Older cubers discussions

[cubeshepherd]

I had a 11DNF day from just 4 events

Sorry to hear that. I did not realize that you got that many DNF's out of the 18. Hopefully it is better for you next time...And Jeff gets more DNF's then you

 

[xyzzy]

Video of the MO3...

Here's a Cool Alg for the last two centres case in the video thumbnail (5:29 in the video): x 3L U r' U' 3L' r

You can skip the 3L' r at the end (which makes this just four moves long!) if you do a z rotation and go straight into edge pairing.

 

[Old Tom]

Just butting into this thread, because I am indeed an Older Cuber. I will turn 80 later this month, learned to solve via LBL in 1981, when I was already 42, with help from David Singmaster's classisc booklet. Never tried to speedsolve (so don't ask me my times)! I would pick up the cube again every year or so, just to see "if I could still do it." I always could, using a slightly unothodox method of my own design for the last layer that needs ony four algs (edge O, edge P, corner P, corner O).

Just this last April stumbled on this site, and became motivated to learn F2L. Love it, now doing it completely intuitively, but have no look-ahead (yet), so just enjoying it w/o aiming for speed. Still staying with my last layer method, zero desire to learn all those algs.

I wonder how many of us "geezers" are around?

 

[One Wheel]

I wonder how many of us "geezers" are around?

Welcome! I don't think there are many that have been going as long as you have, but you've come to the right place to find the few around. You have almost 50 years on me, but I'm one of the younger semi-regular contributors to and beneficiaries of this thread. Have you experimented with anything other than the standard 3x3? Blindfolded solving is, as I'm sure you've noticed, rather popular around here. I personally enjoy big cubes (5x5, 6x6, and 7x7).

 

[openseas]

Just butting into this thread, because I am indeed an Older Cuber. I will turn 80 later this month, learned to solve via LBL in 1981, when I was already 42, with help from David Singmaster's classisc booklet. Never tried to speedsolve (so don't ask me my times)! I would pick up the cube again every year or so, just to see "if I could still do it." I always could, using a slightly unothodox method of my own design for the last layer that needs ony four algs (edge O, edge P, corner P, corner O).

Just this last April stumbled on this site, and became motivated to learn F2L. Love it, now doing it completely intuitively, but have no look-ahead (yet), so just enjoying it w/o aiming for speed. Still staying with my last layer method, zero desire to learn all those algs.

I wonder how many of us "geezers" are around?

Welcome! In real competition, even late 20s consider themselves as oldies but not here
My favorite cuber (& also role model) is Hideki Tomoyori who has the oldest (in age) official blondsolve record (he was 81, 2 years ago).

 

[Mike Hughey]

Just butting into this thread, because I am indeed an Older Cuber. I will turn 80 later this month, learned to solve via LBL in 1981, when I was already 42, with help from David Singmaster's classic booklet.

While I'm not as old as you (I learned to solve when I was 18), I nonetheless also learned in 1981, so I consider myself something of a "cubing geezer". I bought the first Scientific American magazine that talked about the cube, and read just enough to get the idea of what a commutator is (but without actually learning how to do one) before going out to buy a cube. I bought it and spent 2 weeks playing with it doing repetitive moves until I had several algorithms I could use to solve it, then scrambled it. About a week later, I solved it for the first time.

I got back into solving in late 2006, and got truly hooked when I had my first successful blindfolded solve in March of 2007. Since then I've been completely hooked. My favorite events are the blindfolded ones (like many others here) - I hope you might try it someday!

I'm one of the older ones on this thread. Mats Bergsten is almost exactly between you and me in age, and he is really into blindfolded solving too! Mats has probably been the oldest truly active poster on this website; perhaps you can take his place!

 

[newtonbase]

Welcome @Old Tom. It would be great if you could get to a competition or two.
Your username reminds me of my younger days. I'd always stop off for a pint of Old Tom on pub crawls with my friends. It was a pretty dangerous brew and the pub that served it wasn't too safe either but tradition dictated we our actions

 

[SpartanSailor]

Welcome! In real competition, even late 20s consider themselves as oldies but not here
My favorite cuber (& also role model) is Hideki Tomoyori who has the oldest (in age) official blondsolve record (he was 81, 2 years ago).

I know... a local couple guys just graduated from college and they claim to be the “old guys”... then I kindly remind them that my piece of paper from my college days is older than they are. Hahahaha.

Welcome @Old Tom

 

[Old Tom]

Thx for all the nice comments to my post. No, I am unlikely to try blindfold, am in awe of Hideki. Mike, I also read those early Sci Am articles (think by Douglas Hofstader (sp), subbing for Martin Gardner). My last step, permuting LL corners, is either a commutation or a conjugation, will have to dust off my notes about the definitions of those. A 7x7 = 14 step move, which I can do in my sleep after 37 years.

It would be fun to go to a competition, will have to find time away from duplicate bridge, where I am a club director, teacher, Life Master many times over. I live in the Tidewater Va. area, pretty rural. Nearest city is Richmond.

Did I mention that I am profoundly deaf, since I was a kid? Us deafies have powers of focus and unimpeded concentration. A big help with cubing!

