Cubing Personalities
Over the years as the Rubik’s Cube and similar puzzles have grown in popularity, there are a few people whose contributions have deeply impacted the community and even the basics of the puzzles that we all take for granted. Here are just a few of the names that have helped push the Rubik’s Cube further than it was ever thought possible.
Erno Rubik
Where else to start than the cube’s father? Rubik is 71 years old and was born in Budapest, Hungary. He was responsible for the creation of the cube and was intelligent enough to figure out his own solution to the puzzle (something very few people today can claim). He has made every cube or puzzle similar to the original 3x3 possible with his original idea. The cube has entertained generations and is a toy that never grows old. As each new generation comes, more puzzle enthusiasts follow suit. Now, Rubik spends most of his time promoting the involvement of science in education.
Although his original product wasn’t the best, he still allowed many other future cubers to solve the Rubik’s cube. He did this through books such as with the book titled, “Cubed: The Puzzle of Us All,” in which he talked about his dedications towards the “rich potential of the cube form.”
Minh Thai
As the Rubik’s Cube grew in popularity, so did the idea of speedsolving it. Over time more and more people became interested in not just learning how to solve the cube, but how to solve it quickly. In the first World Championship in 1982, Minh Thai became the image of speedcubing by solving the puzzle in 22.95 seconds, winning the tournament. He also wrote a guide to solving the cube called The Winning Solution.
Jessica Fridrich
When speedcubing began to get more and more popular, the necessity for a good method that had lots of room for improvement was ever growing. Fridrich came up with a method known as the Fridrich or CFOP method. It breaks the cube down into different steps, each of which solving a different part of the cube, and then uses algorithms to finish the last layer without disturbing the rest of the cube. Over time this method has proved to be incredibly effective, and was used to solve the cube in 4.90 seconds, the current World Record.
Feliks Zemdegs
The world of speedcubing has gained a lot of popularity, and with more solvers comes more records and extraordinary achievements. One of these is Feliks Zemdegs, an Australian speedcuber who single-handedly lowered the 3x3 World Record Single and Average by several seconds, breaking several barriers along the way. He also holds 8 World Records currently, and is within the top 500 for every event he has competed in (Top 300 excluding Skewb Single). He has been, for the most part, the face of speedcubing due to his achievements.
Feliks Alexander Zemdegs, the cubing personality we all have heard of due to his previous impressive and consistent domination in near enough all NxN events, with a notable strong domination in mainly 5x5, with him soaring above all with his averages AND singles. However, it’s not only his singles and averages he is known for. He is known for his attention to the community as well as his uplifting mood that encourages newer cubers to get faster at certain events, he appeals to everyone in the cubing community and could be known as the “main cuber” of all time. Although many other really fast cubers are getting into the game, Feliks will always be known as the person who encouraged everyone to become quicker and to succeed in everything they did.
Ron Van Bruchem
Before 2003, there was no official organised way of meeting other cubers, and some cubers didn’t even know that others like them existed. However, in 2003 Ron Van Bruchem helped to create the World Cube Association, responsible for most of the World’s Rubik’s Cube competitions to date. Not only can you compete with other people in your country and across the World for National and International records, but you can make new friends who share your hobby and even purchase or trade some new puzzles. All of this would not be possible without Bruchem, a man who truly helped bring the community together.
Max Park
Another cuber known for his speed, Max Park is a Rubik’s Ambassador speedsolver, with many world records to his name, including all of the 3x3 unofficial WR’s of ao100, ao1000 and more. Max Park, although he has serious competition with Feliks Zemdegs, is a great friend of him with many celebrations dedicated to Feliks Zemdegs. As well as this, he has a Netflix Documentary called “The Speed Cubers,” dedicated to (once again) Max and Feliks’s relationship inside and outside of cubing. Max Park is a great cubing personality, with many people looking up to him as both a great person and a great speedsolver with consistent speed on each event.
Dylan Wang (J Perm)
Dylan Wang runs a channel on YouTube known as “J Perm” where he does quality content that appeal to over 300K of his trusty subscribers. With an attention to detail, Dylan looks to make his content the best with his unboxings, reviews and even his #shorts, he wants to give the best information and tutorials for all people to enjoy and learn from. Dylan is also sponsored by SpeedCubeShop, a mainstream company looking to sponsor only the quickest or fastest growing cubers. With this sponsorship, J Perm does sponsored and “expensive” unboxings that include great advertising for SpeedCubeShop.
And it’s not only his channel that he is known for. He is known for his “funny” and great personality that appeal to everyone that watch his content including those who aren’t subscribed. I think it’s great that J Perm is in the youcuber area as his content really have a healthy impact on all of those who watch them.
Ming Dao Ting (“Tingman”)
Ming Dao Ting, also known as the wholesome content maker “Tingman,” is a cubing personality worth mentioning. Known for his extravagant ideas of solving a 13x13 across 2 years, or raising money for charity, his ideas appeal to a large number of viewers and healthy subscribers, that happily view his videos once they are in their recommended-on YouTube.
As well as this, his daughter “Olor,” as she is called in the videos, also is a key-part of the channel, attracting multiple viewers wanting some humorous as well as wholesome content. “Tingman” is a great cubing personality, inspiring many cubers to create content much like Tingman and his recent success.
Phil Yu
Although he may not be known strongly in the cubing community, he is known for being a part of a successful cube company known as “TheCubicle” selling products for international shipping and great prices. Phil Yu is known for his happy personality that rubs off onto people who want to be a part of “Team Cubicle” or want to be sponsored, which is great to see. He is also a big part of TheCubicle, with multiple appearances on their social media accounts as well as YouTube.
But not only this, he also is known for his retention to games, some being “Teamfight Tactics” and maybe a bit of “Settlers of Catan” with his other friends – the options are endless, for Phil Yu (you could say) is a great person to talk to about cubing during his streams and maybe even during his spare time, he always wants to help which is great to see out of him.