Why did you get into speedcubing?

[gundamslicer]

my friend was able to solve it in a minute so i thought that was really fast back then. i wanted to be faster than all of them so i learned through pogobats method, then keyhole, then 4 look. im now the fastest betwwen all my friends

 

[gundamslicer]

my friend was able to solve it in a minute so i thought that was really fast back then. i wanted to be faster than all of them so i learned through pogobats method, then keyhole, then 4 look. im now the fastest betwwen all my friends

 

[chris410]

I cube for fun so the "speed" in speedcubing is more a race against myself. I stumbled upon Dan's video and thought...why not pick up a cube and learn how to solve it. Once I learned the beginner method I wondered if there were better/more efficient ways to solve the cube so, I looked up advanced solving and stumbled across Badmephisto's videos. My goal was to simply be able to solve the cube in under a minute. From there, I improved a little by learning F2L then 2-Look OLL/PLL and moved to full PLL. I do not have much time to cube so when I do I simply enjoy cubing and don't worry about the times as much. I went to a competition to watch the "fast" cubers and to meet/learn from others. I know I will never be competitive which helps since it removes the pressure and allows me to simply enjoy the cube, and learn different things to help improve. From beginning to now well the 3x3 I learned how to solve the 2x2 using what I knew from 3x3 then learned Ortega (thanks Kian/Carson) the 4x4 from Lancetheblueknight's channel and figured out the 5x5,6x6, and 7x7 using what I knew from the 4x4 on my own which is probably why I am so slow with those! I am impressed with how quickly some people improve, I do not feel I have the natural ability to ever be sub-20 so I guess the advantage I have is being slow, faster times come to be a surprise more than anything. I laugh when people I know watch me and think I am fast, I tell them that in the competition world I am one of the slowest cubers!

I'm curious about how your views of your cubing/speedcubing has changed from the time you first did solves up until now. For those who are still trying to get faster, do you have a specific limit in mind, or are you waiting to figure it out? What will happen when you reach this point? For those who believe you've gotten as fast as you can, what do you think about finally getting to it? Is your current average something you expected from the very beginning?

After joining this site and watching/talking to some of the more advanced cubers, I realize that there is so much more to the cube than simply memorizing algorithms. The look-ahead, piece tracking/manipulating (ex: edge control) fascinates me. Of course, there is BLD solving which another aspect I am fascinated with and hope to someday learn when time allows. My view now is that I realize a little more how much there is to the cube and just how little I actually know about it. I hope to eventually push myself to sub 20 but I know I will need to learn full OLL and improve my F2L drastically before I can begin to push what I consider my limits. I seriously doubt I would ever be faster than that because I do not feel I have the "gifts" that some of the very fast cubers have. Good news is that I am ok with that, the improvements with my memory and ability to visualize things is a welcomed benefit of cubing. As far as my current average (mid 30's on a good day with some high 20's mixed in) is something I could never have imagined. I honestly never thought I would break 1 minute.

 

[Surin]

I remember seeing Yu Nakajima's 7 second solve and being blown away...that was basically when I realized that I had to learn
I was into puzzles before then, though, and I guess it's an unusual and impressive skill

 

[spdcbr]

I wanted to be the very best like no one ever was.

To solve them is my real test
Getting faster is my cause

 

[Mike Crozack]

I got a cube for christmas 2009 and i told myself "I'm Michael, and I shall solve this cube"
then i got it, watched Yu Nakajimas sub 7 solve, and got insired

 

[ElectricDoodie]

While in my Junior year of high school, my friend got a new girlfriend. We were on a road trip, and I was in the backseat, when I noticed that she had picked up a cube, and was playing with it. Didn't care, but when I looked back about 2 minutes later, she had it solved. I was amazed, and kept asking her questions about it. She showed me that the centers are fixed, and to build it by layers. For some reason, this clicked on me, and all of a sudden, the cube actually made sense. I was able to solve the first 2 layers over and over, using intuition, in the car. When I got to LL, she didn't know how to explain it. So, I repeatedly kept spamming F2L.

After the road trip, I got home and bought a cube. I went online, and found the first tutorial, and decided to use it. It was the Jasmine Beginner's Solution on peter.stillq.com.
After a few hours, I was able to solve it all on my own. It took me about 3 minutes. I noticed at the bottom of the guide, that there were "Expert Methods." I checked it out, but it seems too confusing, and left it alone.

I then stopped cubing, and went to college. While in college, I randomly decided to watch cubing videos, to see how fast people could solve it. I was amazed at sub15 solves. I kept watching thinking that they were doing the Beginner's Method very fast, but realized it was different. There had to be something different. I remember that there were expert methods, and this was probably it. I went back to the Jasmine Tutorial and checked it out. It kept mentioning the Fridrich Method, and I started looking that up, which brought me to Chris Hardwick's site.

