Rubik's Cube champ hosts Patchogue contest

Max Kline, 13, didn't look up as he quickly shifted parts of a colorful 3-by-3-by-3 Rubik's Cube, focusing intensely until the sides were in perfect order. His average completion time: 18 to 19 seconds.

That's about 12 seconds slower than the current world record, according to the World Cubing Association's website, but Max is determined to get faster. It's part of the reason he and more than 50 others were at the Patchogue campus of St. Joseph's College Saturday for the school's second Rubik's Cube competition.

"I want to get better," said Max, of Muttontown, who was inspired after seeing actor Will Smith, as the character Chris Gardner, solve the cube in "The Pursuit of Happyness."

Many at the event said they can only hope to become as good as the event's organizer, Rowe Hessler, 19, a St. Joseph's sophomore math major. According to the World Cubing Association's website, Hessler is tied as the world's fastest at solving the 2-by-2-by-2 cube, which he accomplished in .96 seconds at an August competition in Cambridge, Mass.

"Anybody can do it," said Hessler, of Shirley, who began doing the cubes in 2005 after he got one as a gift. "It's a matter of how much you want to practice."

Hessler, who has been to more than 35 competitions in the United States, Canada, Germany and Hungary, says "cubing" is his way of relaxing.

Proceeds from the competition - which required an initial $5 registration fee and $1 for each additional contest - go to the school club sponsoring the event, the Association of Computing Machinery.

In the competition room, tables and chairs were filled with colorful cubes, triangles and other Rubik's puzzles. Competitors paced the floor, watching their times intently on computer screens, stopwatches and large clocks. Most participants said they watched Internet videos to learn to solve the puzzles and then memorized the methods.

Kyle Dubiel, 13, traveled from Mahwah, N.J., to compete. He started solving the puzzles three years ago. He does a 2-by-2-by-2 cube in 15 seconds and owns about 20 Rubik's puzzles. "There are algorithms - once you memorize those, you're done."

Sister Jane Fritz, a St. Joseph's math and computer science professor, said she is thrilled to see young people interested in the puzzles. "It's great for them because it's problem-solving, spatial relations . . . and manual dexterity."

Bobby D'Angelo, 17, of Wantagh, has been competing for three years in several categories, including solving the 3-by-3-by-3 cube blindfolded. "I wanted to learn something new because I was getting bored," he said.

D'Angelo added that the competition, while intense, is amicable.

"All cubers are friends," he said.