Does me being colorblind affect how fast solve the cube?

[EmmaTheCapicorn]

I have been cubing for 4 years. I average about 35-40 sec on 3x3. I am red-green colorblind and I recognize the colors by looking at the surrounding colors. Does this affect my speed at all since I am very slow at solving even after 4 years?

 

[Jorian Meeuse]

I would expect it to affect your speed, but i have never experienced this so i wouldnt know. I believe there are customizable cubes though, for which you can decide the color scheme (e.g. change red to black) before buying.

 

[abunickabhi]

Color blindness does not affect. To attest my claim, Mats Valk, former WR holder is color blind.

 

[Brouxt Force]

As long as you can easily distinguish all of the colors from each other, color blindness will not slow you down. If you can't, then a custom color scheme cube should solve that problem.

 

[Mastermind2368]

As a fellow colorblind cuber, it can affect your solving speed depending on the particular shades. For example, I used to have a terrible time with Moyu shades, and I had to buy custom shades for my Aolong V2.

To tell if this is a legitimate problem for you, take a few different pictures of your cube. Then, import these pictures into a tool which can mimic colorblindness. One such tool is made by Lucas Garron, this one didn't really work for me, but it's a neat web based tool. The link for this tool is here. For android phones, an app called CVSimulator has helped me quite a bit.

You'll want to find a colorblind simulator tool which makes it so you can't even tell a filter has been put on. So just run it through the simulator and show it to a non colorblind friend or family member. If they say the colors are drastically different, that is most likely an issue.

For reference, this is what an older Moyu cube looks like to me (the bottom one). If they look the same to you, then that probably answers your question without going through this whole process.

In the case that the shades are an issue for you, you can try out new shades on a virtual cube such as CSTimer to see if you like them. Virtual cubes do take a little to get used to, but they are free to try out and it's worth doing if you have any interest in virtual solving.

 

[xyzzy]

I recognize the colors by looking at the surrounding colors

If the colours look so similar that you have difficulty distinguishing them in speedsolves, then yes, colour blindness definitely affects your solving and you've already realised that.

Colour blindness isn't that big of an impediment for speedsolving (as pointed out, Mats Valk is really fast while being colour blind), but it does mean that you might have to use a different colour scheme.

 

[Garf]

I have been cubing for 4 years. I average about 35-40 sec on 3x3. I am red-green colorblind and I recognize the colors by looking at the surrounding colors. Does this affect my speed at all since I am very slow at solving even after 4 years?

Since red, green, and orange might look similar to yellow, I recommend getting a cube with a custom color scheme. For example, red has to be darker than the other colors, and green has to be a completely different color.

 

[DuckubingCuber347]

Color blindness does not affect. To attest my claim, Mats Valk, former WR holder is color blind.

"Colour blindness does not affect your ability to distinguish colours".

If I remember correctly Mats chose the colour scheme for the Valk line specifically to assist him because he was colour blind. Chris Olson was also colour blind which is why he was often seen with special glasses.

 

[Garf]

"Colour blindness does not affect your ability to distinguish colours".

If I remember correctly Mats chose the colour scheme for the Valk line specifically to assist him because he was colour blind. Chris Olson was also colour blind which is why he was often seen with special glasses.

So that explains why the red is so dark compared to the other colors

 

[Timona]

I have been cubing for 4 years. I average about 35-40 sec on 3x3. I am red-green colorblind and I recognize the colors by looking at the surrounding colors. Does this affect my speed at all since I am very slow at solving even after 4 years?

If you recognise the colours by looking at the surrounding colours during the solve then of course it's hindering your speed. Best advice is to change your colour scheme to make everything more distinguishable.

 

[LBr]

Most people recognise a colour by looking at the colour itself. So if you look at a piece with blue on it and go ‘that’s not going to be a green piece there will be immediate hindrance, since you are deducing a piece rather than just looking, and that will increase thinking during a solve. It’s a similar thing to when faster people deduce pieces in the back, but if you’re effectively doing this for pieces in the front, then this will stunt improvement.
So probably best to switch to a stickered cube and order a set of stickers, but due to the steep decline in popularity and as a result, availability of stickered cubes, then you could spray paint the red then the green side of your cube a colour that is more easily noticed by you and generally contrast well, but choose wisely

 

[ruffleduck]

"Colour blindness does not affect your ability to distinguish colours".

If I remember correctly Mats chose the colour scheme for the Valk line specifically to assist him because he was colour blind. Chris Olson was also colour blind which is why he was often seen with special glasses.

Pretty sure abhi was referring to how color blindness does not affect speed, as per the original question.

 

[Cubing Mania]

I have been cubing for 4 years. I average about 35-40 sec on 3x3. I am red-green colorblind and I recognize the colors by looking at the surrounding colors. Does this affect my speed at all since I am very slow at solving even after 4 years?

This is an important question. I'll tell you what I know. You can get custom sticker colors on SpeedCubeShop for cubes, and you can make the color scheme different so that you can distinguish between them.

 

[Eli Apperson]

I know this post was a year ago

It was 5 days ago....

 

[Cubing Mania]

It was 5 days ago....

I was looking at when she joined. sorry.

 

[zzcuberman]

I average 8.6-8.8. I'm color neutral. I'm red green color blind. You just recognize then by shades pretty much. Even if your fully color blind I imagine it'd be the same

 

[EmmaTheCapicorn]

I average 8.6-8.8. I'm color neutral. I'm red green color blind. You just recognize then by shades pretty much. Even if your fully color blind I imagine it'd be the same

I’m color neutral for some puzzles.

 

[Ayce]

I would buy different shade stickers for colors you struggle with. If you use stickerless that can be an issue.
Cube depot used to sell sticker cheaply but they went offline a while ago, there is probably some other cube store that offers sticker, speedcubeshop has a PDF of all the shades.

 

[codacube]

FYI - Color blind here too.
I cannot answer your question since I'm not as fast as you are, but color differentiation certainly slows me down. I've found GAN cubes, bright lights or sunlight, and some other tricks help me solve faster. Some manufacturers cubes cause me great confusion and fun. (Sometimes a solved cube isn't really solved, but looks fine to me.)

Interestingly, the degree of color blindness varies significantly between people. You and I could both be red/green color blind, but you might be fine with some cubes that I cannot use. The rate of color blindness in the general population also varies. More information here: https://www.healthline.com/health/eye-health/can-girls-be-color-blind

Sadly, color vision also fades with age. It's thought that cataracts and other eye issues may account for it. So cube early and often while young. ;-)

Are you color blind? test it here: https://colormax.org/color-blind-test/ (short easy test. Search for more detailed tests if desired).

For those of you that are not color blind, try solving a cube in really low light or under a black light (uv). It's a pretty good comparison.

 

[OreKehStrah]

You can also set up cubes to have a custom color scheme if you want to spend a bit of extra money. If a cube has a black stickered version, you can usually take parts from it to add a black side to a stickerless version of that puzzle. You can usually buy spare parts from vendors like theCubicle via email vs having to purchase a 2nd puzzle.

I am not color blind but I use the color scheme shown in my pfp because it looks nice and adds more contrast.