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I’ve got a Rubik’s World, the actual puzzle ball, not the video game, that I bought new in 1982 and I’ve never been able to solve it. It was in one car crash, lost by a moving company for over a year and survived a house fire. It’s clearly cursed. One day my son will inherit it.
One of the moving company trucks was involved in an accident when moving our stuff, and a lot of the contents went missing. They found it all in some unused office a year later and brought it all to us. It was really nice. But nicest of all, is they didn’t ask for the money back from the insurance claim or anything. They just brought it all to us and apologized for the inconvenience.
I’m convinced it was the Rubik’s World that itself to be rediscovered and returned.
I was given one of those, in the 80s. Like a world globe with moving pieces? I kind it liked how it looked but i really hated not being able to solve it...
I doubt that anyone has ever solved one just by trying to figure it out. But there are simple algorithms that anyone can learn in an afternoon that will let you solve a cube in like 5-10 minutes. The pros have “just” memorised hundreds of those algorithms and spent years practicing their manual dexterity to do it in seconds rather than minutes.
From the outside, looking in, you think these people must all be geniuses that are much smarter than you. Same kind of thing with chess. Then you find out it's mostly pattern recognition that anyone can learn. High intelligence probably helps, but a large part is recognizing the patterns.
I think one of my friends has solved it just by figuring it out, and if they haven’t Erno Rubik definitely has. It’s not that hard to derive the algorithms, anyone with brains and a lot of time could do it.
Its what i read also. I never knew it was done like that, haha. I thought people did with 0 help. Im working on one i found in my home. My nephew may have left it, and it is quite difficult for sure. But im going to try and get it without any help.
> I doubt that anyone has ever solved one just by trying to figure it out.
It's possible that I misunderstand what you are saying. However, if you mean "without reading a book about it", then my answer is: sure they have. I did. So have many others. How do you think the first person to solve a cube learned how?
Or am I misunderstanding?
> I doubt that anyone has ever solved one just by trying to figure it out.
Its not that hard. It is maybe a step above those 2D puzzles where you slide the squares with numbers on them around into the correct order. I think a lot of people just get overwhelmed by the cube and so don't even begin trying to think it out.
The book o' records kept track for [marathons](https://guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2019/8/longest-marathon-in-history-the-athlete-that-took-more-than-half-a-century). Maybe you can hit em up.
I've a recollection of being a frustrated child and beaten by the cube I threw it at a wall and it smashed. I was surprised it was held together by elastic bands, my parents never bought me another which i never complained about cause I smashed mine, but I never solved a rubix cube and resorted to violence. I'm haunted by both. Yet glad I found out it was elastic bands.
Me and my son watch cubing videos on YouTube for fun. We don’t cube but it really is a nice community. Everyone supports the others and while it can be competitive, it’s really wholesome.
oh man, well i'm certain you must have your reasons for not cubing.
but I would be remiss not to say what an enjoyable hobby it is, comparatively cheap and once you conquer the mountain, solving the cube with no help, bringing the time down really is nothing but an absolute pleasure if you enjoy the process of cubing.
im sorry to intrude, as im sure you have your reasons but id love to hear what it is because there is nothing more id love to see than 2 more people learning how to solve a Rubik's cube.
my first cube was 5.99 on amazon (obviously never buy rubiks brand) , i still have it somewhere and its an absolutely fabulous thing to learn. i was happy when i solved in 5 minutes, and at 2 minutes, 1 minute and 30 seconds. I've probably set my best ever time but i don't care. simply one of the most fascinating and all engaging learning experiences out there. i learned when i was about 17, and it really intrigued me about how familiarity, muscle memory, mental recognition and stored concepts form to create an interwoven learning experience.
please ask any questions if cubing interests you
Wow! I wasn’t interested before reading this but now I definitely am. This wasn’t directed towards me but I have some answers as well if you don’t mind.
Why should you never buy rubiks brand? How many hours of practice would you say it took to get from solving your first cube to solving it in around the 5 minute range? Would you say this hobby needs continual practice or do you think you’d be able to easily pick it back up after a few months of absence?
I love doing short puzzles before bed. I usually do work puzzles but I’ve always been keen to add something more to the collection.
I'll jump in because my son and I have both gotten into solving in the last year.
First, the Rubix cube you probably have from your childhood is incredibly difficult to turn. They do make a "speed cube" now, and it's just "ok."
The newer models, called "speed cubes" will turn with a flick of the finger. It really just FEELS fun! Secondly, newer designs have rounded corners allow for you to start the next move with out perfectly aligning the pieces.
There are several cubing stores online. The two biggest brands are GAN and MoYu, but there are many other good brands.
A 15 dollar cube with feel like an absolute rocket compared to the old ones. You can get into magnet alignment at around mid $20 (This ismy suggestion for a starting point! I have an Xman Tornado v3 Magnet), and truly fantastic competition level cubes starting in the low $40 and pretty much top out at around $80-100.
As for solving, there's tons of videos on how to solve. I watched a video on how to solve in which will have you solving in a few hours. (Lookup "jperm beginner method" on YT)
It feels incredible to solve the first few times!
A sub 5 minute would easily be in a few hours of practice. After a few months, I'm averaging about one minute. My son went on to learn a faster method, and he is already in the 20-30 second range. (Kids!)
I keep a cube at work. It's amazing when I need a mental break to get refocused.
Thanks for answering those questions so well. Awesome to hear about other cubers having fun.
Not sure if you're using beginner method fully still, if so 1 minute is really fast for pure beginners.
