Creativity Makers 2023

Four minutes, seventeen seconds and one hundredth of a second was all it took for Zakarya Otair to conquer the largest puzzle on the schedule at Creativity Makers 2023. Staged on February 7, 2023, the gathering at the Creativity Makers Center in Amman, Jordan brought together an elite group of 3 competitors tackling five grueling events across 5 rounds. While small in athlete count, the single-day WCA competition showcased supreme endurance on complex puzzles that require deep concentration and hundreds of mechanical turns.

The heavy hardware of big cubes formed the core identity of the tournament in Amman. Puzzles such as the 6x6x6 and 7x7x7 cubes demand physical stamina along with sustained mental sharpness, as a single misaligned layer can unravel minutes of intricate work. Speedcubing at this scale transforms into a true endurance discipline, where solvers must manage hand fatigue while tracking dozens of center pieces, paired edges, and intricate parity algorithms across long, unbroken stretches of intense solving.

Zakarya Otair established himself as the standard-bearer on the big cubes throughout the event. In the 7x7x7 Cube final, Otair was the sole challenger on the board, but he delivered a commanding series of solves. He locked in a national record single of 4:17.01 alongside a national record average of 4:43.18 to claim the victory. It was a remarkable demonstration of consistency, showing the precision required to keep large layers moving rapidly without succumbing to lockups or physical exhaustion.

The 6x6x6 Cube competition offered a three-way battle among the Jordanian contingent, but Otair once again set the pace. He posted a best single of 2:36.15, which established a new national record for Jordan, on his way to an average of 2:53.26 to secure the top step of the podium. Kamel Hammouri mounted a solid chase, finishing in second place with a single of 3:11.19 and an average of 3:18.98, while Baha Alshwaiki earned third place with an average of 4:08.09 after a single of 3:50.93.

Beyond standard turning speed, the big-cube challenges in Amman extended into the unforgiving realm of memory-based solving. Solving large puzzles without sight requires extensive memorization phases where athletes must encode hundreds of piece positions into mental images before donning a blindfold. Otair stepped up to the table for the 4x4x4 Blindfolded discipline, navigating the layered parity cases and edge cycles to record a national record single of 3:06.17, earning first place despite concluding with a DNF average.

The physical and mental demands reached their peak in the 5x5x5 Blindfolded contest. Facing a massive memory burden, Otair conquered the puzzle with a national record single of 10:10.00 to finish alone at the top of the standings at Creativity Makers 2023. Balancing complex memory palaces with execution on a 5x5 mechanism requires immense patience, and surviving the ten-minute marathon underscored the exceptional focus on display during the single-day speed cubing schedule.

The program departed from rapid turning to feature a cerebral battle in 3x3x3 Fewest Moves, where competitors spend an hour analyzing scrambles derived from the classic Rubik's Cube to find the shortest possible solution. Kamel Hammouri delivered a masterclass in efficiency, producing a best single of 27 moves alongside a national record average of 38.67 moves to capture the gold medal. His analytical approach stood out as both Alshwaiki and Otair registered DNF results, leaving Hammouri as the outright winner.

While general enthusiasts often focus on standard 3x3 results, the specialized schedule in Amman highlighted the technical variety found across competitive cubing. Every single medal awarded went to representatives of Jordan, accounting for all 9 podium places across the five contested disciplines. The clean sweep across the event schedule demonstrated the expanding depth and technical capability within the nation's puzzle community, particularly in long-format and memory-intensive categories.

As the final timers were cleared at Creativity Makers 2023, the event closed with five new national records entered into the official books. Otair walked away with four event victories spanning 6x6x6, 7x7x7, 4x4x4 Blindfolded, and 5x5x5 Blindfolded, while Hammouri took the Fewest Moves crown. This high-focus cubing competition highlighted the remarkable endurance needed at the higher end of twisty puzzles, setting a strong benchmark for the Jordanian scene heading into the next competitive cycle.