- Cade Beck hosted the Puzzling for Awareness Rubik's cube competition in Orem.
- The event, supporting Friends of Giant Steps, raised funds for autism awareness.
- Held during National Autism Acceptance Month, it attracted 100-200 participants statewide.
OREM — Organizing Rubik's cube competitions is something Cade Beck does frequently, but the "Puzzling for Awareness" competition last Saturday stands out.
The competition, which he has hosted each of the last five years, is a fundraiser for Friends of Giant Steps, which helps fund a local preschool for students with autism spectrum disorder. He hosts it in April, which is National Autism Acceptance Month.
"That's a great way to put a spotlight on autism awareness, which thankfully it's a lot better than it was … but there's still a lot of work that we need to do," Beck said.
He is the president of the Utah Cubing Association, as well as a member of Utah Valley University's cubing club, where he is a civil engineering student. In middle school, Beck said he was intrigued by a friend's 5x5 cube — so intrigued he mixed it up, which his friend was not happy about — and he's been solving cubes ever since.
The cause is important to him personally. His mom has worked for the Giant Steps Autism Preschool since before he was born, and it has become a second home.
He said making sure autistic people are understood and finding ways to help them integrate makes a difference.
"Make sure that the world understands how they're different, and don't use that against them but help them live their lives," he said.
Beck said he has seen less of a stigma around autism over the last few years and more opportunities for people with autism spectrum disorder. He said programs like Giant Steps are helping with this.
A lot of people in the cubing community have autism, so Beck said this competition has an added purpose of giving them recognition and helping them know they aren't alone.
Solving Rubik's cube is a niche hobby, he said, but they typically get around 100 competitors, sometimes up to 200, in their competitions around the state. Although they are technically competitions, Beck said it is primarily a social event for many of them.
"Most of our competitors are just there because they like to be there. It's a fun place to be," he said.
Beck said cubing competitions are always an open, friendly place — it would be hard to make one even more welcoming — but there is still a slight change to the atmosphere when there's a cause associated.
"They're really great people, and … that really shines through when we do our fundraiser events," he said.
Those who might have walked by the competition, Beck said, may not even know it was a competition. But the times are still pretty impressive. During Saturday's competition, the first-place winner for a typical 3x3 Rubik's cube had an 8.53-second average over the five cubes. The winner of the one-handed competition had an average of 12.49 seconds. And the blindfolded competition had a 53.30-second solve.
There are 17 events which are officially recognized in cubing, and 13 were represented at the competition. Of those 17, 15 are related to how fast the puzzle can be solved with varying sizes and complexities, Beck said. The other two test strategy and memory — finding the most efficient way to solve the same cube and memorizing cubes and solving them blindfolded.
