would be world champion in all but 4 events, and 2nd place in three of the other 4, and 16th in 3x3x3.

Full results:

Spoiler

3x3x3 Round 1 (best of 3):
21.48, 36.51, 22.66 = 21.48
13th place, right ahead of Chris; qualified for semi-finals
Round 2 (best of 3):
28.62, 26.45, 21.16 = 21.16
16th place, between Chris and Macky; didn't qualify for finals

4x4x4 Round 1 (mean of 3):
1:40.79, 1:22.60, 1:42.01 = 1:35.13
2nd place (knocking out Ron), NAR single, average
Final (mean of 3):
1:42.85, 1:30.53, 1:25.46 = 1:32.95
World Champion!

5x5x5 Round 1 (mean of 3):
2:46.46, 2:42.76, 2:50.86 = 2:46.69
1st place, WR average, NAR single
Final (mean of 3):
2:51.32, 2:51.21, 2:47.16 = 2:49.90
World Champion! (Even though I totally choked.)

3x3x3 BLD (best of 1):
2:02.10
World Champion! WR
The pressure was really intense due to the best of 1 format; I got lucky though, because it was an easy scramble, so I still got a pretty good time despite double-checking everything.

3x3x3 OH (best of 2):
38.70, 48.25 = 38.70
World Champion! WR

Megaminx (best of 1):
3:09.66
2nd Place

Pyraminx (best of 1):
15.73
2nd Place

Square-1 (best of 1):
51.61
2nd Place to Lars. Stupid parity.

Clock (best of 1):
25.83
World Champion! WR

Magic (best of 3):
2.94, 4.58, 1.88 = 1.88
World Champion! WR (also terrible performance)

Master Magic (best of 3):
4.62, 5.75, 4.64 = 4.62
World Champion! WR (also terrible performance)

4x4x4 BLD (best of 1):
10:28.83
World Champion! WR

For many people on here, the results would be laughable; for me (since I'm so slow), it was just about the perfect competition level.

Some observations:
1. Just getting a single try at BLD is pretty scary.
2. I'm so impressed by Dror's total dominance at BLD. Was he the only one in the world using the cycling method (memorizing where pieces go instead of what piece is at each location) at the time? And his 4x4x4 BLD time is just awesome for the time.
3. Grant Tregay's megaminx time was astounding for the time. I have no chance of getting close to it.
4. Best of 1 for pyraminx really seems silly.

 

[ianini]

i would rock at magic

 

[Kian]

Oh I'm trying this when I get home. Seems like so much fun!

 

[cubeninjaIV]

I win 7x7!!!
If i wasnt so lazy i would do this, but i am so lazy so i won't.

 

[hawkmp4]

I have to do this. You know, this would be really cool- around the time of WC of the current year, do this event for the last WC.

 

[blade740]

I tried this a while ago. I can win every event except BLD, FMC, and magics.

 

[Kxg]

What about this?

 

[Mike Hughey]

What about this?

Yeah, that's a fun one too, but not enough events to compete in. Besides, with that one, you had to use a company-supplied new cube that wasn't your own, so it's even less fair to pretend with than the 2003 one.

 

[DavidWoner]

I win everything except 4BLD and FMC. I actually didn't attempt these two, because I would have DNF'd 4bld, and FMC is too dependent on the scramble. Also I don't feel like spending another hour and a half on this.

Spoiler

3x3
12.50, 16.14, 17.53
14.86, 15.81, 11.47
14.96, 14.15, 10.60, 12.99, 12.94 = 13.36

4x4:
56.00, 1:05.21, 1:05.89
54.16, 48.03, 57.87 = 53.35

5x5:
1:54.97, 1:56.91, 1:47.97
1:47.18, 1:51.39, 1:38.32 = 1:45.63

3bld: 2:34.71

OH: 24.49, 31.93

mega:1:44.19

pyra: 7.78

sq1: 19.46

clock: 7.33

magic: 2.38, 1.46, 1.40

mmagic: 3.88, 4.96, DNF

My 3x3 records would stand until 2006, when they are beaten by Toby and Anssi
4x4 single would stand until 2007 when beaten by Matyas, avg would stand until 2008 when it's beaten by Keisuke
5x5 would both stand until beaten by Matyas in 2007
BLD and OH would stand until 2005, beaten by Macky
Megaminx would be beaten by Pochmann at WC05
Gunnar would take pyra in 2005
Lars would tie my sq1 in 2007, and it would be beaten by Prusak later that year.
Clock would stand until I break it myself in 2009.
Stefan would take magic in 04, Bob takes MM in 05

 

[Edmund]

One-handed and 3x3 wr.

 

[Muesli]

I would take the V7 back, run to the Patent office and make a fortune. Forget the World Championships!