Saul Hafting grew up reading the Guinness World Records books. Now he’s in one. “It’s awesome,” the 21-year-old Annapolis Royal resident said. “I am very excited to get a copy of my own and flip through it and see my name in it.”
Hafting set the unofficial record for the most rotating puzzle cubes (commonly known as a Rubik’s Cube) solved while on a pogo stick on Oct. 9, 2021. It was confirmed by Guinness World Records officials on Feb. 3, 2022.
[Did you know? The Rubik’s Cube was invented in 1974 by Ernő Rubik, a professor of architecture, in Budapest, Hungary.]
The previous record was 65. Hafting, who was 16 at the time, solved 211 cubes. While time is not part of the record, it took him an hour and 12 minutes. “I was certainly not sure how long my record would stand,” Hafting said. “If it ever gets broken, I know that I held it for many years, which is very satisfying.”
Not all records are contained in a printed copy of the book. They are all on the website and record-breakers receive a plaque. While Hafting was hopeful he would be included in a book, he wasn’t sure it was going to happen.
The fourth-year computer science student at Dalhousie University thought something was up when the Guinness World Record Instagram page, which has 11 million followers, followed him and sent him a direct message.
He later received an email saying he would be in the 2027 records book, which was released Sept. 8. For 70 years, the books have documented the incredible records people have set. More than 157 million books have been sold globally to date. This year’s book is available at major retailers across Canada, including Indigo, Costco, Walmart, Loblaws, McNally Robinson, Mastermind Toys, and Scholastic.
The recent news had Hafting thinking back to the group of committed volunteers who were at the Annapolis West Education Centre basketball courts in his hometown to help document his record-breaking day. “I am very grateful that they were all able to help me break the record.”
Hafting is going to Toronto on a media tour to help promote the book. “I was very honoured that they chose me,” he said. “My record is very unique … and quite the spectacle to see if I do a demonstration.”
Hafting said the record remains a conversation starter. “It’s the fun fact that I go to all the time,” he said. When he explains the record or someone asks him about the record, Hafting gets them to guess how many cubes he solved. “They always guess like 20 or 30,” Hafting said, noting it is 211. “They’re aways, always shocked.”
Content contributed by Jason Malloy, reported from Nova Scotia, Canada, sourced by saltwire.com