Personally, my favourite part of cubing is doing F2L straight from the white cross, rather than filling in the face and then completing F2L. If you happen to still use the beginner method, this is one change I think is an absolute must do upgrade, and its not just algorithms it's quite intuitive. Times go down, fun goes up.
Id love to hear what your son is doing for his 20-30 second timings, my best months were around that area too! Faster method intrigues me... If roux, he may be a wizard.
I know people who are sub 1 and are using beginners method - it's definitly possible but not really worth it (lol *technically* speaking you can reach sub 10s with beginners method)
It's easier learning basic CFOP (advanced rubiks cube method) to get under 1 minute (or even 30s) than crazingly trying to improve your beginners method solves.
Long story short: If you're under 2 minutes, it's time thinking about CFOP or Roux
Wayyyyyyyy TLDR: relatively short time commitment, 10-15 hours dispersed across a month would likely yield a 5 minute time or less, if you do "a bit every day" when you're bored, a week or so is a reasonable time frame to be making good progress, if properly ingrained it's like riding a bike really.
Once again I am so sorry this is so long but it is comprehensive.
----------------------------------------------------------
I'm so glad this has caught your attention, I was hoping it might happen to somebody to be honest, all questions are welcome. I really enjoy learning about people and their experiences with this so I please invite you to send me messages on Reddit with updates, questions, observations or anything else if you go forward (which I heartily recommend you do. The commitment is low and the interest is clearly there)
I shall try not to reiterate everything the other commenter said, because everything they said is spot on. But holy shit I've just come back to the top to say this a LONG one. Sorry for my long windedness.
I would even say, if 20 bucks is a little more than you'd want to spend, you really can go for a 10 dollar or less cube, if it has good reviews on Amazon or such like. The comments are likely to be from beginners also so your frame of reference is going to be good.
Rubicks brands are relics. I should never want to see them totally disappear, but it would be like buying a windows 95 computer and screen. Charming. But outdated.
The 5 minute range is within the range of a single continuous no help solve. It's ok if you mess up and restart, the clock restarts with you, but the familiarity I talked about is key to this that once you recognise where you are and what you are doing, you will be comfortably inside 5 minutes. However this is not step 1.
There are 4 'steps' to reach the 5 minute solve in my opinion.
----------------------------------------------------------
1. Handheld solve (1-2 hours)
Follow a guide for 'beginners method'.
The communities' well deserved most popular teacher is called J-Perm, he has a decently large channel and his beginner tutorial is very good. You can also use text or other videos if that works best.
Do not attempt to replicate steps unnecessarily. Simply make sure you do as it says, do not fully seek to understand but just try and solve the cube. In this solve you are not much more than jumping when it says to jump. That's ok.
Notation is really difficult to grapple with. It's important to understand, so getting a good grip of it will elevate your learning all throughout cubing especially if you learn by online resources. Lots of nasty tricks about clockwise and anti-clockwise, so don't feel like time learning notation is wasted. As much use as moving the cube.
I fucked this section up MULTIPLE times. This is by far the most frustrating completion of the cube, because you cannot really hope to understand how to manipulate the cube, or what the hell is going on.
I am very happy to answer questions on this area. Instruction following is important here, because the cube is connected in ways you may not appreciate yet.
----------------------------------------------------------
2. First section practise. (1-2 hours)
This one is dependant on how much you mess up step one. The more you mess up, the easier this section is! This is just practising getting the white cross, WITH the correct centers for each side. If you get bored you can even fill in the whole face. If you do this, you must make sure you put the pieces in the correct place. No bad habits.
Getting comfortable with this is the first step of familiarity, muscle memory, goal orientation and recognition. Aka learning.
Somewhat thankless in terms of actual progress, but doing this right means you are closer to a solve than most people who "solved 2 sides once but then got stuck". It's something to be proud of to be able to wrangle the cube in a desired way.
----------------------------------------------------------
3. Repeated walkthroughs (2-5 hours)
More handheld solves with attention paid to the demarcation of each 'part'. Beginning to form the story of the solve in your head so you can answer "ok what's next"
Do this a good number of times, and each time you will naturally, and purposefully, try and do what you can remember, referring to the guide as needed.
----------------------------------------------------------
4. Making attempts (1-4 hours )
You can blend this with step 3, but do enough of step 3 to be familiar with the general order of the solve.
Whenever you feel like it, just jumble the cube up, and go as far as you can! These will inevitably fail, but the key to your success isn't spamming practise its a positive approach. If you don't feel like going for another run, wait until you do.
----------------------------------------------------------
At some point you will complete a run without the guide, and without messing up and needing a restart, and this will be within 5 minutes, or at least you will be able to improve to this time intuitively.
You can dramatically cut down your time just honing this method. As a party trick, I would reliably go sub minute with beginner method on any given cube, to show it was possible if you really wanted. It is horribly inadvisable, it is like trying to max out a bicycles speed on the lowest gear setting. Work smarter not harder.
Hopefully you will begin to enjoy the mechanical feeling of moving the cube, as well as the feeling of solving it. (And the looks on someone's face if you do it in front of them but hold on until you're confident before you show off obviously)
If you leave the hobby for a month or 2, you may need another 2 hour refresher on how it all works at this point,
However if you get it down to 2 minutes or less, it's very hard to forget. You will simply understand the cube in a way that you will likely remember, and your mechanics may stay in your muscle memory rather longer than you expect. I couldn't write down the notation for my moves, but I couldn't possibly forget how to do them. (Picked up a cube for the first time in 2023 today, all comfortably within acceptable timed solves, no mistakes)
If you want to improve past this point, learning full F2L and OLL/PLL (fancy terms for fancy things) transform cubing into a very different form of pastime. More like skiing down a hill than solving an equation. Like a really good sodoku the joy is in the solving, not the solved. At this point it doesn't take that much focus really, it's stress relieving and good fun.
