Cubing Nostalgia: When was the ‘golden age’ of cubing

[Michael Wimberly]

The cubicle came put with an everyone solves video literally last week wdym they stopped

 

[precompsubwr]

I started cubing in late 2019 right before covid starting, within that time frame I would probably say 2022 because a lot of wr barriers were broken around that time

But if any year I would probably say 2015

 

[OtaMota]

magnetic cubes were still illegal

I know stickerless was, but when were magnetic cubes illegal?

 

[eeeeeeeee]

i started cubing in 2022, and as a singaporean, id say 2025
beth and jia ying won female world champion
jovan lee wr4 single
nigel phang 2.93 and 0.90
andclock improving a lot

 

[efattah]

I know stickerless was, but when were magnetic cubes illegal?

Magnetic cubes were only illegal for about 3 months after they were first released.
I can't recall the exact date the first magnetic cubes came out, I think it was 2017 or 2018.

 

[Deleted member 36445]

Magnetic cubes were only illegal for about 3 months after they were first released.
I can't recall the exact date the first magnetic cubes came out, I think it was 2017 or 2018.

Magnets in puzzles were illegal because back then you could accidentally erase the floppy disks where the solves were stored and that would result in serious damage






I'm joking

 

[ender9994]

Cubing peaked on May 30th 2009. $10 The Cubicle gift card to anyone who knows why

 

[OtaMota]

Cubing peaked on May 30th 2009. $10 The Cubicle gift card to anyone who knows why

First time you made 2nd round in 3x3

Peaked highest ranking in a round.

First time you did 2x2, plus possibly witnessed a 2x2 Record

 

[eeeeeeeee]

Cubing peaked on May 30th 2009. $10 The Cubicle gift card to anyone who knows why

rowe hessler 3.15 2x2 average
OR
michal halczuk 6x6 wr

 

[That0newe1rdo]

I started cubing (where i could actually solve it) on september 1st but spent the majority of the year before learning and i thought it was the 3rd for months until i went through my old pics and saw one on the 1st of september that in bopd captions said yayayaya 1 year of cubing.
Wait tomorrow is the 1st cool.
I didnt know about the max park wr until 2024 as well as i only really watched unboxings and j perm tutorials for cubes i never thought i was going to solve then.
Yeah tho its hard to declare a period of time the golden age when cubing has only been around for like 25 years.

Tbh after alot of thinking (not much thinking tbh) i have came to the conclusion where the peak (aka golden age) of cubing or speedcubing and abything twisty puzzle (sorry clock mains dw tho i like clock) is probably covid to now.
We have extremely good cubes.
Records are starting to reach their human limit.
Comps are quite frequent in alot of places (when can i say that's true for NE england tho).
Might be bias since i started cubing in late 2023

 

[pizzacrust]

Back when the Zhanchi was the best option.

 

[PapaSmurf]

Back when the Zhanchi was the best option.

I was literally about to say just this.

Or, when the best place to get algs was Cubeskills, Badmephisto or some similar Website.

In reality, the "golden age" really depends on your own experience.

I started cubing in 2006, but now is the golden age of cubing. There are more competitions, more good cubes, more resources for learning, and more places to talk to other cubers than ever. v2.blddb.net lists the various algs top blindsolvers use, and even has videos showing the fingertricks! At Worlds, we saw PLL+parity algs for 4x4. We're now getting 7x7s that are usable for people with small hands. There's a lot to be excited about.

Objectively, I've got to agree. But there's an element of nostalgia seeing how cubing evolved with the internet and the low quality video of Mats' 5.55, janky techniques still allowing people to get WR and all that. It's fun to hear the stories of why TNoodle is called TNoodle and other such quirks because the whole thing was run by a small in group. However, the formality has really allowed the hobby to become mainstream and that is great!

 

[Deleted member 36445]

Or, when the best place to get algs was Cubeskills, Badmephisto or some similar Website.

Bad mephisto was a better teacher than jperm.
No need to advertise or clickbait or nothing. Just the pure desire to teach.

Also don't forget when Cube4You had good cubes and we could buy cubes made by Meffert's (I have a Fisher cube from Meffert's )

 

[ender9994]

First time you made 2nd round in 3x3

Peaked highest ranking in a round.

First time you did 2x2, plus possibly witnessed a 2x2 Record

Nobody guessed correctly, but this was the closest. It was the first and only time I podiumed in an event lol. A feat never to be repeated. I sent you a message with the gift card

 

[Caleb Valenzuela]

Tbh after alot of thinking (not much thinking tbh) i have came to the conclusion where the peak (aka golden age) of cubing or speedcubing and abything twisty puzzle (sorry clock mains dw tho i like clock) is probably covid to now.
We have extremely good cubes.
Records are starting to reach their human limit.
Comps are quite frequent in alot of places (when can i say that's true for NE england tho).
Might be bias since i started cubing in late 2023

records for all 17 WCA events are NOWHERE near their limit. the more popular events’ records are definitely starting to become harder to beat, but I wouldn’t say the same for the rest.

