Negative Time Solving Contest 2007

Final Results for 2007

The scrambles for this year are available below. Results for past years can be found on this page.

It's that time of the year again! This is your only chance of the year to solve a cube in negative time as day light saving (DST) ends and time springs back one hour. DST ends in the United States and in Canada this year at 2am on November 4 (Sunday), one week after EU summertime ends at 1am UT on October 28 (Sunday). I will NOT post the results from Europe until the results from North America come in a week later.

The Contest

I think the following challenge statement from 2004 by Caltech graduate Tyson Mao pretty much explains it.

Message #12843 of the Yahoo! Speedcubing Forum:

There is only one day of the year where one can leave the drudgery of Caltech academic life and sprint off for a chili burger, chili dog, and chili fries in a timely manner. A very timely manner indeed... so timely that one can actually return before he departs.

This is the way of the Negative-Time Tommy's run. On one day of the year, a little bit before the first 2 AM, Caltech students hop in their cars and make a dash for the original Tommy's in Beverly Hills for some items with a lot of chili. The goal is to simply return before you left. If you are skilled, you may attempt the trifecta which consists of the burger with extra chili, the hot dog with extra chili, and the fries with extra chili.

Last year, I missed achieving negative time because of an accident on Highway 101. Our total time was 4 minutes. Of course, last year, I did achieve negative time cubing at a time of negative 59 minutes and 1 second. (I was not very fast back then.)

I challenge all of you to take part in the negative time solving tradition. We will have a website with the one, yes only ONE scramble which you will use for this entire year. The date I believe will be October 31, 2004.

The Rules

To submit your time(s), you must follow the following rules:

1. Use the provided algorithm(s). As usual, you are given up to 15 seconds of inspection before the solve.
2. Begin each of your solves before daylight saving ends and complete the solve after daylight saving ends in the time zone in which you live. For example, in the United States, begin your solve (actually turning the cube, not just inspection) before the first 2 AM and end slightly after the time has sprung back to 1 AM. If you start at 1:59:55 and ended at 1:00:07, your time would be -59 min 48 sec.
3. Please, don't be an idiot! This is an unofficial contest. Please follow all rules you would when submitting a record to speedcubing.com.

Submit your results using this submission form. The time should be entered in the form -59 minutes 42.04 seconds.

Please note that each solve started (not just start the timer but actually make a move) before daylight saving ends and completed after it ends it ends counts as a negative solve. This means that you can simultaneously compete in 3x3 speedsolve, 3x3 blindfolded, and whatever else your heart desires, at the cost of some extra time in your negative solves. I think a fun category would be "most cubes solved blindfolded in a negative time." the whole thing needs to be done in an hour, so you first have to decide on the number of cubers to attempt, and then, taking into account your average memorization time for that number of cubes, start memorizing at some appropriate time before daylight saving ends.

Thanks to Tyson Mao for bringing this great Caltech tradition to cubing. Good luck to everyone!

Useful tool for people in the US: The Official U.S. Time.

The Scrambles 2007

R2 L D B D' F2 D' B' U B2 L2 R U2 D B F R' L F' L' D' U2 L F' D'

(Generated using JNetCube)

This is the ONLY main Negative Time Solving Scramble for 2007. Do not use this scramble before the real attempt.