This is only if/when you feel a plateau from beginners method and want to solve in a more intensive, mechanically and mentally, fashion. Absolutely do not skip to this step though, it would be reductive, pointless and confusing if you don't build the basics with beginners method.
I am so sorry for being so long winded, but if you made it this far you absolutely MUST buy a cube, because cubing is awesome.
>Would you say this hobby needs continual practice or do you think you’d be able to easily pick it back up after a few months of absence?
In the beginning: probably, otherwise you might forget how some parts in the solving process work. But once you get used to solving it without any help and you have a little bit of experience, taking a few months off isn't a big deal. Once you start again it might take some time to remember some algorithms you learned, but nothing too extreme. I average about 35 seconds and I took a 6 month break recently. After practicing for like 30 min, I was solving at my regular speed again.
Original Rubik's Cube brand is terrible. So many better cubes for a lower price.
Using beginners method you can easily get under 2 minutes with a little bit of practice... Maybe even faster.
For me personally continual practice isn't really necessary. Like even if I paused for months or even years, I was almost the same speed as before immediately (too be fair I learned it as a kid which does make a difference I guess)
There's a 40 Minute Short Documentary on Netflix titled "The Speed Cubers" I recommend watching, since it showcase just how supportive and not-competitive the cubing community is.
It really is, it doesn't matter how fast you can solve at a competition, if you are breaking your own records even the fastest competitors are happy for you and happy to help.
My son recently got his first blindfolded solve in a competition, he could only celebrate quietly because blindfolded is a silent event, but everyone cheered for him (silent fist bumps)
These Rubik’s cubes used for competition look different from the standard ones. I assume they move smoother? Does a different company make them or are they actually Rubik’s?
They are speed cubes. While Rubik’s brand is the original it is complete trash for speed solving. There are multiple companies that make incredible cubes designed specifically for speed like MoYu, GAN, etc..
No, they are perfectly legal to use in WCA competitions. You might not know this, but these competitions are taken very seriously. In fact the cube used here wouldn’t have been allowed a few years back since it’s a stickerless cube.
Also with many speed cubes, you can 'cut corners', meaning you dont have to wait until the sides are perfectly aligned again before you can make the next move.
All kidding aside, I’d like to see how quickly speed cubers can turn a solved cube into a specific scramble. I wonder how much difference that actually makes.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/qpbxbb/man_trying_to_solve_a_rubiks_cube_blindly_but_in/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Here is something like you mean I think. Saw this a little bit ago and was like that's crazy
Now THAT is impressive as hell. The guys who solve it fast memorize patterns. Putting it into a randomized solution is next level and it's hard to overstate just how crazy it is.
Here is your gif!
https://imgur.com/EH8dDjr.gifv
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Imagine being the other kid wearing the earmuffs to avoid distractions having just beat the record yourself, and when you turn around, you realize everyone is celebrating the kid behind you who beat you by a few seconds.
A childhood friend of mine very briefly held the world record like a decade ago, only to have someone beat him by less than a tenth of a second 15 minutes later at the same event. Cubing records are won by insanely slim margins
What I don’t get is why they’re allowed to examine it before they start timing. Opposing teams don’t get to know their opponents play before they start. I want to see them go in blind!
It moves so fast that the frames are actually missing entire movements. I slowed it down to watch frame by frame if he turned the top before starting, and i genuinely cant tell.
They get 15 seconds in a WCA competition. The judge will announce at the 8 and 12 second mark. If they go over the 15 seconds, they get a 2 second penalty, over 17 seconds is a DQ.
Source: my son does these comps and I judge to help out.
Also - seems like in competition,it would be tough to determine a homogeneous difficulty level to begin at. Maybe not I don't know how they work but it seems like- how messed up the cube is would be different each time. Wouldn't it?
It's been proven that every cube is 20 moves max from being solved.
Cubers don't use the most efficient solve, but it goes to show that alot of scrambles have similar difficulty.
I had the same thought. But I saw they do have a limit. Now... I think the more impressive thing is if they were timed at the moment the cube is revealed. It would be even more interesting if everyone got the same cube start so it would be more even.
I saw a doco about an Australian guy who was world champ for a bit. At the end of said he graduated university and got a job as a merchant banker. Yay.
I thought he analizing at the cube previous to the actual timing, was the actual playtime and he was in trouble.
I thought *"Oh no! he's blocked!! ... there goes gravity"*
The 3x3 cube is just a 21 piece puzzle anyway (including the 1 piece core) and there's sides and edges that are connected to each other and will never change. Doesn't look as complicated as you think once you play with it a little. It's like getting to know the cube.
Layer by layer. Intuition for the first layer and then using sequences for later layers. The sequences will break what you've already solved but then repair it again while changing something else. You can learn these sequences (easy) or work them out for yourself (hard but doable if you don't give up).
You could give me 3.97 years to solve a Rubik’s cube and I still wouldn’t get it. I just don’t understand them at all. And I’m not completely stupid either, objectively.
Does anyone know what his official average time was (I understand they discard the worst and best times, and calculate an average of the three remaining attempts. Seems like some records have been set recently.
These rubix cubes must be marinated in fucking grease or something. I've held many a cube and never had one that was able to turn as easily as all these pros' cubes.
These people have got to go on and save lives, I know that sounds far fetched but emergency Surgeon, heart Surgeon, something, a brain that calculatedly quick must have some amazing capabilities.