I decided that I wanted to learn it, and be able to solve it in under 30 seconds. I said, "When I get to 30 secs, I'll stop."
After finishing PLL, I was sub30. I hadn't finished learning Full Fridrich, so I said, "When I get to sub20, I'll stop."
I practiced F2L, and go my solves to sub20. I still hadn't learned Full Fridrich, so I said, "When I get to sub15, I'll stop."
It was just a drive for me of "I know I can do it faster if I continue practicing."

I'm currently learning Full OLL, and have a feeling that when I get sub15, I won't stop. I'm not even halfway through with OLL, and already know that I won't want to stop, until I'm sub10.

I'm 24, been speedcubing for about 10 months, and have a stubborn mind. I refuse to believe that because I'm older (I know, that's not really that old ), I can't achieve very fast times.
My goal is to continue, until I'm sub10, to prove to myself, that I can do it. I know people who have told me it's impossible, because I needed to have started when I was younger, with the whole "you can't teach old dogs new tricks," but I refuse to believe that age is 24.

 

[blackzabbathfan]

I got a cube for Christmas in 4th grade. I learned how to solve it in July before 5th Grade. I was using the Dan Brown Method and for 2 years was getting 1:30s, my goal was sub-minute. I started learning Fridrich last November. I am now using 2 look OLL, Half of the PLLs and intuitive F2L. I average in the mid-30s and i get sub-20s occasionally. I know i'm not that fast but my goal is to learn Full Fridrich and to get sub-20.

I want to ask people something though, when you get sub-10, when you break a world record, what now? I mean what is so fun, you barely acknowledge you're solving. You blink and the solve is over. Don't get me wrong, i would love to be Sub-10 it's just the fun of taking longer is that you get to solve longer. Does anyone know what i mean?

 

[RyanReese09]

the fun of taking longer is that you get to solve longer

That's why 4x4x4-7x7x7 (and up) exist.

 

[Tiersy]

A friend mentioned one sunday that he was going to stay in his room until he had solved it, I didn't actually expect him to manage it but he did... so I had to too. I always thought that it took a special mind and a whole load of patience to solve the cube, so I was pretty astounded when I managed it. Back then I didn't have a clue how the algs actually worked and was gob smacked at their beautiful efficiency (geek town central...) after getting frustrated with just repeating that same old cross,corners,2nd layer edge piece, blah blah blah routine I left the cube alone. That didn't last long however because I was still fascinated by the whole thing and wanted to get "good" once and for all, Fridrich scared me off with its PLL + OLL alg lists so I learned Petrus.

After pretty extensive reading I am of the opinion that if you wanna get fast times (and quickly) then CFOP is the method to learn. Petrus appeals to me though because I love its intuitive nature, it just provides me with such a challenge. I still wonder sometimes what the point is in slogging away at Petrus rather than learning OLL/PLL... like a lot of other people, then i watch captain crash's videos on youtube and remember why it'd be so bad ass to be sub-20 with Petrus.

I am still slow (PB low 30's) but I know that if I keep practising I can nail some boomting blockbuilding shiz and shave seconds off my time. I am aiming for sub-30 avg in the near future and hopefully sub-20 singles after that.

I have a lot of respect for all the people who are sub-20/sub-15 because I still believe to this day that the I don't take naturally to the cube and such quick times are nuts. Finger tricks are fine, i can bust out a Sune in the blink of an eye but lookahead skillz are something else, big up yourself.

...My goal is to continue, until I'm sub10, to prove to myself, that I can do it. I know people who have told me it's impossible, because I needed to have started when I was younger, with the whole "you can't teach old dogs new tricks," but I refuse to believe that age is 24.

I wish you all the best dude, with motivation and perseverance i'm sure you'll manage it. I'm 24 too and am damn set on getting quick to prove to myself that I can do it. I am a fair way behind in many ways but I am gonna manage sub-20 Petrus, mark my words...

 

[amanda]

A friend of mine could solve it under a minute, and we liked to race (although I always lost). I decided to get fast enough to beat her then I found it fun and just kept on going :3

 

[hoopee]

I had 2x2x2 when I was like 5 or something. And couldn't solve it.
I thought it would be fun to learn it now (i'm 15) and bought 3x3x3. It was just so fun to try to get faster times.

 

[theace]

Same reason as the op. I simply Wanted to solve a cube. I timed myself once. Now I'm hooked.

 

[lucarubik]

we had to take a regular objet to draw in class, some of my mates took a rubiks cube, i just loved it

 

[Georgeanderre]

Found a cube in my cupboard, didn't put it down until i could solve it...
took a month to come up with a method...and each solve took 3mins+
none of my friends seemed that interested, so i never tried to teach them

 

[y3k9]

My gate teacher gave me this cheap $1 cube. Nuff said.

 

[ImJustANubCuber]

OP's reason. I was thinking one day of how many times ive tried to solve one, so i bought the "You can do it!" package from Rubiks and used the DVD to learn.

