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Why did you get into speedcubing?

Q1: My uncle knows how to solve one, and I wanted to be like him.
Q2: My first cube was a dollar sore cube, and my first speedcube was a DaYan ZhanChi.
Q3: I was overcome when I first solved my cube and was very proud.
 
my friend could solve one with a guide about 3-4 years back, one day I said
"why don't you just memorize the guide, and then solve it from memory?" he
never did. so I decide I wanted to learn, but I could neverget past one side
because I had no idea that you were supposed to permute it (could solve a
side, not a layer) I forgot about the cube for a few years. and then one winter
day/night my siblings and I were bored so our parents took us to target to get
monopoly, I noticed a rubiks brand on a shelf. it said it came with a guide so I
decided I would get it (my other one broke lol) after solving it the first night i kept solving it with the guide, then I remembered what I said to my friend a
long time ago. So I got to work memorizing algs and before I knew it I was showing off my "amazing" skills of doing it in 6 minutes. later after reaching about 45-ish I pretty much stopped for an entire summer, then at school my friend said he got a 25 second solve...
that was it, I started practicing as soon as I got home. I and have been cubing since. He's still faster than me,
but we are only about 2-3 seconds apart in average (I'm 19 sec average he's 17 sec). If anyone read all that
it's probably impossible for you to die of boredom :)
 
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Q1: I was about to ship out for US Army Basic Training. I saw someone on a shuttle to the airport playing with their cube. I don't think I had ever seen one in person (strange, I know). I was like "Oh, those are impossible". Then I saw him solve it. I watched him a few times, trying to see the method (I think it was beginner's, but I'm not 100% sure).

Q2: I got injured in Basic Training (broke my wrist) and sent to the injured brigade where the training soldiers either go to heal up or get sent away. We got a trip to Walmart at one point, and I picked up a Rubik's Brand Cube. Actually, we weren't supposed to have "toys", so I opened the cube and snuck it into my bag. I put the instructions in my pocket. The cube ended up stored away in my personal belongings which I couldn't touch after I was healed up and back in training. So, each night, I would study the instructions, trying to memorize all the algorithms (without having a cube to practice on). About week 7 of the 9 weeks of training, we were allowed to go into our personal possessions (but still not supposed to have "toys" or anything like that). I snuck the cube out anyway, and put it in my locker. I figured getting in trouble for having a Rubik's Cube would be the funniest possible way to get in trouble. Anyway, at night, I started working on solving it, using the instructions. After a few days, I managed to get it solved.

Q3: The feeling the first time that R' D' R D sequence led to the cube completing, I was soooo shocked. Especially because the cube looks like it's just getting completely scrambled. I was very happy. I memorized all the beginner method, and was solving in around 2 minutes for a while. Eventually, I put the cube down (I think it broke or something).

Fun Story:

After training, the first duty station I went to in the Army was Korea (I'm back now, but not in the Army. I'm an English teacher). Anyway, I was out drinking with my buddies, and we were pretty inebriated. We went into this little Korean market, and there was a Rubik's Cube on the counter all scrambled (it had flags all over it, but still a cube). Anyway, I snagged it up without permission, stumbled around the store for about 5 minutes and put it back on the counter solved. The two Korean employees were completely shocked to see a stumbling drunk soldier solve their cube. That's probably my best cubing story so far.
 
Q1
One day, when I was 10 yrs old, my best friend gave me a Rubik's cube for my birthday. This resulted in me finally understanding badmephisto's tutorial 2 months later. This resulted in a massive obsession.

Q2
At first I thought it was very cool, having one before I got that one from my friend, but my littlest brother through the cube off our indoor railing from our two-story house, causing a center piece to pop off, causing the whole cube to shatter. But the cube was a little stiff out of the box.

Q3
I thought it was awesome, and when I showed my parents, they thought it was awesome too. My mom put a picture on facebook. This was in November of 2012.

Just a little side note when I imagined this while typing this I imagined it in a Bear Grylles voice. I have no idea why.
 
1) My grandmother's house had a Rubik's cube. I played with it ever since I was a little kid, but never learnt to solve it.

