# Why did you get into speedcubing?



## Sa967St (Apr 25, 2011)

Just a thought I had, why did you guys choose to speedcube as a hobby? I've been seeing posts about people wanting to quit because they believe they have reached their limits in speedsolving stuff, and I wonder if it was their intention in the first place to try to get to this point. 

When I started off cubing I was doing it just for the sake of wanting to see a solved cube in my hands. After doing so I realized that it was pretty fun to solve it, so I scrambled it again and solved it again. A few more solves later I started to time myself with a stopwatch, and from then on I wanted to get faster. I had no idea how fast I could get and I didn't have the intention to reach my limit, I just wanted to keep trying to beat my personal bests because I found it fun for me.

Why did you guys decide to get into speedcubing? Is it because you saw it on TV/the Internet and thought it was something you could become good at, or because you like solving puzzles and be good at them? How about for the sake of having a unique impressive talent? When you first picked up a cube, did you decide then that you were doing to pursue getting fast at solving it, or did it just happen naturally without much thought?

I'm curious about how your views of your cubing/speedcubing has changed from the time you first did solves up until now. For those who are still trying to get faster, do you have a specific limit in mind, or are you waiting to figure it out? What will happen when you reach this point? For those who believe you've gotten as fast as you can, what do you think about finally getting to it? Is your current average something you expected from the very beginning? 


Note: This is different from this thread, I'm asking why you chose to pursue getting faster at cubing and what you expected from it, not why you started to cube.


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## OMGitsSolved (Apr 25, 2011)

My friend tried to show me how and I couldn't understand but I couldn't stop until I got it so I learned from Tyson Mao's DVD.


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## hic2482w (Apr 25, 2011)

My friend could solve it. I couldn't. When I learned, we raced. And he was faster than me. soo.....


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## cuberr (Apr 25, 2011)

I learned with my friend, so we continually tried to beat each others' best times. Then he started cubing a lot more and became a lot faster than me.. Now I've made my own goals and am trying to get faster to beat them. At the moment, I'm trying to be sub 30. After I get there, then my next goal will be sub 20.


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## waffle=ijm (Apr 25, 2011)

I wanted to be the very best like no one ever was.


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## Andrew Ricci (Apr 25, 2011)

I learned how to solve it. Then, I wanted to be faster. XD

Seriously though, I first saw stuff like Yu Nakajima's 6.57 (unofficial), Haiyan Zhuang 30 seconds BLD, and had a desire to solve the cube in under 30 seconds. (see lame)

I then proceeded to solve more and more using the beginner's method, only to discover that it was quite slow in comparison to others. (Fridrich, ZZ, Roux, etc) After a week or two, I began solving using the Fridrich Method. It didn't take me long to get below my times with the Beginner's Layer By Layer method, and in around 2 months (I think, not too sure) I was sub 30. By that time, I had completely forgotten my original goals. xD

I proceeded to Sub 20, which was my next goal, but never really thought the same for sub 15. Even now, I don't really have goals like that. I just solve and solve. I have no idea when sub 10 will come, but I honestly don't care. And it definitely won't be the end. 

@Waffo POKEMONS!!!1!!!111!!!!


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## jrb (Apr 25, 2011)

I saw a documentary on the cube called Piece by Piece. It inspired me to figure out how to solve it with the beginner method when I got a cube for my birthday the next day.


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## ianography (Apr 25, 2011)

I just like to cube... that and my friend was faster than me and I was jealous


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## rubiksczar (Apr 25, 2011)

My friend could solve it in 3 minutes, i could solve it in 30 minutes. I'm very competitive. Now I can solve the cube in 15 seconds and my friend can solve it in 1:30


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## EricReese (Apr 25, 2011)

I didn't like the idea that Ryan was faster then me at anything, I have yet to surpass him <_<


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## Dacuba (Apr 25, 2011)

grandma + $1 Cube + beginners tutorial + 7.08 vid


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## SixSidedCube (Apr 25, 2011)

I saw this Indian dude in my class at school solving it with Dan Browns method, and he gave me the link, so I went and bought a cube and solved it with his method, looking at the PC though. After I did it, I thought, "Well that was boring", and I gave up for a month or two. My interest resparked when I saw one of Feliks' videos and realized that he was from Aussie, and would be competing at the NZ champs. I didn't get to go to that comp, but I kept practising for this years NZ Champs, oh, and btw, FELIKS YOU BEST BE COMING!


