"Cubing basically saved Max's life": Max Park's dad on how puzzle cubes shaped his world

The father of legendary US record breaker Max Park says speed cubing saved his life.

The 24-year-old was diagnosed with autism at the age of two, and finding a love for solving Rubik’s Cubes helped him understand the world and the people in it.

His dad Schwan says he doesn’t know what Max’s life would look like today if he hadn’t found a passion for cubing.

He told us during a visit to Guinness World Records HQ in London with Max and fellow cuber Feliks Zemdegs: “Cubing basically saved Max’s life.

“Without cubing we really truly can’t imagine where he would be, what his life would look like.

“Aside from all the notoriety and success from cubing competitions and winning, he’s achieved so much from social interactions that he might not have had otherwise.

“We owe that all to cubing. 100%.”

Schwan, who shares Max with wife Miki, says cubing has helped Max understand how to interact with people and taught him how to lose and be okay with it.

He always recommends cubing when he meets other parents with autistic children.

Max and his dad Schwan

Explaining why he thinks people on the spectrum take to it, Schwan said: “I believe there are 43 quintillion combinations to a cube, but to a kid that’s on the spectrum, that’s still finite, it’s predictable, it can only be one of 43 quintillion combinations.

“Now if you say ‘hello’ to somebody, the answer is not finite, you might think it is but it’s not.

“You can say ‘hello’ and they could say ‘potato’ – there are just so many things they could say, and I think that’s how autism feels, communication and socialising is just so unpredictable.

“But for cubing, it is finite and it’s predictable and it’s solvable. As impossible as it might seem, it is solvable, and I think that gives comfort to kids on the spectrum.”

Schwan and Miki were first-time parents when they welcomed Max, and they didn’t really know anything about autism.

Max playing with puzzle cubes as a child

They just knew there was something different about their son, and took him to see a doctor.

Max, who recently starred with Feliks in Netflix documentary The Speed Cubers, struggled with his fine motor skills, which is what prompted his parents to give him a puzzle cube in the first place.

They had no idea just how much that would change the course of his life.

Max and Feliks at Guinness World Records HQ

Max has broken numerous cubing records over the years, and he currently holds seven, including the fastest time to solve a 4x4x4 rotating puzzle cube (15.71 seconds), the fastest time to solve a 7x7x7 rotating puzzle cube (1 minute 34.15 seconds), and with two wins, he shares the record for most wins of the World Cube Association (WCA) World Championship with Feliks.

Schwan and Miki did lots of things to try and improve Max’s fine motor skills, like getting him to put pennies into piggy banks.

Max setting a world record

But nothing helped him quite like puzzle cubes did.

Schwan says he’s still blown away every time he sees Max competing at the highest level.

He said: “I’m still awestruck, dumbfounded.

“I don’t think I was ever as good at anything as Max is at this and I don’t understand what that feels like.

Schwan is so proud of his son

Among other things, Schwan hopes that Max will give hope to parents of autistic kids.

Years ago, he and Miki saw an article about a man with autism swimming the English Channel, and it gave them hope that Max could achieve great things.

They’ve been so public with Max’s story so that he can provide that feeling for other people.

Schwan said: “The best way to explain how proud I am of him is that I’m so proud that he’s an example for people.

“I’m so impressed with him all the time because he’s constantly teaching me things that I didn’t know as an adult.

“He’s actually taught me things like how to succeed, how to think and what dedication looks like to get where you want to go.

“I thought I knew that intellectually but I never knew what it felt like, and when I saw him do that it taught me so much and with that, I can’t help but be incredibly proud, you know, of your kid teaching you how to be a better adult, a better human being.

“He never stops amazing me and that just makes me incredibly proud.”