2) My first cube was a Rubik's Brand, but that was confiscated by my teacher within 2 days and I never saw it again. The cube I learnt how to solve on was a Fisher Cube, then a mastermorphix, then I got a rubik's brand, followed by a GuHong.

3) 'Cool, I did it.' Everyone else around me thought that too.
 
Question 1 - Reddit about 2 months ago. This video was posted to /r/videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbVfmmsdk1c

That led me to /r/cubers. Then that led me to badmephisto's how to. I thought it seemed simple so I dug out my cube and got to practicing.

After not needing the cheat sheet I was at a time of 4:45 and now I'm currently fluctuating between 1:45 and 2:15. I make stupid mistakes timing myself.

Question 2 - Rubik's brand. I find it to be extremely slow and stiff. My first and only speed cube, for 3x3 at least, isan Aurora. I love it. It's extremely smooth.

Question 3 - I was just surprised how easy it could be to solve.

Now here I am currently learning in order:
4x4(Moyu AoSu)
2x2(Dayan 50mm)
Megaminx(ShengShou).

I also have a Pyraminx(ShengShou) which is extremely easy. I want to pick up a skewb and 5x5 after seeing what Moyu puts out.
 
Question 1 : One of my friend in my class could solve the cube with LBL method,slowly my whole class got into cubing..I then started leanrning how to solve it,we always used to compete with each other i then found out how famous cubing is on internet and that there were comps and stuff..Iam currently the fastest in my class :D

Question 2 :My first cube was Rubiks Brand when i bought it i dint even know what a speedcube means..i was under the impression that it was the fastest I then found out how many speedcubes were out there and was shocked by their speed and how they used to cut corners

Question 3: All of my friends could solve the cube when i learned how to solve it,I dint feel like it was a huge accomplishment.I Learned solving the cube in rubiks's website guide.I could'nt memorize all those algs like the op said,it took me about a month to learn them.Now i memorized the whole pll in 4 days.
 
My Story!

Question 1: When & Where did you find out about cubing?
It was the end of 2013 and I was watching this video of the Guinness World Records Broken that year and saw Mats Valk solve it in 5.55 seconds. I was astonished as I had a crappy cube on my study table which I used as paperweight and thought of solving it. Without internet, without books, it took me 3 hrs to figure out basic piece movements and ultimately solve on my first try. After a week with the my method of solving I was stuck around 2 mins. Now I thought if I have to be fast like Mats then I have see the internet. I went to Youtube and searched how to solve Rubik's cube. Found the video by Dan Brown. Didnt like it so switched on to another video. There in comments someone had linked to badmephistos video of solving the cube. It was pretty similar to how I solved it but first I would solve a side and then move the pieces around so that the pieces were permuted properly and badmephisto was making the cross properly, not just anywhere and then adding the corners also properly. That saved some time there. Learned that and got my avg down to 45 sec. Then saw his video on how to become a speedcuber, learned CFOP from his videos and approx 3 months later, I am SUB 20 :D The BEST TEACHER, BADMEPHISTO!

Question 2: What was your first cube? Your impressions?
Local Brand. Pretty awful but was better than Rubiks brand cube. Second cube was Rubiks brank. Made my avg worse and when I was averaging about 30 seconds, bought the Weilong and still use it. Also own other cubes which I bought but didnt use much.

Question 3: What did you originally think about being able to solve this what seemed insanely difficult puzzle?
I thought of this puzzle as an easy puzzle as my father used to solve the 3x3 and 4x4 when I was a kid, like 4 years and I saw him solving and I always thought, what my father can do, I can do so I thought of this as easy puzzle.And my father was more faster than me using LBL. He was around 30 sec with LBL and he didnt want speed, but it came naturally to him :) My inspiration was him :)
 
Question 1:
When & Where did you find out about cubing?

I never really know about speedsolving until my cousin came to my house sometime late 2012 and showed my how to solve the cube with the "Fridrich" method. After that, I decided to look up "speed-solving a Rubik's Cube", and started learning CFOP.

Question 2:
What was your first cube? Your impressions?

My first cube was just a random storebought, wasn't even a Rubik's brand. It was worse than a Rubik's brand and cannot be broken in. I ended up adding a drop of Maru and it does a U5 instead of a U, I threw it away -- it wasn't like anybody would want that cube.

