Older cubers discussions

xyzzy said:
Depends on what type of parity.

Corner parity: no.
Midge parity: no.
Wing parity: yes for 444, no for 555 and up.
OLL parity: yes. (Even cubes only, not really relevant to bigbld.)
PLL parity: yes. (Even cubes only, not really relevant to bigbld.)
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I meant big blindes. For wing parity in 4x4 can you give center safe alg. The one I use is not center safe.
 
h2f said:
I meant big blindes. For wing parity in 4x4 can you give center safe alg. The one I use is not center safe.
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(I know the theory behind bigbld, but I've never done it (successfully (yet)) and I don't really know what other people do.)

Most parity algs end up with a 180-degree rotation of some face's centres, so if you figure out which face that is, you can do a 180-degree rotation of that centre after doing the parity alg. E.g.
2L' U2 2L' U2 F2 2L' F2 2R U2 2R' U2 2L2 (R U R' U)5

I think most people don't bother with a centre-safe alg, since that centre-fixing part at the end wastes a bunch of moves for no good reason.
 
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Old Tom said:
They have a 3x3 on a bar that I frequent. I solve it by my old LBL while watching the sports, not quickly. Some are impressed but most are just watching the sports also. It's always scrambled again when I go back, so they do try! F2L next time, not that anyone will notice.
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There's a restaurant/bar near my house where I like to go. I'll usually sit at the bar and have a beer while I wait for my food. I'll often bring a cube and use the twisty timer app on my phone to time my solves. I've gotten more than a few interested viewers. At first it's "Have you solved it yet?" Then, when they realize that I'm timing myself they're a bit stunned that anyone would actually time themselves. But then we usually get to talking about competitions and such and it's a cool way to share the hobby with other people.
 
mark49152 said:
Nice one. Splits? Are you using corner comms these days?
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I don't time splits on 3BLD. It's not often I time the solves either but I had some time in a coffee shop. 1st solve was a horrible 3 mins. This was the 2nd.
I'm using some comms and did so in this solve. I haven't looked at the solve again but it wasn't particularly easy and that's 9s off my PB. I'll do some more timed 3BLD after Peterborough.
 
Mike Hughey said:
Awesome progress! Good to hear!


Many people here already know I dragged my whole family into it about 10 years ago. My oldest two daughters were 8 and 7 when they first competed in an official Rubik's Cube competition with me. They've competed in 39 official competitions so far, and have a nice "record" of having competed at all the same competitions together. And they were both official judges at the 2013 world championships, since they had developed such a reliable reputation as good judges. They're mostly grown up now and don't go to competitions much, but they still occasionally cube.

It's been great fun sharing this hobby as a family!
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Wow Mike that is amazing! Unbelievable. I doubt I will get to that level but am tempted to go to a competition some day, just to spectate. But that’s some achievement to get your kids a) interested and b) to that level, I know how hard it can be to motivate them at times
 
openseas said:
Great progress!!!

And yes, my son and my self, both of us are into cubing quite "seriously" - we travel all the time together to compete in many different places! This cubing is our "boy-thing" :)
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Superb. You’ll have to give me a shout next time there’s a comp on we’ll come and watch. Unsure if there are any in Manchester, we are in Cheshire.
 
40yearstosolve said:
Superb. You’ll have to give me a shout next time there’s a comp on we’ll come and watch. Unsure if there are any in Manchester, we are in Cheshire.
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Well, I'm in USA (Virginia), but question for you anyway: Are there many slow cubers at the competitions, or are they mostly under-20 second hotshots? Any really slow ones? And what about older cubers? You are over 40, but I am about to be over 80. I'm curious anyway!

Meanwhile, congrats to you and your boy.
 
Old Tom said:
Well, I'm in USA (Virginia), but question for you anyway: Are there many slow cubers at the competitions, or are they mostly under-20 second hotshots? Any really slow ones? And what about older cubers? You are over 40, but I am about to be over 80. I'm curious anyway!

Meanwhile, congrats to you and your boy.
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Oops, that was meant for 40yearsto solve
 
Old Tom said:
Well, I'm in USA (Virginia), but question for you anyway: Are there many slow cubers at the competitions, or are they mostly under-20 second hotshots? Any really slow ones? And what about older cubers? You are over 40, but I am about to be over 80. I'm curious anyway!

Meanwhile, congrats to you and your boy.
Click to expand...
Generally there aren't that many older cubers. But we're still welcomed, even if we're not that common. In Europe the average age tends to be much older than in the US. Here in the US the age tends to skew pretty young; the average cuber's age is probably 14 or 15 at most of the competitions I've been to lately, and that's even with me pulling the average way up by my being there.

And someone like yourself, being 80, will likely be a fascination to a lot of people there. If you happen to go to a competition where there's press, the reporter is very likely to notice you and want your story. :-) I know I love it when I see a competitor older than me at a competition!

As for slower cubers, generally they are mostly under-20 second hotshots. I average around 20 seconds, so I almost never make the second round for 3x3x3 - I'm too slow. :-) But there are always plenty of stragglers with slower times, so you won't feel alone! Look at this link from the "Rally in the Valley" in Middletown VA earlier this year:
https://www.worldcubeassociation.org/competitions/RallyInTheValley2018/results/all#e333_1
You'll see there were 6 people there with over 1 minute averages, and one with over a 2 minute average.

I live in Indiana, but my parents live in Virginia, so I have on occasion made it to a Virginia competition when it was convenient to my schedule. Perhaps we'll meet at a competition someday!
 
Old Tom said:
Well, I'm in USA (Virginia), but question for you anyway: Are there many slow cubers at the competitions, or are they mostly under-20 second hotshots? Any really slow ones? And what about older cubers? You are over 40, but I am about to be over 80. I'm curious anyway!

Meanwhile, congrats to you and your boy.
Click to expand...
The vast majority of the competitors at the competitions I've been to have averaged under 20 seconds. However, there have always been people averaging 40, 50, 60, or more, seconds. Even had a comp where someone didn't finish in the 10-minute time limit.

I'm in the over-40 category and have never been the only one my age at a comp but there definitely are not very many of us.
 
Old Tom said:
Well, I'm in USA (Virginia), but question for you anyway: Are there many slow cubers at the competitions, or are they mostly under-20 second hotshots? Any really slow ones? And what about older cubers? You are over 40, but I am about to be over 80. I'm curious anyway!

Meanwhile, congrats to you and your boy.
Click to expand...

I have never visited a comp but from what I have seen on YouTube everyone goes. There was a xhaonthat was a 2 minute solver that went.

I’d say there should be a prize for the oldest, at 80 that’s an inspiration. But at 40 I already know that you being 80 is nothing to do with age - you will feel the same age as I do, hovering somewhere around 24 :)
 
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