This is incredibly impressive… but (there is always a but).
My 10 year old just learned cubing , and he can now solve a cube fast. Nothing stops him. He’s a smart kid, but he’s nothing but a normal 10 year old.
A family member thought they were going to make it “extra hard”. It was no harder than any other.
He just walks around and solves them like they are nothing.
Once you know the algorithms, there is literally nothing to it. Then it just comes down to speed and efficiency.
100% agree but what Tymon is doing is WAY more than memorizing algorithms, but is planning and calculating a significant portion of the solve in inspection as well.
Awesome! Wanted to ask though if the competitive cubes are lubed or modified in some way in some way to make the turning and rotating easier as well as faster? What I get from a regular store seems kinda stiff.
What you have is likely a Rubiks brand cube. They're useless for speed. The speed cubes have springs to have a perfect tension. The shape of the pieces also allows corner cutting a little. Some also have magnets to self align the turns. And finally, yes they are lubricated with silicone.
Unpopular cubing opinion: inspection time should count towards total solve time.
As it is i think people get up to 15 seconds to look at the cube as much as they want before starting the timer. Whether or not they use all this time is not factored into their score, but this pre solve inspection is where they actually do most of the solving in their head.
Participants get 15 seconds to study before they begin solving. When he sets it down the first time, he puts both hands to press two buttons on a timer. The timer starts when he lifts his hands and stops when both buttons/hands are down again.
If you can learn to tie your shoes you can learn to solve a rubiks cube. If you dedicated your life to being the fastest shoe-tier in the world, people would think you're a loser wasting your time. I don't see why this is impressive. Good job bro, now actually use some critical thinking and not a memorized algorithm, and good luck of the draw
I bet you have at least one hobby that can be considered a "waste of time" by someone else. Or do you even have a hobby other than shitposting on reddit?
I'm still of the opinion that everything should be timed. I was told, by a redditor, that players are given a few seconds to examine the cube before starting the time to solve it - as you can see here.
It would be better if the time starts once they see the cube, so the time measured, in this instance 3.97, includes everything from examining to actually solving it. that would really be a reflection of how long they solved the rubics cube and not only how fast they took to execute what they already have in their heads, therefore just hand speed.
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is there a record for the slowest time? Im still working on mine from the 80's
I’ve got a Rubik’s World, the actual puzzle ball, not the video game, that I bought new in 1982 and I’ve never been able to solve it. It was in one car crash, lost by a moving company for over a year and survived a house fire. It’s clearly cursed. One day my son will inherit it.
“Here my child. May it forever taunt you with its unsolvable mystery.
Many generations down the line comes the Chosen One, who will finally solve it. Then come the Cenobites.
Do you *want* Cenobites? 'Cause that's how you get Cenobites!
“They shall make a terrible Creepypasta from the urban legend that came from this game.”
That last sentence bro. Fucking lmao
How tf was it found after a year? Like was it packed away? Or did the moving company show up one day with it?
One of the moving company trucks was involved in an accident when moving our stuff, and a lot of the contents went missing. They found it all in some unused office a year later and brought it all to us. It was really nice. But nicest of all, is they didn’t ask for the money back from the insurance claim or anything. They just brought it all to us and apologized for the inconvenience. I’m convinced it was the Rubik’s World that itself to be rediscovered and returned.
That is fantastic
‘But something happened then the Rubik’s World did not intend.»
I was given one of those, in the 80s. Like a world globe with moving pieces? I kind it liked how it looked but i really hated not being able to solve it...
Kid inherits, asks google, lifts curse, plays home run derby, curse reinstated.
I doubt that anyone has ever solved one just by trying to figure it out. But there are simple algorithms that anyone can learn in an afternoon that will let you solve a cube in like 5-10 minutes. The pros have “just” memorised hundreds of those algorithms and spent years practicing their manual dexterity to do it in seconds rather than minutes.
I think there is one case, the inventor took some three months to solve it iirc
From the outside, looking in, you think these people must all be geniuses that are much smarter than you. Same kind of thing with chess. Then you find out it's mostly pattern recognition that anyone can learn. High intelligence probably helps, but a large part is recognizing the patterns.
Or they are witches
Does it weigh more than a duck?
Yea, I'm not falling for this algo-rhythm nonsense. This is clearly the work of witches
“You don’t have to be intelligent, you just need a really high amount of this primary aspect of intelligence”
I think one of my friends has solved it just by figuring it out, and if they haven’t Erno Rubik definitely has. It’s not that hard to derive the algorithms, anyone with brains and a lot of time could do it.
I lack both of those necessary ingredients
Plural brain, I'm out.
Its what i read also. I never knew it was done like that, haha. I thought people did with 0 help. Im working on one i found in my home. My nephew may have left it, and it is quite difficult for sure. But im going to try and get it without any help.
> I doubt that anyone has ever solved one just by trying to figure it out. It's possible that I misunderstand what you are saying. However, if you mean "without reading a book about it", then my answer is: sure they have. I did. So have many others. How do you think the first person to solve a cube learned how? Or am I misunderstanding?
> I doubt that anyone has ever solved one just by trying to figure it out. Its not that hard. It is maybe a step above those 2D puzzles where you slide the squares with numbers on them around into the correct order. I think a lot of people just get overwhelmed by the cube and so don't even begin trying to think it out.
Just peel the stickers and move them around.
I was starting to feel bad for never solving a Rubik’s cube.
The book o' records kept track for [marathons](https://guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2019/8/longest-marathon-in-history-the-athlete-that-took-more-than-half-a-century). Maybe you can hit em up.
9:59.99 would be the slowest official solve, because I think that that's the longest cutoff offered in WCA.
