A 21-year-old Dalhousie computer science student is now one of several record holders listed in the Guinness World Records 2027 edition.
Saul Hafting of Annapolis Royal broke an absurd record in 2021, when he was 16 years old. During the pandemic lockdowns, he set a goal for himself: he would solve the most rotating puzzle cubes while bouncing on a pogo stick.
“My parents would always get me the Guinness World Records books, and I’d always read through them, and I was always super interested in Guinness World Records,” says Hafting in an interview with The Coast. “I thought that everyone who had a record was the coolest person in the world.”
Hafting was also a fan of rotating block puzzles, having competed in several competitions according to the World Cube Association.
“Grade 6 is when my interest started,” he says. “I had a friend that brought a Rubik’s cube on a camping trip with us and he was able to solve it in, like, five minutes. It was so cool to me.”
After the camping trip, he would get his own cube and quickly learned how to solve it using an online manual. Hafting would practice for six years, improving his times until he could solve the cube in about eleven seconds, on average. This is also around the time he would start competing in World Cube Association events.
“When you’re younger, there’s so many younger kids who are into it, so you can meet a lot of like-minded people and solve Rubik’s cubes with them and compete,” he says.
The record
So, when did the pogo stick enter the equation?
Pairing his love for rotating block puzzles with his interest in Guinness World Records, Hafting would look for a record that involved his passion in a unique way. That’s where he saw the record for most rotating block puzzles solved while on a pogo stick.
“I knew I was pretty athletic, pretty coordinated,” Hafting says. “I thought maybe I could do a pogo stick with it. I had never used a pogo stick in my life.”
He told his mother about the idea, and she bought her son a pogo stick online.
“I was kind of a natural,” he says.
He was able to bounce on it consistently in a matter of time. With enough practice, he could do it with no hands and solve a Rubik’s cube. However, to beat the record, he would have to do it for an hour straight.
“Over the summer before I did the record, maybe four months, I would practice,” Hafting says. “I just kind of go for as along as I could. It would start with five minutes and then I would fall off or get tired. Then, very slowly over the weeks, I got to forty-five minutes, which I was quite happy with.”
Eventually, he would have to do a true record attempt. When he did, he could feel the adrenaline pumping. Yet, he wasn’t focused on what he was feeling at the time.
“The record before me was 65,” he says. “That was the mark to beat.”
His focus was on crushing that record.
Over the span of one hour and 12 minutes. The longest he’d ever been on the pogo solving puzzles.
“I wanted to truly get to my limits and stop when I couldn’t go anymore.”
That’s exactly what he did.
Hafting’s first goal was the original record: 65 rotating block puzzles solved. Time slowly crawled as he hopped and solved. Hopped and solved. Hopped and solved.
Eventually, he did it. He solved 65 rotating block puzzles while on a pogo stick.
In his perception, time began to fly by.
“I got past 65, and then I got to a hundred, and 150,” Hafting says. “All of a sudden, I was over 200.”
However, for all his athleticism, his body was restlessly aching from the pogo stick.
“My knees were killing me. I had to stop because I couldn’t go any further.”
His final puzzle was number 211. Hafting had solved 211 rotating block puzzles while bouncing on a pogo stick for one hour and 12 minutes.
These days, Hafting plays rotating block puzzles casually, more as a “fidget toy”, he says. However, he’s interested in getting back in competing and says he is actively looking for local competitions, many of which died out during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As for solving puzzles while on a pogo stick, he’s begun practicing again now that is record is in the Guinness World Records 2027 edition.
“I was not as good as I used to be, but I can still do it,” says Hafting.
Through all the practice, falls, hurt knees and aching hands, Hafting wouldn’t have considered himself a potential Guinness World Record holder when he first picked up a Rubik’s cube while camping with his friend all those years ago. Yet, with time and dedication, he managed to obliterate the previous record.
“If you dedicate yourself and don’t give up, anything’s possible,” he says. “I never thought I would be any good. I didn’t think I would be good enough at something where I could (hold) the Guinness World Record title.
“I did it, so I feel like anyone could if they put their mind to it.”
The Guinness World Records 2027 edition is out now.
