Jason Baum wasn't even born when the original Rubik's Cube craze hit the United States in the early 1980s. But the 21-year-old Bethel Park resident is ranked among the top world competitors at speed-solving the geometric puzzle that has fascinated millions around the world.

Since its invention in 1974 by Erno Rubik, of Hungary, the cube has attracted a devoted following. Fans aren't satisfied with just solving the puzzle, which requires multiple twists of the three rotating layers to return the scrambled cube to its original solid color sides of red, orange, green, blue, yellow and white.

Speed-cubers like Mr. Baum practice daily to solve it at lightning speeds. Competition times are often under 20 seconds, and many boast of unofficially beating the 10-second mark, away from the pressure-packed competition arena. Mr. Baum's personal best, but unofficial, time is 9:41 seconds.

Mr. Baum placed third recently in the main event of the Rubik's U.S. Open Competition in Chicago. Despite his strong finish, Mr. Baum was "very, very disappointed with the results." "Unofficially, I was the fastest one there," he said. But, a two-second penalty was assessed by the judges when one of his puzzle's cubes was not fully rotated.

"That cost me the tournament."

Cube solvers insist that solving the cube is just a matter of patience and practice. "I think anyone can learn how to do it," said Mr. Baum, who became fascinated when he saw a classmate at Liberty University in Virginia, solving the cube three years ago. "I learned in about two hours one night," said Mr. Baum.

"The basic beginner solution is seven steps," said Mr. Baum, who explains that he uses two patterns to solve the cube. "You work your way to the pattern," he said. From there he chooses from memorized formulas, or algorithms, to complete the puzzle. After a lot of practice, he explains, the moves are committed to muscle memory. "Your hands just remember," he said.

Mr. Baum also competes in speed-solving events that require participants to be blindfolded or use one hand. "It takes a lot of finger dexterity," he said.

Mr. Baum's competitive spirit was sparked in May 2005, when he took part in his first speed-cubing competition; a regional event in New York City. He was surprised that his times of 30 seconds were not very competitive.

With hours of daily practice, he cut his solving time down to under 20 seconds in competition.

Going into the US Open competition, Mr. Baum was optimistic about his chances of winning. The competitors start with Rubik's Cubes that are randomly scrambled with the help of a computer and several judges.

After five rounds, final scores are calculated by dropping the best and worst times and averaging the remaining three scores.

Mr. Baum finished with an average time of 15.76 seconds. Ryan Patricio of Los Angeles won the competition with an average time of 14.92.

According to the World Cubing Association Web site, a Korean competitor named Yu Jeong-Min set the world record for the same event earlier this year with an average time of 11.76

Mr. Baum's third-place finish cost him the trip to Budapest, Hungary, for the World Championship in October.

The World Championship competition is typically held every two years in cities around the globe.

Many people within the speed-cubing community speculate that Erno Rubik, the reclusive inventor of the cube, will attend the 2007 world event in honor of the competition's silver anniversary.

Mr. Baum has started building a community of speed-solvers at home. He taught his sister Natalie, 16, who "can solve it in 40 to 45 seconds, and she's taught all of her friends at school," he said.