The following are additional 3x3 algorithms to be used only for 3x3 multi-blind. Decide on the number of cubes, n, to be attempted beforehand, and take the first n-1 from this list in addition to the main scramble above.
2. F' D B R L' F B' U2 D' R2 L F D R U2 B U2 B U2 F2 L' F2 B2 D U
3. D U' R' B R2 D2 B R L2 D2 U B' R D' B' L2 R2 F B2 D2 U R D' F2 U2
4. R' B' R' U L B' L D' B' D' L' F L U' D' R' U F U D' B L' D' F' U2
5. D' R U R D U' F B2 D2 U B' R D R' U R2 D F2 D2 R F2 D2 F D' R2
6. L' R D2 L D R2 L B' F L U2 D L B2 F' D' R2 F2 B' U' D' F U2 L2 R2
7. F' B U' B' L U2 R' L F B D B2 U L' F' U2 L' R2 B' D2 B2 R L2 B2 L2
8. R2 B U R2 L D' L2 B L2 U R' B L2 D L2 R' D R2 F D2 B' R' L F' R
9. B2 F' R U' R U' F U2 D B D B D L F' L U D2 L B2 U2 B2 L2 F' U2
10. D' U' R L D' L2 F U F' B2 R2 B L' D F' D2 F2 L B' F2 R' L' D2 U L2
11. L' R' U L D L' R' D' U' F2 D' U' F' R' U2 F' B2 R' L B' D2 U' L2 R' B2
12. L2 U L F' R2 L B2 L2 R2 U2 R F' B' U F2 B' L R B R' F B U B2 R
13. F R U2 R2 U B' U B2 R L' F U2 R2 B' U' L F' L2 R2 U F2 D' B' D B2
14. B' L2 U' D2 R U D2 L' U' L F R2 L' U' B2 L2 D U' B2 D U F L' B2 D2
15. U2 F2 B R' D2 L2 R' B2 R' B2 R' D' R2 D B L R' B' U2 L' B2 R2 F2 R L'
16. B' U F2 U L D U R' U B F U' D' B F2 D B2 D2 L' D L D2 L2 R D
17. U' R' U F' B' U R F' L2 U' R D' U L' U2 F D2 B' L B2 F L2 R2 F2 D
18. L' R' F2 B2 D' B U F D' F' D B' F D' L' D F' L' D2 B2 U B2 F' R' D
19. R' B2 F' R2 L D' B2 R L B2 F' D2 R L' F R2 F U2 R2 U R F U L2 B
20. F2 U' R' F2 R L2 B R2 U2 D' B2 F2 L U2 B' L2 D' B' U B D' L B' U2 B2
21. F D F2 U2 L B' D' U2 L D2 R L2 B2 R' F R' B' R' L2 U F D' B F'
22. B' F' L U' B2 F R' B' L2 R2 F' R' D' B' U R D' B' R B L U' R' D'
Okay, that's gotta be enough.

Submit your results

The Results 2007

There were 39 participants representing 7 countries. Of these, 2 were from Europe and the rest were from North America.

