How many people does it take to solve a Rubik's Cube? While it usually only takes one skilled solver, a recent college graduate decided to invite nearly 100 people in 11 countries to help complete a single 3-D combination puzzle.
After graduating from Harvard University in May, Nuseir Yassin backpacked around the world for two months. Packing light, the economics major decided to bring his Rubik's Cube around the world with him as a way to de-stress. It wasn't until later in his trip that he came up with the idea to connect all the countries he planned to visit with a single puzzle.
To solve the cube, Yassin devised his own approach beforehand and plotted out the moves. He then asked people in each country to complete a single move while he filmed them with his iPhone -- or, in the case of an underwater shot, a GoPro Hero 3+.
"When I asked people to do their move, I told them which move they have to take," Yassin explained to The Huffington Post. "It's basically impossible to have people know what move to make if you just hand them a Rubik's Cube and say 'go.'"
Yassin traveled from England to Thailand, asking helpful bystanders along the way to solve one move at a time. While it was easier to explain the project to pedestrians in English-speaking countries, and his native Israel, Yassin got along just fine in other nations where there was a clear language barrier. It just took some extra time and hand motions to convey instructions to people who did not share a common language.
"I had to spend an average of 5 minutes demonstrating what I was asking from them," Yassin said of his experience in countries where English is not very common, such as Vietnam and Cambodia. "This is, after all, an odd thing to ask a random stranger. I'd say, eventually, I got much better at asking the right people to do the move."
Watch 84 people, one monkey and one snake in 11 countries help solve a Rubik's Cube in Yassin's video, above.