Rubik´s Cube
Photo by Fletcher Pride (Unsplash)
Recently, my friend started to learn how to solve a Rubik’s cube. Technically, not so recently ago since we talked about this in May but I am thinking about it now so… Take it how you will. Either way, this article is about the Rubik´s cube.
I am not quite qualified to talk about the pointers that save time since I am nowhere near speed-cubing records with my forty-second record. You read it right it says forty (a four and a zero), not fourteen (a one and a four).
However, I am qualified enough to talk about my experience with Rubik´s cubing and how I went from half a day to forty seconds (even though that is nowhere close to a world record. At least it is something.) since experience is the one thing no one can take away from me.
The past
Quick Sidenote: I know that haircut is not my style but that year I donated my hair and that was the only hairstyle I could have. And in that same picture you may not see it at first glance but I was solving a small cube.
It was the summer of 2017 when I was bored. That is it... Technically, not really. The Rubik´s cube always was one of the puzzles I desperately wanted to solve. 2017 was just the time when I had enough of that unsolved mystery and solved the Rubik´s cube but to understand my obsessions with puzzles one has to go back a bit.
All the way back, when I was still a child, I loved logical puzzles and solved everything from Sudoku to solitaire. Even now, I still love them but have no idea why exactly I like them. They are time-consuming and sometimes frustrating but I still like them so I am somewhat curious to find out the reason for my liking.
However, the reason for my liking of puzzles is not important. I digress. The Rubik´s cube just sated my curiosity. It seemed impossible, complicated and challenging. A challenge, I was willing to accept but only years later. Before that was only trial and error. One after another. Urging me to give up.
When I first got a Rubik´s cube, I thought I could reverse engineer it by watching how it was shuffled. Little me was not the brightest bulb and it turns out that is not how you can solve the Rubik´s cube. As hard as I tried to reverse engineer the shuffling it, to no one´s surprise, did not work.
Then comes the next best thing, rearranging the stickers on the cube. Now looking back at it, I am not proud of it but to a certain extent, it worked. Do not judge I was five. I just spend some time removing and reattaching the stickers, inadvertently ‘solving’ it.
That was the last time I truly attempted to solve the cube. In those ten years between my first cube and my first solve when I did not attempt to solve the cube, the cube seems to always be there. For instance, my grandparents all have unsolved Rubik´s cubes in their houses. My father´s parents even have an instruction manual for solving the cube.
Playfully, I will fiddle with the cube every now and then when I visit my grandparents and casually attempt to solve the cube. However, I never got far with the written instructions in the book. Turns out casual attempts is not going to cut it for the Rubik´s cube, it needs more.
I never solved the cube but it was always still there. Being scrambled. Being unsolved. Being there. Just looking back at me. Urging me to give it another shot. Turn that scrambled mess into an organized, structured and solved cube.
For me, the scrambled disorganization was enough motivation for me to give it another shot and I refused to believe that I cannot solve that puzzle, which mechanics and structure just seem so simple. Just six faces, six colours and six sides to turn. How hard can it be?
I already knew that solving the Rubik´s cube was hard, so the previous question was sarcastic for anyone who did not get that and I was not about to underestimate a puzzle I worked on for at least ten years. Technically, I playfully ‘worked on it’ but at least I tried.
Then came the summer of 2017, when I finally had enough of the unsolved puzzle and took my time to sit down and learn how to solve the puzzle once and for all. The reason for my determination was simply the fact that I was bored and I did not want to spend my whole summer on my phone.
Don’t get me wrong, I love being at my grandparent´s house but sometimes it can be mundane especially after a month and the phone seems to be the only interesting thing. Solution: Something else. Something not so digital. Something there.
My mother and uncles were also complaining about how my cousins, my sibling and I would use our phones too much and I did not want to hear it. Hence, the Rubik´s cube, which was staring at me this whole time while I was on my phone, questioning why I haven´t solved it yet.
Ironically, I had to spend a whole day on the phone to research how to solve the Rubik´s cube but my mother let it slide since I was learning something new. That day was just one YouTube video explanation after another. After that, I had to actually solve the cube since theory and practise are different things.
I spend a lot of time just being frustrated with which side of the cube I have to turn, the algorithms I have to use and in which order. It is a lot of algorithms and the idea of memorizing it all was a bit intimidating. Actually intimidating is putting it lightly. Nevertheless, practice makes perfect and I practised… a lot.
On the 31st of July 2017, I finally managed to solve that cube for the first time in my life. A lot of time and trial & error went into solving that thing but eventually, I managed and I cannot begin to describe the pride and happiness I felt at that moment. Ten years. Finally solved that thing. At first, I could not even believe that I solved that thing even though I spent a lot of time trying and failing.
In the few days that followed, I managed to solve the cube more frequently. Not to my surprise, I need to look at the algorithm cheat sheet quite often and also not to my surprise, I was careful not to mess up since messing up is harder to solve than being careful. I had to restart the solving process if I messed up.