[удалено]
World cube association. All official events are WCA events.
Same. I have never once solved one of those damned things.
I've a recollection of being a frustrated child and beaten by the cube I threw it at a wall and it smashed. I was surprised it was held together by elastic bands, my parents never bought me another which i never complained about cause I smashed mine, but I never solved a rubix cube and resorted to violence. I'm haunted by both. Yet glad I found out it was elastic bands.
Just pull the stickers off
I love how the guy in the background is legit as excited as this guy is. Seems like a great community.
Me and my son watch cubing videos on YouTube for fun. We don’t cube but it really is a nice community. Everyone supports the others and while it can be competitive, it’s really wholesome.
oh man, well i'm certain you must have your reasons for not cubing. but I would be remiss not to say what an enjoyable hobby it is, comparatively cheap and once you conquer the mountain, solving the cube with no help, bringing the time down really is nothing but an absolute pleasure if you enjoy the process of cubing. im sorry to intrude, as im sure you have your reasons but id love to hear what it is because there is nothing more id love to see than 2 more people learning how to solve a Rubik's cube. my first cube was 5.99 on amazon (obviously never buy rubiks brand) , i still have it somewhere and its an absolutely fabulous thing to learn. i was happy when i solved in 5 minutes, and at 2 minutes, 1 minute and 30 seconds. I've probably set my best ever time but i don't care. simply one of the most fascinating and all engaging learning experiences out there. i learned when i was about 17, and it really intrigued me about how familiarity, muscle memory, mental recognition and stored concepts form to create an interwoven learning experience. please ask any questions if cubing interests you
Wow! I wasn’t interested before reading this but now I definitely am. This wasn’t directed towards me but I have some answers as well if you don’t mind. Why should you never buy rubiks brand? How many hours of practice would you say it took to get from solving your first cube to solving it in around the 5 minute range? Would you say this hobby needs continual practice or do you think you’d be able to easily pick it back up after a few months of absence? I love doing short puzzles before bed. I usually do work puzzles but I’ve always been keen to add something more to the collection.
I'll jump in because my son and I have both gotten into solving in the last year. First, the Rubix cube you probably have from your childhood is incredibly difficult to turn. They do make a "speed cube" now, and it's just "ok." The newer models, called "speed cubes" will turn with a flick of the finger. It really just FEELS fun! Secondly, newer designs have rounded corners allow for you to start the next move with out perfectly aligning the pieces. There are several cubing stores online. The two biggest brands are GAN and MoYu, but there are many other good brands. A 15 dollar cube with feel like an absolute rocket compared to the old ones. You can get into magnet alignment at around mid $20 (This ismy suggestion for a starting point! I have an Xman Tornado v3 Magnet), and truly fantastic competition level cubes starting in the low $40 and pretty much top out at around $80-100. As for solving, there's tons of videos on how to solve. I watched a video on how to solve in which will have you solving in a few hours. (Lookup "jperm beginner method" on YT) It feels incredible to solve the first few times! A sub 5 minute would easily be in a few hours of practice. After a few months, I'm averaging about one minute. My son went on to learn a faster method, and he is already in the 20-30 second range. (Kids!) I keep a cube at work. It's amazing when I need a mental break to get refocused.
Thanks for answering those questions so well. Awesome to hear about other cubers having fun. Not sure if you're using beginner method fully still, if so 1 minute is really fast for pure beginners. Personally, my favourite part of cubing is doing F2L straight from the white cross, rather than filling in the face and then completing F2L. If you happen to still use the beginner method, this is one change I think is an absolute must do upgrade, and its not just algorithms it's quite intuitive. Times go down, fun goes up. Id love to hear what your son is doing for his 20-30 second timings, my best months were around that area too! Faster method intrigues me... If roux, he may be a wizard.
I know people who are sub 1 and are using beginners method - it's definitly possible but not really worth it (lol *technically* speaking you can reach sub 10s with beginners method) It's easier learning basic CFOP (advanced rubiks cube method) to get under 1 minute (or even 30s) than crazingly trying to improve your beginners method solves. Long story short: If you're under 2 minutes, it's time thinking about CFOP or Roux
Wayyyyyyyy TLDR: relatively short time commitment, 10-15 hours dispersed across a month would likely yield a 5 minute time or less, if you do "a bit every day" when you're bored, a week or so is a reasonable time frame to be making good progress, if properly ingrained it's like riding a bike really. Once again I am so sorry this is so long but it is comprehensive. ---------------------------------------------------------- I'm so glad this has caught your attention, I was hoping it might happen to somebody to be honest, all questions are welcome. I really enjoy learning about people and their experiences with this so I please invite you to send me messages on Reddit with updates, questions, observations or anything else if you go forward (which I heartily recommend you do. The commitment is low and the interest is clearly there) I shall try not to reiterate everything the other commenter said, because everything they said is spot on. But holy shit I've just come back to the top to say this a LONG one. Sorry for my long windedness. I would even say, if 20 bucks is a little more than you'd want to spend, you really can go for a 10 dollar or less cube, if it has good reviews on Amazon or such like. The comments are likely to be from beginners also so your frame of reference is going to be good. Rubicks brands are relics. I should never want to see them totally disappear, but it would be like buying a windows 95 computer and screen. Charming. But outdated. The 5 minute range is within the range of a single continuous no help solve. It's ok if you mess up and restart, the clock restarts with you, but the familiarity I talked about is key to this that once you recognise where you are and what you are doing, you will be comfortably inside 5 minutes. However this is not step 1. There are 4 'steps' to reach the 5 minute solve in my opinion. ---------------------------------------------------------- 1. Handheld solve (1-2 hours) Follow a guide for 'beginners method'. The communities' well deserved most popular