Rubik's Cube competition coming to Alberta

Calling all gaming fanatics and geeks.

One hundred and ten competitors from eight different countries will descend on the Town and Country Centre in Airdrie on October 29 for a Rubik's Cube competition. The event, organized by the World Cube Association (WCA), is one of hundreds of competitions held around the world, and will be attended by three different national record holders, who are also competing. 

Formally titled “Afraid in Airdrie 2023,” the competition will feature five events that attendees can participate in. The headlining event is the “3x3x3 Cube Event,” where competitors race to solve a traditional Rubik’s Cube. Other events with different types of cubes include the “2x2x2 Cube,” “Rubik's Clock,” “Pyraminx,” which is a triangular shaped Rubik’s puzzle, and “Square 1”–a timed puzzle that changes shape as competitors try and solve it. 

Attendees can choose to enter into as many events as they want, ranging from all five to just one. The way the competition works for podium placement, according to one of the event’s organizers Samuel Edwards, is that each event competitor will have a specific amount of time to solve their cube. Five cube scrambles are given to each player who then works as quickly as they can to solve the cube. The slowest and fastest times are removed and the three times remaining are averaged to find a player’s time score. The players are then ranked based upon their averaged speeds, from fastest to slowest. 

The three national record holders competing are Kyle Santucci, who set the national record for the 2x2x2 cube during the first round of this years Rubiks’ WCA World Championships in Incheon, South Korea, Lucas Kuczaj, who has set multiple national records for the Megaminx event, and Danny Buschert, who was named the national champion in the Skewb event at the Canadian Championship in New Westminster, BC, earlier this year. 

The WCA hosts events throughout Canada and the rest of the world, but this will be the first event in Airdrie. The Alberta Cuber’s and the Calgary Cubing Club will be working with organizers from the WCA to plan and run the event. The competition’s main sponsor is The Cubicle, a cube store based in Calgary. 

For “Afraid in Airdrie,” players competing in any of the five events will get ten minutes to solve their cubes, with the top 12 advancing to the final rounds in the 2x2x2, 3x3x3, Pyramix, and Square 1, while the fastest eight will compete in the final round for the clock event. 

The day’s competitions will start at 8 in the morning with check-in. The event will run all day, until the awards for each competition are handed out at 6:00 pm. With the fortunate timing of falling two days before Halloween, the “Afraid in Airdrie” event will also feature a costume contest.