Older cubers discussions

[qwr]

Facebook is actively harmful to society

 

[zslane]

Forums make ongoing discussions much easier to follow, and they stick around for a long time giving them enduring value. Reddit and Facebook are much more immediate, like real-time conversations, and if you aren't part of them when they happen, then they might as well have not even happened because they just sort of disappear into the digital aether.

 

[pglewis]

Facebook is actively harmful to society

Forums make ongoing discussions much easier to follow, and they stick around for a long time giving them enduring value. Reddit and Facebook are much more immediate, like real-time conversations, and if you aren't part of them when they happen, then they might as well have not even happened because they just sort of disappear into the digital aether.

One positive aspect of FB for me in general is it's a single, non-email place to keep in touch with a lot of my old friends (and some new) that are spread across the globe. I keep up with my distant friends from the 90s a lot more today than I did 15 years ago.

One positive of the Older Cubers FB group is it attracted a lot of over 40s that never visited this thread. The daily scrambles are fun, though that could be done anywhere.

I totally agree that forums have clear advantages in some departments though. I still keep my eyes on this thread even though it may lay dormant for months at a time.

 

[Jacck]

(double post here and in the 6x6x-blind ranking)
8x8x8 bld: 1:54:38.20 [1:06:15]
cube: Shengshou, 32th attempt

Spoiler: Video

I post it in this thread, because I'm 54 years old and this should be the highest age to have an 8bld-success - @Mike Hughey should have been 49 on his 8bld-success.

 

[pglewis]

(double post here and in the 6x6x-blind ranking)
8x8x8 bld: 1:54:38.20 [1:06:15]
cube: Shengshou, 32th attempt

I post it in this thread, because I'm 54 years old and this should be the highest age to have an 8bld-success - @Mike Hughey should have been 49 on his 8bld-success.

Bonus points for that cube cover, it fooled me!

 

[vidcapper]

I'm 55, and my fingers are just not flexible enough to do much in way of finger tricks, which is why I tend to concentrate on big cubes, although having said that, about 1 in 15 of my 3x3 solves is now below 1m.

Way back in the early 80s I did get a sub 1m on the dreaded Rubiks brand though.

 

[Jacck]

Bonus points for that cube cover, it fooled me!

It was at first a (in my opinion absolutely appropriate) box to collect money for an 11x11x11 when I celebrated my 50th birthday

 

[povlhp]

I'm 55, and my fingers are just not flexible enough to do much in way of finger tricks, which is why I tend to concentrate on big cubes, although having said that, about 1 in 15 of my 3x3 solves is now below 1m.

Way back in the early 80s I did get a sub 1m on the dreaded Rubiks brand though.

I am 54. But getting faster all the time. Most solves under 50s. And new PB @ 30.xx today. 5s faster than old. Too few solves are fast / timed.

 

[Dan the Beginner]

I have this idea, which I was afraid of mentioning in this forum before, but I will try to do it her without alarming all the others. It is about cubing for enjoyment, for exercise (brain and hands) and for relaxation, i.e. not just for ultimate speed. I believe that to the older people, cubing should be very good for all those reasons, as we need something easily affordable, not too hard physically, easily portable and accessible anywhere, to relax ourselves in the pathologist or GP's waiting rooms (dentist!), to prevent arthritis or just to kill time during lockdowns. This should be similar to line dancing, or contract bridge, except it is very appropriate now due to the restrictions preventing those other pastimes due to social distancing requirements. It can also be something that grandparents can share with their grandkids. I suspect there may be a big unexplored market, and it should be good for the cube makers to promote and explore this market, and also have designs that are better suited to old eyes and fingers, like colours that are easier to distinguish (yellow and white) or more that are appealing to older tastes, perhaps more stable or gummier turning, . or more comps and events if this market grows. A demonstration and public meeting of cubing celebrities, new model cubes to play with,.. would be great, for example, in the local senior citizen festivals. (I had no idea modern cubes are so good until recently, thinking they were still blocky/catchy like the Rubik brand ones!)

I think speed is still important, but perhaps some of the other elements like ease of learning, intuitive solving methods and challenge for the brains could also be good or rewarding, besides developing 20 TPS and super fast recognition so as to be able to choose the right algorithm from among 100 of them.

 

[povlhp]

Get the MGC Sq-1. Comes with extra set of black tiles to replace yellow or white.

 

[Dan the Beginner]

I'm focusing on the 3x3 at the moment. Thanks.

 

[Cubing Forever]

intuitive solving methods

If you want intuitive methods, you can try Roux or Petrus. Both of them are really fun and require little to no algorithms.

There's also Heise with 0 algorithms but you don't wanna learn that. It's tough.

 

[Dan the Beginner]

If you want intuitive methods, you can try Roux or Petrus. Both of them are really fun and require little to no algorithms.

