Introduction to Speedcubing for Beginners

From Speedsolving.com Wiki

This guide will give you a small introduction to speedcubing.

If you are new to this sport, you will find out there is a lot of information available.. If you are dazzled about the amount of information, just take it one step at a time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Rubik's Cube?

The Rubik's Cube is a puzzle, invented by Erno Rubik in 1974. In 1980, the Cube was marketed world-wide, and 200 million of them were sold. Here you can see what a Rubik's Cube looks like.

What is speedcubing?

Speedcubing is the art of solving Rubik's Cube (and other twisty puzzles) as fast as possible. I think most people would also say that speedcubing is more than that: Other disciplines, such as one handed cubing or blindfold cubing can also be called "speedcubing".

How can I solve the cube?

If your are a beginner, there are a lot of websites available that will explain how to solve the 3x3x3 cube in an easy way. (**Please note that there are many different ways to solve the cube. Some of these links will describe different methods**) Andy Camann Gilles Roux Joel van Noort Leyan Lo Patrick Kelly Mark Jeays

How does the notation system work?

The cube has got six sides: Front, Back, Left, Right, Upper and Down (F, B, L, R U and D). A single letter represents a clockwise turn of that face. For this, imagine that every side has an image of a clock on it, and a 90 degree clockwise turn has to go in the same direction as that clock. It might take a while to get used to this, because for the B face, from the perspective of the person holding the cube, a clockwise turn looks like a counterclockwise turn in a way... But after using this system for a while, you will get used to it. A single letter followed by a ? represents a counterclockwise turn of that face. A single letter followed by a 2 represents a 180 degree turn of that face. In that case, the direction of the turn doesn?t matter. Most cubers use a lot more notation symbols than this. An explanation of all symbols can be found here: http://www.cosine-systems.com/cubest...enotation.html.


My cube is very stiff... What can I do to make it run smoother?

There are a lot of cubes out there that are recommended for speedcubing. However, most cubes will get looser by simply using them very often. Some cubes allow you to take off the center-caps and fine-tune the tension of the screws and springs. By turning the screws, you can make the cube a bit more loose, by turning the springs you can adjust tension with how each side turns. Another idea is to lube your cube with silicone spray. You should be careful with this, because some lubricants can be quite aggressive for your cube. If it say's "WD-40" anywhere on your lubricant, DONT use it to lube your cube. You can read more about Lubrication on the main article on it.

Making the cube physically smoother requires more effort. One popular method is to sand the pieces and internal mechanism. This can be done by putting the cube in sand, (thus letting multiple grains get trapped in the internal mechanism) and solving the cube multiple times therefore sanding the cube internally. Once the cube has been solved numerous times, the cube must be washed out and cleaned of all sand and cube dust the sand may have left behind.

How can I "open"/take apart my cube?

You can turn one of the faces 45 degrees, and try to POP out one of the edge pieces, as shown in this picture: http://www.speedcubing.com/ton/3x3x3_dis.JPG. You should be careful with this. With extremely stiff cubes this doesn?t work.

Where can I learn those fingertricks?

There aren't many websites that really have a section about finger tricks. On this page, I have one tutorial that explains the basic finger tricks, and gives a few examples. (click tutorials, and search for the "Fingertricks" tutorial). There are some websites with videos that show you how to perform algorithms. www.cubewhiz.com provides algorithms with videos. This can give you an idea about how to execute certain combinations of moves. www.strangepuzzle.com hosts a lot of speedcubing videos. These videos are really fast, but it can give you some inspiration. After watching all these videos for a while, you will probably start doing your own tricks.

What is the best method for speedsolving the Cube?

I honestly don't know... I wish I knew! I don't really think there is a "best method". I think you should just find a speedcubing method that feels right for you. Below this FAQ, you will find a list of links. Some of them link to popular speedcubing methods. However, before learning an extremely advanced method, I think it?s a good idea to first learn a beginners method!

Where can I buy puzzles?

http://www.rubiks.com sells a lot of twisty puzzles. I can highly recommmend the DIY kits for speedcubing.

http://www.mefferts.com also sells a lot of nice puzzles. Free shipping to anywhere in the world!

http://www.e-bay.com. Some cubers have luck with finding good puzzles on e-bay. I don't have any experience with this at all... So all I can say is: good luck with searching, and be careful with buying. Look at the sellers message, and other auctions, and try to estimate if he or she can be trusted.

The stickers of my cube are peeling/coming off, how can I solve this problem?

This is a well known problem. Most cubes don't have high quality stickers on them whether they be the wrong colors or the laminate peels off. The best solution to this, by far, is to buy new stickers; Vinyl (PVC) stickers are highly recommended, Cubesmith sells high quality stickers and is used by professional speedcubers worldwide. CubeSmith Making your own stickers takes a lot of time, and you probably won't make stickers as high of quality.

How can I solve higher order cubes? (4x4, 5x5)

You can find a method for the 4x4 here: http://www.speedcubing.com/chris/4-solution.html. The same ideas can be used for solving the 5x5. Another website that deals with higher order cubes can be found here: http://www.bigcubes.com.

How can I solve the F2L quickly with the Fridrich system/method?

The most common answer to this question is to "Slow down and look ahead" essentially that's all there is to it. For more on Fridrich F2L the links below can be especially helpful. Erik A. did a nice video on how he does the F2L slowly, check it out here, it should help: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbKvOXE__CM

These two sites basically teach the same thing, but they use different algorithms. http://www.snkenjoi.com/wikicube/index.php...e=Intuitive_F2L http://dougreed.no-ip.org/~doug/f2l/f2l.htm

This site lists all 41 cases. http://www.cubestation.co.uk/cs2/index.php...x3/cfop/f2l/f2l

Where can I see all current official/unofficial records?

All official records (records that are done at an official competition) can be found here: http://www.worldcubeassociation.org/results/index.php

All unofficial records can be found here: http://www.speedcubing.com/records

Other Information

For more FAQ's, please visit this link (contains general usage FAQ of the forum itself): http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/faq.php

Some useful links

Speedcubing Tips Below is a page containing the most links relating to speedcubing more than any other pages.

Puzzle Shops

This is where you can find information on where to buy puzzles: http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?t=117

How-To Guides

Here is a link to the How-To section, which includes various tutorials and guides. Please check it out when you get the chance: http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=18