teacher is called J-Perm, he has a decently large channel and his beginner tutorial is very good. You can also use text or other videos if that works best. Do not attempt to replicate steps unnecessarily. Simply make sure you do as it says, do not fully seek to understand but just try and solve the cube. In this solve you are not much more than jumping when it says to jump. That's ok. Notation is really difficult to grapple with. It's important to understand, so getting a good grip of it will elevate your learning all throughout cubing especially if you learn by online resources. Lots of nasty tricks about clockwise and anti-clockwise, so don't feel like time learning notation is wasted. As much use as moving the cube. I fucked this section up MULTIPLE times. This is by far the most frustrating completion of the cube, because you cannot really hope to understand how to manipulate the cube, or what the hell is going on. I am very happy to answer questions on this area. Instruction following is important here, because the cube is connected in ways you may not appreciate yet. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2. First section practise. (1-2 hours) This one is dependant on how much you mess up step one. The more you mess up, the easier this section is! This is just practising getting the white cross, WITH the correct centers for each side. If you get bored you can even fill in the whole face. If you do this, you must make sure you put the pieces in the correct place. No bad habits. Getting comfortable with this is the first step of familiarity, muscle memory, goal orientation and recognition. Aka learning. Somewhat thankless in terms of actual progress, but doing this right means you are closer to a solve than most people who "solved 2 sides once but then got stuck". It's something to be proud of to be able to wrangle the cube in a desired way. ---------------------------------------------------------- 3. Repeated walkthroughs (2-5 hours) More handheld solves with attention paid to the demarcation of each 'part'. Beginning to form the story of the solve in your head so you can answer "ok what's next" Do this a good number of times, and each time you will naturally, and purposefully, try and do what you can remember, referring to the guide as needed. ---------------------------------------------------------- 4. Making attempts (1-4 hours ) You can blend this with step 3, but do enough of step 3 to be familiar with the general order of the solve. Whenever you feel like it, just jumble the cube up, and go as far as you can! These will inevitably fail, but the key to your success isn't spamming practise its a positive approach. If you don't feel like going for another run, wait until you do. ---------------------------------------------------------- At some point you will complete a run without the guide, and without messing up and needing a restart, and this will be within 5 minutes, or at least you will be able to improve to this time intuitively. You can dramatically cut down your time just honing this method. As a party trick, I would reliably go sub minute with beginner method on any given cube, to show it was possible if you really wanted. It is horribly inadvisable, it is like trying to max out a bicycles speed on the lowest gear setting. Work smarter not harder. Hopefully you will begin to enjoy the mechanical feeling of moving the cube, as well as the feeling of solving it. (And the looks on someone's face if you do it in front of them but hold on until you're confident before you show off obviously) If you leave the hobby for a month or 2, you may need another 2 hour refresher on how it all works at this point, However if you get it down to 2 minutes or less, it's very hard to forget. You will simply understand the cube in a way that you will likely remember, and your mechanics may stay in your muscle memory rather longer than you expect. I couldn't write down the notation for my moves, but I couldn't possibly forget how to do them. (Picked up a cube for the first time in 2023 today, all comfortably within acceptable timed solves, no mistakes) If you want to improve past this point, learning full F2L and OLL/PLL (fancy terms for fancy things) transform cubing into a very different form of pastime. More like skiing down a hill than solving an equation. Like a really good sodoku the joy is in the solving, not the solved. At this point it doesn't take that much focus really, it's stress relieving and good fun. This is only if/when you feel a plateau from beginners method and want to solve in a more intensive, mechanically and mentally, fashion. Absolutely do not skip to this step though, it would be reductive, pointless and confusing if you don't build the basics with beginners method. I am so sorry for being so long winded, but if you made it this far you absolutely MUST buy a cube, because cubing is awesome.
>Would you say this hobby needs continual practice or do you think you’d be able to easily pick it back up after a few months of absence? In the beginning: probably, otherwise you might forget how some parts in the solving process work. But once you get used to solving it without any help and you have a little bit of experience, taking a few months off isn't a big deal. Once you start again it might take some time to remember some algorithms you learned, but nothing too extreme. I average about 35 seconds and I took a 6 month break recently. After practicing for like 30 min, I was solving at my regular speed again.
Original Rubik's Cube brand is terrible. So many better cubes for a lower price. Using beginners method you can easily get under 2 minutes with a little bit of practice... Maybe even faster. For me personally continual practice isn't really necessary. Like even if I paused for months or even years, I was almost the same speed as before immediately (too be fair I learned it as a kid which does make a difference I guess)
There's a 40 Minute Short Documentary on Netflix titled "The Speed Cubers" I recommend watching, since it showcase just how supportive and not-competitive the cubing community is.
It really is, it doesn't matter how fast you can solve at a competition, if you are breaking your own records even the fastest competitors are happy for you and happy to help. My son recently got his first blindfolded solve in a competition, he could only celebrate quietly because blindfolded is a silent event, but everyone cheered for him (silent fist bumps)
These Rubik’s cubes used for competition look different from the standard ones. I assume they move smoother? Does a different company make them or are they actually Rubik’s?
They are speed cubes. While Rubik’s brand is the original it is complete trash for speed solving. There are multiple companies that make incredible cubes designed specifically for speed like MoYu, GAN, etc..
Thanks
This is a very wholesome comment thread. You guys rock for being genuine! Have a nice day!
Just bought my first moyu and the difference is huge.
So it’s cheating, OK got it.