Question 3:
What did you originally think about being able to solve this what seemed insanely difficult puzzle?

Nothing, really. I've always liked to think logically, and since people are about to solve it in ten seconds, I figured that there must be an easy and systematic way of doing it. That turned out to be very true.
 
Nothing, really. I've always liked to think logically, and since people are about to solve it in ten seconds, I figured that there must be an easy and systematic way of doing it. That turned out to be very true.
Yes, I guess that is quite true, unfortunately for me, I had never heard of 'Speedsolving' when I got my first cube, so I was unaware of how much faster people could get than 2min solves.
I think with my Rubiks brand using Layer By Layer I was sub 5 only just, so finding out about the speedsolvers at comps who do it in Sub 20 was something I believed to be out of this world, and not achievable.
 
Q1: I figured out how to solve my babylon tower puzzle. I get excited, then thought "Well, there is a similar puzzle, what was that, yeah, Rubik's cube or something... Maybe I can solve that too?" It was years ago, like I don't know, 2002.

Q2: A good old stiff original Rubik's. Hard to turn, but hey, as a beginner, that was the lest thing I minded.

Q3: Impossibru! It was hard... All the colors... The pain... No, there is yellow, that should be white... How do I put this green sticker to there?! What is your secret? I managed to solve one layer after a while, but then I stopped, and I put the cube on the shelf for years. Then I saw that someone was able to solve it in like 5-10 minutes, and I was wow! I must learn the secret! So I learned the second layer and the last layer edges. Due to lack of his time, I had to figure out the last steps (last layer CO and CO) by myself.
 
Q1

I was part of the Rubik's Cube craze in the early 1980's. My parents brought me a 3x3 and two solution books (remember no internet then!) and despite that I could not solve it.
I always got stuck when doing the last layer. In May 2009, I thought of things I saw in my childhood and did not achive. Solving a 3x3 was one of them. So I ordered the same solution book I was given in 1981 and brought it on Ebay. Then I solved a 3x3. My issue all along. I was confusing D' for D and vice versa!

Q2

A store brought Rubik's Cube from KMART (an Australian deptartment store). I still own it.

Q3

I saw others in 1981 solving it. Back then 25 seconds was really close to a WR time. And 45 seconds was a very good tome to get.
 
Question 1:
Back in College. Mandatory training for my job. Classmate had a Rubik cube every day. Became lab partners. Eventually in a few weeks he convinced me to try and solve it. He showed me the beginner's method. Few weeks later, went to mall and bought a Rubik's brand and finished learning Beginner's method from Rubik's website. Determined to beat him. So we raced pretty much every day after I bought a cube from the mall. 5 months in for me and 1 year in for him we are tied at around 28 sec ave. After I beat his PB single(20.22) he became less competitive. We don't race much any more. So now my goal is to beat Antoine Muhahahah.

Question 2:
Rubik's Brand. It was bad. Modded it heavily till it was awesome.
Now I am obsessed and just bought every 3x3x3 (Phil Yu has all my money)

Question 3:
"Good I can solve it without help from Rubik's.com now.... but how can I get faster?"
 
Question 1:
When & Where did you find out about cubing?
Sometime early in elementary school (age 6/7ish?), my mom's friend came to visit us and could solve a cube. I was very interested in it, and he taught me to solve a side and gave me his cube. A couple months later, we went to visit them in Taiwan, and he taught me to solve the first two layers. I'm pretty sure he came up with at least part of his method on his own, based a lot on intuition. For example, he would do an x rotation and a U perm to solve the second layer. My friends at chinese school had also taken to solving cubes (not really cubing, but they could solve), and taught me how to do the last layer (more like wrote down algs from the manual that comes with Rubik's brands). I was kind of obsessed for a few months. I picked it up once in a while and had a few intervals of obsession afterwards, but did not truly start cubing until the second half of 8th grade (age 13-14) when I got a stickerless zhanchi.

Question 2:
What was your first cube? Your impressions?
My first cube was the one that my mom's friend gave me, just a Rubik's brand. Like I mentioned, I was very interested in it even before I knew how to solve any of it. I had not seen any videos of fast cubers or anything like that, being a little kid without a computer.

