Fargo Fall 2017 competition

On Sunday, November 12th, I joined a few friends for the Fargo Fall 2017 cubing competition.

I started the morning early, meeting Sean #1 and Sean #2 at 4AM. We loaded up the car and headed out, pausing for a coffee on the outskirts of the city. We passed the Canada-US border, down through Grand Forks, and arrived at the competition hotel just as the sun was beginning to suggest itself on the horizon. We connected to the free WiFi, located a McDonald's nearby, and had a quick breakfast before returning for registration.

Apparently McDonald's bribes customers for positive reviews...

I had brought an assortment of interesting twisties with me, and as I emptied my bag, my table quickly became a point of interest. Various cubers filed past to inspect the 13x13, or try to scramble the Clover Cube, and I was kept busy keeping an eye on my puzzles to make sure none wandered away.

Soon enough, the competition started and I was called for the first round of the 3x3. My times were somewhat disappointing; although I wasn't expecting anything better than around 40 seconds, I was still frustrated with the first two solves, each taking around a minute. I had a lucky scramble on solve #3, finishing in 35 seconds, but on solve #5 my puzzle exploded catastrophically, leaving me with a time of 1:45.

After the first round, one gentleman who had been peering at my Shapeways puzzles came up and introduced himself: "I go by RCPongo on the forums..." Of course, I was familiar with his work; he has managed to produce some rather impressive puzzles on his home FDM 3D printer. To my delight, he had brought with him a selection of his designs, including a few experimental and unfinished designs.

One truncated, the other not

Nathan Wilson version on the left, RCPongo version on the right

The turning is fantastic!

Independently discovered by RCPongo and M. Beach

3D Printed!

Next up for me was the 2x2 round, and I found myself with times between 20 and 30 seconds. No world records over here, for sure, but then again I've hardly picked up a 2x2 in the past year, let alone tried to solve it quickly.

Finally, I borrowed a rather stiff pyraminx for my last event. Current speedsolvers can usually tackle the pyraminx in less than 10 seconds, but I was solving without any algorithms, and my first two solves took more than a minute each. To my slight dismay, after my second solve the judge invited me to take my puzzle and return to my table. Apparently, if a competitor can't solve the pyraminx in less than a minute, they are automatically disqualified after the first two attempts. Oh well.

A small group of us wandered over to a nearby mall for lunch, and us Canadians, uninitiated as we are to the gun culture in the US, had a bit of a giggle taking pictures of the "No Firearms" sticker on the mall entrance.After a bit of a false start, we tracked down a small stall selling some common puzzles, and I picked up a Rubik's Bear puzzle for fun.

Silly Americans.

Rubik's Bear 1x2x3

We made our way back to the hotel, and I discussed various 3D printing and production methods with Mr. RCPongo for a bit. We worked out a few possible ways that I could help, and I grabbed his e-mail address. Look forward to some exciting things from the pair of us in the future...

Since my own participation was done, I wandered across the street to a local gas station to peruse the selection of desirable American snacks, especially those that aren't usually available to Canadian consumers like me. I picked up a few items and meandered back towards the hotel, where I realized that I hadn't brought enough sugar-free energy drinks to keep me awake for the rest of the day. I found a comfortable couch in the lobby and had a bit of a nap, then took out my phone and played Alto's Adventure (a strangely addictive downhill skiing game) until the competition was over.

Delicious! Except the Starbuck's drink, that wasn't fantastic.

Finally, we left the hotel, stopping again at McDonald's for dinner (the food was not desirable, trust me) then headed home. We stopped a few more times at American gas stations, where my collection of foodstuffs grew, then at a parcel service near the border, where I grabbed a recent auction win.

4 Japanese Puzzle Boxes and one former Japanese Puzzle Box. Also included
Bonus Dog Postage Stamps.

Opposite side of one of the boxes.

Overall, the day was decently enjoyable despite my questionable performance. I made a new connection and grabbed a few new toys (plus a bunch of calories). A local television station actually did a short feature, too, and you can see that here.