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## Cool Frog (Apr 25, 2011)

I felt like learning one day. Then I wanted to get SUPER FAST. Then I took this long break and was bored with CFOP, learned Roux. That peaked my interests again. Learned some more interesting methods and stoof. 
I love every step in the methods I use.
Just love learning new stoof.


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## yamahammer08 (Apr 25, 2011)

My story of how I got into cubing and why I wanted to get faster are one in the same. I was spending the Christmas holidays at my grandparent's house, as we do every year. We took a trip to walmart, and while there my dad saw a rubik's cube at walmart. He had said he knew how to solve in his younger days (had to be around 1980). He claimed he could sub30 back then (he might have even said he was around 20? not for sure on that, but I doubt it), I'm not quite sure whether I choose to believe him or not, but thats beside the point.

My grandparents had dial up internet at the time and only the local channels on TV, and it was extremely cold outside, so I didn't have much to do but solve the cube for the next 2 weeks. My dad relearned how to solve it fairly quickly, and it took me quite a bit longer to learn. After I had learned how my dad found cubetimer.com, so we began having races. I remember getting sub minute for the first time, but my dad beat me to it. But I would have my redemption, I beat him to sub 50. About this time, Christmas was over and school resumed, and in turn I had no time and I didn't see the cube again for a good 4 years after that (which was about a month ago). I happened to see the cube in my drawer when I had some free time so I thought I would try my hand at it again. I couldn't remember how to do more than the first layer, but eventually learned again. Having the obsessive personality that I do, I had to get faster and tried to look up better methods. While searching, I found this site, and learned about the fridrich method, and its just grew on me from there.

I never really had a goal when I started, other than to beat my dad. My current goal is to be sub 40 average. (current average around 41) My ultimate goal would be to be sub 20, but I don't see that coming any time soon. If I do reach that and I'm not bored of cubing yet, I'll keep upping my goal, but only time will tell.
Wow that was long, but nice to reminisce about the good ole days lol


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## Athefre (Apr 25, 2011)

I went shopping with my Christmas money in 2005. I saw a K-Ball on sale at Kmart and thought it would be fun to try to solve it. I searched for a solution online but didn't see one. I had the idea that maybe it was the same as a 2x2x2 solver I had seen; it worked.

These searches led me to find the Yahoo! group and Twisty Puzzles. This caused me to have a strong urge to buy a Rubik's Cube.

I have posted about my puzzle interests on various game forums (such as digitpress.com, username chicnstu) that I've been visiting for years. I often wonder if there is anyone that is here because of that.


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## FatBoyXPC (Apr 25, 2011)

EricReese said:


> I didn't like the idea that Ryan was faster then me at anything, I have yet to surpass him <_<


 
At least you win w/the women (if you get them, that is).


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## Mike Hughey (Apr 25, 2011)

One could argue that I was into speedcubing back in the early days, since I did time myself and I did try to get faster. But I didn't really consider myself to be truly attempting to speedcube until I picked it back up in 2006. At that time, I had spent several years noticing that there was an online community dedicated to speedcubing, and I had always wanted to be able to say I could solve it really fast. For me, really fast meant sub-minute.  So when I picked it back up, my goal was to get sub-minute. Once I got there, I realized very quickly that sub-30 was pretty attainable, even for me, so I decided to stick it out until I got sub-30; then I would quit, figuring that was a fun diversion for several months.

But then I stumbled upon Macky's site, discovered BLD solving, and now I'm hopelessly hooked. It's all Macky's fault. 

As for the other questions, I secretly would like to exceed Ton as the fastest old speedcuber. But realistically, I doubt it will happen (even if I miraculously get fast someday, Ton will always be faster). And I want to be sub-minute on 3x3x3 BLD, and sub-10 on 5x5x5 BLD, and do all these crazy multis and relays BLD, etc. So it's hard to see myself ever reaching a "final goal"; if I quit, it will have to be for other reasons, I'm afraid.


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## Owen (Apr 25, 2011)

No reason. I just wanted to solve it, then I just wanted to solve it again...


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## JLarsen (Apr 25, 2011)

My evolution was pretty similar to the OPs. My first goal was just to solve it, and it was really fun the first time I did it. I just sort of had this urge to do it again, and again, until I saw myself getting faster and faster. That was when I learned about the speedsolving community, this forum, and it just kept going from there.


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## Jedi5412 (Apr 25, 2011)

I was always intrested in cubes but everytime i goto a relatives house I got told off for touching theirs (for some unknown reason).
Eventually after a couple years around december last year I went to the warehouse and brought a storebought and played with cubes every since.