Will try to hang around.

Tom

 

[SpartanSailor]

Thx for all the nice comments to my post. No, I am unlikely to try blindfold, am in awe of Hideki. Mike, I also read those early Sci Am articles (think by Douglas Hofstader (sp), subbing for Martin Gardner). My last step, permuting LL corners, is either a commutation or a conjugation, will have to dust off my notes about the definitions of those. A 7x7 = 14 step move, which I can do in my sleep after 37 years.

It would be fun to go to a competition, will have to find time away from duplicate bridge, where I am a club director, teacher, Life Master many times over. I live in the Tidewater Va. area, pretty rural. Nearest city is Richmond.

Did I mention that I am profoundly deaf, since I was a kid? Us deafies have powers of focus and unimpeded concentration. A big help with cubing!

Will try to hang around.

Tom

Well, I’m up in Arlington and would enjoy seeing you at a competition. If sign language is your primary mode of communication, then we can chat... I’m not Deaf, but can sign.

Again... welcome to the “oldies thread”.

 

[Old Tom]

Well, I’m up in Arlington and would enjoy seeing you at a competition. If sign language is your primary mode of communication, then we can chat... I’m not Deaf, but can sign.

Again... welcome to the “oldies thread”.

Hey, neat. I do sign, though my primary mode is speaking for myself, and lipreading best I can. But, anyone who can sign is a big plus for me. (I lived in N Va, Falls Church, Burke for 40 yrs.)

 

[Mike Hughey]

Heh. We're all from the same place. I grew up in King George, VA, in the Northern Neck. And I went to undergraduate at William and Mary in Williamsburg - that's where I bought and learned to solve my first Rubik's cube.

And Tom, you should really try blindfolded - those concentration powers might make you awesome at it! Not to mention that one of the toughest things about blindfolded solving is learning to deal with the audio distractions, which you just might be pretty good at.

 

[Old Tom]

Heh. We're all from the same place. I grew up in King George, VA, in the Northern Neck. And I went to undergraduate at William and Mary in Williamsburg - that's where I bought and learned to solve my first Rubik's cube.

And Tom, you should really try blindfolded - those concentration powers might make you awesome at it! Not to mention that one of the toughest things about blindfolded solving is learning to deal with the audio distractions, which you just might be pretty good at.

Hmm. Might give blindfold a shot, though it seems like a huge effort. Cubing mainly now for relaxation.

KG, Northern Neck? I am retired in Mathews, Middle Peninsula.

 

[Mike Hughey]

Hmm. Might give blindfold a shot, though it seems like a huge effort. Cubing mainly now for relaxation.

KG, Northern Neck? I am retired in Mathews, Middle Peninsula.

Blindfolded does take a bit of commitment, but it's not nearly as hard as you might think. Find a good guide and you might surprise yourself how quicky you might learn it. I hope someone else here might recommend a good modern guide - I learned too long ago for my recommendations to be worth much.

I seem to remember that when I was growing up, there was some metric by which, at the time, Mathews County was the smallest county in Virginia, and King George was second smallest. But I don't remember how that was measured.

 

[SpartanSailor]

@Old Tom

If you’re are interested, I used this video:

I think the young man does a good job explaining it and covers the concept quite well.

I only started to try blindfolded solving back in January. I was surprised how quickly I was able onpick it up.

Just in case you choose to give it a chance.

 

[Selkie]

@One Wheel - I have not even tried magnetising a 3x3 yet, I really should do to be fair. I guess motivation is less now than ever given the range of factory M cubes on the market.

@SpartanSailor - Let me know what you think of the Shadow M when you receive it!

@Old Tom - Welcome to the thread. I too, like @Mike Hughey and yourself have been solving since 1981 but I was 11 years old when the cube was released. Great to hear you have been pushing your learning with F2L. You are in the right place here for motivation!

.....

At last managed to get the elusive sub 3m 6x6 on film...

 

[SpartanSailor]

@One Wheel - I have not even tried magnetising a 3x3 yet, I really should do to be fair. I guess motivation is less now than ever given the range of factory M cubes on the market.

@SpartanSailor - Let me know what you think of the Shadow M when you receive it!

@Old Tom - Welcome to the thread. I too, like @Mike Hughey and yourself have been solving since 1981 but I was 11 years old when the cube was released. Great to hear you have been pushing your learning with F2L. You are in the right place here for motivation!

.....

At last managed to get the elusive sub 3m 6x6 on film...

I won’t be as fast as you! But it should be here any day now... I’m excited For it to arrive

 

[SpartanSailor]

@One Wheel - I have not even tried magnetising a 3x3 yet, I really should do to be fair. I guess motivation is less now than ever given the range of factory M cubes on the market.

@SpartanSailor - Let me know what you think of the Shadow M when you receive it!

@Old Tom - Welcome to the thread. I too, like @Mike Hughey and yourself have been solving since 1981 but I was 11 years old when the cube was released. Great to hear you have been pushing your learning with F2L. You are in the right place here for motivation!

.....

At last managed to get the elusive sub 3m 6x6 on film...