I would say the “golden age” is when:
Smartcubes are the new normal
Frequent competitions in almost every country
Cubing is seen as not just a hobby, but also a sport (basically seen the same way chess is seen)
more acknowledgment of cubing to the public eye (again, recognized the same way chess is)
Cubing clubs in schools are more plentiful
Hardware for all events are optimized

 

[That0newe1rdo]

records for all 17 WCA events are NOWHERE near their limit. the more popular events’ records are definitely starting to become harder to beat, but I wouldn’t say the same for the rest.

Yeah, i get wut you mean but its js my opinion. I dont see something like a sub 15 ao5 in 4x4 happening any time soon (although ig its possible since wr single is sub 15).

I would say the “golden age” is when:
Smartcubes are the new normal

Yeah if everyone could afford smart cubes lol.
Do you mean by "normal" involves them being cheaper ?

Frequent competitions in almost every country

Yeah I agree here, thatd be great.

Cubing is seen as not just a hobby, but also a sport (basically seen the same way chess is seen)

im on the fence on this ngl.
Like itd be great for it to be seen as a sport (i think it already is in china) but at the same time i like the fact that its not a sport since thatd make cubing way more popular than it is, and then itd be the norm to solve cubes, and one thing I like about cubing is that not everyone can do it, since that kind of gives me a special ability or something that i can do thats actually impressive or like not the norm ? If you know wut i mean.

more acknowledgment of cubing to the public eye (again, recognized the same way chess is)

Also on the fence with this.
My interpretation of this is that people are more aware that theres more to cubing then just solving a standard 3x3.
Itd be great to not have to explain stuff like corner twists, but at the same time i quite like explaining things to people (as long as it isnt why im allowed to corner twist sometimes).
Like i can just be minding my own business cubing, and someone could walk up to me and be like " Yo thats so cool ! " and then ask me questions about stuff inside of cubing.
But if people were more aware of cubing, then i could be minding my business cubing and then someone just walks past thered be less ( or no) wish or need to understand it more.

Cubing clubs in schools are more plentiful

Yeah, this would be nice.

Hardware for all events are optimized

Yeah, this would also be great.
i dont like the thought of switching mains for some events where i already have the "best" cube for it right now, idk why, i think its cause some of my mains ive set up perfectly to my needs, and for some of those events i cant see hardware improving (although it probably will), so i dont see the point of getting a new main conteder that id most likely just set up to be as similar as possible to my current mains.


(Im so bad at debating lmao)

 

[Caleb Valenzuela]

Yeah, i get wut you mean but its js my opinion. I dont see something like a sub 15 ao5 in 4x4 happening any time soon (although ig its possible since wr single is sub 15).

Yeah if everyone could afford smart cubes lol.
Do you mean by "normal" involves them being cheaper ?

Yeah I agree here, thatd be great.

im on the fence on this ngl.
Like itd be great for it to be seen as a sport (i think it already is in china) but at the same time i like the fact that its not a sport since thatd make cubing way more popular than it is, and then itd be the norm to solve cubes, and one thing I like about cubing is that not everyone can do it, since that kind of gives me a special ability or something that i can do thats actually impressive or like not the norm ? If you know wut i mean.

Also on the fence with this.
My interpretation of this is that people are more aware that theres more to cubing then just solving a standard 3x3.
Itd be great to not have to explain stuff like corner twists, but at the same time i quite like explaining things to people (as long as it isnt why im allowed to corner twist sometimes).
Like i can just be minding my own business cubing, and someone could walk up to me and be like " Yo thats so cool ! " and then ask me questions about stuff inside of cubing.
But if people were more aware of cubing, then i could be minding my business cubing and then someone just walks past thered be less ( or no) wish or need to understand it more.

Yeah, this would be nice.

Yeah, this would also be great.
i dont like the thought of switching mains for some events where i already have the "best" cube for it right now, idk why, i think its cause some of my mains ive set up perfectly to my needs, and for some of those events i cant see hardware improving (although it probably will), so i dont see the point of getting a new main conteder that id most likely just set up to be as similar as possible to my current mains.


(Im so bad at debating lmao)

when I say “smartcubes are the new normal” I mean:
they are cheaper (around the price of a normal speedcube today)
and almost everyone has a smart cube

 

[L4NC3_D4_AS14N]

and almost everyone has a smart cube

Yeah…almost everyone

 

[JDCubing1]

It was pretty funny when magnetic cubes were still illegal for WCA competitions. Stickerless were also illegal.

If that was still here today, I'd be cooked rn! I never use non-magnetic cubes unless it for YT short

 

[That0newe1rdo]

when I say “smartcubes are the new normal” I mean:
they are cheaper (around the price of a normal speedcube today)
and almost everyone has a smart cube

There is a few cheap ones (i think the monster go one is like £15) but the best ones probably wont go any less then like £75 (maybe £50) but idk really know since i barely use them.