# How is it possible to solve a Rubik's Cube blindfolded?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 27, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673 "2013-07-27T15:35:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673/1 "2013-07-27T15:35:22Z")
[Per this video](http://www.news-leader.com/VideoNetwork/2568327591001/This-guy-can-solve-four-Rubik-s-cubes-in-one-minute) at the end he solves a Rubik’s Cube blindfolded. How is this possible?
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### Author:  [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673/2 "2013-07-27T15:36:51Z")
Presumably it’s similar to blindfold chess, where a player holds the current position in his head, analyses it and then returns to the position to make a move.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673/3 "2013-07-27T16:01:44Z")
Ok, it’s not apparent from the video that he can’t see the cube. However, as glee says, if he knows the initial configuration of the cube he could to solve it. There’s also no way to know if that was a randomly configured cube in the first place.
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### Author:  [@turtlescanfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/turtlescanfly)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673/4 "2013-07-27T16:27:44Z")
Not saying this is the case, but one could easily start with a solved cube, put a blindfold on, then randomly mess up the cube. Then simply play the video backwards.
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### Author:  [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2013, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673/5 "2013-07-27T16:57:45Z")
Some people have extraordinary powers of visualization. That’s the whole answer. I’m sure most people can’t do it.
Similarly, most people can’t tell you whether or not June 14, 2058 will be a thursday, but there are people who can do this. Witness the human mind in its infinite variety.
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### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673/6 "2013-07-27T17:41:53Z")
O.K., first, it’s obviously impossible to solve a Rubik’s Cube unless you know what position it’s in. He had to start by knowing what position it’s in. It’s possible that he has scratched the sides so that he can feel what the position is without having to see it. It’s more likely that the film doesn’t show him starting by looking at the cube to see the position. He then can keep the current position in his mind without having to look at it again. It’s also possible that he’s cheating and the blindfold isn’t very good.
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### Author:  [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2013, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673/7 "2013-07-27T17:49:39Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#):
>
> Some people have extraordinary powers of visualization. That’s the whole answer. I’m sure most people can’t do it.
>
> Similarly, most people can’t tell you whether or not June 14, 2058 will be a thursday, but there are people who can do this. Witness the human mind in its infinite variety.
Actually, I could. Since the calendar cycles every 28 years (exception if it crosses a century year not divisible by 4), it is the same day as June 14, 2002. Now if I start from 9/11/01 a Tuesday, I conclude that 8/14/01, 7/17/01, 6/19/01, 6/12/01, and 6/11/02 are all Tuesdays, so that 6/14/02 is a Friday.
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### Author:  [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673/8 "2013-07-27T17:54:51Z")
He had braille like markings on each side.
And solving the cube is a mathematical formula. If you want to move yellow to the 2nd row, 3rd column of the right side, you simply follow the formula. I used to have the formula for the 16 per side cubes (not the 9) and it was really simple. Once you knew the formulas, you could easily move one colored member anywhere you wanted it without disrupting the pattern of the others.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2013, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673/9 "2013-07-27T18:24:58Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Once you knew the formulas, you could easily move one colored member anywhere you wanted it without disrupting the pattern of the others.
Or at least, without disrupting the pattern of a subset of the others, and then move the pieces around in such an order that the ones you’re disrupting are never the ones you’ve already solved.
And all of the top champion cube-solvers are, effectively, solving blindfolded. They have time at the beginning of the trial to look over the cube and figure out what moves they want to make, then the timer starts and they begin making the actual moves. In the best cases, the time is under 10 seconds, which really isn’t enough time to be able to look at the cube and figure out your next move anyway.
Personally, I can’t solve the cube all in one go blindfolded, but my nieces and nephews are convinced that I can. See, with my method of solving, I often end up with a particular configuration near the end of solving. I’ve memorized the specific sequence of moves to get from that configuration to the solution, and so whenever I see that it’s come up, I put the cube behind my back to finish it. I’m still looking at the cube for most of the process before that, though.
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### Author:  [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673/10 "2013-07-27T18:33:15Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#):
>
> He had braille like markings on each side.
No, he didn’t.
This is a straight-up honest feat. The short clip in the OP doesn’t show the un-blindfolded memorization step, but there are many YouTube videos that show the full process, including some at tournament competitions. The solver examines the cube carefully, memorizes a sequence of steps, and then executes them blindfolded.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2013, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673/11 "2013-07-27T18:51:35Z")
> [@Pasta](#):
>
> No, he didn’t.
