Algorithms

 Imagine a world where we would have to create all our own algorithms for our own cubing needs. Now stop imagining the world because it sounds terrible! We use algorithms for every solve we do, they are a very important part of it and we really couldn’t solve without them. But just think about every algorithm, and how long the must take to make.

                I have no clue how most people create algs, I haven’t personally done much with them, but I bet it starts with them have a case that needs solving. From there, they experiment with certain moves, and use things like sledgehammer and parts from other algs to create their newest invention. But I think that is just the beginning. I want you to try the J-perm, and if you don’t know it, re-read this post when you do. The J-perm is one of my favorites because it flows really well in my hands, is very comfortable with no need for extra finger tricks, and is incredibly fast. No imagine the time it must have taken to figure out this perfect set of moves. I’m almost positive that there are ways that require many less moves to do something like a J-perm. That’s not what I find so cool. I think the sweetest part is that someone can find a set of moves that flow so well together that it can become an incredibly fast and fluent algorithm.

          And the fact is, someone does this for every algorithm! I think that is just insane. So if you ever meet someone who has created algorithms, be sure to ask them their process, and thank them for making your life a whole lot easier.

Aolong V2- A New Opinion

So I have been messing around with the Aolong V2 recently and I must say it’s amazing. I don’t know what changed, whether I just got used to the feeling, or did enough solves to grind out any previous problem, but the cube is much better now. It turns well and is so stable. I am able to keep it on loose tensions and have no lockups at all. The small feeling of the cubies has completely gone away and I can’t find anything wrong with it to tell. It is so good in fact, that I annihilated my previous best average at 19 seconds with a new best at 16.86! In addition, I also got a 13.75 no lucky solve, which is very close to my personal best. This cube has also improved my overall average by about a second and it continues to perform astonishingly well.

                 Issues with this cube are, as I said before, nonexistent. This V2 is the new plastic version, so I don’t have the issues that many cubers had with the other plastic. Corner twisting, as I have said before, doesn’t happen to me so I can’t really attest to that, but from what I hear in other reviews, this is fixed too. The only sort of “problem” I have is the tensioning. While it is great performing, the feel isn’t perfectly what I want but I am not great at tensioning and I fear if I try to change it from its current state, it will feel very bad. This won’t be an issue for most though as I assume a lot of cubers are much better at finding the perfect feel for their puzzle than me.

                As an overall grade, I want to raise this cube to an 8.5 out of 10. It has given me many new records and I have great hopes for it in the future, but until I can find some more comfortable tensions, I can’t raise it any higher. However, expect another blog at some point with the progress of this cube, because I can see huge potential in it yet, and can’t wait to sort it all out! 

Cubing in Public

Every time I pull out a cube in public, an aura of amazement instantly surrounds me. I’m sure you know the feeling, as you start turning, slowly a puzzled look enters here face and they lose comprehension of the entire world. Then, they come forward, and speak words that to us sound about as uneducated as a first grader trying to talk about math.

“Yeah I know a guy that can do one of those!” or the ever so annoying “I just peel the stickers off.” These comments might seem funny or important to the person first seeing someone solve a Rubik’s cube in 20 seconds, but to someone who has done this for a while, I can say these annoy me greatly. And those are just a few examples. I love silently laughing at people who say that their friend can do a 3x3-5x5 in a minute. Yeah, because your friend shatters every speedcubing world record in those categories on a regular basis. It’s actually kind of funny to listen to these preposterous claims of those trying not to feel inferior.

But this isn't the only surreal thing that occurs in the magical world of cubing in public. Never forget the people inquiring how you solve it so fast, implying that you can take one alg and solve it in 5 seconds without trouble. It makes me laugh thinking that the general consensus is that speed equals simplicity. Let me inform any none cuber reading this that speed takes lots of work. One algorithm, or even only one set of “patterns” is never enough for anyone fast. To say so is actually kind of insulting to me, and I assume it is for others as well.

But there are positives to cubing in public too. It is a moral boost to have people rave over your solving abilities, even if they are less than par by speedcuber standards. Plus, even when nobody is around, cubing is just great for passing time. And all these examples are just my personal experiences; imagine what someone like Anthony Brooks had to deal with. He met hundreds of people every day at the Liberty Science center, and had to hear everything I have mentioned PLUS MORE. I have to respect something like that. It may be cool to be a professional cuber and just solve all day long, but I would think this would be a serious down fall. However, I love cubing enough to deal with all of it, and I think that is the main idea.

Moyu Pyraminx!

Moyu did it! Finally they have announced and are about to release their own take on the Pyraminx! I’m very excited to try it out and I can’t wait to give a review on it. And from the looks of the puzzle, and my experience with moyu, I can bet this Pyraminx will be top notch. But even before it comes out, I do want to commend Moyu on their expanding to new fields of the speedcubing competition.  The fact that they have now released almost every puzzle used in competition shows how serious they are at providing the best puzzles possible, and while things like Pyraminx and Skewb are kind of a one puzzle deal, where massive improvements or multiple different variations from the same company are unlikely, I still trust Moyu for their 3x3’s and other main speedcubes, and hope this is a sign the they will not only diversify their products, but continue doing their  already great work.

How to Get Better-Speedcubing

No matter the sport, no matter who is playing, getting better and being the best is a huge part of being a part of the whole experience. But especially in the amazing competition of speedcubing, getting better is very hard. So for any those who might find it applicable, I’m going to give my short list on how to get better at speedcubing. Now first you should know that I average around 20 seconds, so most of this will only be useful if you average higher than that.