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## dimwmuni (Apr 25, 2011)

I learned how to solve the cube with Dan Brown's tutorial and I saw people in the video responses solving it in like a minute, so I thought I could get faster than that, and once I tried to get faster I just didn't stop.


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## Engberg91 (Apr 25, 2011)

I was on a Pen Spinning gathering in winter 07.
some dude taught me how to solve it and he did a solve and got 33 sec.
...33 sec that was my goal. and when I got 33 sec i just made up new goals.
and now i average about 15 sec =D


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## cmhardw (Apr 25, 2011)

I first wanted to learn to solve it, like Sarah says, just to see a solved cube in my hands. After I knew the beginner's method well enough that I didn't need a cheat sheet, and could do it from memory, I was enthralled with my newfound cube solving superpower for about a month. At the end of the first month I was really starting to get bored with it to be honest. At that point I discovered the Fridrich method, and the promised 17 second averages that were possible (I was at probably 1-2 minutes on average at this point). I honestly don't really remember very well my decision to learn the Fridrich method. I remember looking into Petrus at the time and I remember being confused by it as well (I regret now not learning it then). Once I discovered Fridrich I think the combination of being bored with the beginner method, and the possibility of being really good at something (17 seconds seemed impossibly fast, but it also piqued my interest) made it an interesting challenge that I wanted to give myself. Get to 17 seconds - ... just because it's possible.

I think my true addiction to cubing started the first time I ever saw a solved cube. This was before I even learned to solve it, since I had to disassemble my cube and fix it being in an unsolvable state (as described by the solution guide I was using). I think part of the reason I chose to stick with speedsolving is that I knew I was getting bored with the beginner method, and yet I was still fascinated with the cube in general. In order to stick with cubing I had to just take the next step and learn new stuff. It's been a snowball effect ever since.



> I'm curious about how your views of your cubing/speedcubing has changed from the time you first did solves up until now. For those who are still trying to get faster, do you have a specific limit in mind, or are you waiting to figure it out? What will happen when you reach this point? For those who believe you've gotten as fast as you can, what do you think about finally getting to it? Is your current average something you expected from the very beginning?



Just on a personal level I feel that my attitudes have changed quite a lot over the years. First I was in the excited to be learning Fridrich phase. Then came the OMG I know *ALL* of Fridrich phase! Then the excited to be improving steadily phase. Then came my first major plateau. Still stuck in the first major plateau. Still stuck.... still stuck.... Stuck some more... FINALLY break this plateau and improve quickly to sub-20. Lots of shorter lived plateaus later until I finally hit my current plateau of 15 seconds global average with the occasional sub-14 average on a super-mega awesome day. This gets me to about 2005. At this point I started to realize that I really have peaked with my speedsolving abilities. My wrist problems will not let me seriously pursue big cube speedsolving, and it limits my 3x3 a bit as well. At this point I moved over to blindfolded cubing. The next 6 years were the excited to finally be improving at something again phase, leading up to today where I am still improving at BLD.

I don't see myself quitting cubing, but I wouldn't be surprised if my cubing interests and focus continue to change. For now BLD is my focus, but in 10 years or so it might be Fewest Moves or maybe even speedsolving again, who knows.


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## thackernerd (Apr 25, 2011)

When i was 8 i could do a coler in 11 seconds and my family's friends were very impressed,but i started getting bored doing one color over and over so it ended up in my closet for about 3 years,and last summer i was digging around in my closet and i found this i desided i wanted to solve it so i tried and it took me a few hours but i learned(Dan Brown)then from there i just wanted to get faster and faster.


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## whauk (Apr 25, 2011)

i was around 3 minutes and not very interested in my speed when i got a 4x4 as a birthday present. when i figured out that you need to solve a 3x3 at the end of a 4x4 solve i thought about learning a better method than beginner.
i thought that i would have to learn all the fridrich algorithms for getting faster and started this very big project just to become sub20. when i was sub20 i went to my first comp and saw the other people being faster. so i decided to just practise on. 

i always practised nearly ALL events but once i decided to choose one as my main event. OH. now i made in into the top10 of the world and hope to stay there a bit . but i dont really know whether this was my final goal to achieve.
i once wanted to break a ER. but that seems to far away now.

oh and btw when i started cubing s/o told me that there are people who can do it in 10 seconds. i never believed this. so my actual goal was a sub10 solve. then my goal was a nonlucky sub10 solve. then my goal was an official sub10 solve. now i have all of them. 

so in fact i achieved everything i ever wanted. and nowadays i practise rarely and focus more on my other hobbies.


