Why did you get into speedcubing?

[crazycubes]

Q1:
Well, one day, i just picked an old cube out of trash. I got interested in solving it but could get no farther than one side. Then i decided to take my quest to the internet. I started cubing about a year ago. I learnt how to solve it in a month and then in a cuple of months got to 40 sec. Then i abandoned it but i decided to resume now.
Q2:
My first cube was a local brand. My first speedcube was dayan zhanchi.
Q3:
i dunno, at first, i was unable to solve it because the alignment itself was wrong. I was stuck there was a couple of days but then when i tried out with my friends cube, i did it. I was of course bewildered. I brought his cebe here to try out and got a solved cube the next day. I was very happy at having solved the cube and kept it solved right like that for the whole day. Next day, i went and showed it to my friends after which the cubing craze caught in my class after which almost everyone knew how to solve it.

 

[ZamHalen]

1. I had this friend in middle school who could solve the cube and it had always sort of interested me. One day I decided to buy a cube and tried to solve it myself. As is common I failed miserably so I decided to try copying what my friend was doing not realizing that he was using commutators to solve the cube. This failed just as badly so I gave up for a few months, after awhile though I caved and looked up a tutorial on youtube, being impatient I learned how to solve the first layer then gave up. I kept on just solving first layers for awhile before finally finishing off the tutorial in early 2009. After doing this I challenged my friend to a race... and lost by about 2-3 seconds. From that day I started working to get faster and accidentally became a speedcuber (greatest accident ever).

2. My first cube was a Rubik's brand, my first speed cube was an F-II (wow that makes me feel a bit old looking at others)

3.I always sort of knew solving it was possible with effort, I just applied myself finally.

 

[Zuki]

Question 1:
When & Where did you find out about cubing?

My mom was taking a college math course (don't remember which) and had a class related to the algorithms on a cube. She was playing around with one and I thought that it seemed pretty neat. I was in 6th grade so it was a pretty big deal for me, and also quite confusing

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

I had an original Rubik's brand cube for about 3 years, and never did enough research to realize that the speedcubing cubes were different. I always thought that everyone else was just better than me at turning it, and it would take decades to even begin to get under a minute... whoops. I tried so many different things to try to make my original move that fast but to no avail.

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

I was crazy happy the first time I solved it, but like Blurry, had to carry around that one sheet containing the last couple algs I had not yet memorized. Still, I showed off to anyone that would listen and they seemed pretty impressed, which felt pretty awesome especially when I was so young!

 

[Jones]

1. Learnt beginners at about 9 years old with a typical storebought cube. Last year I was teaching a friend for fun when I felt like seeing if I could get faster and researched, then became interested very quickly.

2. Okay, technically a random non-rubik's brand store-bought. No particular opinion on it having not tried another cube yet, but obviously now I know it was terrible. First speedcube, I bought a Shengen-FIII and a guhong. The FIII was miles better than my original (not very good in comparison anymore), and the guhong was amazing.

3. I can't even remember actually. I only remember spending like a week trying to work out how Dan Brown did his last corner orientation step (being somewhat young and all when I learnt) until it finally clicked

 

[Dane man]

1- I think I was about 2 or 3 years old when I first saw a cube. Had no idea what it was, just thought it looked cool.

2- A few years later, for my sixth birthday, I finally got my first Rubik's cube. My parents thought I would love it because I was into all sort of puzzles and riddles and things of the like. I didn't know what I was doing, so I asked my mom to show me how to get a side. I was amazed when she was able to put together the white side with the logo on it after just a few minutes. That encouraged me to figure it out, and also established my habit of solving white first, very time.

3- So I would frequently mess around until I got a side. I still remember my thought process as I intuitively discovered how the mechanism worked. "So, I need to move these colors out of the way, out this one in, then bring the others back.." It was fun. I finally solved one side, and continued to practice doing so, until I had the epiphany that it's made of pieces, not sides, and I determined that I could solve the top layer. When I accomplished that, I moved onto the middle four pieces, having discovered that the centers don't really move. The last layer was a challenge, and I never really figured out how to do it until I was 11, when I decided that I would find algorithms, and practice them until I had them memorized. I eventually worked it out, and soon I was setting sub-2 minute times. I felt accomplished in life. The most difficult puzzle I had ever encountered, and I had defeated it. I would impress kids on the bus, solving their cubes with nothing but wrist moves. Even with wrist moves on an original, hard to twist, Rubik's cube, I was able to get 55 seconds as my personal record. And I was satisfied for a time with that, only touching the cube once in a blue moon. Until I wanted to be faster. And so, over the many (and I mean many) following years, I went and got a new Rubik's cube, then a Rubik's brand speed cube, and finally my weilong. Not only that, I came up with a LL method that included finger tricks (BLL), and soon I was getting sub 40 times consistently.

To this day, I'm improving, and looking to have fun with the cube instead of simply solving it fast. But this is truly a timeless puzzle game.

