As Jason Bauer, 16, set up 15 Rubik's Cubes on a desk, he had everyone's attention at Pleasant Valley High School's National Honor Society's Got Talent competition.

Then he set his phone to a timer at 0:00.His fingers flew as he solved one Rubik's Cube puzzle after another. When he completed the 15th one, the timer said, "4:41."While Jason didn't win, he does have more lofty goals with his ability."I want to be the fastest in the state," he says.Rubik's Cube is a three-dimensional combination puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Erno Rubik.As of January 2009, 350 million cubes had been sold worldwide, making it the world's top-selling puzzle game. Since 2003, The World Cube Association, the Rubik's Cube's international governing body, has organized competitions and kept the official world records.Now a senior, Jason remembers the first time he saw a Rubik's Cube. One of his sixth-grade classmates brought one to school."I was fascinated by it," he says.When he was in ninth grade, his dad bought him one. It took him about two weeks to solve it the first time. He learned that students in the gifted program had to solve the puzzle in a required time. He began "racing" them.He learned that there were Rubik's Cube competitions, and in 10th grade he participated in one at Harvard University."I was averaging about 45 seconds to solve it. People were doing it in 10 to 11 seconds. It made me want to be better," he says.Since then, he's been to 10 more competitions. He usually finishes in the top 25 out of about 80 people. His best official time is 14.45 seconds. When he competes, his time is put in a worldwide database. His unofficial best time is 8.1 seconds.When does he practice?"All the time. Everywhere. On the bus, at school and at home. I have designated practice sessions at home. I'll do it 100 times to see what my best time will be."Jason says there is no "trick" to solving the puzzle."It's a process. There are steps. I go through a similar process every time but I can't tell you that there's any one particular thing to help."The son of Angela and Derek Bauer of Saylorsburg, he plans to study aerospace engineering at Penn State University, and his dream would be to some day work at NASA.Jason sees solving the Rubik's Cube as an intelligence status symbol. To others, it seems like a pretty remarkable talent.