Negative Time Solving Contest 2012
Partial Results
Accompanying Speedsolving.com thread and Facebook event 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 falls back one hour. DST (Daylight Saving Time) ends in most parts of the United States and Canada, DST ends at 2am on Sunday, November 4. See Time and Date.com to check the clock change schedule in your area.
The Contest
This challenge statement from 2004 by then-Caltech undergrad Tyson Mao pretty much explains it (original forum post).
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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
By submitting your time(s), you indicate your compliance to the following rules:
- Use the provided algorithm(s). As usual, take up to 15 seconds of inspection per solve.
- Begin every solve before daylight saving ends and complete every solve after it ends in your time zone. In the United States, for example, you must begin every solve (start the timer and turn the cube, not just inspection) before the first 2 AM and end every solve after the second 1 AM.
- Don't be an idiot! This is an unofficial contest. Please follow all rules you would when submitting a record to speedcubing.com.
For example, if you start at 1:59:55 and end at 1:00:07, record your time as -59 min 48 sec. Rule 2 means that you can compete in multiple events at the cost of some extra time in each of your solves (except one). A fun category would be "most cubes solved blindfolded in a negative time." The entire solve must be done within an hour, so you first have to decide on the number of cubes to attempt and think about when to start memorizing.
Thanks to Tyson Mao for bringing this great Caltech tradition to cubing. Good luck to everyone!
Useful tools for US cubers: The Official U.S. Time, Atomic Clock Time.
The Scrambles
This is the ONLY main Negative Time Solving Scramble for 2012. Do not use this scramble before the real attempt.
The following are additional 3x3 algorithms to be used only for 3x3 multi-BLD
- R' B U2 R' D' L' R2 F U2 L' B R2 F2 D' R2 F2 D B2 F2 L' R F' R2 U' L' R B2 L2 R2 U
- B U2 B' L' F U F D B F' D' F2 U B' L2 B2 F' U R' U' L B' L D B2 F2 D B2 F' L2
- R2 B U2 L' R U R' B U2 R B F2 L2 R F' D' R D2 L' U' L' B2 R' B' F' U' F2 D' F' U2
- B' L2 R' B' D B' D R B2 U2 B' R F U' B' R2 U F' D U2 L' R2 B' F' R' U R F L' R
- F L B2 F L R2 F' R' F2 L' B L2 B' U2 F R2 D2 F D' L' D' U2 F D' L2 R B2 F R' U2
- U2 F2 U2 L' D' L2 R' U' B F L2 R' D2 U F' L' D' U2 L R' B F' U L' F L B' F2 U2 L2
- B D2 L R' U' L2 B F' R2 U' F2 L' D' U' R F L2 F R' F' U' R B2 D B2 D B2 F' L D'
- U' B' F D2 B' L F' L' U2 R' D B2 F2 U L2 U2 L' R' U L D B2 F2 L' B2 F' L B' F' L2
- L R B2 U' L R' B' D B' L' U' L2 B' R2 B R2 B F' R' B2 D2 U L2 U2 B' D' U' B' F' D'
- R' U2 L' R2 B' R U B R2 U2 L B2 D U2 F' D2 U B2 U F' U' R2 B' F' U2 R' D2 L' R U'
- D2 R2 B' R' B' D' U2 L2 B2 L' R2 D2 B' D2 R B2 L' R' D' U2 R' F' L2 R' B' F' R2 B L F'
- F' R F2 U2 F' U2 F' R2 U
- Fw U2 Rw D' Uw R' B Fw' Uw' U2 F Rw' Uw' L Fw' Rw R2 Uw U' Fw2 R2 B' R' Uw2 F L Fw D Uw2 U' L2 U2 Fw2 Uw' R2 D' Rw' U' B R
- Fw R2 U' Lw' Rw2 Fw D2 Fw2 Lw' B' Fw' R U2 L2 Uw' B Fw' F2 D2 Dw Uw2 Rw R' Uw2 R' F D' R B' Dw' Lw U F D U R Uw' L' R' Bw2 F' Uw Rw2 U2 L2 B2 R2 U L R2 B2 Rw2 Uw F2 Rw' Fw2 Rw Bw' Rw2 U
Please let me know on the forum if you would like me to generate scrambles for some other puzzle. Or you can scramble other puzzles on your own.