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## Kirjava (Apr 25, 2011)

I love learning.


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## Chapuunka (Apr 25, 2011)

I just like impressing people.


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## Systemdertoten (Apr 25, 2011)

I stole some noob's Rubik's Brand at school about 3 years ago.
I wanted to look smart in order to complement my wise-ass attitude, so I looked up on Youtube and found Robh0629's (hope I got that right) tutorial.
_Et voilà._


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## sauso (Apr 25, 2011)

i was at work one day and this dude had one. i asked him if he could solve it and he could. the guy liked to be the best at everything so when i asked how long it would take him he said 1 minute 57. He then went on to say that he was the fastest in Australia HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA.

So i used Dan browns tutorial and got down to 1 minute. Went back to his desk and completed his cube. I have never seen someone more speechless.


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## DavidWoner (Apr 25, 2011)

For the groupies. still waiting =[


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## tx789 (Apr 26, 2011)

I got a crappy on for chirstmas it ws from the $2 shop. It didn't pop it exsploded it had titles and they came off after a while. The plastic was thick. Then my Dad wnated a good qualtily one looked on TRade ME (New Zealand equlievent to Ebay). GOt one that couldn't be disabled. Pulled a corner and it broke the piece the stickers were worse than Ruubik. Theb I got a shop broght. A kid i my class could solve it learned. And then practed got to ust over a minute then started learning OLL...


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## cubemaster13 (Apr 26, 2011)

being social got boring...


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## Elbeasto94 (Apr 26, 2011)

I had a friend who could do it in like 1 min. 30 sec. dan brown style.... sooooo I can't just let my friends be better than me, that would make me become immature (not really but ok)


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## Elbeasto94 (Apr 26, 2011)

tx789 said:


> A kid i my class could solve it learned. And then practed got to ust over a minute then started learning OLL...


 
are you guimond's apprentice?


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## tx789 (Apr 26, 2011)

Elbeasto94 said:


> are you guimond's apprentice?


 
NO


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## TiLiMayor (Apr 26, 2011)

Learned to solve, but then a newspaper came across and I saw an ad about an upcoming rubik's cube tournament (not official of course), and I said to me: 'Ohh, what the hell, lets practice'. I remember the inscription was like 3000COP (which would be like 1.50USD) and all of the participants were averaging about 1min.


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## Gaétan Guimond (Apr 26, 2011)

*Special edition Tyson Mao very rare*








OMGitsSolved said:


> My friend tried to show me how and I couldn't understand but I couldn't stop until I got it so I learned from Tyson Mao's DVD.


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## waffle=ijm (Apr 26, 2011)

OMG A SRS WAFFO ANSWER THIS IS RIKE SO RARE!

Well, I need to tell the background story a little bit. I started cubing because my friend and I were both trying to impress this girl that was really into smart guys. We could both solve it so for some reason it became a contest of who can go faster to impress that girl. Surprisingly (or not) she picked neither of us and I disliked cubing for a while so I was on rage mode with a cube trying to break it by turning and solving it as fast as possible. Eventually rage turned into love. The reason as to why I was turning so fast became extremely silly and pointless. I acquired this new talent from it so I just said "eh why not" and I was just going to make the most of it. I progressively became obsessed with breaking time-barriers for no absolute reason whenever I solved. besides I didn't have anything else to do anyway. And the rest is history

So in conclusion to my introduction and why I speedcube
1) I dislike Cubes
2) Every time I solve them I hope they die. Faster = Most likely to fall apart and die
3) Now I love cubes
4) Every time I solve them I make a fluffy face.
5) I found myself in a situation where I learned to love something I didn't like. 

I'm still trying to get faster with no limit set in mind. Limits are silly and are made to be broken so why make them? I don't make (realistic) cubing limits knowing that I'll surpass it....eventually. Even when I just started speedcubing, I was just like "Oh, I broke x seconds....yay....and kept solving" I didn't even keep track of my fastest solve back then....I don't even know my PBs unless I check CCT. Without a limit I know I can keep cubing because I just won't stop at a certain point.


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## Dene (Apr 26, 2011)

Because all things Dene do are awesome.


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## Andreaillest (Apr 26, 2011)

I just kept watching other people on youtube solve it. Such as Yu Nakajima and Harris Chan. As time went on, it just grew onto me. I loved the noise and how calming it made me feel and I now my goal is to just as fast as those who inspired me.


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## teller (Apr 26, 2011)

Everyone had a cube in 1981, so no explanation needed there. I learned "The Simple Solution to Rubik's Cube" from a book, and mostly got off on the attention, solving everyone's cube. The fad blew over, and the cubes got packed away.

