A nationally sanctioned Rubik’s Cube Competition takes place in Northern Kentucky on Saturday, June 3 at Scott High School in Taylor Mill from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., hosted by enthusiast Jonathan Nerz.
Drew Brads and Lucas Etter, the US National Rubik’s Cube Champions of 2015 and 2016 respectively will be in attendance.
Currently 88 competitors are registered, but Nerz, of Taylor Mill, is expecting that number to rise to over 100 competitors with around 300 total in attendance. The contestant limit is 120.
Organizer Nerz, who’ll be a junior at UK majoring in Materials Engineering, has been “cubing” since the fall of 2009.
“It all started when my 7th grade pre-algebra teacher solved a Rubik’s Cube in class for us, and that was when I decided that I needed to solve one for myself,” Nerz said. “I went home that night and looked up YouTube videos on how to solve the Rubik’s Cube. That was when I discovered this whole subculture of ‘cubers’ and started to collect a variety of different puzzles of all shapes and sizes.”
Several years later he actually started solving competitively.
“During the summer of 2014, we went up to New Jersey to visit some extended family, but it just so happened that the US National Rubik’s Cube Competition was going on in Jersey City at that exact same time,” Nerz said. “We went with my cousins to the competition to look around, and seeing 400+ cubers together in one place inspired me to pursue competitive cubing and become faster at solving. It also inspired my cousins, and now both of them are faster than I am.”
Nerz will be competing in 2×2, 3×3 (the standard Rubik’s Cube) and 4×4 events. He is a “rising junior” at UK, majoring in Material Engineering.
He urges everyone to come and see the competition.
“It is something of a surreal experience the first time you attend a competition and see dozens of people solving Rubik’s Cubes at the same time.”
The competition website has more information.
There is a $19 fee + $1 per event for this competition to help pay for the venue, equipment, and other costs.
Registration will be closed at 11:59:59 PM on May 31st and at the door registration will not be allowed.
Spectators may attend for free and pizza will be available to order for lunch. There will also be concessions available throughout the day.
Competition t-shirts will also be available for sale at the venue and all sizes will be $13.
This competition is recognized as an official World Cube Association competition. Therefore, all competitors should be familiar with the WCA regulations.
Those new to competing, may want to look at CubingUSA’s Competitor Tutorial.
This competition is sponsored by top-notch cube store thecubicle.us. They have generously provided prizes for the top 3 in 3×3 and 1st place in all other events.
Here is the website with more information: https://www.cubingusa.com/QueenCity2017/index.php.
