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American Ninja Warrior 15's The Cubes
Not to be confused with the Giant Cubes from American Ninja Warrior 9.
The Cubes is an obstacle, firstly introduced as the fifth obstacle during the third qualifier episode on American Ninja Warrior 15.
The obstacle featured three 2x2x2 Rubik's cubes, and competitors must rotate one half of each cube 180 degrees until they lock it in place. The portion of the cube that must be rotated was colored red (the rest of the cube being colored blue), and a "finished" cube was marked by having one face completely colored red. In addition, each square had a small cavity (each of which was differently-shaped) for competitors to place their hands in, and they were allowed to touch whatever cavity they wanted to complete the obstacle.
More specifically, competitors must first jump off a mini-tramp to reach the first cube and rotate the right side of the cube (left if viewing the obstacle from the landing platform) 180 degrees counterclockwise. They must then lache to the second cube and rotate the bottom half 180 degrees clockwise. Finally, they must lache to the third cube, the right half of which (left if viewed from the landing platform) is unlocked. This means that competitors must absorb the rotation of the cube with their right hand and continue rotating the right side until they lock it in place. Once competitors have "solved" all three cubes (accomplished by rotating each side of the cube until successfully locked in place), they may dismount to the landing. Competitors were expected to put at least one hand on the back side (front if viewed from the landing platform) of the third cube before dismounting, but dismounting with both hands on the front of the cube (back if viewed from the landing platform) was permitted.
In its debut, the obstacle was somewhat challenging, knocking out five ninjas, being Jessie Graff, Caitlyn Bergstrom-Wright, Vinnie Castranova, Austin Hair, and Brandon Thomas. Castranova actually completed the course, but he was later disqualified for not locking in the final cube.
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American Ninja Warrior 15's Mutant Mayhem
The Cubes reappeared in the seventh qualifier episode of American Ninja Warrior 15. To promote the then-upcoming film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, it was renamed Mutant Mayhem. To fit this rebranding, purely aesthetic changes were made to the obstacle: the lights and water were colored green, the truss from which the cubes hung were covered by pictures of the protagonists, slime motifs were placed around the supporting truss, and a television screen that normally displayed the word "Qualifiers" on top of an American Ninja Warrior-themed background now showed an image of the Ninja Turtles watching the competitors attempt the obstacle.
Five competitors failed the obstacle during the seventh qualifier episode, Zhanique Lovett, Ashley Bergstrom, Bob Reese, Kyle Schulze, and Isaiah Lee.
Other Season Appearances[]
American Ninja Warrior 16[]
The Cubes reappeared as the fifth obstacle in the third round of qualifying in American Ninja Warrior 16. Aside from removing the promotional branding and reverted to the original name, no changes were made to the obstacle. Out of thirteen attempts, only six ninjas failed it: Mady Howard, Emily Keener, Scott Behrends, Eric Middleton, Marquez Green, and Glenn Albright.
The obstacle reappeared during the fifth round of qualifying. Out of eighteen attempts, eight ninjas failed: Colton Skuster, Barry Boyd, Brandon Varner, Jesse Maurer, Riley Porter, Jaelyn Bennett, Judith Carroll, and Holly Beckstrand.
This obstacle contributed in part to competitors who attempted it having significantly slower clear times compared to those in other qualifying rounds. While this obstacle was relatively easy, its design often meant that competitors spent more time hanging on to the obstacle and carefully rotating each side to ensure that they would not slip off due to rushing. This obstacle was also preceded by two other time and grip-intensive obstacles, Ring Chaser and Heavy Metal, resulting in competitors pacing themselves to avoid gassing out prematurely.
Other Appearances[]
Ninja Warrior Germany[]
Ninja Warrior Germany 9's The Cubes in Preliminary Round 1
In Ninja Warrior Germany 9, The Cubes, locally known as Zauber-Wรผrfel (literally Magic Cubes or Rubik's Cubes), made its first international appearance, first serving as the sixth obstacle in the first Preliminary Rounds of the season. Here, the obstacle itself was almost completely equivalent to American Ninja Warrior's version, with the only functional difference being the fact that the mini-tramp used as the medium to reach the first cube got replaced by a pole that competitors had to climb up, and a stationary/lachรฉ bar placed right after the pole. In addition, there was a rule that competitors were not allowed to use any part of their body other than their hands to rotate the red halves of the cubes; if they did so, they would be disqualified.