Until 1999...when I happed to be reading _Metamagical Themas_ by Douglas Hofstadter--there were two very solid chapters on the cube in there and it made me want to get my cube out and play. It was like riding a bike and I got nicely warmed up...and I thought to check the Internet for upgrades. Fridrich had some wacky notation that you don't see today, and it was hard to follow. Petrus' Java applets didn't match my color scheme. The Internet said to get an "Assembly Cube" for smoother turning; Remember this is 1999, so I ended up buying _Mefferts Worst Cube On Earth_, which turned me off sharply and I gave up, defeated, thinking "meh...nobody cubes anymore anyway."

Fast forward to late 2008 and a friend shoots me a YouTube video of someone solving a mirror blocks cube. I expected to be mildly entertained for a few minutes until the guy pauses to check something on his regular Rubik's cube and does a 4-flip faster than I've ever seen anyone do a 4-flip, ever. Everything changed in that moment...cubes cannot move like that...people cannot move like that...that's insane...all false ideas, self imposed limitations. Very jealous of this guy I started researching aggressively and found that the cube had suddenly blossomed. Well, alrighty then! Game on!

I think was shooting for 30-40, but by the time I got that far I saw how deep the rabbit hole really goes. I wanted sub-20, and got it, but more interesting to me has been the learning process...people say CFOP is boring, well...they aren't multi-slotting hard enough. And I adore the dexterity aspect, and it keeps yielding fresh techniques that freshen up old algorithms...and I keep my entire alg set fresh by replacing something every week. I sense a plateau is around here somewhere, but I don't think I will ever completely stop.


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## antoineccantin (Apr 26, 2011)

Last year, my brother learned how, but I had no interest what so ever in it. A few months later, my brother kind of forced me to. I then got in to it. For a while, he was far faster than me, but he seemed to have stalled at 30 seconds but I continued improving and finally surpassed him.

I now average around 15 seconds and I think that once I learn full OLL and full PLL I can get sub-15 or Maybe even sub-10.


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## AvidCuber (Apr 26, 2011)

When I was quite a bit younger, my dad had an old cube from the '80s that he used to be able to solve in under 40 seconds, and would give it to me occasionally and tell me to try solving the first layer. (I failed miserably.)

On my 11th birthday, one of my cousins gave me a cube and I tried solving it for maybe a week, then gave up. A few months later, I picked it up again and said to myself, "I want to learn to solve this," so I tried for maybe a week without looking up a solution and got the first two layers. I used the little booklet that came with the cube (i.e. Dan Brown's method) to solve the last layer. After solving the cube for the first time, I solved it a few more times, then put it away and didn't really touch it for a few months short of two years (I would solve it whenever I saw people playing around with them or when I went to someone's house and saw a scrambled cube, but nothing apart from that). In around December of 2009, I got a megaminx and square-1 for Christmas and that sort of got me interested again. Then I saw Erik's 7.08 WR video in around January (I had seen it when I first started getting into the cube but wasn't really motivated by it) of 2010 and thought it was really cool and I wanted to be able to do it, so I started practising.

Now I average around 16-17. I guess not too shabby for a little over a year of speedcubing, unless of course you compare to someone like Faz.


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## yamahammer08 (Apr 26, 2011)

antoineccantin said:


> I now average around 15 seconds and I think that once I learn full OLL and full PLL I can get sub-15 or Maybe even sub-10.


 
You average 15 seconds without full PLL or OLL? 0_o
Am I crazy, or is that crazy?
(Not doubting you btw, I just find it crazy!)


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## Edward_Lin (Apr 26, 2011)

I started cubing because a lot of my friends knew how to solve it. I also looked on youtube and saw Toby Mao do a 10.48 sec solve which was World Record at the time. Watching a 3 year old solving the cube also inspired me to learn. I already started to time my first 2 layers before learning how to solve the entire cube. I was able to get a sub-1 min f2l before learning the last layer.


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## pappas (Apr 26, 2011)

Learnt to solve a rubiks cube from my cousin. Got down to under a minute then stopped. About a year later I saw feliks in the newspaper and started again.