I noticed you did blue on bottom. Do you normally or was that just how it worked out? How do you do your edges? I start by doing all white (I use white cross and they’re easier to spot) then I do the next four still using freeslice. I have to align my centres for the final four edges.... or at least when doing 5x5.

 

[Logiqx]

Thanks Chris. I'm looking forward to some competition solves but I've no idea how I'll perform tomorrow!

Pyra practice is progressing nicely... 6.1-6.2 Ao100s yesterday and today.

Attending a competition again was nice and it was great to see people but my results were disappointing after such a long time waiting to compete. I did 3 events yesterday and went in slightly emphasising Pyra over OH over 3x3:

3x3 was the first event and tbh, I struggled with it all day; warming up and competing. I'm always affected by dim lighting and I was struggling to see colours which meant zero look-ahead and the feeling of hunting for edges like I do on a 4x4! My daily Ao12 is usually sub-15 so official 18s averages are pretty dire. Never mind... it wasn't my main focus.

My first 3 solves in round 1 of OH went badly due to F2L or OLL mistakes, probably due to the competition environment and previous OH fails. I was feeling relaxed for the second round but I dropped the cube during a RUD LL alg on the first solve and couldn't work out how to salvage the F2L. The 1:00.10 for that solve was because I tried to stop the timer on 1:00.00 which with hindsight I should have just DNF'd. The second solve was really 24.46 but officially 29.46 because of the judges handwriting (I read it as 24.46) and solves 3 and 5 were both 28's. Solve 4 would have been faster than the 24.46 (even another 28 would have been a 28 average) except for the brain fart in the last turns of OLL (back to cross + F2L) so it was 38.20 and with that a 27.22 average turned into a 32.09. The pressure will be on the Peterborough - just 1 round of OH for me with my next chance to compete at the end of October (4 months later).

A sub-7 official average for Pyra should be relatively easy with 5 "typical" scrambles and a sub-6 average doable with 2 or 3 nice scrambles. Another brain fart in what would the been the fastest solve of my first round turned a 6.71 average into 7.35. The second round consisted of the most shocking scrambles imaginable (no centre+edge blocks), adding over a second to every solve and resulting in a 7.88 average. 14th overall wasn't too bad and I only missed 3rd round by 2 places.

Summary - Pyra was ok but could have been better without the hideous scrambles in round 2, OH solves were solid in the second round but a momentary lapse cost me a 27.22 average, 3x3 was just not happening for me yesterday.

EDIT: Be sure to pick up your GoPro and record the timer display after your solve(s). If there is a query about times the delegate is allowed to use it as evidence. I recorded all of my solves but not the timer itself so a 24 turned into a 29. My bad for mis-interpreting the handwriting on the scorecard and not recording the timer. :/

 

[Jason Green]

Attending a competition again was nice and it was great to see people but my results were disappointing after such a long time waiting to compete. I did 3 events yesterday and went in slightly emphasising Pyra over OH over 3x3:

3x3 was the first event and tbh, I struggled with it all day; warming up and competing. I'm always affected by dim lighting and I was struggling to see colours which meant zero look-ahead and the feeling of hunting for edges like I do on a 4x4! My daily Ao12 is usually sub-15 so official 18s averages are pretty dire. Never mind... it wasn't my main focus.

My first 3 solves in round 1 of OH went badly due to F2L or OLL mistakes, probably due to the competition environment and previous OH fails. I was feeling relaxed for the second round but I dropped the cube during a RUD LL alg on the first solve and couldn't work out how to salvage the F2L. The 1:00.10 for that solve was because I tried to stop the timer on 1:00.00 which with hindsight I should have just DNF'd. The second solve was really 24.46 but officially 29.46 because of the judges handwriting (I read it as 24.46) and solves 3 and 5 were both 28's. Solve 4 would have been faster than the 24.46 (even another 28 would have been a 28 average) except for the brain fart in the last turns of OLL (back to cross + F2L) so it was 38.20 and with that a 27.22 average turned into a 32.09. The pressure will be on the Peterborough - just 1 round of OH for me with my next chance to compete at the end of October (4 months later).

A sub-7 official average for Pyra should be relatively easy with 5 "typical" scrambles and a sub-6 average doable with 2 or 3 nice scrambles. Another brain fart in what would the been the fastest solve of my first round turned a 6.71 average into 7.35. The second round consisted of the most shocking scrambles imaginable (no centre+edge blocks), adding over a second to every solve and resulting in a 7.88 average. 14th overall wasn't too bad and I only missed 3rd round by 2 places.

Summary - Pyra was ok but could have been better without the hideous scrambles in round 2, OH solves were solid in the second round but a momentary lapse cost me a 27.22 average, 3x3 was just not happening for me yesterday.

EDIT: Be sure to pick up your GoPro and record the timer display after your solve(s). If there is a query about times the delegate is allowed to use it as evidence. I recorded all of my solves but not the timer itself so a 24 turned into a 29. My bad for mis-interpreting the handwriting on the scorecard and not recording the timer. :/

That's a good reminder! Not only do I need to make sure and record the time, but I need to pay close attention when I initial period. I've caught myself initialing and then thinking, did I even make sure that was right?

Also welcome @Old Tom! Hope you get to compete sometime it's really fun!