3x3 Speedsolve

Place	Name	Country	Negative Time	Comment
1	Harris Chan	Canada	-59 minutes 50.25 seconds	Wow, didn't know how I managed that. I preserved the c/e pair and zero rotation solve after the cross. Sune OLL and F perm.
2	Stefan Huber	Austria	-59 minutes 46.49 seconds	I'm tired... and proud of my solve...
3	Dan Dzoan	USA	-59 minutes 44.91 seconds	drinking makes your time slower...
4	Joseph Gibney	USA	-59 minutes 44.58 seconds	Decent solve, easy X-cross. I used 3 look last layer.
5	Anthony Hsu	USA	-59 minutes 43.72 seconds	1st attempt of my life! What an exhilarating experience! While solving, I was thinking about all the other EST cubers that might be solving their cubes at the same time as me!
6	Kris de Asis	Canada	-59 minutes 42.47 seconds	A pretty good time for me given how sleepy I was.
7	Isaac Wappes	USA	-59 minutes 41.59 seconds	Good F2L, one of the two OLLs I DON't know, and a G-perm. I was so tired so I'm just glad it was sub 20.
8	Timm[ie] Wong	USA	-59 minutes 41.55 seconds	(Actual solve time 18.45 seconds) Not bad, not bad at all. I almost forgot about this and was furiously practicing the day before to get back into things. Last year I didn't make sub-20 so I'm happy to achieve that breakpoint this time around. whoo! Got the whole thing on tape, too =)
9	Vincent Sheu	USA	-59 minutes 41.02 seconds
10	Lucas Garron	Germany (in USA)	-59 minutes 40.61 seconds	Decent; got it on film.
11	Solomon Wang	USA	-59 minutes 40.58 seconds
12	Ryan Zheng	USA	-59 minutes 40.07 seconds	i dont damn things
13	Jeremy Fleischman	USA	-59 minutes 40.07 seconds	damn darren for not being here and doing this (for sleeping / doing anything)
14	Sunil Pedapudi	USA	-59 minutes 38.57 seconds
15	Michael Gottlieb	USA	-59 minutes 37.32 seconds	Messed up an F2L pair. Better luck next year :)
16	Ambie Valdes	USA	-59 minutes 37.32 seconds
17	Alex Mason	USA	-59 minutes 37 seconds	aww man i messed up on the cross...oh well
18	Raku Watari	USA	-59 minutes 36.46 seconds
19	William Fu	Canada	-59 minutes 35.05 seconds	Pretty fun.
20	Brian Le	USA	-59 minutes 32.94 seconds	Very horrible time. Messed up cross thats why...
21	Jeff Chiu	USA	-59 minutes 32.10 seconds	damn (dan and) jack daniels
22	Andrew Nelson	USA	-59 minutes 31.86 seconds	Started memo of my blindfold cube (memorized one CO) then quickly speedsolved this, then went back to a (roughly) 3 minute BLD solve.
23	Devin Corr-Robinett	USA	-59 minutes 31.54 seconds	yeah i should have printed out the scramble rather than have done the scramble, hide the cube, and sit there on a bed for 2 hours so i could have at least been warmed up. ohh well next year i will be at my own house doing it so it will be better >_<
24	Felix Lee	USA	-59 minutes 30.13 seconds
25	David Jiang	USA	-59 minutes 29.19 seconds	damn all these drunk people
26	Jordan Chen	USA	-59 minutes 29 seconds	Half blind; I took out my contacts before because eyes were dry.
27	Auston Sterling	USA	-59 minutes 28.84 seconds	So tired... That's a long time to stay awake...
28	Joseph Spadafora	USA	-59 minutes 24 seconds	I haven't solved in months....I used to average sub-20.....blech.
29	Stephanie Chow	USA	-59 minutes 22.88 seconds	damn smirnoff vodka
30	Connie Chen	USA	-59 minutes 17.94 seconds	damn stephanie's mixed drinks
31	Chris Ferguson	USA	-59 minutes 12 seconds
32	Daniel White	UK	-59 minutes 5 seconds
33	Howard Leung	Canada	-59 minutes 00 seconds	yep exactly 1 minute, i got slow, but then got a T at the end so it made up for the slowness.
34	Wuqiong Fan	China (in USA)	- 58 minutes 48 seconds	I live in Maryland, United States. I did this on Computer simulator, not actual cube, so it was half speed.
35	Jason Ding	Canada	-58 minutes 50.08 seconds
36	Elton Kong	USA	-58 minutes 29.38 seconds	damn you alex smith
37	Jackson Williams	USA	-57 minutes 35 seconds
N/A	Chuck Norris	Enforced Democracy of Chuck Norris	-60 minutes 1 seconds	Take that, 24 hour Jack Bauer

3x3 Blindfolded

Place	Name	Country	Negative Time	Comment
1	Leyan Lo	USA	-57 minutes 52.41 seconds	I was outside for 8 hours in the freezing cold for an orchestra film shoot. I'm glad I was able to complete a BLD successfully this year.
2	Shotaro Makisumi	Japan	-57 minutes 01.59 seconds	My first negative blindfold attempt. The memorization was easy, but I was so nervous and so the execution took really long.
3	Andrew Nelson	USA	-56 minutes 23.42 seconds	Wooo negative time
-	Lucas Garron	Germany (in USA)	DNF	By the blindfold of Mátyás Kuti! I forgot to start memo before the time change! Then I made some weird corner errors...

4x4 Blindfolded

Place	Name	Country	Negative Time	Comment
-	Lucas Garron	Germany (in USA)	DNF	Off by an r2 (how?) and two centers.

5x5

Place	Name	Country	Negative Time	Comment
1	Michael Gottlieb	USA	-57 minutes 28.99 seconds	Pretty good 5x5x5 time considering I did the 3x3x3 during it. I have a video.

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