Agreed. Once you know how to solve a cube fast, learning to do it blindfolded just takes practice. The algorithms for solving each stage become muscle-memory. To do it blindfolded, you start small, for example, mixing up a cube and then seeing if you can solve the top layer without looking. Once you get good at that, you learn to predict what colors will be showing on the middle layer after you execute the moves to solve the top one. Solving the middle layer involves only two moves (since you’re dealing only with edge pieces (and they are mirror images of each other.))
And so on. It just takes a lot of practice.
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### Author:  [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673/12 "2013-07-27T20:00:13Z")
It’s impressive, but it’s not godly. I’d be willing to bet that with enough practice and motivation, nearly anyone could learn to solve a rubik’s cube blind.
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### Author:  [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2013, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673/13 "2013-07-28T07:45:04Z")
The cube is really eight corner pieces with three orientations each and 12 side pieces with two orientations each. A feat to memorize and track, for sure, but far more plausible than memorizing 54 individual squares as it might seem that he is doing. Solving the cube itself is actually alarmingly simple.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2013, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673/14 "2013-07-28T08:22:39Z")
I rather like [this method](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLeU31ilUS4) of solving it.
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### Author:  [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673/15 "2013-07-28T19:29:04Z")
So, he either performed a pre-memorized sequence of moves while blindfolded (nowhere near as impressive as solving it as you go by visualizing the entire cube), or they just reversed a clip of him unsolving (taking a solved cube to a semi-random state) while blindfolded which requires only functional arms and hands (or legs and feet if you’re really cocky).
Here’s a clip of the mythbusters performing such a feat:
[http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/creaming-the-cube.htm](http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/creaming-the-cube.htm)
And here’s the explanation:
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL1cbayRjL4)
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673/16 "2013-07-28T19:33:46Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#):
>
> Actually, I could. Since the calendar cycles every 28 years (exception if it crosses a century year not divisible by 4), it is the same day as June 14, 2002. Now if I start from 9/11/01 a Tuesday, I conclude that 8/14/01, 7/17/01, 6/19/01, 6/12/01, and 6/11/02 are all Tuesdays, so that 6/14/02 is a Friday.
Just a nitpick for you: I believe you meant a century year not divisible by 400. All century years are divisible by four.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673/17 "2013-07-28T19:34:40Z")
> [@dstarfire](#):
>
> So, he either performed a pre-memorized sequence of moves while blindfolded (nowhere near as impressive as solving it as you go by visualizing the entire cube), or they just reversed a clip of him unsolving (taking a solved cube to a semi-random state) while blindfolded which requires only functional arms and hands (or legs and feet if you’re really cocky).
>
> Here’s a clip of the mythbusters performing such a feat:
> [http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/creaming-the-cube.htm](http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/creaming-the-cube.htm)
> And here’s the explanation:
> [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL1cbayRjL4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL1cbayRjL4)
We don’t know there was any cheating, he may be able to solve a cube after seeing the initial configuration. We just don’t know by looking at that video.
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### Author:  [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2013, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673/18 "2013-07-29T19:24:53Z")
There are [YouTube videos of people playing Tetris “blind”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kqKOlcaZuI#t=5m) (that is, the stack of blocks isn’t shown; you only see the preview image of the next block.)
If you spend your entire life playing Tetris at high speed, the entire stack is in your mind anyway. Blanking out the image doesn’t affect your performance much.
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### Author:  [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2013, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673/19 "2013-07-30T03:59:46Z")
Back in '82 when they were new I went to school with an exchange student who could do it blindfolded. According to him, he could look at the start position and know which series of moves would be necessary to solve it.
I could never get past solving a layer at a time before having to look again.
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### Author:  [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2013, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-it-possible-to-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded/664673/20 "2013-07-30T12:13:10Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#):
>
> It’s impressive, but it’s not godly. I’d be willing to bet that with enough practice and motivation, nearly anyone could learn to solve a rubik’s cube blind.
I’ll be glad to take that bet. I’d be amazed if 1 in 10 people could do it, no matter how much they practiced. I think the analogy to blindfold chess is probably pretty close. Nearly anyone can learn to play chess, but playing blindfold is a whole different proposition.
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