Submit your results
The Results
3x3 Speedsolve
| Place | Name | Country | Negative Time | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| winner | Lars Petrus | USA | n/a | My timer battery gave up mid solve :( I think that means I won in some sense. |
| 1 | Andrew Kang | USA | -59 minutes, 50.39 seconds | |
| 2 | Harris Chan | Canada | -59 minutes, 50.22 seconds | Decent solve, despite that it's cold here :O |
| 3 | Felix Lee | USA | -59 minutes, 49.10 seconds | I was getting some pretty poor solves in preparation for this, so I'm really happy :D |
| 4 | Jules Manalang | USA | -59 minutes, 48.07 seconds | |
| 5 | AJ Blair | USA | -59 minutes, 47 seconds | |
| 6 | Justin Lin | USA | -59 minutes, 46.78 seconds | |
| 7 | Lucas Garron | Germany (in USA) | -59 minutes, 46.34 seconds | |
| 8 | Jeremy Fleischman | USA | -59 minutes, 45.695 seconds | Happy birthday Lars! |
| 9 | Michael Gottlieb | USA | -59 minutes, 44.34 seconds | Could probably have gone better. |
| 10 | Shotaro Makisumi | Japan | -59 minutes, 42.708 seconds | Happy birthday Lars! |
| 11 | Dan Dzoan | USA | -59 minutes, 42.250 seconds | Happy birthday Lars! |
| 12 | Vincent Sheu | USA | -59 minutes, 38.65 seconds | Popped :( |
| 13 | Devin Corr-Robinett | USA | -59 minutes, 36.65 seconds | lol |
| 14 | Daniel Lo | USA | -59 minutes, 34.7 seconds | |
| 15 | Scott | Rausch | -59 minutes, 33 seconds | |
| 16 | William Chen | USA | -59 minutes, 31 seconds | |
| 17 | Timothy Henderson | USA | -59 minutes, 30.90 seconds | |
| 18 | Connie Chen | USA | -59 minutes, 30 seconds | too sleepy and no dranks |
| 19 | Elan Katz | USA | -59 minutes, 27 seconds | First negative solve : D |
| 20 | Chris Tandiono | USA | -59 minutes, 25 seconds | |
| 21 | Alice Yu | USA | -58 minutes, 52.78 seconds | |
| 22 | Ian | USA | -58 minutes, 18 seconds | What fun! |
| 23 | Debbie Liu | USA | -57 minutes, 12 seconds | Happy birthday Lars! |
3x3 Blindfolded
| Place | Name | Country | Negative Time | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Noah Arthurs | USA | -59 minutes, 6.24 seconds | BEEP |
| 2 | Leyan Lo | USA | -58 minutes, 23.38 seconds | |
| 3 | Ranzha V. Emodrach | Smerbia | -58 minutes, 15.68 seconds | |
| 4 | Mike Hughey | USA | -57 minutes, 48.88 seconds | Awful - I'm too tired. That's why I didn't attempt something big. We ran a competition with 95 competitors today! (Well, yesterday.) |
| 4 | Lucas Garron | Germany (in USA) | -56 minutes, 36.79 seconds | First negative blindfolded success for me! :-) (Started memo before 2:00, did speedsolve inbetween.) |
3x3 Feet
| Place | Name | Country | Negative Time | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antoine Cantin | Canada | -58 minutes, 51 seconds | I suck at feet nowadays :P |
| 2 | Anthony Hsu | USA | -58 minutes, 0.87 seconds | My brother called me to be let in DURING my solve. I ignored his first call but messed up my OLL. I picked up his second call and talked to him while I continued to solve. Terrible time for me but I'm still glad I got under -58 minutes :). |
| 3 | Walker Welch | USA | -54 minutes, 16 seconds |
2x2x2-8x8x8 OH relay
| Place | Name | Country | Negative Time | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Gottlieb | USA | -9 minutes, 29.08 seconds | Do not attempt this stunt at home! |