PBQtah 8 2025

A tight margin of just four moves separated the top two solvers in the 3x3x3 Fewest Moves contest, setting the tone for an intense day of specialized solving. When the sheets were scored at PBQtah 8 2025, Canyon Pettitt secured the victory with a mean of 35.00 moves across the attempts, edging out runner-up Akoy Gregory, who finished closely behind at 39.00 moves. Damian Wilding rounded out the podium in third place with a mean of 42.67. The event challenged solvers to dissect the standard Rubik's Cube with minimal rotations, proving that efficiency under pressure can come down to a handful of tactical choices.

Held on May 17, 2025, the tournament brought together 15 competitors at the Sorenson Student Center in Orem, Utah, USA. Featuring 5 events and 6 rounds of action, the gathering was designed for enthusiasts of non-traditional formats, placing a heavy focus on blindfolded disciplines and move optimization. Every podium spot across all disciplines was claimed by competitors representing the USA, making it a standout showcase of regional mastery across the blindfolded and fewest moves disciplines.

Jared Blanco delivered an extraordinary showing across the board, capturing three separate victories throughout the single-day WCA competition. In the classic 3x3x3 Blindfolded discipline, Blanco established his dominance early by recording a single solve of 24.53 seconds and an average of 26.37 seconds before taking the final round outright with a winning single time of 22.93 seconds. Brendan Bakker claimed second place with a time of 29.84 seconds, while Conlin Alzheimer took third place with a 56.93-second effort.

Blanco extended his commanding form into the complex memory events, winning the 3x3x3 Multi-Blind competition with an impressive tally of 12 out of 13 cubes solved in a time of 37:42. Canyon Pettitt followed in the silver position by delivering a flawless 6 out of 6 cubes in 41:57, while Brendan Bakker earned bronze by successfully navigating 9 out of 12 puzzles in 53:01. The event requires solvers to commit multiple cubes to memory before donning the blindfold, demanding remarkable endurance.

The larger puzzles without sight presented immense hurdles, yet Blanco once again rose to the top in 4x4x4 Blindfolded. Navigating the additional inner slice pieces and parity challenges entirely by memory, Blanco won the event with a single solve of 2:55.96. Canyon Pettitt earned his third podium of the meet by taking second place with a time of 13:03.00, and Damian Wilding secured third place with 23:08.00. In 5x5x5 Blindfolded, the demanding structure led to a shared outcome where Jared Blanco, Conlin Alzheimer, and Brendan Bakker all shared first place on the podium after registering DNF results.

Beyond the championship trophies, the day featured significant breakthroughs across the field that the primary podium tables do not fully reveal. Corbin Rodriguez notched a massive personal best in 3x3x3 Blindfolded, logging a time of 1:30.50 that was 34.9 percent faster than their previous benchmark of 2:19.11, alongside taking on four separate events and producing a Multi-Blind best of 2/3 in 16:28. Steven Morrise also produced a huge leap forward, cutting 27.3 percent off their blindfolded best to reach 1:51.09, while shaving 9.1 percent off their Fewest Moves mark down to 40 moves and achieving a 2/3 Multi-Blind result in 22:22.

First-time event entries also provided major highlights as competitors expanded their repertoires at PBQtah 8 2025. Elliot Pimentel completed a first-ever attempt at 3x3x3 Fewest Moves with a count of 40 to finish 4th, while cutting 22.9 percent off their 3x3x3 Blindfolded personal best down to 1:00.46 across four entered events. Harrison Rex Wride tackled two events, logging a first-ever attempt in Fewest Moves of 48 to finish 6th, and a first-ever Blindfolded result of 5:49.59. Miles LeBlanc took on three events and secured a 7th-place finish in Multi-Blind after attempting Fewest Moves for the first time with a score of 52. Lewis Isom earned a 7th-place finish in Fewest Moves across two events, Samuel Baird took 7th in Multi-Blind, and Cade Beck placed 7th in Multi-Blind across three events.

The depth of skill exhibited throughout the cubing competition highlighted the technical growth happening across the regional speed cubing scene. Competitors traded insights on commutators, cycle tracking, and orientation schemes between rounds at the Sorenson Student Center. From the decisive blindfolded runs to the thoughtful deliberations of move efficiency, the single-day gathering tested mental resilience in every format.

As the schedule concluded, the 3x3 results and blindfolded achievements from PBQtah 8 2025 underscored a memorable chapter for speedcubing in Utah. With solvers reaching new personal milestones and mastering memory puzzles of increasing scale, the community showed how high the bar has been raised as the next season approaches.