South Bend high school sophomore a whiz on Rubik's Cube
GRANGER, Ind. (AP) - One day in study hall, Tyler Brodzinski watched a friend learn to solve a Rubik's Cube by watching a video on YouTube. He decided he could do it faster.
"I said I was going to be better than him by the next class, so I just learned how to solve on YouTube that night," Tyler, now a Penn High School sophomore, told the South Bend Tribune (http://bit.ly/1EckNni). "I beat him the next class, so that really started it all."
That was in November 2013. Soon after, Tyler entered the world of speedcubing, an international community of "cubers," enthusiasts for the Rubik's Cube and other combination puzzles. They come together for competitions overseen by the World Cube Association, ranging from local tournaments of a few dozen people to the world championship, which draws thousands.
The Rubik's Cube was invented and sold in the 1970s, but speedcubing did not take off until about 2000, when Internet forums dedicated to the activity sprang up, said Mike Hughey, a computer programmer in Fishers and the WCA delegate for Indiana.
Hughey said his job as a delegate is to make sure competitions follow WCA regulations and to provide "scrambles," or instructions on how to mix up the puzzles for each round. He said the community is largely run by "a bunch of volunteers who just enjoy it. It's grown on its own from that."
Competitors, including Tyler, memorize hundreds of algorithms to solve combination puzzles. Tyler's personal record for solving a Rubik's Cube is 13.88 seconds. The world record, according to the WCA, is 5.55 seconds.
Now, the 15-year-old owns nearly a dozen different puzzles. There's the standard 3-by-3 Rubik's Cube, plus a 4-by-4, a 5-by-5, a 6-by-6 and a 7-by-7. There's the Pyraminx, a modified 3-by-3 in the shape of a pyramid.
There's also the Rubik's Clock, a set of nine small clocks with four knobs that turn the hands - the objective is to get all the hands to point to noon. Tyler doesn't compete in Megaminx, a dodecahedron with 50 movable pieces, "but it's a cool puzzle," he said.
His best event is Skewb, a cubical puzzle whose four rotational axes pass through its corners - where "every edge is a corner, and every corner is an edge," Tyler said. Like a standard 3-by-3, the objective is to arrange the cube so that each face has one color.
Tyler's best single "solve" for Skewb is 2.47 seconds. According to the WCA, that's 13th best in the world.
"I started pretty late at age 14, but my progression rate started to get fast," Tyler said. "I wasn't practicing more than people who were just starting, but my progression rate and memorization ability was quite quick, so I was able to pick up on it pretty quickly. I was world class at Skewb within four months of practicing."
As he became more involved in the cubing community, Tyler took on more responsibility, working as a staff member for competitions and even organizing his own tournament, Mishawaka Fall 2014, in September.
Tyler's mother, Sara Brodzinski, said cubing has helped him focus his talents.
"He's really, really smart at math," she said. "It was cool for us because we knew he was really using his mind - he was really thinking. He went through all these algorithms and everything. He uses math to figure out how to do all this."
The farthest Tyler has traveled to compete is Wisconsin. In the next couple of years, he hopes to travel to national tournaments, but in the meantime, he spends his free time practicing - in study hall, in class, at home after school.
Tyler's father, Dave Brodzinski, said he'll constantly hear the click-click-click of cube tiles moving.
"I'll say, 'Tyler, come down for dinner,' and he'll say, 'I'm in the middle of my solve!' " Brodzinski said.
Tyler said he learns mainly from YouTube videos and fellow cubers, who he'll meet at competitions every couple of months.
"The best thing about cubing is probably the community," he said. "It consists of the coolest people I've ever met."
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Information from: South Bend Tribune, http://www.southbendtribune.com