Waterman method

From Speedsolving.com Wiki
Revision as of 19:16, 19 May 2012 by Macky (talk | contribs) (→‎External links: clean up)
Waterman method
Waterman method.gif
Information about the method
Proposer(s): Marc Waterman
Proposed: 1982
Alt Names: none
Variants: none
No. Steps: 3
No. Algs: 117 Total
42 (Step 2)
75 (Step 3)
Avg Moves: 40 to 45 STM,
over 50 HTM
Purpose(s):

The Waterman Method is a method for solving the 3x3x3 Cube which was invented by Marc Waterman in the 1980s. The method is based on Corners First methods but is efficient enough to be used for advanced speedsolving (average times of under 20 seconds). The steps are as follows:

  • Step 1: Solve one layer of the cube. The original way to do this is by first putting together the corners and then solving the center and edges together. This can also be done with block building (start with a 1x2x3 block as with Roux and then fill in the last three pieces).
  • Step 2: Solve the corners of the opposite layer. This is done in one step in the style of CxLL. After this step, turn the cube so that the solved layer is on L.
  • Step 3a: Solve two of the edges on R, while at the same time placing a third somewhere in the R layer.
  • Step 3b: Finish the R edges while orienting the M edges, all in one algorithm. This step is difficult to learn and has around 80 algorithms, but the algorithms mostly use only M, R, r, and U moves, so this is a fast step.
  • Step 3c: Solve the M edges. This is trivial and there are only a few possible cases, all very fast.

If you are truly interested in learning this method you should check out Josef Jelinek's webpage which has very thorough descriptions as well as a complete list of algorithms for the last four steps. He also has a copy of the original booklet containing the method.

See also

External links