 

[Antonie faz fan]

chris angel.

 

[Dane man]

Does anyone know what this system is called? For the longest time, it was the only system I knew, and I don't even know its name. :confused:

Did the booklet look like this?

 

[Future Cuber]

Gosh .... everybody owned a rubiks brand cube

 

[Deductionist]

1. When I was about 8 we went to a hotel BC of a hurricaine and my mother took me and my brother to a Walmart to get us a toy that would entertain us for the time that we were to stay at that hotel. One of the first things that caught my mind was the rubiks cube. It stood out BC of the complex seeming case it had. I ended up getting one and it didn't take long for me to completely scramble it to the point of no return as it seemed. About four years later, now about 12 y/o, I found my old rubiks cube and sat down and tried and tried.
Eventually my father told me to just do it side at a time. I eventually figured out how to do one side consistently and put the cube back up for several more years. My sophomore year I was very good with math and all of my friends and classmates considered me to be one of the smartest students in our class. One day before our thanksgiving break a girl came to school and was asking if anyone knew how to solve the cube. She eventually asked me and believed that I could if anyone could, but I tried several times and could only solve one side of the cube. Over thanksgiving break I found my old cube and learned how to solve it. When I came back to school I solved her cube and not long after I became a speed solver.
2. My original Rubik's cube brand cube was very slow and blocky. When I looked online and saw all these guys flipping a cube so fast it seemed to defy the laws of the cube and I marveled at it. I quickly learned that the cubes they were using were designed differently and I soon after bought a dayan zhanchi stickerless.
3. When I was first able to solve the cube people were amazed by it as if I had just performed the impossible, solving the cube gave such a sense of satisfaction that was just great. My friends would sometimes get me cubes or bring me very difficult cubes of all sizes to solve and every time I solved each of them.

 

[Tempus]

Did the booklet look like this?

Thank you very much! Mine may have been a different edition, as I think that more of the cover of mine was black, and it was less photographic and more cartoony, but I'm uncertain, as it's been ages and I don't trust my memory. 16 pages does sound about right, and I just looked up this "Ideal Solution" on YouTube, and the order of the steps looks about right, so I think I finally know the name of the first solution system I ever learned!

The version I actually used had a number of refinements I came up with on my own, but this is clearly the original basis, so thanks again.

 

[Dane man]

Thank you very much! Mine may have been a different edition, as I think that more of the cover of mine was black, and it was less photographic and more cartoony, but I'm uncertain, as it's been ages and I don't trust my memory. 16 pages does sound about right, and I just looked up this "Ideal Solution" on YouTube, and the order of the steps looks about right, so I think I finally know the name of the first solution system I ever learned!

The version I actually used had a number of refinements I came up with on my own, but this is clearly the original basis, so thanks again.

Lol, no problem. I actually think that that cover is supposed to be black, but it came out kinda grey because of the scan. So yeah. I took it and made a PDF of it for download. I made a thread about it here. Hope you like it.

 

[Matt11111]

1. I started getting interested in cubing last summer, when my cousins gave me one of their 3x3 cubes. They can't solve it themselves, and I couldn't either before I broke it. I got a Rubik's brand cube for Christmas, and learned how to do the second layer. The next day, my mom gave me a challenge to solve the cube by January 2, 2014, one week later. 3 hours later, it was solved while I was with my grandmother.
2. My first cube is a Rubik's brand, and it's also the only one I have. I thought the cube was okay, (I'm not that experienced, I'm only 11) and I've done a lot of things with it (not involving lube (which some of my friends laughed at when I used the word lube (the teacher sent the three of us out for that (it wasn't really my fault, it was theirs (I had no idea what it meant anyway (I learned what the heck was up with it in science class)))))) but yeah, I now average around 45-50 seconds in a cubing session.
3. When I solved the cube, I was like YEEEES! and then I called my mom. Give me a cubing challenge for a week's length, I'll do it in 3 hours.

Extra info:
Now I have to solve my brother's Rubik's Cube, which is REALLY annoying.

I've solved about three classmates' Rubik's Cubes, (Owen, Tate, and Kira's) (wait, I also solved my cousins' cube), and Jason's 2x2. All my friends are impressed by my speed, and they were disappointed when they found out I'm not allowed to bring my cube to school, which I thought was a bummer as well. My friend Julian wanted me to try and solve his 5x5, and I failed. Surprisingly, I've never been asked to solve a 4x4.

 

[ElectricDoodie]

Question 1: When & Where did you find out about cubing?
-I owned a cube. And wanted to solve it, so I looked up guides on how to do it. Learned from Some PDF online called Jasmine's Beginner Cubing or something.


