# 4x4 BLD memo times



## tim (Nov 3, 2007)

Hi,

i wonder, how fast you guys can memorize a 4x4? And how long the centers/edges take to memorize.

I started to try big cubes blindfolded right after my 6 cubes multi bld attempt two days ago. I still have to create a memo system for the centers and learn how to solve them .
I tried to solve the edges blindfolded four times now and my best memo time was 3:30 for edges (unsolved centers and corners). Execution took me another 3 minutes with r2. I hope to get that down to 1 minute memo, or at least 1:30 min.

Another question: How many centers do you have to memorize on average/in the worst case?

Thanks for your replies 

argh, i almost forgot that: Thanks to Daniel, Chris, Erik(r2 ) and the other guys, who posted at the yahoo group/this forum, for all those nice guides/tutorials for big cubes blindfolded, they helped me a lot .

Tim


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## Mike Hughey (Nov 3, 2007)

Wow! You're just amazingly fast. You'll probably be sub-15 minutes on your first 4x4x4 BLD solve. And my best so far is just under 20 minutes. So obviously I don't have much to contribute to help you - hopefully the guys who are good at it can help more.

My typical time for memorizing the edges is 5 to 7 minutes. I don't think I've ever memorized them in 3:30. I'm running 10 to 14 minutes to memorize the whole cube now most of the time. My best ever is a little over 8 minutes. The centers are definitely faster to memorize than the edges for me, and a little faster to execute as well.

Somewhere there's a thread where someone calculated the odds for how many centers are already solved on the 4x4x4. I can't seem to find it right now, but the average came out somewhere between 7 and 8, I think. It's common to see anywhere from 7 to 11, in my experience.

(Slightly off-topic, but somewhat related
I just tried my first solve using Roman Rooms (well, a single Roman Room - it just barely all fit in the one room), and I was impressed with the results. I took 12 minutes to memorize, but that was probably because I wasn't really used to the system. It seemed pretty easy, and then I was amazed by how easy it was to recall during the solve. I had a successful 4x4x4 solve, time was 22:08.69. That's pretty good for me - 10 minutes execution is really fast for me. I think I may have to switch to Roman Rooms.


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## tim (Nov 3, 2007)

Mike Hughey said:


> Wow! You're just amazingly fast. You'll probably be sub-15 minutes on your first 4x4x4 BLD solve. And my best so far is just under 20 minutes. So obviously I don't have much to contribute to help you - hopefully the guys who are good at it can help more.


Thanks, but I'm only that fast, because i didn't have to change anything compared to the 3x3x3, same memory system, same execution method, just twice as much pieces compared to the 3x3x3. The centers will probably kill my time.



Mike Hughey said:


> My typical time for memorizing the edges is 5 to 7 minutes. I don't think I've ever memorized them in 3:30. I'm running 10 to 14 minutes to memorize the whole cube now most of the time. My best ever is a little over 8 minutes. The centers are definitely faster to memorize than the edges for me, and a little faster to execute as well.


That's good to hear, that the centers are faster, i hope they will be faster for me, too. It still seems to be quit hard to use commutators, i hope i will get used to it.



Mike Hughey said:


> Somewhere there's a thread where someone calculated the odds for how many centers are already solved on the 4x4x4. I can't seem to find it right now, but the average came out somewhere between 7 and 8, I think. It's common to see anywhere from 7 to 11, in my experience.


Ah, i think you mean this thread. I totally forgot about it, sorry :/.



Mike Hughey said:


> (Slightly off-topic, but somewhat related
> I just tried my first solve using Roman Rooms (well, a single Roman Room - it just barely all fit in the one room), and I was impressed with the results. I took 12 minutes to memorize, but that was probably because I wasn't really used to the system. It seemed pretty easy, and then I was amazed by how easy it was to recall during the solve. I had a successful 4x4x4 solve, time was 22:08.69. That's pretty good for me - 10 minutes execution is really fast for me. I think I may have to switch to Roman Rooms.



That's a very good result for your first try with Roman Rooms, you should definitely stick to it. A big advantage is (as you already noticed) the easy recalling and the fact that you can memorize in one pass.


