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Coming back to the cube... after 37 years

Torrente

Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2019
Messages
9
Hello, I am 50yo and I learned to solve the 3x3 cube in 1981 and I used it for one year, at that time I was able to solve in 45-60 seconds. The other day talking with my sons I told them as part of a conversation, that ignited my desire to be able to solve it again.
I have seen a lot of methods and now it is clear that has been a lot of advancement in the algorithms, I can see different approaches for beginners and I would appreciate your help to choose a method.
I would like to get a beginner method that potentially could grow into more advanced methods, does this makes sense?
I have ordered a Moyu GTS3M cube that I expect to receive soon, not sure why I choose it but it is on the way... any recommendations?

Thank you!
 

mattboeren

Member
Joined
May 29, 2019
Messages
4
just learn the beginner method and if you want to get faster learn an advanced method(for instance cfop roux zz ...).
and if you learn a more advanced method your time will be slower in the beginning but it is common after a time your times will be faster
 
Last edited:

Sue Doenim

Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2016
Messages
448
Welcome back! The standard beginner's method nowadays is just layer-by-layer. It might be what you learned back in the day. I think this tutorial is a good one. After you're comfortable with that, you can probably transition to CFOP, a more advanced method, pretty easily. Then, if you want to, I would also check out the ZZ and then Roux methods. The transition to those ones will probably be a bit more difficult, but it's a good idea to try out all of the major methods and see which one you like best. The GTS3 is a great cube, good enough that you can get to world class speeds with it, so you won't need to buy any new 3×3s unless you want to.
 

jronge94

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Oct 30, 2018
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Location
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2014RONG01
CFOP also known as the Friedrich method is probably the most popular method, depending on which method you used in 81 it might be fairly easy to pich up on for you, if you used a corners first method I'd just recommend you to learn anything else. 1 of the methods mentioned by mattboeren is definetly great.
Cfop definetly has more resources and Roux is typically better if you have more experience with blockbuilding.
But in the end it's up to you
 

pglewis

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Sep 23, 2016
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Cincinnati
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2016LEWI07
Welcome! Similar story for me a few years ago and I'm still at it. The GTS3 is an excellent puzzle but any recent hardware will be much better than the cubes you remember from the 80s.

There's an long, ongoing "Older Cubers Discussion" thread here with a bunch of us older guys as well as a Facebook group "Senior Cubers Worldwide" .
 
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Last edited:

Tabe

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Feb 6, 2017
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Your story is similar to mine - I learned back then as well and then got back into it in 2016/2017.

I recommend following the Beginner Tutorial on Cubeskills.com - www.cubeskills.com. That will get comfortable with modern techniques and so forth.

From there, learn CFOP. That's the method used by most people today and it's the easiest transition from the beginner method taught on Cubeskills.

There are a number of Youtube channels with great tutorials. I recommend:

JPerm
BrodyTheCuber
SpeedCubeReview


Have fun!
 

Christopher Mowla

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I have seen a lot of methods and now it is clear that has been a lot of advancement in the algorithms
Yeah I know, really! If you haven't seen it yet, check out this image which diagrams many methods and how they are interconnected. (PSI's most recent diagram is in the first post of his thread.)

Also, I don't know if you solved the 4x4x4 in the 80s (Rubik's Revenge), but if you did, then perhaps you have seen this guide back in the day. One of the last figures on the last page shows the single edge flip case with this caption.

I'm not sure exactly when it was (no later than 1998) that this 25 90 degree rotation algorithm was found to fix that case directly.

Well, I took the above challenge seriously (despite that I didn't see this particular guide before I did what I am about to state) and eventually found this 18 90 degree rotation algorithm (in 2016).

Of course there are individuals like Tony Fisher who found his own solution in the 80s. And there are claims of "intuitive solutions", but I really think there's only one intuitive approach which doesn't involve destroying your solve progress, making you to have to redo what you have already solved.
 

demontoe

Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2012
Messages
15
Greetings Torrente and welcome back! I learned to do the simple layer by layer method back in 1984 so I am an older cuber too now :)
Recently though I finished writing a guidebook that deals with Fridrich's CFOP method. I would recommend learning CFOP because it is good
transitional method from simply solving the cube to speedsolving it. Also it is a fairly well trodden path so much information is out there. It would also form a good basis for branching off into other methods as well as present a challenge beyond the bases you've already hit back in the day ;). Anyway the book is entitled "Reflections on Rubik's Cube" by Raventoe . It is mostly an organizational method for CFOP that builds off a schema developed by badmephisto about a decade ago. You won't miss a whole lot and save $22 :mad: if you check out his badmephisto youtube channel or the website http://badmephisto.com/ Good luck with your new cube. peace
 
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Jan 15, 2019
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Your story is similar to mine - I learned back then as well and then got back into it in 2016/2017.

I recommend following the Beginner Tutorial on Cubeskills.com - www.cubeskills.com. That will get comfortable with modern techniques and so forth.

From there, learn CFOP. That's the method used by most people today and it's the easiest transition from the beginner method taught on Cubeskills.

There are a number of Youtube channels with great tutorials. I recommend:

JPerm
BrodyTheCuber
SpeedCubeReview


Have fun!
I have learnt cubing from these YouTube channels:
Z3Cubing
Cube Solve Hero

Their tutorials are very clear.
 
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