After a week, I could confidently solve the cube without much help from the algorithm sheet. Whenever I was bored, I would take out the cube, scramble it and solve it. Over and over again. My solving times went from half a day at the very start to thirty minutes where I was careful to five minutes when I was confident to one when I learned about a faster method and my father got me a better cube.
Somewhat I became obsessed with solving the cube and beating my time since I took a Rubik’s cube everywhere I went. Whether I was waiting in line or sitting on the bus. I would just take it out whenever and wherever. Beating my personal record over and over again.
Eventually, my excitement did die after some time because solving the cube became less and less of a challenge. In addition, I could not beat my one-minute record and I had less free time where I could solve since I was back home in school again.
The 4x4 cube is currently my favourite since it is easier to turn than the 3x3 cube and not as fragile as the 5x5 cube. Another plus is the fact that the 4x4 cube could also be used as a 2x2 cube. And the 4x4´s colour is so bright and beautiful. Nothing against the normal colour scheme but I just like 4x4 colours more.
That 4x4 did cause some trouble, I cannot lie but after an evening of looking it up and a lot of trial and error, I can proudly say that I tackled that puzzle as well. I have to confess that it was easier to learn how to solve the 4x4 than the 3x3 since many solving algorithms for the 4x4 are based on the 3x3 cube.
Again, the hype did die again since… school. However, I did practice solving the cube and learned new algorithms in my free time. I also learned how to solve the 3x3 single handily. Therefore, it was not the hype that died but rather the time that was absent.
There was not a lot of development on the Rubik´s cube front in 2019. In the spring, I went on a school trip to Vienna, where I found out that my peer also brought a Rubik´s cube onto that trip. In the summer, I went to a summer camp, where I found out that I was not the only one who brought a Rubik´s cube with them.
All in all, I was surprised how much the Rubik´s cube trend was still alive even though many considered the trend dead. I knew about the speedcubing community but I just did not expect people around me to be interested in the Rubik´s cube as well.
Honestly, I felt slightly less special because many people know how to solve and are still playing with that cube. That just made my not-so-newly acquired skill feel less of an accomplishment than I thought it to be. However, at the same time, I found a community where I can share my experience with people who will actually understand what you are talking about. So there is a good and a bad.
Three years after I solved my first Rubik´s cube, I finally got the 5x5 cube. Technically, my mother got me that cube since it was the start of the pandemic and we are stuck at home. My mother was worried that I would be bored. Hence, she got me art supplies and a 5x5 cube.
Just like the 4x4, learning how to solve the 5x5 did not take as long as the 3x3 cube since a lot was based on the 3x3 and 4x4 solving methods. My mother was slightly annoyed that I did not spend too long solving that cube since she wanted the 5x5 to sustain my boredom longer but it didn´t and I turned to art.
The present
To this day, my Rubik´s cubes have been my preferred travel companions. When I know I am going on a trip where I have to sit and wait a lot, I will make sure that at least one of my Rubik´s cubes comes along when my laptop cannot join me.
All three of my cubes would take up too much space so before every trip, I have to make the impossible decision between all three. Most of the time I would take the 3x3 cube since it is small and quick to solve. I need to take a quick to solve the cube with me since I cannot leave a cube unsolved.
Just like always, I would take out my cube whenever I am bored and I still adore the attention I get each time when I do. Just like riding the unicycle, solving the Rubik´s cube in public just makes people stop and stare. For what it is worth, I love to show off.
A quick side story. Recently, I was on the subway and I was bored (not to anyone´s surprise at this point). I just took out the Rubik´s cube and scrambled & solved it repetitively. Then a group of elderly women came onto the subway train and sat on the other side of the aisle. I did not look up but they were looking at me.
Specifically, they were looking at the cube I was solving. One of the ladies then asked me if the Rubik´s cube was back in trend again. I could only politely respond that it is sadly not. The elderly ladies nevertheless showered me with praises. Remarking that it is nice to see the younger generations doing something else than looking down on their phones.
I am not sure why but I was beaming with pride. I just felt great to be able to put a smile on the people´s faces (even though I could not see it behind that mask) and change people´s opinions, while I am at it. I was able to do all that simply because I was bored. It felt great… Back to my present Rubik´s cube experience.
Even now, I am trying to break my own records but I am getting nowhere. However, that is fine as long as I am not bored. I also am currently memorizing more algorithms to solve the cube faster but I am getting nowhere. However, that is fine as well since I should focus on my studies anyways.
Next time…
I swear I did not want to make this a two-part article but the article would have been too long if I didn’t. I am fully aware of what happens with the quality of the article when it is two articles long but somehow I just can´t help it since I have so much to write.
Next time I want to note down the things I wish I knew sooner before getting into Rubik´s cube and what I plan to do from thereon on. Honestly, I am slightly excited to write it even though I have a bad feeling about the quality of that piece… We´ll see…