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## pjk (Nov 3, 2007)

If I remember right, last time I talked with Matyas, he said he memos the entire 4x4 in sub-60 seconds. Not sure what his competition memos have been, but he told me that was what it was. Insane, yes. But gives you something to shoot for.


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## Mike Hughey (Nov 4, 2007)

tim said:


> That's a very good result for your first try with Roman Rooms, you should definitely stick to it. A big advantage is (as you already noticed) the easy recalling and the fact that you can memorize in one pass.



You're right - I'm very amazed with it. I really didn't see what the big advantage was before I tried it. Honestly, I still don't understand why it's such a big advantage, but it does seem to help. Memory is a strange thing - you can become good at memorization and still not have a clue how it works.



pjk said:


> If I remember right, last time I talked with Matyas, he said he memos the entire 4x4 in sub-60 seconds. Not sure what his competition memos have been, but he told me that was what it was. Insane, yes. But gives you something to shoot for.



I agree that that is absolutely insane. Just mind-boggling.

PS: I just tried my third ever Roman Rooms 4x4x4 BLD attempt, and got my new personal best: 18:56.27. And it wasn't even an easy scramble - 8 centers solved (fairly average), and corner parity. It took me 9 minutes to memorize. The big help in speed isn't on the memorization, it's on the execution. It just seems so much quicker to remember the next thing to do while executing. I can't believe how much it's helping. I hope it continues to help this much - it's really encouraging!


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## tim (Nov 5, 2007)

Mike Hughey said:


> PS: I just tried my third ever Roman Rooms 4x4x4 BLD attempt, and got my new personal best: 18:56.27. And it wasn't even an easy scramble - 8 centers solved (fairly average), and corner parity. It took me 9 minutes to memorize. The big help in speed isn't on the memorization, it's on the execution. It just seems so much quicker to remember the next thing to do while executing. I can't believe how much it's helping. I hope it continues to help this much - it's really encouraging!



That's cool, i think you can get sub-15 easily with your new method .

I tried a few more r2-solves and got several 2:30 memo for edges + 2:30 execution. The only thing i have to do, until i can solve a 4x4 blindfolded, is learning images for the centers. That's so boring, but i can't wait for the moment, when i'll open my eyes and see a solved 4x4 .

btw. Matyas is crazy .


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## hdskull (Nov 5, 2007)

i believe matyas's first 4x4x4 bld was 2:xx memo


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## Lucas Garron (Nov 5, 2007)

My times haven't settled down yet...
About 3 minutes for EP, a little less for centers (depends on how nice they are). I waste some good chunk on deciding orientation, corner memo , and review...


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## tim (Nov 6, 2007)

Argh, first full attempt and it was a very close DNF, only one 5-cycle centers off .

Memo about 15 minutes (i checked everything three/four times) and execution about 10 minutes. Disappointing...


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## Mike Hughey (Nov 6, 2007)

Wow, Tim, that's awesome! A pretty amazing first attempt.


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## tim (Nov 6, 2007)

Mike Hughey said:


> Wow, Tim, that's awesome! A pretty amazing first attempt.



Thanks, my second attempt was also very close (3-cycle edges off...). Time was 22 minutes. Now i'm too tired to try another one (it's 3:00 am here ).


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## Toojdwin (Nov 7, 2007)

So, what memory system have you been using?


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## tim (Nov 7, 2007)

Toojdwin said:


> So, what memory system have you been using?



i've been using images and i got my first successful one within a bld relay today


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## Pedro (Nov 7, 2007)

wow, congratz, Tim


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## Lucas Garron (Nov 9, 2007)

I should mention:
I use pure visual memo (except maybe CO), and I can get sub-12 reasonably consistently with it.


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## Derrick Eide17 (Nov 19, 2007)

i've only ever done one attempt at 4x4 BLD and took awhile to realize i was only 3 setup moves turns wrong! i was like NOOOOOOOOOOOO. hope to attempt anotehr 4x4 BLD in the near future. and make it sub 30 min at least! lol


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