Pupils set Rubik’s cube record

The pupils at Sutherland High School in Pretoria believe all that stands between them and the Guinness World Record for the most people solving a Rubik’s cube at once is paperwork.

This is after they more than doubled the existing record of 300 in an hour, held by a team in India.

The record attempt was the highlight of Friday’s family fun day, said the schools public relations officer Carol Riddick.

Of the 715 pupils and staff who participated in the event, 711 completed the challenge.

The brain behind the attempt was maths teacher Lisa Marie Harrison who was taught the secret of the cube two years ago by ex-pupils.

Harrison was hooked and could not leave the cube alone. Some of her students started calling her a freak, said Riddick.

It was Harrison who found out about the record and suggested the school participate.

About 50 staff members – excluding Harrison who was busy with arrangements – joined the pupils in the record attempt.

“It was all done strictly to the rules, as soon as a cube was complete the person had to leave the demarcated area,” said Riddick.

Team members had to buy their own cubes and had practised at home. “Some pupils are so good now they can complete the cube in a minute,” said Riddick.

It would take about three months for all the paperwork and to have their name on the record, she said.

According to Wikipedia, the Rubik’s Cube is a 3-D mechanical puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Erno Rubik. Originally called the “Magic Cube”, by January 2009 more than 350 million cubes had been sold worldwide.

In a classic Rubik’s cube, each of the six faces is made up of nine colours – traditionally white, red, blue, orange, green, and yellow. For the puzzle to be solved, each face must be a solid colour.