# Getting PB on a second hand scramble



## Sakarie (Oct 21, 2010)

(This is not in any way directed towards specific persons) 

When you get a new personal record, it's natural to add the scramble, so that people can see it. And when other people read about it, they're probably doing the scrambling and making a solve, to see what you can get. Is this really okay to use as a real scramble for the persons using the scramble second hand?

A PB-scramble is often a little bit more lucky than the average scramble, and you know that. You can't know if this particular scramble have 2 piece solved, 6 corners oriented or just easy cycles. But you do know that it's a bigger chance that this scramble is easier than average. Isn't that enough to disqualify the solve as your own potential PB?


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## amostay2004 (Oct 21, 2010)

I wouldn't count a second hand scramble as PB, simply because I already knew it was easy beforehand. I would naturally look for x-crosses, etc when I normally wouldn't


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## Mike Hughey (Oct 21, 2010)

The thing about PBs is that they can be whatever you want them to be. For me personally, I agree with you - I never want to count a second-hand scramble as a PB (unless I didn't know there was anything special about it). So I'm not currently counting that 1:01.xx solve I got on that 3x3x3 BLD solve of Faz's as my PB; I still think of it as my 1:03.xx from a few months ago.

But it doesn't change the fact that it's fun to try second-hand scrambles, and even fun to get a new "PB" with one. At least then I know it's possible I could get one like that. So I'm very happy I got that 1:01.xx!


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## Escher (Oct 21, 2010)

Well, to be fair, this kinda happens a lot in competitions - if somebody gets an unusually good time for them before you in a round you can expect the scramble to be nice...


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## qqwref (Oct 21, 2010)

I'd say it's fine to count a scramble you know is easy as a PB, unless you know what's easy about it (xcross, obvious/easy F2L, etc.). It could very well just be that someone had a really nice solve, which you wouldn't be likely to copy.


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## Stefan (Oct 21, 2010)

Not sure about singles, but definitely don't collect easy scrambles for an average.


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## tim (Oct 21, 2010)

Sakarie said:


> Isn't that enough to disqualify the solve as your own potential PB?


 
Yes. Knowing, that you'll be able to memorize faster than normal is an advantage.


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## StachuK1992 (Oct 21, 2010)

I think it depends on the puzzle, and which step was the 'easy step,' assuming there was one.
For example, it seems that most people do some sort of LBL method for 2x2 - being provided a 3-move FL that is rather obvious and a Sune for LL shan't be considered a PB by any means, nor should a Barrel-Barrel cubeshape + EO basically done, since most people do some sort of Vandenberghish method. For larger puzzles, perhaps the rules can be bent a little bit, as even something as evident as a "2s 4x4 face" on a 6x6 solve wouldn't make such an impression on the overall solve.

Also, f the person who provided scramble A uses a different method entirely from you (not something like "I use ZZ and I got an EO skip, so all you CFOPers can do well on this" kinda thing) and you use your normal method, then that should be considered "legal" or whatnot.

As Stefan mentioned, while having an average of intentionally-lucky solves might be really fun, don't go around saying "I got a 9s average" when they were all 2-move crossers or something like that.


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## Sakarie (Oct 21, 2010)

Just to make clear what I meant, I meant especially 3x3 blindfolded. Singles, and the scramble probably mean more than on speed.


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## Escher (Oct 21, 2010)

StachuK1992 said:


> As Stefan mentioned, while having an average of intentionally-lucky solves might be really fun, don't go around saying "I got a 9s average" when they were all 2-move crossers or something like that.



FAZ MUST BE CHEATING FOR WR AVERAGE


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## tim (Oct 21, 2010)

Sakarie said:


> Just to make clear what I meant, I meant especially 3x3 blindfolded. Singles, and the scramble probably mean more than on speed.


 
Yeah, i wondered, why everyone started talking about x-crosses and 3x3x3 speed stuff. Also: Easy scrambles are pretty much the same for all bld cubers. Since it usually means: there are more pieces solved than on average.


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## TheBB (Oct 21, 2010)

I think it's pretty straightforward. If a scramble was drawn from (approximately) the uniform distribution, count it as a PB. If you go searching for easy scrambles, you are obviously not drawing from a uniform distribution. If you see people ahead of you in a competition round getting good times, yes, you can conclude that the scramble is easy, but it is still drawn from a uniform distribution, so no worries.


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## scylla (Oct 28, 2010)

> Well, to be fair, this kinda happens a lot in competitions - if somebody gets an unusually good time for them before you in a round you can expect the scramble to be nice...




Interesting..... I think you are right. As long as it is possible in official tournaments, the answer is clear


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