[Member Intro] Hello from outside the box!

Joined
Jan 25, 2026
Messages
15
Location
Cincinnati, Ohio
Hello world! I'm glad for the opportunity to introduce myself, and I also have a question below about a new method I've developed.

For the first 35 years of my cubing life, I did not know or use any form of turn notation. I was ten years old when the cube first hit the market, and I spent a full year teaching myself how to solve it, obstinately determined not to ask for help or read tutorials. At age 45, I spent 18 months working under the same DIY principle but teaching myself how to solve the cube blindfolded. (As part of that, I finally learned standard notation out of desperation. Turns out it's really handy!) My BLD method was basically a pre-cycles monstrosity, and when I subsequently read about Old Pochmann (I learned about 3-style later), I spent several days walking around in a daze over its simplicity. I find the cube utterly fascinating.

I have never been to a competition or event, although I find speed solving incredibly impressive. I myself am quite slow, but I know the cube pretty well from an outside-the-box kind of perspective.

My ulterior motive for posting now: I've developed what I believe to be an original, and simpler, version of Old Pochmann. It is parity-agnostic: It does not include, or require, a parity strategy -- in fact the solver does not even need to know if the scramble has the parity case, since the solve will proceed the same regardless.

I have a YouTube video ready to publish. I hope hope hope to give my method a good launch, and your answers to these questions would be a big help:
  • Has anyone heard of a system like this before? (There are no pseudoswaps. Sorry, I don't want to give away the details yet!)
  • What is the most useful way to post this on Speedsolving.com? A new thread in the blindsolving section?
Thanks, and I'm glad to be here!
 
Hi 43Quintillionaire,

I've developed what I believe to be an original, and simpler, version of Old Pochmann. It is parity-agnostic: It does not include, or require, a parity strategy -- in fact the solver does not even need to know if the scramble has the parity case, since the solve will proceed the same regardless.

I have a YouTube video ready to publish. I hope hope hope to give my method a good launch, and your answers to these questions would be a big help:
  • Has anyone heard of a system like this before?

Yes (see the last image on that page). You might also like to check the footnotes no. 2 and 3 from that page just to see what has been already proposed earlier.
 
Hi 43Quintillionaire,



Yes (see the last image on that page). You might also like to check the footnotes no. 2 and 3 from that page just to see what has been already proposed earlier.
I am so grateful to you for reaching out to me. I see your discussions with Lucas. Has there been any movement on this method since Lucas's "passing the torch" comment on June 20, 2025? Because I've spent the last 2 years generating 93 million corner and edge algs for exactly what Lucas was talking about: Corners and edges sharing a common center swap. My corner algs have 17 turns max. They include EITHER just one whole-cube rotation (x,y,z) OR just one wide turn in the u,d,f,b family, and zero slices. In addition, I came up with a clever way for the OP system to have just 23 setup moves to learn instead of the usual 43. I am ready to put out my YouTube video this Saturday. But I don't want to step on any toes or claim credit for things I didn't originate. Maybe you and I could have a private chat? (Keep in mind I'm an old man and, despite being a software developer, I am not great with social media tech, and you could begin a chat and I might not see it or know it!)
 
Note that I am not a typical speed solver, nor a typical blind solver. That being said,

I am so grateful to you for reaching out to me.

Glad to hear that. :-)

I see your discussions with Lucas. Has there been any movement on this method since Lucas's "passing the torch" comment on June 20, 2025?

Nothing I am aware of.

Because I've spent the last 2 years generating 93 million corner and edge algs for exactly what Lucas was talking about: Corners and edges sharing a common center swap. My corner algs have 17 turns max. They include EITHER just one whole-cube rotation (x,y,z) OR just one wide turn in the u,d,f,b family, and zero slices.

Cool. Let us know the details/results of your research.
Notice that in speed solving, move-optimality (algorithm length) is not the most important metric. Execution fluidity is a thing too. For instance, I doubt that all possible move-optimal algorithms are used in this video:

In addition, I came up with a clever way for the OP system to have just 23 setup moves to learn instead of the usual 43.

I am speaking for myself but I didn´t have to learn any setup moves, meaning I don´t know any setup move by heart. I am simply executing them on the fly without having them to be memorized beforehand (which works for me because I want to memorize the bare minimum).
Here you are using letter scheme to describe things. Some of us (me included) do not operate on the concept of letters - therefore these users don´t follow your explanation easily. I would suggest to use cube simulator whenever possible for clarity reasons.

But I don't want to step on any toes or claim credit for things I didn't originate.

