In 4.74 seconds, I can barely bend over to tie my shoes, and somehow this guy managed to crush the human world record for solving the Rubik's Cube in that time exactly.
Mats Valk, a 20-year-old Dutch speedcuber, just beat the previous record of 4.90 seconds set by then 14-year-old Lucas Etter in 2014. Valk twisted and turned his way to victory during the Jawa Timur Open 2016, a large competition in Java, Indonesia hosted by the World Cube Association.
During his impressive speed trial, Valk used a Cubicle Valk M cube (yes, it's named after him), one with 48 strategically place neodymium magnets inside the cube to maximize speed and efficiency. This custom cube will run you a cool $49, which is quite the inflation from the $14.99 of the official Rubik's Speed Cube.
Valk, a well-seasoned competitor, is very active in the speedcubing world. He keeps a very active YouTube channel, which he routinely updates with videos of him solving the cube at major international competitions or major international landmarks, such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France or China's Great Wall. As someone who considers it a great personal accomplishment to complete a single side without the pressure of a timer, watching any of his videos blows my mind.
The Rubik's Cube has been in stores since 1977 and is the world's best selling toy of all time. According to the official Rubik's Cube website, "In the time since its international launch in 1980 an estimated 350 million Rubik's Cubes have been sold." Once people started getting their hands on this new puzzle, the obsession with trying to find the quickest solution became widespread and the first international Rubik's Cube competition was held in Budapest, Hungary in 1982.
If you'd like to give solving the 3x3 cube a shot and don't have the patience or time to work out the algorithms and permutations on your own, here's a handy guide from the company. You can also check out our beginner guide, or any other of the Rubik's Cube tutorials on WonderHowTo.
Now go on, get speedsolving. Once you figure it out, make sure to comment below with just how quickly you can solve a Rubik's Cube. We'd love to know!
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