Question 3:
What did you originally think about being able to solve this what seemed insanely difficult puzzle?
It was fun at first and I liked how amazed it made people (narcissistic, I know). I didn't know about faster people, faster methods, or faster cubes, so I didn't get very fast (1:30ish I think). I only got interested in getting fast after watching world records on youtube.
 
Question 1:
When & Where did you find out about cubing?'
I saw a bunch of Rubik's Cubes at the mall one day in 2008. By then, I had heard several people say it was impossible to solve. For some odd reason, this gave me the urge to buy one and just turn it a few times then "solve" it.

Question 2:
What was your first cube? Your impressions?
A Rubik's brand. Didn't think much about it because I thought all cubes turned the same. For some reason though, it didn't hurt my hands as much as it does now, maybe since I have speedcubes now. I completely forgot about it until I saw it scrambled one day, and got the urge to solve it.

Question 3:
What did you originally think about being able to solve this what seemed insanely difficult puzzle?
I wasn't very proud of myself since it was a combination of being solved in an unsolvable state and because I spent the entire night solving it. Though, I did have fun in the solving process whenever I wasn't getting mad at not being able to do the headlight algorithm and screwing up. After some more minutes of popping out pieces and fixing them back, I felt satisfied that I solved a cube. I'm still pretty slow though, since I average 45 seconds.
 
I started cubing/speedcubing in december 2013(i know, not a long time ago).

I started cubing because I found a rubiks cube in a drawer that i got for Christmas 2008/9(i was 9 years old). And I wondered if i could solve it and I went on rubiks.com where there was a great tutorial with little icons to help you with notation. it was LBL and 6-alg LL. When I beat the 1:30 mark I suddenly understood how f2l worked and started to use it. I learned 4LLL at 1:10. I currenty try to pass the sub-20 barrier.

my first cube was a rubik's brand. it turned pretty well for that time(no finger tricks at ALL)(i modded it when i was avg 1min) and i could pretend to drop it by accident(I would be heartbroken if I did that to my ZhanChi today). But the core broke when I dropped it at school(really by accident) when I was avg 45.

what I thought when I could solve this puzzle: nothing special, just a little bit of mathematics and intuition.
 
1. I saw a lot of Rubik's cubes on toys r us when I was 7 (im 14 now) (i just started in cubing)
2.as u can see, my first cube is a rubiks brand but now I'm looking into buying a moyu or a dayan (see my thread Dayan or moyu?)
3. I felt happy after solving it (i watched thesergsb tutorial) (i first solved it a month ago)
I have a question though, are there any girl cubers out there? (Just curious)
 
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1. My Dad used to be able to solve in under a minute when he was my age back in the early eighties, he can still solve F2L, but not LL, i keep trying to get him to let me teach him, but he is too lazy:P. I used to have a cube when i was like 8 and he would he would solve the F2L, but i have no idea where it went. I was at my friends house last summer and saw that he had a Rubiks cube, so i started messing around with it and he just let me have it since he never played with it. So then i went on youtube and was amazed by the speedcubers on there. I watched a ton of Feliks' videos and instantly became addicted. I first learned how to solve in september 2013.
2. You guessed it! A Rubiks store bought. Once i had it broken in i thought it was awesome, i didn't really believe people on the forums when they would talk about different speed cubes. I didn't think cubes would be able to tur. much faster than my store bought. When my first speedcube (a stickerless zhanchi) arrived, i was shocked at it's quality.
3. My goal when i wanted to learn was to break my Dad's old PB which was 45 seconds. The first time i solved, it took me 45 minutes because i kept messing up, the next day i was already down to 2 minutes, and i couldn't wait to sjow my friends at school. They thought it was amazing! Of course now they don't even bat an eye when i solve much faster because they are used to my cubing.
 
Question 1:
When & Where did you find out about cubing?
In 8th grade i saw my friend solve a rubik's cube under 20 seconds and i wanted to become like him

Question 2:
What was your first cube? Your impressions?
I got a rubik's brand and lubed it with vegetable oil lol. I was addicted to it and brought it wherever i went. my first time was 4 minutes.

Question 3:
What did you originally think about being able to solve this what seemed insanely difficult puzzle?
I thought using algorithms was cheating but i realized that all speedcubers use algorithms.
 
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