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## RaresB (Apr 26, 2011)

I wanted to be the best in my class. Then I just wanted to get better and better. 7 months later I'm around 18 sec (I took a break from aug-jan worst decision of my cubing life)


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## ZamHalen (Apr 26, 2011)

I had a friend could solve the 3x3 and at the time I thought ,"I bet I can do that". So I went out and bought a cube and figured out that I could repeat a move to put corners in a "side"( this later turned out to be the sexy move). Then I went to look for a tutorial and found a ripoff pogobat tutorial. After that I solved it a few times and then wanted to get faster. But I stayed with that method for 3 months before teaching myself f2l then choosing to do 3 look LL. Afterward I expanded to more olls and it took me a year to drop to 25. And now here I am stuck at 20-19. My story is boring.


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## EnterPseudonym (Apr 26, 2011)

something to do, it eventually turned into a vent thing, which is why I progress so slowly. I'm good at one other hobby so I don't mind.


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## StachuK1992 (Apr 26, 2011)

When I learned to solve the cube, my reason for sticking with it was to beat my friend (now attending UPenn).
Once that was complete (sub35), it was out of boredom.
Once sub30 and under, it's been essentially entirely for the socialization. I like cubers.

I just cube now because I like cubers, and it kills time.
It's just become "what I do." I don't question it any more. It's like how I'm "white" or "male." It's just become another ongoing attribute that I can't *really* change.


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## RyanReese09 (Apr 26, 2011)

Friend at work could solve the cube -> I learned how -> Wanting to be faster than him -> Wanting to be faster -> Internet -> Fridrich.

Continued solving from there. Had no limits set for me, just kept solving.


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## cubeflip (Apr 26, 2011)

I had been playing with one since I was five years old and one day in 6th grade I thought it would be cool to be able to solve it. I saw a video the year before of a kid doing it in about 2 minutes, and I was like "Woah, I want to be able to do something unique like that!" So I learned. And now I'm like the "Rubik's Cube dude" to everyone at school who doesn't know me well.


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## crashdummy001 (Apr 26, 2011)

because solving faster = cutting more corners = more clickyness = more sound waves = more irritation to surrounding people = win


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## uberCuber (Apr 26, 2011)

A kid in my class could solve one in ~2 minutes. Being the arrogant straight-A-without-trying student that I am, I couldn't accept that someone knew something that I didn't, so I learned to solve one. From there...I don't know how I found out about speedsolving.com or the wider cubing world, I really don't...
But anyway, to answer one of the other questions of the OP, I didn't have any set limits in mind, and still don't. I just like improving, and I know with the wide variety of events that exist to practice when I get frustrated with one, improvement is not going to stop for me anytime soon.


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## Hyprul 9-ty2 (Apr 26, 2011)

I accidentally watched a Yu Nakajima video.


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## ~Phoenix Death~ (Apr 26, 2011)

Because my friend could


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## Selkie (Apr 26, 2011)

Well I was part of the original craze in the early 80's with a suitably crazy beginner method of solving it. At various times over the last 30 years I had picked up a cube and solved it remembering the beginner method and the (4?!) algorythms I still remembered from that original method. I had often thought of learning Friddich but never really kept hold of a cube or had the inclination to try learning that method.

Last Christmas my wife bought me a cube which again I solved a few times and then timed myself. Unfortunately the addiction had taken hold. A short Google search later I found Speedsolving.com and also some good learning materials. So I decided I would learn CFOP after thinking about it for so many years and my aim was to get a pb under 30 seconds. Suffice to say my goals soon changed when I got there. My ultimate aim now? Grey haired Sub 15 averages


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## riffz (Apr 26, 2011)

A friend taught me how to solve it at a sleepover. After that there was a guy in my music class in high school who's best time was 35s and I had to establish that I was faster than him.  After that it really just became an obsession.


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## CubicNL (Apr 26, 2011)

My story is similar to yours.
I got a cube for my birthday, I solved it like once following the guide that came with the cube.
Then I picked it up, a year later, and started memorizing the algs for basic method just to be able to solve the cube without guide.
Then I came across Fridrich tutorials on Youtube and started learning that.
From that point, I became naturally faster like you.


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## professoralpha7 (Apr 26, 2011)

i was bored one summer and I remembered a cube I got for my 7th birthday. It took me three days to learn from dan brown's videos. then i found chris and lance and tristan, and I was hooked.