There's also Heise with 0 algorithms but you don't wanna learn that. It's tough.

Thanks, I am looking into Roux at this time and have already tried some basic Roux and finding it fascinating. It is more interesting to me than 4LLL, which I also had a play with. I will be making a decision soon, on whether to change to Roux. Compared to the CFOP path, which obviously is popular and great for speed, Roux seems to offer more challenge and relies less on remembering a lot of algorithms and super fast TPS or reaction times for decent solving speeds. That suits this older guy better, I think.

As for Petrus, I am not sure, but I may check it out if Roux is not working out for me. So far, it looks very promising.

Update. Just watched CriticalCubing's video on why he switched to Roux from CFOP (Click here for video), and also JPerm's video on why he stayed with CFOP after 2 months with Roux. It's so interesting to hear their stories and have their insights. The video again confirm that for older people just starting out, Roux should be considered early, before hard habits form. Roux means a more difficult start and need patience (than the daisy LBL method) for beginners, but is apparently just what I need compared to CFOP (which is very easy at the start but gets scary later with the amount of algorithms and cases to memorise). Just something from a beginner with 3 months' experience.

 

[povlhp]

Update. Just watched CriticalCubing's video on why he switched to Roux from CFOP (Click here for video), and also JPerm's video on why he stayed with CFOP after 2 months with Roux. It's so interesting to hear their stories and have their insights. The video again confirm that for older people just starting out, Roux should be considered early, before hard habits form. Roux means a more difficult start and need patience (than the daisy LBL method) for beginners, but is apparently just what I need compared to CFOP (which is very easy at the start but gets scary later with the amount of algorithms and cases to memorise). Just something from a beginner with 3 months' experience.

Started cubing in December. Learned CFOP/4LLL. And then switched to Roux. The CMLL algorithms are all transferable from 4LLL, but changed to another adjacent swap algorithm.
I have been doing lots of slow solves, and use both blue/green as FB color, and sometimes yellow down. CN is not really that difficult. But it is slower with unusual colors.
Started learning more CMLL algorithms but solve too little and forgets them.
Have had many fun side travels. Fisher/Windmill/Mastermorphix. Megaminx, Love the Sq-1 and its complexity. Doing 4x4-7x7. Cubing has so many sub-disciplines.

 

[40yearstosolve]

I am back! I've had a two year break from cubing. What I find odd is I seem to return to it in July each time, not realised until now, weird. Anyway, as before I am grateful for cubing and the help you guys gave me. And just as before returning after a break is a strange experience of the mental fog lifting. I am determined not to stop this time. Even if it's just once a day. Cheers

 

[openseas]

We missed 9 year anniversary. Thanks Marcel who started this post (which became a group) !

 

[Cubewerkz]

Hi

I am David Ang, founder of Cubewerkz. I am 51 years old. I promote speedcubing actively in my country and the region. I sponsored and organised competition. I have taught hundreds of people to solve. I first learn to solve Rubik’s Cube intuitively in the Eighties but when I picked up a cube again in the 2009, I got so fascinated and I proceed to learn to solve all kinds of puzzles. Subsequently I learn algorithms to solve faster and progress to CFOP. I have been to about 10 competition and have an sub 20 single and sub 24 avearage in 3x3. I am still improving moving closer to sub 20 average for average of 100. I owned a puzzle shop which teach Rubik’s classes to the masses. I sponsored best Cubers in the region including 2 currently World Champion in South East Asia. I developed a hybrid beginner method that involved less memorisation for solving without OLL and PLL.
You can try it out.

Example 1

Example 2

If you are in my region or happens to be in my Country, let me know.

 

[Dan the Beginner]

Welcome, David. Great work with your CubeWerkz. Thank you for sharing your method and instruction video. I am very interested in it and will try it, as I believe it is very important to understand how the solving method works. Too many video just show you what to do without understanding, which is fine for learning quickly how to solve quickly, but I am one of those who want to enjoy solving and at my age, it is too hard for me to do it like most speed cubers - memorising huge amount of algorithms and practising for hundreds of hours for the sake of speed. It is interesting for me to learn more about how the cubing moves are actually doing.

 

[Cubewerkz]

Finally found a thread that is right for me. It is not so much about breaking records for people. Setting PBs is nice. The thing I like about teaching people to solve puzzles is that it encouraged people to push their limits especially young people. People gained confidence when they can do something well. Here is picture of my shop. It has become a favourite hunt out for puzzle enthusiasts. Cubewerkz happens to be 9 years old, about the same as this thread

 

[Dan the Beginner]

Nice shop. I agree that there should be more to cubing than just breaking WRs. This Older Cuber thread is where I will visit often and I hope to learn and share. I will be happy to occasionally get an improvement and have a new PB, which is easy as I am still trying to become sub 1 minute.