Meet this young Kelowna speedcubing wizard

Kelowna’s Mattias Haugli sits at the kitchen table and picks up one of the dozens of colourful hand-sized contraptions in front of him.

He slaps the timer device, goes into full focus mode with his fingers a blur of movement.

In a matter of seconds, the pattern on the geometric cube in his palm is resolved, the timer button slammed to stop and a celebratory ‘yes!’ is exhaled by the young expert.

At just 10 years old Haugli is a speedcuber - or speed solver- and is set for his first international competition in Seattle this coming weekend.

He’ll be one of 200 people taking on various challenges over 24 hours for the official World Cube Association sanctioned event… not bad considering he’s only been tackling the puzzles for ten months.

“I saw a YouTube post on how to solve a 2x2 [inch] Rubik's Cube,” he told Kelowna10. “I eventually solved it, and I was like, 'oh, this isn’t so hard, I should practice this more often.'”

The bug had bitten. Haugli went on to 3x3, 4x4, and 5x5 cubes and then his mom bought him his first speed cube and that’s when he really started to get fast.

Now, with a collection of 37 different cubes of varying shapes and sizes Haugli is moving into the realm of competition.

His best time on the so-called Gan 11M 3x3 cube is 13.35 seconds although he admits his average time is around the 18 or 19 second mark.

So, what does it take to become a speedcuber?

“Be patient with your learning; not all speedcubers learn superfast like me,” he explained. “And if you ever think that you can’t do something, try it again.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, the Chute Lake Elementary School student’s favourite subject is math, but he’s also into baseball.

And, not unlike any youngster who has their heroes to follow, Haugli can’t wait to see some of the world’s top speed cubers he’s been watching on YouTube come the competition in Seattle Saturday into Sunday. That list includes Asher Kim-Magierek, 16, who has the official North American record with a 3x3 cube of just 3.89 seconds.

Haugli is being realistic about his own chances.

“I’m so excited to meet cubers from all over the world. I’ve made it a goal to get at least one time in competition under 20 seconds,” he said.

Watching him do his thing at the kitchen table, it looks like he’s ready to achieve his goals.