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## gundamslicer (Apr 26, 2011)

my friend was able to solve it in a minute so i thought that was really fast back then. i wanted to be faster than all of them so i learned through pogobats method, then keyhole, then 4 look. im now the fastest betwwen all my friends


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## gundamslicer (Apr 26, 2011)

my friend was able to solve it in a minute so i thought that was really fast back then. i wanted to be faster than all of them so i learned through pogobats method, then keyhole, then 4 look. im now the fastest betwwen all my friends


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## chris410 (Apr 26, 2011)

I cube for fun so the "speed" in speedcubing is more a race against myself. I stumbled upon Dan's video and thought...why not pick up a cube and learn how to solve it. Once I learned the beginner method I wondered if there were better/more efficient ways to solve the cube so, I looked up advanced solving and stumbled across Badmephisto's videos. My goal was to simply be able to solve the cube in under a minute. From there, I improved a little by learning F2L then 2-Look OLL/PLL and moved to full PLL. I do not have much time to cube so when I do I simply enjoy cubing and don't worry about the times as much. I went to a competition to watch the "fast" cubers and to meet/learn from others. I know I will never be competitive which helps since it removes the pressure and allows me to simply enjoy the cube, and learn different things to help improve. From beginning to now well the 3x3 I learned how to solve the 2x2 using what I knew from 3x3 then learned Ortega (thanks Kian/Carson) the 4x4 from Lancetheblueknight's channel and figured out the 5x5,6x6, and 7x7 using what I knew from the 4x4 on my own which is probably why I am so slow with those! I am impressed with how quickly some people improve, I do not feel I have the natural ability to ever be sub-20 so I guess the advantage I have is being slow, faster times come to be a surprise more than anything. I laugh when people I know watch me and think I am fast, I tell them that in the competition world I am one of the slowest cubers!



> I'm curious about how your views of your cubing/speedcubing has changed from the time you first did solves up until now. For those who are still trying to get faster, do you have a specific limit in mind, or are you waiting to figure it out? What will happen when you reach this point? For those who believe you've gotten as fast as you can, what do you think about finally getting to it? Is your current average something you expected from the very beginning?



After joining this site and watching/talking to some of the more advanced cubers, I realize that there is so much more to the cube than simply memorizing algorithms. The look-ahead, piece tracking/manipulating (ex: edge control) fascinates me. Of course, there is BLD solving which another aspect I am fascinated with and hope to someday learn when time allows. My view now is that I realize a little more how much there is to the cube and just how little I actually know about it. I hope to eventually push myself to sub 20 but I know I will need to learn full OLL and improve my F2L drastically before I can begin to push what I consider my limits. I seriously doubt I would ever be faster than that because I do not feel I have the "gifts" that some of the very fast cubers have. Good news is that I am ok with that, the improvements with my memory and ability to visualize things is a welcomed benefit of cubing. As far as my current average (mid 30's on a good day with some high 20's mixed in) is something I could never have imagined. I honestly never thought I would break 1 minute.


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## Surin (Apr 26, 2011)

I remember seeing Yu Nakajima's 7 second solve and being blown away...that was basically when I realized that I had to learn 
I was into puzzles before then, though, and I guess it's an unusual and impressive skill


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## spdcbr (Apr 26, 2011)

waffle=ijm said:


> I wanted to be the very best like no one ever was.


 
To solve them is my real test
Getting faster is my cause


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## Mike Crozack (Apr 26, 2011)

I got a cube for christmas 2009 and i told myself "I'm Michael, and I shall solve this cube"
then i got it, watched Yu Nakajimas sub 7 solve, and got insired


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## ElectricDoodie (Apr 26, 2011)

While in my Junior year of high school, my friend got a new girlfriend. We were on a road trip, and I was in the backseat, when I noticed that she had picked up a cube, and was playing with it. Didn't care, but when I looked back about 2 minutes later, she had it solved. I was amazed, and kept asking her questions about it. She showed me that the centers are fixed, and to build it by layers. For some reason, this clicked on me, and all of a sudden, the cube actually made sense. I was able to solve the first 2 layers over and over, using intuition, in the car. When I got to LL, she didn't know how to explain it. So, I repeatedly kept spamming F2L.

After the road trip, I got home and bought a cube. I went online, and found the first tutorial, and decided to use it. It was the Jasmine Beginner's Solution on peter.stillq.com.
After a few hours, I was able to solve it all on my own. It took me about 3 minutes. I noticed at the bottom of the guide, that there were "Expert Methods." I checked it out, but it seems too confusing, and left it alone.

I then stopped cubing, and went to college. While in college, I randomly decided to watch cubing videos, to see how fast people could solve it. I was amazed at sub15 solves. I kept watching thinking that they were doing the Beginner's Method very fast, but realized it was different. There had to be something different. I remember that there were expert methods, and this was probably it. I went back to the Jasmine Tutorial and checked it out. It kept mentioning the Fridrich Method, and I started looking that up, which brought me to Chris Hardwick's site.

