Cube Club Schools Noobs on Strategy

The president of the new Harvard Cube Club, or C-cubed, said one of the goals of the club was to lend out Rubik’s Cubes to students because they’re hard to come by.

“What do you think we are? The Outing Club?” was the response she got from Vice President Diana Cai ’13.

The members present at Saturday afternoon’s meeting of the club discussed strategies while casually solving the Rubik’s Cubes in front of them. One student joked about peeling off the stickers and switching them around on the cube. But he was admonished by a fellow cuber, who said, “That’s one of the most noob things you could say— everyone knows you can do that.”

Though there is already a cube club at MIT, Cai said she wants the World Cube Association to recognize a club at Harvard. Ideally, the club would host one or two competitions per year.

President Amy Y. Tai ’13 and Cai met and also learned how to cube at the Research Science Institute at MIT the summer before their senior year of high school. Cai pointed out that a lot of people practice cubing at summer camp and in high school, but that stops when they get to college.

Christian C. Anderson ’13 has never cubed before, and said there is no way he’d be good enough to compete, but he’d like to learn. “Maybe this summer,” the person next to him suggested.

Tai and Cai have never attended a competition, but Tony C. Xing ’11 went to one at MIT a few weeks ago. His fastest solve time was 20 seconds.

But other members wouldn’t admit their fastest solving times. “I don’t do speed cubing,” one said. And as the person next to him pointed out, “He’s busy doing Orgo.”