Solving Scopher: The Rubik’s Cube Genius

Scott+Scopher+Sinnickson+poses+with+one+of+his+Rubiks+Cubes%2C+after+solving+it+in+under+a+minute

Scott “Scopher” Sinnickson poses with one of his Rubik’s Cubes, after solving it in under a minute

“Rubik’s Cube?” says The Uninformed One, “Ha! A thing of the past! A relic of the 1980s, a way for Cold War-era strategists to spend time in the boring hours between nuclear missile scares.”

“No,” says The Wise One, “The Rubik’s Cube is as much a thing of the present as of the past. What you think has died out in fact lives on through the teachings of the Solvers of the Cube.”

So it is, likewise, at Westhampton Beach High School, the institution attended by one Scott “Scopher” Sinnickson, Cuber Extraordinaire. Scopher, a senior, has been cubing for 8 years now, practicing daily to maintain both his 40-second best time and his legendary reputation as the school’s cubing master. “I plan on participating in a cubing competition at some point,” he says. The hobby, a budding flower in the mind of (at the time, obviously) 8-year-old Scopher came to fruition when in his free time he found some old YouTube videos that helped him learn to solve it.

As does any legend, so does Scopher have a  following. The more notable disciples of his include junior Marlin Neninger and seniors Caldwell B. Graham and Katie Torr. “Scopher was definitely a big influence in getting me to start cubing,” says Torr, “but I think Marlin Neninger was the biggest influence, so I got my own cube a month ago and I’ve been using my free time to practice ever since.” Her time is a little over four minutes, she admits modestly; “I’m by no means a pro like Scott.”

Graham got his inspiration directly from Scopher himself. He got his first cube, a speedcube, over the summer, thinking he could figure it out on his own. “I have never been so wrong,” he admitted. But after Scopher intervened and switched Graham’s for his own standard-issue Cube, he eased him into the learning process, after which Graham “caught on with remarkable speed.” Now, thanks to Scopher’s teachings, he lowered his record time from “a few months” to 90 seconds.

Throughout the time that students – and teachers – at WHBHS have revered Scott’s legendary cubing, he has been a light of guidance and loving support, shining his endless benevolence and encouragement down on generations of youngling cubing-grommets. “If Scott were bad at Rubik’s Cubes,” says senior John Tocco, “he wouldn’t be Scott.”