Question 2: What was your first cube? Your impressions?
-The Rubik's brand. Never understood how everyone could turn their cubes so fast on YouTube. Then I learned about speedsolving, and how it's different from the beginner's method. From there, I learned more about how there are speedcubes that are better than the rubik's brand I had, and bought better cubes.
My cubes went from Rubik's > AV > FII > Guhong > ZhanChi > Weilong


Question 3: What did you originally think about being able to solve this what seemed insanely difficult puzzle?
- I was amazed that I could do it, and that it made sense. The faster I got, the less I cared that I could solve it. I just liked solving it faster and faster. Every now and then I still think that it's pretty cool that I can solve a cube in 15-20 seconds, and some people can't even wrap their heads around how that's possible.

 

[RjFx2]

1. This is actually kind of funny (if not, cool). So I'm a PK (Pastor's Kid) and there was PK camp in Texas for PKs in MidWest. At the camp, some pastor did a sermon about a Rubik's Cube because his son could solve 2x2-5x5. He had his son solve the 5x5 (or 4x4?) while he did his sermon. I thought it was cool but I forgot about until a couple months later when it popped into my mind. So I looked it up on Rubik's Cube Site and asked my aunt and mom for a 3x3 and 4x4 for Christmas. So I get them and was determined to solve 3x3 using the You Can Do the Rubik's Cube Solution.

2. I got a 3x3 and 4x4 Rubik's Brand at the same time. In about 5 or 6 hours after I opened the present, I solved using the guide on Rubik's website. It didn't take me too long that I realized that my cube was bad. So I lubed it with Vaseline (my mistake) and made it better. So I cubed with that for quite a while because my 4x4 broke. So I got it in under a minute then, 50 seconds. I then got a 2x2 and 5x5 and learned how to solve them from MeMyselfandPi's tutorials. Then by my birthday in March I kept on asking my dad to order me better cubes. So he did order them, the Moyu sulong, Moyu weisu, and Shengshou Pyraminx. 2-3 days before they came I dropped and broke my rubik's brand core in half thanks to the Vaseline. About 3 or 4 months later my grandma bourgeois me another rubik's brand I have to my brother. I then taught my brother how to solve the 3x3. Before that, my brother was the first one to solve the Pyraminx in my family and he taught me how to solve the Pyraminx.

3. I was so happy I solved and my parents aunt and grandparents didn't look surprised but happy though (I must be smart lol). So I scramble again and start memorizing the algorithms. The part I don't believe is how easily I understood the guide and notation. And I think I just got a speed up in 3x3 and Pyraminx, getting lots more sub-22.5 solves and sub-10 solves.

 

[creativecuber15]

1. I picked up interest in cubing seeing my uncle and my cousin solving it. I soon learnt the layer-by-layer method from them and began to cube.

2. My first cube was a Rubik's 3x3 - since I had absolutely no experience solving a 3x3, I thought that it must have been the best cube on earth (now that I have a Zhanchi, I really can't imagine what I must have been thinking ...)

3. I felt I had just done one of the greatest things that man could ever do ... it was a really great feeling. I kept practicing and eventually got a lot faster at it.

 

[3LEVAS3]

Question 1:
When & Where did you find out about cubing?

I saw a video of Feliks Zemdegs speedsolving and I decided I wanted to learn how to solve a cube. And this was on YouTube of course.

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

Besides the horrid Rubik's brand my first good speedcube was a stickerless DaYan Zhanchi. It was amazing and a great change from my Rubik's Brand. But then I got a Weilong V2 and that's been my main ever since. Unless I like the Aolong better.
My first impressions of it were: IT'S SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE RUBIK'S BRAND! And I liked the smooth feel. But after I got the Weilong it started to feel blocky.

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

I thought that this was amazing and that since I learned how to solve it I can show off to my friends. But that didn't happen. It just distracted me quite a bit from school work. And I now realise, how easy it is to solve

L

 

[Tom606060]

Question 1: I found out about cubing when I saw an old cube lying around ( no brand).I eventually learned how to solve it using PDFs.
Question 2: My first cube was a DayanGuhong v1. It had no torpedoes and was terrible. Turning was slow and the cube popped every solve. Later I got a weilong v2 and i still use it.
Question 3: I was amazed at first but when I saw Feliks' solves on youtube, I figured out I was a failure.

 

[G2013]

Well, I saw a cube and after months of having it scrambled, I searched how to solve it, and that was it.

 

[Makarov]

I'm a senior in college for computer science and I commute to class. There's a lot of downtime waiting for my trains and between classes. There's a Barnes and Noble I study at between classes and I bought a rubik's cube on a whim. I learned the beginners method and could solve it in around 2 minutes. There was also a girl in one of my classes that could solve a 3x3 much faster. But I put the cube away.

Few months later after summer break I'm back in class, so I throw the cube back in my bag for something to pass the time with. Around this time I decided to order a cube that would turn faster and be easier on the hands. Searching for cube reviews online led me to realize a lot of people were into solving against a timer.

Well I ended up getting a Fangshi Shuang Ren (which I'm not a fan of), followed by a Weilong. I learned a bit more and got my times down from 2 minutes to 40-30 seconds. I really just enjoy learning new methods and seeing how different cubes feel in the hands.