Please Be Quiet Anchorage 2024

Inside the Egan Convention Center, the usual rapid clatter of plastic pieces giving way to sudden table drops was entirely absent. Instead, an absolute silence settled across the hall in Anchorage, Alaska, USA, where pencils scratched methodically against paper and competitors leaned over grids, mapping out turns in silence. The atmosphere demanded sustained concentration rather than frantic finger-tricks, offering an intense test of spatial reasoning on June 1, 2024.

This distinct environment defined Please Be Quiet Anchorage 2024, a specialized cubing competition dedicated to the disciplines that require deep stillness. Among these, 3x3x3 Fewest Moves stands out as the ultimate cerebral counterpoint to traditional speedcubing. Rather than solving a Rubik's Cube in seconds, competitors are given an hour, a pen, and paper to find the shortest possible sequence of moves, turning physical agility into methodical strategy.

A tight field of 5 competitors took on the challenge across five rounds of quiet events. In the 3x3x3 Fewest Moves event, Matthew Dickman captured first place with a winning average of 42.33 moves alongside a best single attempt of 39. His steady calculations earned him the top podium spot ahead of Isabella Wight, who took second place with an average of 46.33 moves and a single of 42, while Nick Silvestri finished third with a best single of 40.

Beyond the top steps of the podium, the slower, deliberate pace of the weekend offered meaningful milestones for the entire field. Dawn Latimer entered one event at the Egan Convention Center and took on her first ever attempt at 3x3x3 Fewest Moves, delivering a 53-move solution to earn a best finish of 5th place. Meanwhile, Payton Corey took on two events on the schedule and navigated the demanding move-count challenge to record a best single of 52 moves, taking 4th in the process.

The silent focus carried directly into the blindfolded categories, where competitors must fully memorize the scrambled puzzle before donning a blindfold to execute the solution entirely from memory. In the 3x3x3 Blindfolded round, Matthew Dickman led the field once again, putting together a winning average of 1:57.01 alongside a fastest single time of 1:46.29, pacing the four participants who took to the solving stations.

Nick Silvestri secured the second spot in the 3x3x3 Blindfolded event with a single solve of 3:27.12, followed closely by Isabella Wight in third place with a time of 3:49.96. The precision required to orient corners and edges without sight left little room for error, rewarding the steady hands and reliable recall that both solvers demonstrated throughout their attempts.

The complexity grew even steeper in the 4x4x4 Blindfolded and 3x3x3 Multi-Blind categories, where memorization loads test the limits of endurance. In the 4x4x4 Blindfolded event, Matthew Dickman achieved the sole successful finish among three competitors, clocking a single time of 11:10.00. He followed that up in Multi-Blind by successfully solving 2 out of 2 cubes in a time of 7:37 to lead the rankings.

The schedule wrapped with 5x5x5 Blindfolded, an event featuring Matthew Dickman as the sole entrant facing the immense challenge of the large cube from memory. Across all five disciplines at Please Be Quiet Anchorage 2024, the United States collected all 13 awarded podium positions, reflecting a compact but determined showing from the regional community.

For the competitors gathered in Anchorage, the day proved that speed cubing encompasses far more than sheer turning velocity. The silent concentration demanded by Fewest Moves and blindfolded disciplines tested depth of analysis, structured patience, and mental stamina. As this WCA competition concluded its 2024 program, the methodical 3x3 results logged on the scorecards served as a reminder of the quiet skill at the heart of the sport.