In the first Preliminary Round of the season, the obstacle proved to be brutal, as out of the 11 ninjas who attempted the obstacle, nine failed it, including Stefan Angermeier, Viktoria Krรคmer (Ninja Warrior Germany 8's Last Woman Standing), Daniel Gerber, Christian Kirstges and even Lukas Kilian, who fell victim to the above mentioned rule by using his head to rotate the unlocked side the third cube & to lock it into place. The two ninjas who managed to clear the obstacle at the end of the day were David Eilenstein and Moritz Hans.
Ninja Warrior Germany 9's The Cubes in Preliminary Round 4
Then, in the fourth Preliminary Round of the same season, The Cubes reappeared and, as in the first Preliminary Round, served as sixth obstacle of the course. Here, the obstacle was slightly altered compared to the one in the first Preliminary Round and differed in the following aspects:
- The first cube had both red halves of the cubes locked it into place already, so after competitors transferred from the stationary/lachรฉ bar to first cube, they would just have to work around to the front side of the cube, and were not required to rotate & lock the right red half of the cube into place,
- The third cube now had its left red half (of the back side) rotated & locked into place, so competitors now had to rotate & lock its "right" red half into place, and;
- The shape layout of the third cube was completely different now, so that competitors now had to catch themselves on two triangular cavities of the third cube at the transition from the second to the third cube, instead of on a triangular and a square one.
During this Preliminary Round, the obstacle still proved to be brutal, as out of the 13 ninjas who attempted the obstacle, eight failed it, including Max Prinz, Jona Schรถne and most shockingly, Sladjan Djulabic.
Competitors' Success Rate[]
- All results based on the NBC/RTL broadcast and external information found.
| ANW | Clears | Attempts | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| ANW15 (Qualifier 4) | 4 | 9 | 45% |
| ANW15 (Qualifier 8) | 7 | 12 | 58.33% |
| ANW16 (Qualifier 3) | 7 | 13 | 53.84% |
| ANW16 (Qualifier 5) | 10 | 18 | 55.56% |
| Total | 28 | 52 | 53.85% |
Ninja Warrior Germany[]
| NWG | Stage | Clears | Attempts | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NWG9 | Preliminary Round 1 | 2 | 11 | 18.18% |
| Preliminary Round 4 | 5 | 13 | 38.46% | |
| Total | 7 | 24 | 29.17% | |
Trivia[]
- The Cubes, renamed to Mutant Mayhem was the fifth obstacle in American Ninja Warrior history to be served to promote an upcoming movie. However, it was not served to promote during the third qualifier episode, instead being served to promote during the seventh qualifier episode. In this case, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, which was released in the U.S. on August 2, 2023. The previous four obstacles to do so were:
- Ninjago Roll, appeared during American Ninja Warrior 9's Denver finals, which was used to promote The Lego Ninjago Movie,
- Fallout, appeared during American Ninja Warrior 10's Dallas finals, which was used to promote Mission: Impossible - Fallout,
- Angry Birds, appeared during American Ninja Warrior 11's Baltimore finals, which was used to promote The Angry Birds Movie 2,
- Despicaballs, appeared during American Ninja Warrior 14's San Antonio fourth and fifth qualifier episode, which was used to promote Minions: The Rise of Gru.
- The Cubes and Despicaballs debuted in a qualifying round, rather than a semifinal round.
- Just like with Despicaballs, the movie's titular turtles were seen "attempting" the obstacle in a short animation scene when the obstacle is introduced in the seventh qualifier episode.
The submitted design for The Cubes
- This obstacle initially came from the Obstacle Design Challenge, designed by 10-year-old Grace Quagliata, of Ithaca, NY.
- The obstacle was based off of a Pocket Cube, also known as the 2ร2ร2 Rubik's Cube, a 3-D combination puzzle originally invented in 1970 by Larry D. Nichols.
- Its local name in Ninja Warrior Germany suggests that it instead honors the original Rubik's Cube, using the actual name of the toy for the obstacle.
- This is the second American Ninja Warrior obstacle to previously promote an upcoming movie and then reappear the following season, after Fallout five seasons prior.
- But unlike Fallout, this is the first American Ninja Warrior obstacle that previously debuted as a non-promotional obstacle but was then used to promote a movie in a later qualifier episode of the same season.
- This is the fourth promotional obstacle from American Ninja Warrior to appear on international SASUKE Ninja Warrior formats, after Fallout, Angry Birds and Despicaballs.