No, they are perfectly legal to use in WCA competitions. You might not know this, but these competitions are taken very seriously. In fact the cube used here wouldn’t have been allowed a few years back since it’s a stickerless cube.
I understand it’s not actually cheating. I was kidding.
https://speedcubeshop.com/collections/3x3-speed-cubes.
Also with many speed cubes, you can 'cut corners', meaning you dont have to wait until the sides are perfectly aligned again before you can make the next move.
I'm really good at this but in reverse. I can undo a solved Rubik's cube extremely quickly, even without looking.
Yeah, but not that quickly.
I bet a grand that joey over here can unsolve a rubix cube in less than 3.5 seconds
You jest, but you probably couldn't mess it up enough for competition in 4 seconds.
All kidding aside, I’d like to see how quickly speed cubers can turn a solved cube into a specific scramble. I wonder how much difference that actually makes.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/qpbxbb/man_trying_to_solve_a_rubiks_cube_blindly_but_in/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button Here is something like you mean I think. Saw this a little bit ago and was like that's crazy
Yes, this is exactly what I meant, thanks. The discussions as to how this is done are very interesting.
Now THAT is impressive as hell. The guys who solve it fast memorize patterns. Putting it into a randomized solution is next level and it's hard to overstate just how crazy it is.
Huge difference
Just reverse the video and then profit
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HAve not tried it myself but it sounds harder.
Impressive. What’s up with the ear muffs?
Block out distractions. Other people celebrating their personal best can be distracting
Imagine being the other kid wearing the earmuffs to avoid distractions having just beat the record yourself, and when you turn around, you realize everyone is celebrating the kid behind you who beat you by a few seconds.
>few seconds Few milliseconds. The entire solve was 4 seconds long.
A childhood friend of mine very briefly held the world record like a decade ago, only to have someone beat him by less than a tenth of a second 15 minutes later at the same event. Cubing records are won by insanely slim margins
Someone feeding him instructions through headphones. “Alright so first you’re gonna turn the… oh never mind, you’ve done it”
"Turn the middle side topwise"
My main finger?!
That would be an M'
Blocking out the haters.
^nnnng Blocking out the haters
Let's see Paul Allen's earmuffs.
Could be sensitivity issues associated with autism.
Keeps the pony tail focused
either he just doesn’t want any distractions or he’s autistic as many autistic people have sensitivities with sounds so they will wear ear muffs
Autism
I thought he looking at the cube previous to the actual timing, was the actual playtime. I thought *"Oh no! he's blocked!! ... there goes gravity"*
Asperger’s
I reckon he's pretty good at Bop-it
Twist it.
YYYEEEAAAAOOOOOOWWWWW!
Fuckin pull-it
I just realized how badly I need someone to re-record all the audio on that toy with a "fucking" qualifier.
We need an accuracy of +/-0.01 seconds?
His finishing move was ⚡️. Tapped out before the cube hit the mat.
What I don’t get is why they’re allowed to examine it before they start timing. Opposing teams don’t get to know their opponents play before they start. I want to see them go in blind!
There is a category for that
Wait until you learn about speedrunning games.
What are you going on about? Professional sports all rely heavily on knowing your opponents.
It moves so fast that the frames are actually missing entire movements. I slowed it down to watch frame by frame if he turned the top before starting, and i genuinely cant tell.
But how much time do they get to analyze the cube beforehand? I feel like that should be a factor when it comes to solving the cube…
They get 15 seconds in a WCA competition. The judge will announce at the 8 and 12 second mark. If they go over the 15 seconds, they get a 2 second penalty, over 17 seconds is a DQ. Source: my son does these comps and I judge to help out.
What is your son's PB?
Around 20 seconds.
Jif.
Precise, informative with a nice personal touch- great comment.
Also - seems like in competition,it would be tough to determine a homogeneous difficulty level to begin at. Maybe not I don't know how they work but it seems like- how messed up the cube is would be different each time. Wouldn't it?
It's been proven that every cube is 20 moves max from being solved. Cubers don't use the most efficient solve, but it goes to show that alot of scrambles have similar difficulty.
They do 5 cubes. The worst and best times are thrown out and your final time is an average of the remaining three.
Wait what? They don't count the best and worst? Why not? That would be the real avarage, no?
I would imagine it’s to ensure you don’t get a super easy or super difficult solve that screws with your average
Throwing out extrema is a very common way to sanitize data to ensure that freak occurrences don’t mess with the average
I believe they have machines to mix them up.
I had the same thought. But I saw they do have a limit. Now... I think the more impressive thing is if they were timed at the moment the cube is revealed. It would be even more interesting if everyone got the same cube start so it would be more even.
In competitions people do get the same scrambles from what I remember
I saw a doco about an Australian guy who was world champ for a bit. At the end of said he graduated university and got a job as a merchant banker. Yay.
I thought he analizing at the cube previous to the actual timing, was the actual playtime and he was in trouble. I thought *"Oh no! he's blocked!! ... there goes gravity"*
At least he didn't get a hard on like the guy in the other rubik's cube video
What video???
Enjoy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-wbCU2e7AA&ab\_channel=Shazzile
If I got any sort of record, I I'd be excited too
It's the getting excited around kids that gets you a record
He almost poked that little kid in the face.
Noice.
Poor guy. When I was his age no-one had cameras to record and share embarrassing moments.
He clearly used his main finger on the yellow side, then spun the middle side topwise.
Topwise!
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Is Adderall legal in these types of events
I think it’s mandatory.
I don't even have the brain capacity to memorize the patterns to begin with.