 

[tozies24]

At my school I lot of people knew how to solve them but there were barely anyone who did more than just the beginners method. I had no interest in learning how to solve one but then on a bus trip, my friend told me that he was going to teach me whether I wanted to learn or not. So I learned the beginners method in a 4 hour bus trip. In the next week, I had my own cube and then like all things, I need to be the best I can be, so I started learning stuff off Macky's website and then kept progressing. What is funny, is that I joked about solving a cube in 30 seconds since it seemed impossible at the time, but now I can get 30 seconds easily lol.

 

[gymnerd]

Got drunk one night and saw a video so I walked to Walgreens and bought a cube.

 

[ilikecubing]

How it started : I was just walking around randomly in the toys section of lifesyle in Bangalore getting bored.I was with my uncle,aunt and my 5 year young brother,they were shopping and I was looking for sports items and other random stuff.

I saw a place in the store where there were a lot of Rubiks cubes kept together.I went over to that place and started thinking 'I've seen this puzzle so many times in my life before,i've spend hours trying to solve it but I'm just not able to get further than a 2x2 block(I didn't know what a 2x2 block on a rubiks meant at that time so I was just thinking of it visually,co incidentally a few weeks after that I came to know that it is the first step of petrus method which I didn't know about as well),then I thought more and more and thought "wouldn't it be great if I could be able to solve it myself,wouldn't it be so much fun and a nice little achievement??" Right there on that very moment I decided that I will learn to solve this puzzle.I purchased it and took it home,that was the only thing I bought that day,usually when I go to a mall,I buy a lot of stuff.

for about 2 weeks it was just kept idle because I didn't get time to play with it,then finally the day came and I searched up for a tutorial on YT.Yes you guessed it right it was 'Dan Brown's' tutorial

First day : I didn't understand the 'cross thing' at all,I patiently watched the first part of his tutorial but I failed on making the cross on the first day,I was stupidly getting all the green edges with their centers without caring about their positions.thought to myself '"I'm gonna try again tomorrow"

Second day : Watched the video again,realized that I had missed some things which were important and finally after trying hard that very day itself,I made the cross!!! That very day I easily understood how to insert the corners into their right slot using R' D' R D,that part was luckily easy for me "Yaayyy.I can do the first layer now " was what I thought,I was happy.

Third day : Went to part 2 of the tutorial and learned the algorithm for inserting middle edges into the right place which was not much of an issue.Took at break for the rest of the day.

Rest of it : next day I learned all the LL algorithms in Dan Brown's video was finally able to solve it after 2-3 more days and I really very happy.Practiced on my storebought and reached to 90secs,thought that was a great time.

But no,I was way too wrong,just browsing through YT and searching through stuff I found THIS video,I thought this was the best and fastest method :fp I ofcourse knew about F2L thing by lurking through other videos but I thought that was Crap.Later on I came to know that its called keyhole.So I continued practicing with keyhole and started getting better times and after 4-5 days broke the 1 min barrier.

When searching for "ways to get faster" on YT,I found two channels which had most views and comments,they were 'badmephisto and thrawst',saw some of thrawst's videos,I thought "****,how can this guy be so damn fast" and I felt wish I was this fast,anyway continued looking for videos and got stuck to badmephisto and learned F2L.When I just started using F2L in my solves,I was like :fp and thought that this method had no potential,I was getting very bad times etc etc and thought continued with keyhole,thought keyhole was better and got to sub 50 with it,but then I saw more videos of sub20 averages by YT cubers and thought that I think I should get back to F2L,then I practiced without stopping,I was getting times as bad as 2:30-3:00 but eventually after some days came down to 1:10-1:20

I came to know about speedsolving.com,I forgot the source from where I came to know of this site.I found this site nice,fun and helpful,kept coming here regularly and got faster side by side and also kept watching badmephisto's videos and came to knew about OLL and PLL,but I didn't understand a single thing of it and continued practicing with Dan Brown's LL.

One day I googled 'how to solve a rubiks cube' and came across a video which was by Tyson Mao maybe,not too sure.He taught me 2 look PLL and 4 look OLL,I started doing the LL that way I got to sub 45 and...............

Well its a huge long story ahead,I'm sure the reader must be getting bored I will continue this some other time,bye.

Speedcubing.com and WCA : had no Idea about what is WCA and competitions and stuff,I didn't even know that there is a sport in this world called 'speedcubing',I just saw speedcubing.com in a video description of some cubing related video on YT and entered the site,saw stuff like 'X open will take place on A date','B wins Y open' and got kind excited there are cubing tournaments all around the world,I browsed through the site and I reached 'records and rankings',saw that WR at that time was 7.08 seconds by Erik,I was like "WTF,who solved the cube in 7.08 seconds?",I browsed the site more and more and saw my country's records and a lot of other things.

why you chose to pursue getting faster at cubing and what you expected from it, not why you started to cube.

Umm well I thought It would be a great thing to solve the cube in under 30 seconds and It will surely attract a lot of girls around,so I continued cubing,but now after being sub 20,I sometimes think that sub 30 was not so tough.

I don't expect anything from cubing except a sense of achievement and its a hobby anyway for me.