Category:Pyraminx methods

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This page describes different methods to speedsolve the Pyraminx.

When speedsolving the Pyraminx the method used does not matter as much as it does on other puzzles - an intermediate method is almost always good enough to get fast times. This is a very quick puzzle which isn't hard to solve efficiently, so the most important things to practice are lookahead and turning speed. However, on lucky scrambles, it can often be beneficial to know multiple methods (especially #V First and #Top First ones) to take advantage of them. This is called "Option Select" and used by many world-class solvers.

Some of the descriptions here use an extended notation, see Pyraminx notation for an explanation of the system.

List of methods

Beginner method

This method is recommended mainly to people who just want to solve the Pyraminx, although the puzzle isn't hard to figure out yourself. You can still go from a total beginner to under 30 seconds in about an hour with this method:

  • Step 1: Orient the four corners and their tips. They don't move, so this shouldn't require any thought.
  • Step 2: Use R' L R L' and L R' L' R to place the edges. These algorithms will move exactly three edges around, so just keep trying until you are done.

V First

V First is the most popular group of methods, used by both beginner and world-class solvers alike. It includes LBL and L4E and the advanced forms of the latter are also known for being very algorithmic.

More information can be found at V First.

Top First

Top First is another group of methods which used to be as widely solved with as V First, but still remains the second most popular method (group) up to today. It is known for its intuitivity and vast array of different methods (Keyhole, 1-Flip, Oka, WO, Nutella, Bell) and still employed by many world-class solvers.

More information can be found at Top First.

Johan's method

  • Step 1: Solve the center pieces.
  • Step 2: Solve 2 opposite edges.
  • Step 3: Use commutators to permute the last 4 edges.
  • Step 4: Orient last edges.

FP

FP stands for Fan's Pyraminx Method or Face-Permute. The idea is similar to Ortega/Varasano for the 2x2x2 cube.

  • Step 1: Make one face. Nothing has to be permuted properly. This can be done in about 3-7 moves usually. It should be possible to easily see this from inspection. The EP of the bottom layer can be determined, making the recognition of the 2nd step extremely easy.
  • Step 2: Permute everything. This can be done in about 6-8 moves usually. There are 20 algorithms for this step.

FFL

FFL stands for Flipped First Layer, and is an type of Layer-by-Layer Pyraminx method. It can be considered a sort-of "opposite" to the FP method, as you focus only on the permutation of the edges rather than the orientation of them. There are 3 subsets of the FFL method: 1FFL, 2FFL, and 3FFL; where one, two, or all edges are disoriented respectively.

  • Step 1: Solve one layer ignoring orientation of the edges. They must be permuted correctly, however.
  • Step 2: Orient the first layer and solve the last 3 edges in one algorithm. There are about 18 algorithms total.

Petrus

  • Step 1: Create a 'block' by matching one edge to the two adjacent corners.
  • Step 2: Orient the remaining edges, Petrus-style, so that they can all be solved using only U and R (or L and R) turns.
  • Step 3: Finish all of the edges using only U and R (or L and R) turns.

Backbone

This method combines the first two steps of Petrus in one.

  • Step 1: Create a 'block' by matching one edge to the two adjacent corners and orient the remaining edges.
  • Step 2: Finish all of the edges using only U and R (or L and R) turns.

Tips and Tricks

Lookahead

Turning speed

Re-grips: A good way to increase your turning speed is to optimise your algorithms so you can execute them using as few re-grips as possible,

Example: Take the two-edge flip alg, a common case for most methods, normally it is notated something like R' L R L' U L' U' L but using the extended notation that allows face twists as well as tip turns it can be notated and executed like R' L R r' R L' R' r and it gives only one re-grip and no rotations.

Triggers: Another way to increase the speed is to use triggers. (L R') is possibly the easiest trigger you can do: turn L about 30% of the turn and then place your right thumb on top of the edge that now shows its corner sticking out of the F-face. Push the edge using the thumb down to the face compleating th L turn and from there keep pushing until also the R' is done. After some practice you can actually do the whole trigger witout pre-turning the L tip, just place you thumb at the proper place on the edge and go away, two turns in one!

To do the four turn 3-cycle LL edges (L R') (L' R) then do the first part as above and the second trigger (L' R) in the same manner but now do 30% L' and then the right thumb under the edge that comes out of the D-face and then push all the way up.

Alternative style: An alternative style is to hold the whole pyraminx in one hand (left) and only use that hand for U layer triggers. Do everything else with the other hand as you would with a 3x3x3 cube.

External links

Pages in category "Pyraminx methods"

The following 3 pages are in this category, out of 3 total.