If I wanted to give credit to someone, I would go with Stefan. To my knowledge, he was the first having the idea and also generating usable algorithms (details can be found at https://www.cubinghistory.com/archive/YahooGroups/YahooGroups.html when you select Blindfold Solving group and paste "just swapping 2 pieces" (without quotes) into the Subject field, then apply filters). Here is an excerpt:

Ok, here's one for corners:
D L B L' U' F' L B D B' U' B L2 F' R' D r2 u D

And here's a corresponding one (i.e. same center swaps) for edges again:
U L' R D F U r' B' U R U' R' U' r' d' R


P.S. something irrelevant to amuse you: if it took 2 or 3 years for you to find out your core idea is not original after all, you are quite lucky. I know a guy it took 45 years for him to finally find out his core idea is not original (although that is still questionable but that´s a different story) :-)
 
Hi same I understand Rubik's Cube to solved in One year because I dont understand tutorials for this reason and I develop in past CFBL a variant to CFOP.
But for me Is a problem solve 3bld I desire solve cube blind and maybe I see your Tutorial because now I understand a version of Old-Pochmann.
Welcome!
 
Hi all. I will be posting my BLD YouTube video this morning. I have pivoted FROM presenting the method as my own, TO presenting it as a method originated by Stefan Pochmann, with myself as a cheerleader who brings a lot of algs and setup moves. What is the best place in this forum for me to put the link? I could put it right here... I could put it in the new method-concept idea thread under my previous post... I could put it somewhere in the blindsolving area. Please advise! I believe this method is incredibly important for beginning BLD cubers, and hope to get some attention for it. Thanks!
 
Note that I am not a typical speed solver, nor a typical blind solver. That being said,



Glad to hear that. :-)



Nothing I am aware of.



Cool. Let us know the details/results of your research.
Notice that in speed solving, move-optimality (algorithm length) is not the most important metric. Execution fluidity is a thing too. For instance, I doubt that all possible move-optimal algorithms are used in this video:



I am speaking for myself but I didn´t have to learn any setup moves, meaning I don´t know any setup move by heart. I am simply executing them on the fly without having them to be memorized beforehand (which works for me because I want to memorize the bare minimum).
Here you are using letter scheme to describe things. Some of us (me included) do not operate on the concept of letters - therefore these users don´t follow your explanation easily. I would suggest to use cube simulator whenever possible for clarity reasons.



If I wanted to give credit to someone, I would go with Stefan. To my knowledge, he was the first having the idea and also generating usable algorithms (details can be found at https://www.cubinghistory.com/archive/YahooGroups/YahooGroups.html when you select Blindfold Solving group and paste "just swapping 2 pieces" (without quotes) into the Subject field, then apply filters). Here is an excerpt:

Ok, here's one for corners:
D L B L' U' F' L B D B' U' B L2 F' R' D r2 u D

And here's a corresponding one (i.e. same center swaps) for edges again:
U L' R D F U r' B' U R U' R' U' r' d' R


P.S. something irrelevant to amuse you: if it took 2 or 3 years for you to find out your core idea is not original after all, you are quite lucky. I know a guy it took 45 years for him to finally find out his core idea is not original (although that is still questionable but that´s a different story) :-)
If you execute setups on the fly, the thing to know about "no parity pochmann" is: (1) Setups must not alter center stickers; (2) Setups can alter ANY piece except the current buffer. --Every setup in this system can be 3 turns or less and face-turn only.
 
If you execute setups on the fly, the thing to know about "no parity pochmann" is: (1) Setups must not alter center stickers; (2) Setups can alter ANY piece except the current buffer. --Every setup in this system can be 3 turns or less and face-turn only.

With a room for improvement because there is a number of setup moves and a number of algorithms tradeoff you can use.

That might work for you, it won´t work for me.

Why it might work for you: in a youtube comment you wrote: "The swapping algs of OP are performed repetitively by their nature. Speaking for myself, and anyone who shares my skill set and approach: I will never mess up a solve due to repetitive algs that have 3 extra turns, but I WILL mess up due to A-B memo confusion and double the number of setups to learn."

Why it won´t work for me: in the source of Classic Pochmann, Stefan is proposing Ja and Jb algorithms, among others. Those are redundant in my mind because I don´t mind executing a few easy extra setup moves instead of learning those algorithms. Heck, I don´t even know the proposed T algorithm because in 2005 I already knew its equivalent on Square-1 (thus learning a different algorithm for the same case is redundant in my mind, similarly to pre-memorizing setup moves). Thus the only algorithm I am using (besides U permutation for parity) is his modified T permutation (AKA Y permutation) which is acceptable for me. Guess what: executing errors during Y permutation are much more frequent for me than messing up setups moves (the latter basically never happens for me - I don´t have any issues with doing 5 easy setup moves on the fly (not that I use this many), however, I can´t even execute some 4-movers (remember, I don´t pre-memorize them) in the case of using BLD method with just 1 algorithm like BOP or Stefan´s earlier single algorithm method).

That´s actually a nice example of how every cuber is different :)


P.S. I just realized that both the "Old Pochmann" and "no parity pochmann" terms fit well for Stefan´s single algorithm method.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top