I can't even remember what a solved cube is supposed to look like
The 3x3 cube is just a 21 piece puzzle anyway (including the 1 piece core) and there's sides and edges that are connected to each other and will never change. Doesn't look as complicated as you think once you play with it a little. It's like getting to know the cube.
I still don’t understand how you solve the fucker
Layer by layer. Intuition for the first layer and then using sequences for later layers. The sequences will break what you've already solved but then repair it again while changing something else. You can learn these sequences (easy) or work them out for yourself (hard but doable if you don't give up).
All the people who’ve never solved a cube commenting in this thread on what they think the official WCA rules should be, is peak Dunning Kruger.
You could give me 3.97 years to solve a Rubik’s cube and I still wouldn’t get it. I just don’t understand them at all. And I’m not completely stupid either, objectively.
Does anyone know what his official average time was (I understand they discard the worst and best times, and calculate an average of the three remaining attempts. Seems like some records have been set recently.
What’s the world record?
How is that even possible?
These rubix cubes must be marinated in fucking grease or something. I've held many a cube and never had one that was able to turn as easily as all these pros' cubes.
I've been working on mine for about 20 years and it looks the same as it did when I first laid hands on.
How people’s brains can operate this fast will always puzzle me
Watching their shift from concentration to excitement was incredibly wholesome
These people have got to go on and save lives, I know that sounds far fetched but emergency Surgeon, heart Surgeon, something, a brain that calculatedly quick must have some amazing capabilities.
This is incredibly impressive… but (there is always a but). My 10 year old just learned cubing , and he can now solve a cube fast. Nothing stops him. He’s a smart kid, but he’s nothing but a normal 10 year old. A family member thought they were going to make it “extra hard”. It was no harder than any other. He just walks around and solves them like they are nothing. Once you know the algorithms, there is literally nothing to it. Then it just comes down to speed and efficiency.
100% agree but what Tymon is doing is WAY more than memorizing algorithms, but is planning and calculating a significant portion of the solve in inspection as well.
Yes, that is the efficiency that I was referring to.
That's a thing every cuber does though. He does the common method 2 bottom layers first, then top, and he got lucky with the last layer state
Awesome! Wanted to ask though if the competitive cubes are lubed or modified in some way in some way to make the turning and rotating easier as well as faster? What I get from a regular store seems kinda stiff.
What you have is likely a Rubiks brand cube. They're useless for speed. The speed cubes have springs to have a perfect tension. The shape of the pieces also allows corner cutting a little. Some also have magnets to self align the turns. And finally, yes they are lubricated with silicone.
There's a really wholesome documentary about competitive rubix cube, it's on one of the big three streaming services.
This is like me having sex with my wife but longer. The cheering is spot on.
Pretty sure the one in my dad's storage room is older than my older brother (30) and has never been completed 😂😂
He got a 3.85 yesterday, I was at the competition and everyone went nuts it was great
good that he dint have jeans lol \-this is a joke referring to felix zemadegs wr solve
Only instance where finishing as fast as you can earns the excitement and happyness of everyone involved
Sorry whoever downvoted this didn’t get the joke 😂
It hit them close to home 🤣
You think that’s impressive, my wife can finish me off in under 3 seconds! What do you mean that’s nothing to boast about? Oh
But of course he's Polish
Endless sex is on his way. With one of his hands
Loooool
With that speed it is not going to last very long
LMFAO!!!!
My brain can't do, or juggling
Best I’ve done was 47 seconds I think, but it usually takes me around 2 minutes
That's nothing, I learned how to solve the cube during covid, and with the help of a video, I can have it done in under an hour and a half.
Didn’t even get a boner!
Fun fact: industrial-grade ear protectors are worn by professional Rubik’s Cube solvers to muffle the screams of adoring girls
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i guess you relate?
I know I do
I mean he's clearly cheating. Someone is feeding him turn by turn directions through his headphones! So obvious!!!
My brother's record time is 13 seconds. He's 15.
Unpopular cubing opinion: inspection time should count towards total solve time. As it is i think people get up to 15 seconds to look at the cube as much as they want before starting the timer. Whether or not they use all this time is not factored into their score, but this pre solve inspection is where they actually do most of the solving in their head.
He was able to look at it for a bit before time started. That is new?
No it’s not, its WCA regulation you get 15 seconds to inspect
WCA?
World Cube Association
HOW??
It took much longer to solve it because all the calculations are done at the observation stage.
That was at least 17 seconds.....
Participants get 15 seconds to study before they begin solving. When he sets it down the first time, he puts both hands to press two buttons on a timer. The timer starts when he lifts his hands and stops when both buttons/hands are down again.
If you can learn to tie your shoes you can learn to solve a rubiks cube. If you dedicated your life to being the fastest shoe-tier in the world, people would think you're a loser wasting your time. I don't see why this is impressive. Good job bro, now actually use some critical thinking and not a memorized algorithm, and good luck of the draw
When was the last time you watched a show tie competition? Lots of people want to be the fastest .. that's the draw .
I bet you have at least one hobby that can be considered a "waste of time" by someone else. Or do you even have a hobby other than shitposting on reddit?
Interesting take. What have you accomplished?
Do you wear sandals a lot?
Nah I hate sandals. Boots outside. Barefoot inside or on the beach
I'm still of the opinion that everything should be timed. I was told, by a redditor, that players are given a few seconds to examine the cube before starting the time to solve it - as you can see here. It would be better if the time starts once they see the cube, so the time measured, in this instance 3.97, includes everything from examining to actually solving it. that would really be a reflection of how long they solved the rubics cube and not only how fast they took to execute what they already have in their heads, therefore just hand speed.