The Observer, October 19, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 8
News You Can't Use
Japanese teen wins main event at Rubik's worlds
Yu Nakajima of Japan won the main event at the 2007 Rubik's cube world championship Sunday.
Nakajima, 16, solved the cube in an average time of 12.46 seconds in five attempts, winning a $7000 top award as well as $28,000 in total prize money over the three-day event.
Andrew Kang of the United States was second and Mitsuki Gunji of Japan, third.
Kang had the best overall time at the competition, 10.88 seconds, but was still more than a second shy of the world record of 9.86 set by Thibaut Jacquinot of France in May.
Over 250 competitors took part in the fourth world championship held in Hungary, where the game was invented by Erno Rubik in 1974.
Other categories included solving the 3-by-3 cube with one's feet, one-handed, and blindfolded. Blindfolded contestants solve the cube by memorizing the position of the key cubes before covering their eyes. The winner, Hungary's Matyas Kuti, posted a time of just over one minute and seven seconds.
Rubik made a rare appearance at the championships, helping to hand out the main awards.
"I'm glad the cube is reaching new generations, who face it with fresh wonder, curiosity, and enthusiasm," the game's creator said.
Students try to set Twister record
Students at a Fargo, N. D. high school attempted to break the record for the largest Twister game ever played. Some 450 students participated, tangling their bodies on 180 mats.
The attempt took place last week during a North Dakota DECA, or Distributive Education Clubs of America, conference – a conference for the high school business club.
The students won't find out if they've broken the record until officials at Guinness World Records review video of the game.
State DECA adviser Kevin Reisenauer, of Bismarck, was confident. "We will break the record," he said.
The previous world record had a Twister board measuring 2453 square feet. The DECA conference constructed a 4699 square-foot mat.
Organizers of the event commented that the toughest aspect of arranging the game was taping the mats together.
"There truly is a process to it, and we learned a lot," Reisenauer said.
