Why We Built Cubeathon: A Local-First Timer Made by a Cubing Family

Every speedcuber eventually goes looking for a better timer. Maybe the one you use feels cramped on your phone. Maybe it looks like it was designed fifteen years ago. Maybe you just want your solves to be yours — saved on your device, exportable anytime, with no account standing between you and practice.

We went looking too. Then we built Cubeathon.

What makes a good cube timer?

After thousands of solves across every popular timer, the list is short and strict:

• Trustworthy timing. Hold-to-start must behave identically every single solve — no ghost starts, no missed releases, no accidental stops.
• WCA rules built in. 15-second inspection, +2 and DNF penalties, and trimmed averages computed the official way.
• Real statistics. Ao5, Ao12, Ao100, means, standard deviation, and personal bests you can actually track over time.
• Every official puzzle. Not just 3×3 — big cubes, Pyraminx, Skewb, Megaminx, Square-1, and Clock, each with its own sessions and PBs.
• It gets out of the way. The moment you're solving, everything else should disappear.

Where existing timers fall short

The classic desktop timers are genuinely powerful — that's why everyone uses them. But they share the same weaknesses:

• Mobile is an afterthought. Tiny touch targets, cramped layouts, and hold-to-start behaviour that misfires on real phones. Most cubers practice with a phone next to their mat, not a laptop.
• Outdated interfaces. Dense screens and cryptic settings make the learning curve start before the learning does.
• Your data lives in a browser tab. Losing history to a cleared cache is a rite of passage nobody asked for.
• No real installation. A bookmark isn't an app. A timer should launch full-screen, instantly, even with no connection.

Why we built Cubeathon

We wanted a timer that treats a beginner's first white cross and a competitor's Ao100 grind with the same respect — designed like a modern consumer product, engineered like timing hardware, and honest about your data.

Local-first is the core philosophy. Your solves save to your device the moment you stop the timer. No account required, ever. Export your full history to JSON whenever you want. An account is optional: sign in only if you want your solves synced across devices.

What you get

• A precision WCA timer — hold until green, release to start, tap to stop. With optional 15-second inspection, automatic +2 and DNF, and haptic feedback on supported phones.
• Competition practice — five-solve rounds with 15-second inspection on, and an Ao5 summary after each round. How it works.
• Every official WCA puzzle — 2×2 through 7×7, Pyraminx, Skewb, Megaminx, Square-1, and Clock, with official scramble notation and separate sessions, statistics, and PBs for each.
• Deep statistics — Ao5, Ao12, Ao100, Mo3, mean, standard deviation, best averages, plus today's and lifetime personal bests.
• An interactive scramble guide — replay any scramble move by move on a 3D cube, at your own speed, to learn notation or find exactly where a scramble went wrong.
• Works offline — Cubeathon is an installable web app (PWA). Add it to your home screen and it launches full-screen and keeps working with no connection.
• Import from other timers — bring your entire csTimer history, sessions and penalties included, in seconds. Here's how.
• Free, no ads, no account — the timer and learning tools are free forever.

The roadmap

Cubeathon is in public beta and improving weekly, with more analytics and learning content on the way. The roadmap is shaped by user feedback — every message is read.

Try it

Open the timer and do one solve. That's the whole pitch: no signup, no download, no catch. If you like it, install it and it's yours — offline, on any device, for free.