So for a big idea, learn your method. For me, the method of choice is CFOP. Therefore, this is the method I will be talking about, and if you know Petrus or ZZ, you are going to have to look elsewhere. Now when I say learn your method, I don’t refer to the algorithms directly. Yes, in the long run, algs are going to be necessary for any speedcuber, but for now, I don’t even know every PLL, and still do pretty well, so I can guarantee it isn’t required at first. The main idea behind learning your method is to know where you are going next. It should be second nature to transition from F2L to OLL or from OLL to PLL. The thing to make sure is that if someone asked you to solve a cube, you would be able to, using your chosen method, without too much thought. This is very difficult for some, I understand, so let me give some simple ideas.

First, learn F2L intuitively. This may be very hard to grasp, but believe me; it will save you loads of time later, and helps you understand how the cube moves much better. Add to this a more planned out cross. These two items, while they don’t include algorithms, are very beneficial, because if you can move the cube to solve these in your own way, it helps develop your style and shows you that you are in control of the cube, it’s not just a bunch of algorithms running the show.

Second, one common misconception is that you have to learn everything at once. I did step one a long time before I learned two look OLL and PLL. I still used the beginner method for the entire last layer. However, I laid the support for it early by allowing myself to learn a more advanced cross strategy and F2L, which made the transition to two look a whole lot easier.

Lastly, get inspired. I went on a vacation, and met Anthony Brooks at the Liberty Science center over the summer. I was so inspired watching him solve a cube in 8 seconds flat that I spent the rest of my vacation learning algorithms and practicing. In total, I learned about 15 algs and dropped 10 seconds in two weeks. Yes, this seems like a lot of work and probably sounds miserable, but I was having the greatest time and I just kept going from there. Some people won’t tell you this when they explain how to get better, but one of the biggest things you can do, is just to have fun with it. Enjoy the practice; enjoy having fun solving your cube. Feliks Zemdegs gave a seminar on speedcubing, and he said practice is what you have to do to get better. But he also said that if you aren’t having fun at it, or you are just forcing yourself to practice, then there is no reason to do it at all.

In the end, you can follow every piece of advice I give, or another blogger or Youtuber gives, but all that really matters is you  discovering and being confident in your own cubing style, and learning how to master one of the world’s greatest puzzles.

Shengshou Pyraminx

This is the review on the amazing Shengshou Pyraminx! I have to say, this puzzle is making me love the idea of the of competing in Pyraminx, because it’s just such a great puzzle. Now I must say, I’m not a Pyraminx expert by any means, I just bought this puzzle 2 months ago, but I can say that it is one of the best turning puzzles out of the box I have seen.

                Immediately when you open it up, you can feel how smooth and controlled it feels. Of course, it has the standard ball bearing mechanism that allows for a proper turning and placement when doing so, but as it turns, it is very fluid with no real catches or issues. For this reason, I have not lube or tensioned this puzzle at all, and it still works perfectly for my solves. This puzzle is a very easy one, that is for sure, but I can say that the lack of difficulty isn’t a concern. I still have a lot of fun solving it, and I average about 16 seconds on it.

           Over all, I can say only good things about this puzzle. If you like YouTube reviews on puzzles, check out TehCubeDude’s video about this puzzle and his comparison to the other Pyraminx’s on the market. So final grade, 8 out of 10, only because I don’t have enough knowledge on Pyraminx to definitively say it’s perfect, but I do recommend buying this puzzle. If you want to purchase it, I prefer using TheCubicle.us, I picked it up there for about  10 dollars.

New WCA event suggestions

A while back I had a blog post about having more competitions, in which I talked about adding new/ different events. In this post I would like to expand on that.

                To start, I feel like some puzzles are becoming too easy as new methods are created, and are almost becoming redundant. Things like 2x2, pyraminx, and skewb are reaching their limits as far as world records. While I love having these events, the fact that they only take a few seconds to solve means that more events could be added and not add a whole lot of time to the schedule. One main puzzle I really want to see is a floppy cube added, just for a little fun. Yes, I understand it would probably have a world record of .5 seconds of something crazy like that, but it would be all in the interest of fun, not for true competition. Another idea for a regular event would be the 8x8. This would be a longer puzzle to speedsolve, but I think that the best could probably do it in about 5 minutes.

                But I don’t only think single puzzles should be added. Group events could be added as well. Maybe a national team relay at big competitions for 3x3. Have 4 people for the same country each solve a 3x3 then slap the next person’s hand, until all 4 are done. This would be a whole other level of competition, as you would have to have 4 great cubers, instead of only one. In addition, you could have variations of the relay, like a 2 person one, or maybe a 4 person relay on 4x4. Another great multi-person event idea is a best “shot” kind of competition. 4 cubers do a solve, and the best solve of all 4 is used as the actual time. All 4 do 5 solves, and the best 5 of these 20 create the average for the group.

                Finally, I feel like we need a multiple cube event. Making something like a 2x2-4x4 relay events would add a whole new level of challenge, as new strategies would have to be created to solve in the best order and how to inspect all of them in the best way.  Also you could have the cubing “marathon” which is doing every speed event all at once, or for a simpler version, just the 2x2-7x7. I feel like this would measure the very best of the best, and could be used as the newest standard of achievement.

                But overall, I just would like a little variety, I feel as though the WCA could use just a little spicing up.