I bought a Rubik's cube back in 1980. After messing with it for a bit, I figured out how to disassemble and reassemble the cube, to make it easier to note changes made by turn sequences. I ended up solving layer by later, top, middle, bottom, only looking for algorithms for the bottom. For the bottom I swapped corners first, then I would swap and swap back using mirrored moves to flip edges. Next I oriented corners, then used the orient pattern one way and mirrored to move 3 edges. I later switched to corners first, top, bottom, then middle edges, once I figured out how to flip two middle edges.
In 1981, I bought Rubik's Revenge, a 4x4x4 cube, which only needed two new algorithms to pair up edges, while the center moves weren't significantly different than center move for 3x3x3 patterns. The original 4x4x4 uses an internal sphere with slots for the legs of the edges to hook into, and those would easily snag or break if you weren't careful. Later I bought an original Professors 5x5x5 cube, the one that had the issue of orange stickers coming off (using a warm iron helped a bit). No new algorithms were needed for 5x5x5. The original 5x5x5 cube uses hidden internal pieces, sort of like a cube inside a cube. Later different designs for the internals led to smoother + faster turning cubes.
Also in 1981, I bought a Rubik's Pocket 2x2x2 cube. All of these early cubes used Japan color scheme, with white and blue on opposite sides. The later Western cubes swapped the blue and yellow faces, possibly based on the ideal that since green = blue+yellow, and orange = red+yellow, it made more sense to put yellow on the bottom.
I'm not a speed solver, and I don't plan to learn all the algorithms. I did buy recent cube set (2x2 to 5x5), and when that set stopped being made, I bought a 3x3 speed cube. I use something like beginners Roux method, since the last 6 edges method is a bit faster than having to flip two edges (or four edges, a 14 turn sequence), and I take about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes to solve.
In 1981, I bought Rubik's Revenge, a 4x4x4 cube, which only needed two new algorithms to pair up edges, while the center moves weren't significantly different than center move for 3x3x3 patterns. The original 4x4x4 uses an internal sphere with slots for the legs of the edges to hook into, and those would easily snag or break if you weren't careful. Later I bought an original Professors 5x5x5 cube, the one that had the issue of orange stickers coming off (using a warm iron helped a bit). No new algorithms were needed for 5x5x5. The original 5x5x5 cube uses hidden internal pieces, sort of like a cube inside a cube. Later different designs for the internals led to smoother + faster turning cubes.
Also in 1981, I bought a Rubik's Pocket 2x2x2 cube. All of these early cubes used Japan color scheme, with white and blue on opposite sides. The later Western cubes swapped the blue and yellow faces, possibly based on the ideal that since green = blue+yellow, and orange = red+yellow, it made more sense to put yellow on the bottom.
I'm not a speed solver, and I don't plan to learn all the algorithms. I did buy recent cube set (2x2 to 5x5), and when that set stopped being made, I bought a 3x3 speed cube. I use something like beginners Roux method, since the last 6 edges method is a bit faster than having to flip two edges (or four edges, a 14 turn sequence), and I take about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes to solve.
