I played with it for about 2 minutes, realized that I’d never figure it out, so busted it up and put it back together. I’m sure I’m not the only one, so fess up 
self reported for terrible typos in the title.
Um - we just removed the stickers - that’s how we did it in the 80s
Or bought new stickers!
http://www.cubesmith.com/
It was either take them apart or take them to that eighth-grader who could solve them in under two minutes.
I confess… Have always been better at disassembly/assembly.
RFR- B L F-L- (shorthand for doing middle layer pieces.)
I would charge 20 cents to do the cube. I had learnt the steps from the book.
I went in races, my older brother beat me every time though
My 14 year old son was twirling the thing a few months ago, he was working out his own moves.
My brother figured out how to solve it. He’s doggedly determined like that. His fastest time (way back in the early 80s) was just under one minute. In fact the last time I saw him he could still do it. We never had to take it apart or remove the stickers, we just waited until my brother got home and he solved it for us.
I never had the patience, but it’s just maths and if I’d applied myself I probably would’ve figured out the methodology eventually.
I always preferred the Pyraminx. The Rubik’s cube for stupid people.
I’m out of practice, but my best times were just under two minutes. I know a dude who can do it (with a well-oiled cube) in around 20 seconds though.
I learned the basic algorithms from a web page somewhere, then just practiced every night while watching TV until I memorized them.
There is a series of twists that will solve the cube no matter what the arrangement is when you begin. You can do it without even looking at the cube if you memorize the steps. It’s something like spin right side upwards, top side counter clockwise, left side upwards, bottom side clockwise, etc. - 20 steps I think, and it will solve the cube every time. The time it takes is just a matter of how quickly you can do the steps.
A friend of mine turned me on to this when we were in the 6th grade and I had my family convinced I was a savant. Ok, an idiot savant.
That can’t possibly be true - it’s equivalent to saying that there is a finite, fixed sequence of blind moves that will unshuffle any fair deck of cards, no matter how they are shuffled.
(it’s true that any jumbled starting position is solvable within a finite number of moves, but they aren’t the same moves for every starting position)
Yep - not true for reasons you’ve pointed - I think someone might be misremembering things with the dusts of time.
There are just a few algos you have to remember - but you have to:
- Look at the cube
- Position it
There is one algo - I think it works on the last step - where you do this sort of rhythmic motion that will bring it back into focus at the end. Things start to look worse for a bit - and then get better. If memory serves you can use the same motions at this step no matter what, but you have to look at the cube and stop when it’s done.
Maybe that is what they are remembering.
I am remembering correctly. I googled it(information is a lot more readily available than when I was in the 6th grade)
The pattern will always solve the cube in 20 moves or less. So I was imprecise when I said you don’t even need to look at the cube. You need to look at least enough to see when it has been solved so you don’t go past that point. But the point is it will solve the cube with no need to even pay attention to the arrangement of colors. You just repeat these moves, whatever starting point you begin, the cube will always be solved in 20 moves or less.
Nowhere does it say that*** the same sequence of moves ***will solve any starting position. I’m fairly sure those moves down the right hand side are just an example of one solution for one starting configuration.
Solving Rubik’s Cube blindfolded in under 30 seconds.
He makes a show of appearing to examine and memorize the starting pattern, but this is not necessary. I am not a mathematical genius. I memorized a series of twists and turns and they would solve the cube every time with no puzzle-solving skill required.
Yes - that’s an example.
Someone proves that any cube can be solved in 20 moves or less.
There are competitions for these things - which wouldn’t be much fun if everyone could use the same move.
I spent a good deal of time last year on the cube (say 50-100 hours) and you are remembering it wrong. Almost everyone uses something like what can be found here to do it:
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/martinba/8%20Algorithms%20Rubik’s%20Cube.pdf
The speed fibers will remember more algorithm to do it in less time, but there is no single set of moves that will restore any random cube. Certainly not in 20 moves - there are trillions of combinations. Even if you positioned the cube - you aren’t limiting it enough.
You can get the cube into the state you are talking about - but you have to do other algos to get to that point.
I could be failing to remember some requisite setup before following the purely memorized pattern but if so it was something trival - I was in the 6th grade. No concept of these algorithms whatsoever. And without understanding any of the math or geometry involved could produce a solved cube by simply following a pre-defined series of moves. You’re right that it would seem to dilute the significance of contests and such if one formula always solves any cube. Sixth grade wasn’t THAT long ago for me. I may be overlooking something to the scam but for the most part it was simple for someone with no understanding of the puzzle to solve it by sheer memorization.
How could any fixed list of 20 moves possibly solve all/any of 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 different stating positions? It’s an absurd notion.