Qld whiz kids competing on a global level reveal secrets to solving a Rubik’s cube

It’s a puzzle that has stumped millions around the world, but the Rubik’s cube has been mastered by two Queensland boys who can solve it in mere seconds in professional competitions. Here’s how.

It’s the crazy coloured cube we all want to solve at least once in our lifetime, but these two Brisbane kids can crack a Rubik’s cube in mere seconds.

Speedcubers Charlie Eggins, 13, and Toby Seufert, 12, only started cubing a few years ago but the two friends now competitively solve Rubik’s cubes on both the national and world stage.

The pair recently made waves at the Australian National Speedcubing Championships in Perth, with Charlie taking out the national title in the multi-blindfolded category.

He also broke the Oceania Continental record with an average solve time of 16.45 seconds, making him third best blindfolded cuber in the world.

Meanwhile, Toby placed third in the non-blindfolded open category with an average solve time of 7.44 seconds. He’s now the sixth fastest cuber in Australia and eighth in Oceania, and can solve a Rubik’s cube in under four seconds.

Charlie Eggins, 13, and Toby Seufert, 12, now competitively solve Rubik’s cubes on both the national and world stage. Picture: Jerad Williams

“I just learned on YouTube, how to improve myself, optimise things. Now I average around 6.8 seconds and my best time at home is 3.5 seconds,” Toby said.

“My average time at home is like probably like 7.5-ish seconds and my personal best is 4.32 seconds,” Charlie said.

“One time I did 1000 blind solves in a day.”

Inspired by their dads who took up cubing as a hobby, Charlie and Toby quickly surpassed their old men.

They claim anyone can learn to solve a Rubik’s cube, if they have access to YouTube and are willing to put the practice in.

“It’s not really related to maths at all. It’s just recognising combinations of colours and stuff,” Charlie said.

“Basically everything’s on YouTube for cubing, so if you want to learn something, look it up on YouTube, you’ll find an answer.”

“I practice more than I should probably, four-plus hours a day,” Toby added.

Toby and Charlie have put in thousands of practise hours to become professional cubers, but on competition day, their fate is decided in precious seconds.

“How they calculate it is so you do five attempts, the worst one doesn't count and the fastest one doesn’t count and they average out the other three and that’s called an average of five,” Toby said.

Charlie Eggins, 13, and Toby Seufert, 12, both fundraised at local markets to help pay for their trip to Perth so they could compete. Picture: Jerad Williams

“There’s a weighted timer and you push a button to start and when you’re done you let go of the cube and put both hands down to stop the time.

“There’s a guy from Queensland who missed out on getting world record back in 2018 because he didn’t finish the solve, he was one move off and it fell in his lap and he couldn’t pick it up in time to finish it.”

Of the many cuber categories, one that garners respect is the quick solve category, where a cuber is challenged with solving the cube in the least number of moves.

But only the best of the best can achieve “God’s number” according to the friends.

“The average is 60 moves, and the world record six single is 16 moves,” Toby said.

“A lot of the people who are really good have different methods that they solve it so some of them can get like 21 moves pretty consistently, which is mind boggling, considering there's this thing called God’s number, a (computer generated) minimum number of moves that any scramble can be solved in, which is 18,” Charlie said.

“They guy who did 16 got a lucky scramble, not many people in the world could figure out that solve.”

Both Charlie and Toby will be heading to Brisbane’s Northside Spring competition in November, before taking on the Oceanic Continental championships in Melbourne in December.

To check out their progress, follow Charlie @swiftcubing or Toby @TobySeufert.