A pair of brothers with a shared love of puzzle cubes teamed up to snatch an impressive four record titles between them.
15-year-old Wang Yibo and 13-year-old Wang Guanbo from Qingdao, Shandong Province, China, have been fans of puzzle cubes since they were young.
Working together, they smashed three records in one sitting to add to one the eldest brother had already earned, taking home a collection of shiny framed certificates, along with plenty of bragging rights.
Firstly, the siblings attempted to achieve the fastest time to solve a rotating puzzle cube (3x3x3) by a team of two and broke the record with a time of 12.01 seconds.
The impressive time was achieved through years of practice, with Wang Yibo first picking up a rotating puzzle when he was in primary school, and Wang Guanbo starting even earlier when he was in kindergarten.
Shortly after smashing their joint record, the older brother broke the record for the fastest time to solve 5 rotating puzzle cubes with one hand with a time of 1 minute 0.91 seconds.
Wang Yibo then went on to grab the title for fastest time to solve a rotating puzzle cube whilst dribbling a basketball with a time of 14.35 seconds.
And Wang Guanbo bagged the record for fastest time to solve a 2x2x2 rotating puzzle cube back in November 2022 at the Northside Spring Saturday 2022 competition in Australia with a time of 0.47 seconds.
"In 2018, I participated in the World Cube Association's (WCA) competition for the first time and have competed every year since," said Wang Yibo, who ranks first in China in the WCA overall average score currently.
"In 2019, my mother had took us to participate in 21 domestic and international WCA Rubik's Cube competitions."
The inspiration for the record attempt came in 2019 when the brothers saw a video of two people solving a Rubik's Cube underwater, with them starting to practise together in a swimming pool.
Because of their experience, they had a good chance of breaking the record.
Unfortunately, in the same year, the brothers missed the opportunity to take part in a Guinness World Records attempt on TV show Impossible Challenge.
Subsequently, the pandemic made all competitions and activities stop, which made them more eager than ever to attempt the challenge.
"It's not easy for us to solve a 3x3x3 cube together because my younger brother and I use different algorithms. My brother is a 2x2x2 player, and he has fewer algorithms for 3x3x3. We often have different solving methods, so we need to communicate and try to use algorithms that both of us know to restore the cube," Wang Yibo shared.
At the same time, Wang Yibo, who has an advantage in solving 3x3x3 cubes, incorporated his love of basketball into his challenge ideas.
He said: "My average time for solving a 3x3x3 with one hand is 10.10 seconds, ranking third in China. I tried to dribble the basketball behind my back with one hand and restore the cube with the other hand. Many people were watching! So, I designed a new challenge.
"Being able to win the title of three Guinness World Records at once is like a dream come true! Plus, my brother's 2x2x2 record, I am so excited! I want to thank our mother the most, as she has been encouraging us to pursue our dreams and has been particularly supportive of me and my brother playing with Rubik's Cubes."
The fun of the challenge keeps the two brothers going, and they already have their sights set on more record titles.
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