In the context of speed cubing, to be honest it’s more like a roguelike videogame at this point than anything. If you think of the scramble as a new map, you basically use your game knowledge to put the cube in a known state that you can then progress quickly with known algorithms.
Even the most procedural way of solving the cube, the beginner’s method, has a ton of points where you need to carefully observe the cube and make some intuitive adjustments. And then as you progress into different methods the “game” really opens up to you.
There was a great video a few years ago, This one right here, where they gave 5 cubers of differing skill levels the exact same scramble and had them solve it and talk through their process. Each took a totally different path based on their knowledge of cubing strategy
But yeah you don’t need to be a genius or anything to start “playing” the “game”.
Actually solving the actual puzzle with no guide would be a totally different beast. They sell 2x2 cubes actually, which I would recommend to anyone wanting to go in blind. They’re surprisingly devious, and from my experience beginners actually get hooked right away vs with the 3x3 cubes where they give up after like ten seconds lol
I managed to solve it in the early 2000s with nothing other than a lot of time. I just messed with it whenever I was not typing at a customer service job. Definitely no genius required. Just persistance.
A friend taught me to solve them via procedures, and I memorized like six different patterns. I can get very stuck if the top edges don’t line up the way I know how to fix them. It’s mostly muscle memory and practice, but it takes me at best 5 minutes to solve a cube.
Are you suppossed to be smart to solve one? I thought you just look it up once and than know how to do it.
In the context of speed cubing, to be honest it’s more like a roguelike videogame at this point than anything. If you think of the scramble as a new map, you basically use your game knowledge to put the cube in a known state that you can then progress quickly with known algorithms.
Even the most procedural way of solving the cube, the beginner’s method, has a ton of points where you need to carefully observe the cube and make some intuitive adjustments. And then as you progress into different methods the “game” really opens up to you.
There was a great video a few years ago, This one right here, where they gave 5 cubers of differing skill levels the exact same scramble and had them solve it and talk through their process. Each took a totally different path based on their knowledge of cubing strategy
But yeah you don’t need to be a genius or anything to start “playing” the “game”.
Actually solving the actual puzzle with no guide would be a totally different beast. They sell 2x2 cubes actually, which I would recommend to anyone wanting to go in blind. They’re surprisingly devious, and from my experience beginners actually get hooked right away vs with the 3x3 cubes where they give up after like ten seconds lol
before i try the 2x2 i first need to solve this 1x1. been struggling with it for a while now
Try to start with the corners and work in from there!
It requires decent memory skills to be able to do with any kind of speed.
The algorithms are well known and documented at this stage. Before that, figuring it out was devilishly hard.
I managed to solve it in the early 2000s with nothing other than a lot of time. I just messed with it whenever I was not typing at a customer service job. Definitely no genius required. Just persistance.
You don’t have to be smart, but you need a willingness to learn something that isn’t terribly important.
So, you know, consider that.
A friend taught me to solve them via procedures, and I memorized like six different patterns. I can get very stuck if the top edges don’t line up the way I know how to fix them. It’s mostly muscle memory and practice, but it takes me at best 5 minutes to solve a cube.
So no, you don’t have to be smart.
At least you can show you have good memory, hand eye coordination and willingness to learn new skills.