What are scrambles for?

[F2LCub]

I noticed outside of competitions a lot of people seem to use scrambles found from the internet or wherever to scramble their cube before solving it.

Normally I just scramble it randomly without looking at it much before resolving - is this just me being unconventional or is there an obvious reason to use scrambles that I'm missing?

 

[DGCubes]

Hand scrambles are much more likely to be overly lucky or follow certain patterns (especially for smaller puzzles, like 2x2, Pyraminx, Skewb, and 3x3). If you get a super-lucky hand scramble, you might feel bad about counting it as a PB seeing as you may have inadvertently forced it. Computer scrambles are much better because every state has an equal chance of occurring, so there is no bias.

 

[Piotr Grochowski]

On 2x2 and 3x3, competition scrambles use a random cube state and generates an optimal solution for it; on other puzzles random moves are used. At home, random moves may also be used for 2x2 and 3x3. As opposed to human scrambling, competition or online scrambling prevents not only human bias, but also cheating.

 

[WACWCA]

Using generated scrambles makes each cube state equally likely to Achieve, and makes sure scrambles aren't too easy. For big cubes it's less of an issue

 

[Ronxu]

It's faster to use random state scrambles than hand scrambling for long enough to ensure that you won't get easy scrambles too often.

 

[mDiPalma]

if you use a computer scramble, you can show your online friends a scramble with an easy cross.

 

[tx789]

Hand scrambling for sq1 is a real pain.

It is just easier. Following a scramble for 7x7 is a pain though.

You definitely tend to do the same moves for hand scrambling. Meaning you tend to go there a similar set of scrambles.

 

[Dr_Detonation]

Scrambling.