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Fast-fingered nerds vie at Rubik's Cube

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BUDAPEST, Hungary, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Masters of the Rubik’s Cube have gathered in Hungary to mark the 25th anniversary of the first international competition.

The mostly male crowd at the Rubik’s Cube Games in Budapest know tricks such as using silicon spray for a faster cube and shaving connectors to make sure the cube does not lock up at a critical moment, The Telegraph reports.

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The winning time is expected to be considerably faster than the 22 seconds taken by the champion in 1982. The top competitors today can solve the cube in under 10 seconds.

Annica Molin of Sweden is one of the few women competing.

“Not everybody can solve it so this is like a club, a nerdy club, and mostly a boys’ club,” she said.

The favorites this year appear to be two groups of teens, one from France, the other from Japan.

Erno Rubik, the Hungarian architect who invented the cube in 1974, is to present the grand prize Sunday.

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