Felix Lee's Pyraminx Tutorial: Advanced Keyhole

[flee135]

When I began solving the pyraminx in 2007, macky led me to Richard Patterson's site, where I learned what is known today as the keyhole method. I practiced this until I was averaging around 6.5 seconds in 2009, and when I broke the NAR in December 2009, it got me thinking that maybe I can avoid some bad cases (usually the flipped edge in place) in keyhole just by solving the centers in a different order. That led me to further think that maybe I could solve them in such a way that I can actually solve that third edge together with the centers. My averages quickly dropped to low 5's within a month or two, and eventually to low 4's sometime in the middle of the year. This method got me to rank 3 in the world at the time, and even though my official average hasn't improved since December 2010 (I stopped practicing seriously around then), it still ranks top 20 in the world.

I've mostly kept this method a secret because I didn't want anybody catching up at the time, but I think it's a good time to finally show people what I do. I've gotten sub-3 averages with this method before, but not consistently, so I think it does have a lot of potential when mastered. If you're interested in becoming the best in the world, it's best not to rely solely on this method like I have (I use this method maybe 9 out of 10 solves), but also to incorporate easy cases from other methods in order to take advantage of the scrambles that you are given. If you're only interested in improving, or at least transitioning from a beginner method to a better method, I think this is a good stepping stone.

Warning: I am very bad at talking to a camera, as well as teaching via video. If anything isn't clear, contact me and I can clarify

 

[JasonK]

Of course the interesting-looking pyraminx video comes out when I've hit my data cap and can't watch youtube videos...

I look forward to watching this.

 

[MarcelP]

Me too. I am at work right now, looking forward to watch this.

 

[Evan Liu]

Thanks for making these videos! I haven't learned anything new for Pyraminx in a long time, so I will definitely try to get used to this.

 

[sneaklyfox]

Will watch this tomorrow. Thanks.

 

[flee135]

Description updated with algorithms. A few people told me to do this and so I went through all the cases and decided to write them down. HOWEVER, I discourage memorizing these algs without understanding how they work (for most of the cases). That'll really hinder you since a huge part of pyraminx is being able to figure things out intuitively. In the video I try to explain these cases move by move, so I still suggest watching me perform each case in the video. The algs are just good for setting up cases if you really need to, or for recalling how to do a case if you forget.

 

[That70sShowDude]

This feels like a historic day in cubing, lol. Felix actually showing someone his method. I remember how secretive you were in 2010.

 

[paulangas]

thanks! i want to practice again , in 2010 i was rank 11 of the world with 5.07 avg , but I kept practicing, I averaged 5.06 last year, but I can't make a better average.

I hope to regain a good level again.

 

[Mr Kerby]

Good video, but u show very fast ( for me) :tu

 

[flee135]

thanks! i want to practice again , in 2010 i was rank 11 of the world with 5.07 avg , but I kept practicing, I averaged 5.06 last year, but I can't make a better average.

I hope to regain a good level again.

Oh how times have changed

Good video, but u show very fast ( for me) :tu

Yeah, that was one of my concerns about this video. Notation as it is now just isn't good for learning how to perform these algs. I made a cheat sheet a while ago that didn't use standard notation at all. Maybe I'll remake one and just scan it to post online somewhere.