Cool Down Berkeley 2025

154 competitors gathered at Lower Sproul Plaza on November 2, 2025, turning the venue into a buzzing arena of turning speed and fingertip precision. Speedcubing demands distinct physical skills across every format, but solitary manual dexterity sits at the core of puzzle solving. Cool Down Berkeley 2025 brought five varied events across 11 rounds to Berkeley, California, USA, challenging participants to demonstrate mechanical efficiency, lookahead, and control under competitive conditions.

The premier 3x3x3 Cube contest stood as the weekend centerpiece, drawing an enormous field of 152 competitors through three stages of competition. Neo Cuares of the Philippines proved unmatched across the three rounds, capturing first place with a winning average of 6.04 seconds alongside the tournament best single of 5.61 seconds. The final 3x3 results confirmed a tightly contested podium, with Zerui Cheng taking second place on a 6.48 average and Danny Sungin Park securing third with a 6.58 mark.

Cuares extended his supremacy well beyond the standard Rubik's Cube, capturing two additional tournament titles in commanding fashion. In the 4x4x4 Cube, which featured 90 solvers, Cuares locked up victory with a 26.61 average and a blistering 21.71 single. Varun Mohanraj claimed second place at 27.29 seconds, while Dan Pastushkov finished third with an average of 27.71. Cuares then tackled the twelve-sided Megaminx, capturing his third title with a 36.03 winning average and a 32.83 single, holding off Varenya Jyotiraditya at 36.69 and Calix Tang at 47.19.

The 2x2x2 Cube event presented its own brand of explosive speedcubing over two rapid rounds featuring 105 entrants. Will Callan delivered a masterclass in swift execution, winning the final with an average of 1.22 seconds and posting a weekend-best 1.03 single. Sebastian Stone locked down second place with a 2.01 average, edging out Ethan Jan who earned third place with a 2.03 average. The event proved exceptionally lively across the board, producing dozens of personal bests and regional benchmark attempts throughout the morning.

Blindfolded solving introduced pure mental discipline to the tournament schedule, as 25 solvers took on the 3x3x3 Blindfolded challenge. Success in the event requires total memorisation of piece positions followed by execution completely shielded from sight. Calix Tang took the victory with a remarkable 17.92 single time in the final round. Anto Kam of Hong Kong claimed second place with a single of 32.80 seconds, and Ethan Jan added another podium finish to his day by taking third place with a 42.92 mark.

Beyond the title fights at Cool Down Berkeley 2025, individual breakthroughs told the deeper story across the tables. Jaden Liu achieved the biggest single-event drop of the tournament, lowering his 3x3x3 Cube personal best to 12.38 seconds, a 59.8 percent improvement over his prior 30.78 mark. Micah Schindel chopped his 4x4x4 Cube best by 53.9 percent down to 1:50.22 while improving his 2x2x2 Cube mark to 6.28 seconds. Matthew C. Tam entered three events and delivered personal bests across all of them, cutting his 4x4x4 Cube mark by 42.1 percent to 48.55, his 3x3x3 Cube time by 26.4 percent to 10.03, and his 2x2x2 Cube time to 4.87.

Several competitors pushed into unfamiliar territory by tackling new events for the first time at this WCA competition. Benjamin Forman contested four events, earning an 11th-place finish in 2x2x2 Cube with a personal best of 1.56 seconds and logging his first ever Megaminx attempt in 2:37.34. Nathan Huo logged his first 4x4x4 Cube attempt at 1:08.21 while securing personal bests of 4.79 in 2x2x2 Cube and 13.11 in 3x3x3 Cube. Gavin Ridenour registered first-ever marks in three events, posting 6.86 in 2x2x2 Cube, 1:45.25 in 4x4x4 Cube, and 3:01.58 in Megaminx. Brandon Chou improved his 3x3x3 Cube mark by 33.5 percent to 15.39 alongside a first 2x2x2 Cube time of 4.85, while Victor Mao notched his first 2x2x2 Cube result at 7.55 and lowered his 3x3x3 Cube time by 34.2 percent to 25.14.

Across eleven hard-fought rounds, Cool Down Berkeley 2025 showcased the technical range demanded by modern speed cubing. United States competitors secured 11 total podium positions, the Philippines took three through Cuares' sweep, and Hong Kong earned one podium finish. The single-day cubing competition concluded with memorable milestones across five events, demonstrating the depth of talent throughout the region as solvers look forward to the next turn of the racing calendar.