 "Photo: Lindsay Zautke")
 "Photo: LIndsay Zautke")
With his eyes closed, Bill Miller's hands dexterously switch layers, the colors a jumbled mess until suddenly, the ultimate riddle is solved by one flick of the wrist. His time? Twenty-three seconds.
Miller, a freshman music major from Huron, S.D., received his first Rubik's Cube when he was in fifth grade. Fascinated by the seemingly impossibility of the puzzle, Miller sought the advice of others to try to figure it out. To his disappointment, he never found anyone who could solve the puzzle.
VIDEO BELOW
Fast-forward five years later, when Miller was in high school. Still intrigued by the popular 80s toy, which sold over 100 million in its first two years, he picked up the cube and started playing around, trying to unravel its mysteries. After practicing for four years, Miller finally figured out its secret.
"I taught myself two ways. I have no idea how I solve it, though," he said.
The main method Miller uses to solve the cube is by putting every piece in a certain order, layer by layer. But don't try to solve one colored side at a time, Miller warned, because it's impossible to not move a certain layer when trying to solve the total puzzle.
Put one of Miller's Rubik's Cubes in his hands (he has 17, with five more on the way,) and he will solve it on the spot in less than a minute.
Give him a few minutes to analyze the pieces and he can solve it with his eyes closed in less than 30 seconds. And he's only been successful at the puzzle for a year.
Fast? More like the speed of lightning. At his finest, Miller can complete three or four moves per second.
Miller's speed is on the edge of the world record. At the World Rubik's Cube championship in Budapest, Hungray, in 1982, the winner solved the puzzle in 22.95 seconds.
The current world record stands at 16.5 seconds.
So does Miller keep the secret of the cube to himself? Not a chance.
"I've taught most of my friends," he said. "But not all of them are willing to take the time to do it. As long as you have patience, you can learn it."
Miller said while he doesn't know anyone personally who is faster than him, some of his friends are getting close.
"One of the friends I taught can do it in around a minute. But I'm still faster than he is," he said with a small smile.
Miller said it doesn't take a genius to learn the mysteries of the cube, just patience, practice and a method. But don't expect to solve a puzzle by luck.
"A lot of people have said they have done it before on accident," he said. "Your odds of winning the lottery are better. There are 143 quintillion ways of getting it wrong, and one way to get it right."
Reach reporter Michelle Rydell at Michelle.Rydell@usd.edu.
Be the first to comment on this article!