Hi, and welcome to my website. My name is Shotaro Makisumi, or "macky" for short. I'm a Japanese citizen who moved to the United States in 2001. I'm currently an undergrad majoring in mathematics at Princeton University.
About This Site
 I've been signing cubes this way since 2004. The times are my records at the time: 12.97 3x3 average, 11.31 single, and 1:39.56 3x3 blindfolded single. |
Cubefreak is a site about speedcubing (solving a Rubik's Cube quickly) and blindfold cubing (solving a cube blindfolded). It features the algorithms I use for the Fridrich method, descriptions of miscellaneous speedcubing techniques, a guide for blindfold, videos, and links to other cubing and puzzle pages. Feel free to look around, and don't hesitate to send me suggestions and comments. |
My Cube Bio
I began cubing when I was 8 or 9 and discovered speedcubing in the summer of 2002. I wasted a lot of time on this puzzle in seventh and eighth grades. Using the Fridrich method, I achieved my initial goal of averaging under 20 seconds in about a year. In another year, I reached sub-15 to become one of the world's fastest speedcubers at the time.
I was fortunate enough to live in Southern California in 2004, when Tyson Mao began holding competitions at California Institute of Technology. I was the first to achieve a sub-15 average in competition and once held seven official world records (and three stupid Guinness records) recognized by World Cube Association, which Tyson, along with Ron van Bruchem and Chris Hardwick, founded the same year. In October, 2005, I traveled to Orlando, Florida to compete in the World Championship 2005, where I placed third. The CubeFreak documentary explores the cubing phenomenon through my and several other cubers' journey until WC05.
By the end of 2006, with new talents emerging thanks to the resurging popularity Rubik's Cube and the level of competition rising quickly, I lost most of my world records. As of the end of 2007, however, I still remain one of the fastest cubers in the world. You can see my records and how the average continued to be improved in the WCA record database (select Until 2004, 2005, etc for "Years").
I also started blindfold cubing in the winter of 2002. As one of the first to participate in this category in official competitions, I held the world record until 2004. As a result of my encouragement, there are now many blindfold cubers at Caltech, who have taught many others in the area. As of 2007, Souther Califoria remains one of the most competitive places in the world for blindfold cubing.
Some Basic Information
Name: Shotaro Makisumi
It's not "Shotade" or "Chotaro" as some newspapers have spelled, and it's definitely not "Sotaro" OR "Sotari Makiszumi".)
Date of Birth: March 21, 1990
Hobbies: twisty puzzles, juggling, mathematics (I've qualified three times for USAMO (8th, 10th, 11th grade) and have attended Canada/USA Mathcamp for two summers ('05, '06)), Xanga, learning languages, speed solitaire (my record: 35/20412 XP), DDR (my best scores can be found on DD:Recall under the same screenname I use for AIM), pen spinning