♪♪ [LISA KUCALA] This is the second annual event that we've had in Saint Ansgar, Iowa.

I like these smaller kind of small town local competitions.

They're really fun.

We have competitors from all ages.

They are anywhere from six to you know, today the oldest competitor I think is 63.

So that would be my husband.

[KYLER CHURCH] I went to my first competition in Minnesota and I'm like, I can't keep going like 2 or 3 hours away to competition.

So I'm like, I should just try to bring one here.

It's nice to bring people in for like a social event where everyone's just brought together.

Everyone speaks the same language pretty much.

[LISA KUCALA] Competitions are, you know, you're only competing for a couple minutes throughout the day, but everybody stays all day and they hang out and they cube with their friends and they share what they know and they celebrate their personal best because not everybody can win, right?

But everybody is really supportive and it's a great community.

♪♪ [ROBERT] My name is Robert.

I'm from Cedar Rapids and my favorite event is three by three.

[BOY 1] My favorite event is three by three.

[BOY 2] My favorite event is three by three.

[WILLIAM] Hi, my name is William.

I'm from Davenport, Iowa and my favorite event is clock.

[BOY 3] My favorite event is two by two.

[LISA KUCALA] So there are 17 official speedcubing events.

For a given kind of local one day competition, we might have 5 or 6 events.

[GIRL 1] My favorite event is Pyraminx.

[BOY 4] Pyraminx.

[KAYLEE JACKSON] My name is Kaylee Jackson.

I'm from Iowa City, Iowa and my favorite event is Skewb.

♪♪ [MAX MCGILL] Most people don't consider it me against other people.

They consider it me against my own personal records and me against the cube.

At my first competition, like the fastest people sat at a table together and I remember calling it the fast table, and I was like, wondering if I'd ever get to sit at the table and I would get excited about meeting the fast cubers, and I would go up and watch them solve.

And it's kind of crazy to me like in three years, I'm like, now one of the fast people.

♪♪ [MAX MCGILL] I got my first clock about three months after solving my first three by three.

♪♪ [MAX MCGILL] 3.32.

[MAX MCGILL] And eventually I realized I was way better at the clock than the other events.

So I committed to it.

And that's how I reached top 25 in the world.

♪♪ [MAGGIE MCGILL] Well, it was kind of like when Max got into anything his whole life, when he gets into something, he like really gets into it.

So there had been some phases before cubing of like monster trucks or American Ninja Warrior.

[MIKE MCGILL] Periodic table.

[MAGGIE MCGILL] Periodic, yeah.

So when he got into cubing, it was kind of like, oh, this is a thing he'll be into intensely for a while.

But this has definitely stuck the longest of all of his interests.

[MAX MCGILL] It's the best selling toy in the world, and people have always wanted to figure out how to solve it.

Then once you do figure out how to solve it, it's just kind of like, how fast can I get for some people.

And we'd always had one around the house, and eventually I decided to watch a YouTube video to learn how to solve it.

And it took me like two months, but eventually I did learn how to solve it.

[MAGGIE MCGILL] I remember taking him to his first competition, in it was 2023, and he had been solving at home for about six months and talking about it, and he didn't know anybody there.

So it was all strangers.

And they just start talking in this language that was like really heartwarming, kind of as a parent to be like, oh, there's other kids that are interested in this, and it's fun to get to see him have that experience.

[MAX MCGILL] The hardest part about learning to solve a cube is probably memory and remembering algorithms is what they're called, which are sequences of moves used to solve the cube.

[MAX MCGILL] The clock actually is like the only event that doesn't have algorithms, which I don't really like learning algorithms.

I find it kind of boring.

That's part of why I was drawn to the clock.

I kind of started getting good at it, and I realized if I keep practicing this, I could get world class at it.

And eventually last November, I got my times down under three seconds in competition and was 15th in the world.

♪♪ [MIKE MCGILL] We go to a club in Johnston at the library like once a month where kids get together, local Des Moines area kids and they, you know, talk about cubing, talk about upcoming competitions.

Three years in, where I'm at now is I enjoy going to competitions because I see people that I know now.

And so you really get to build a relationship with these folks and their kids.

So that's, I enjoy the social aspect of being able to connect.

[MAX MCGILL] My younger sister knows how to solve a clock, and she's competed a couple of times, and my older sister recently learned how to solve a three by three cube.

[MIKE MCGILL] There's not like an official seniors division, but there are like unofficial rankings of seniors, and I'm pretty happy to show that I'm a top ten in the United States for people over 40.

(laughter) ♪♪ [MAX MCGILL] Competing in the Heartland Championships, it's definitely different from other competitions.

The way I thought of it was that I had like a home field advantage.

I'm usually not too worried about other people's solving, and I just focus on my own because, like, I have no control of what times other people get.

I was against someone who was ranked second in the world.

He's from North Dakota.

It was kind of stressful because he and I were kind of like trading, like he would beat me on one solve and I would beat him on the next solve.

I did like a quick calculation in my head, I knew I had to get like a decent time on the last solve if I wanted to win.

And I ended up beating him by a little bit and winning the Heartland Champion.

And it was really exciting because I had a ton of family cheering me on, and it helped me focus and win.

(cheering) [MAGGIE MCGILL] I just am amazed to see him keep progressing.

And it's funny, he was talking about his first competition when he was so excited to get it, and he asked me to take his picture at that competition with a kid who's a top cuber.

And I have this picture of little Max and this kid, and now they're competing on the same, you know, similar levels.

[MAN'S VOICE OFF-CAMERA] And in first place, let's hear it for Max McGill.

(applause) [MAGGIE MCGILL] I just never thought it would get to this point.

And now that we are at this point, it's really fun and just kind of exciting to see how much farther it could go.

[MIKE MCGILL] When our kids were little, I always thought that I don't want to spend our weekends doing travel sports, and then suddenly we're all in on cubing and we're kind of traveling all over the Midwest and across the United States.

[MAGGIE MCGILL] He's aiming for worlds next year in Sweden, so we're considering that but -- [MIKE MCGILL] We'll see.

[MAGGIE MCGILL] Yeah.

♪♪♪