PingSkills
Member
Hi all,
I first learnt to solve the Rubik's Cube in the 1980's. I was walking with my Dad when we saw a guy on the street solving the Rubik's cube. He was selling cubes along with a solution book called Mastering Rubik's Cube by Don Taylor. My Dad bought 2 cubes and a copy of the book. We went home and in a few hours had our first solved cube. The book taught a simple layer by layer beginner's method which I eventually memorised and since I was still in primary school people thought it was pretty cool.
Fast forward to 2006 and I remember seeing the Rubik's cube in the news. I searched around the house but couldn't find a cube so I went out and bought a Rubik's cube and found out I couldn't remember how to solve it. That's when I searched online and found Dan Harris' CubeStation website (what happened to that site?) and was amazed to see a video him solving the cube in around 15 seconds. Using the instructions from his site I taught myself again how to solve it. I started to learn F2L but was very slow and it still took me around a minute and a half to solve. I enjoy writing websites and there weren’t millions of them about the cube back in 2006 so I built one that demonstrated how to solve the cube using a beginner’s layer by layer solution. My interest lasted a few months until other things took over and the cube got put into the cupboard where it would remain for many years. I’m actually a much better ping pong player than I am a cuber so to fill up my time instead I started up a table tennis website. So if you want to learn how to play better ping pong check out PingSkills.
Then last year in 2014 I once again heard something about the Rubik's cube in the news and picked up my old cube. I was completely blown away to find out the World Record had dropped to 5.55 seconds! This time I bought some better cubes, got a little better at F2L and went to my first competition in Niddrie where I got an average of 54.52 with a best time of 39.90 and a worst time of 1:26.18. So you can see I'm still pretty inconsistent. I was hoping to enter the Lifestyle Seasons 2015 but the venue only has room for 40 competitors and there were so many entries they had to close them early. Who thought cubing would be so popular?
Here's the fastest solve from my first competition. I was so nervous on my first solve my hands were literally shaking!
My goal now is to get to a sub 30 average. I can see how this is possible and how better cubers would think everyone can do it. On my current solves I have so many long pauses trying to find pieces after doing the cross and after each F2L pair. I've learnt 21 PLL algs but my recognition of each case is still very slow. So yes I think I can do it but it will be interesting to see. Firstly will I stay motivated enough to put in the required practice? I think the fact that there are now regular competitions in Melbourne will help a lot with this so a big thank you to the organisers of these competitions. And secondly is it possible to learn as fast at the ripe old age of 40? Time will tell.
I first learnt to solve the Rubik's Cube in the 1980's. I was walking with my Dad when we saw a guy on the street solving the Rubik's cube. He was selling cubes along with a solution book called Mastering Rubik's Cube by Don Taylor. My Dad bought 2 cubes and a copy of the book. We went home and in a few hours had our first solved cube. The book taught a simple layer by layer beginner's method which I eventually memorised and since I was still in primary school people thought it was pretty cool.
Fast forward to 2006 and I remember seeing the Rubik's cube in the news. I searched around the house but couldn't find a cube so I went out and bought a Rubik's cube and found out I couldn't remember how to solve it. That's when I searched online and found Dan Harris' CubeStation website (what happened to that site?) and was amazed to see a video him solving the cube in around 15 seconds. Using the instructions from his site I taught myself again how to solve it. I started to learn F2L but was very slow and it still took me around a minute and a half to solve. I enjoy writing websites and there weren’t millions of them about the cube back in 2006 so I built one that demonstrated how to solve the cube using a beginner’s layer by layer solution. My interest lasted a few months until other things took over and the cube got put into the cupboard where it would remain for many years. I’m actually a much better ping pong player than I am a cuber so to fill up my time instead I started up a table tennis website. So if you want to learn how to play better ping pong check out PingSkills.
Then last year in 2014 I once again heard something about the Rubik's cube in the news and picked up my old cube. I was completely blown away to find out the World Record had dropped to 5.55 seconds! This time I bought some better cubes, got a little better at F2L and went to my first competition in Niddrie where I got an average of 54.52 with a best time of 39.90 and a worst time of 1:26.18. So you can see I'm still pretty inconsistent. I was hoping to enter the Lifestyle Seasons 2015 but the venue only has room for 40 competitors and there were so many entries they had to close them early. Who thought cubing would be so popular?
Here's the fastest solve from my first competition. I was so nervous on my first solve my hands were literally shaking!
My goal now is to get to a sub 30 average. I can see how this is possible and how better cubers would think everyone can do it. On my current solves I have so many long pauses trying to find pieces after doing the cross and after each F2L pair. I've learnt 21 PLL algs but my recognition of each case is still very slow. So yes I think I can do it but it will be interesting to see. Firstly will I stay motivated enough to put in the required practice? I think the fact that there are now regular competitions in Melbourne will help a lot with this so a big thank you to the organisers of these competitions. And secondly is it possible to learn as fast at the ripe old age of 40? Time will tell.
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