I decided that I wanted to learn it, and be able to solve it in under 30 seconds. I said, "When I get to 30 secs, I'll stop." 
After finishing PLL, I was sub30. I hadn't finished learning Full Fridrich, so I said, "When I get to sub20, I'll stop."
I practiced F2L, and go my solves to sub20. I still hadn't learned Full Fridrich, so I said, "When I get to sub15, I'll stop."
It was just a drive for me of "I know I can do it faster if I continue practicing."

I'm currently learning Full OLL, and have a feeling that when I get sub15, I won't stop. I'm not even halfway through with OLL, and already know that I won't want to stop, until I'm sub10. 

I'm 24, been speedcubing for about 10 months, and have a stubborn mind. I refuse to believe that because I'm older (I know, that's not really that old ), I can't achieve very fast times.
My goal is to continue, until I'm sub10, to prove to myself, that I can do it. I know people who have told me it's impossible, because I needed to have started when I was younger, with the whole "you can't teach old dogs new tricks," but I refuse to believe that age is 24.


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## blackzabbathfan (Apr 26, 2011)

I got a cube for Christmas in 4th grade. I learned how to solve it in July before 5th Grade. I was using the Dan Brown Method and for 2 years was getting 1:30s, my goal was sub-minute. I started learning Fridrich last November. I am now using 2 look OLL, Half of the PLLs and intuitive F2L. I average in the mid-30s and i get sub-20s occasionally. I know i'm not that fast but my goal is to learn Full Fridrich and to get sub-20. 

I want to ask people something though, when you get sub-10, when you break a world record, what now? I mean what is so fun, you barely acknowledge you're solving. You blink and the solve is over. Don't get me wrong, i would love to be Sub-10 it's just the fun of taking longer is that you get to solve longer. Does anyone know what i mean?


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## RyanReese09 (Apr 26, 2011)

blackzabbathfan said:


> the fun of taking longer is that you get to solve longer


 
That's why 4x4x4-7x7x7 (and up) exist.


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## Tiersy (Apr 27, 2011)

A friend mentioned one sunday that he was going to stay in his room until he had solved it, I didn't actually expect him to manage it but he did... so I had to too. I always thought that it took a special mind and a whole load of patience to solve the cube, so I was pretty astounded when I managed it. Back then I didn't have a clue how the algs actually worked and was gob smacked at their beautiful efficiency (geek town central...) after getting frustrated with just repeating that same old cross,corners,2nd layer edge piece, blah blah blah routine I left the cube alone. That didn't last long however because I was still fascinated by the whole thing and wanted to get "good" once and for all, Fridrich scared me off with its PLL + OLL alg lists so I learned Petrus. 

After pretty extensive reading I am of the opinion that if you wanna get fast times (and quickly) then CFOP is the method to learn. Petrus appeals to me though because I love its intuitive nature, it just provides me with such a challenge. I still wonder sometimes what the point is in slogging away at Petrus rather than learning OLL/PLL... like a lot of other people, then i watch captain crash's videos on youtube and remember why it'd be so bad ass to be sub-20 with Petrus. 

I am still slow (PB low 30's) but I know that if I keep practising I can nail some boomting blockbuilding shiz and shave seconds off my time. I am aiming for sub-30 avg in the near future and hopefully sub-20 singles after that. 

I have a lot of respect for all the people who are sub-20/sub-15 because I still believe to this day that the I don't take naturally to the cube and such quick times are nuts. Finger tricks are fine, i can bust out a Sune in the blink of an eye but lookahead skillz are something else, big up yourself.



ElectricDoodie said:


> ...My goal is to continue, until I'm sub10, to prove to myself, that I can do it. I know people who have told me it's impossible, because I needed to have started when I was younger, with the whole "you can't teach old dogs new tricks," but I refuse to believe that age is 24.



I wish you all the best dude, with motivation and perseverance i'm sure you'll manage it. I'm 24 too and am damn set on getting quick to prove to myself that I can do it. I am a fair way behind in many ways but I am gonna manage sub-20 Petrus, mark my words...


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## amanda (Apr 30, 2011)

A friend of mine could solve it under a minute, and we liked to race (although I always lost). I decided to get fast enough to beat her then I found it fun and just kept on going :3


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## hoopee (May 4, 2011)

I had 2x2x2 when I was like 5 or something. And couldn't solve it.
I thought it would be fun to learn it now (i'm 15) and bought 3x3x3. It was just so fun to try to get faster times.


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## theace (May 4, 2011)

Same reason as the op. I simply Wanted to solve a cube. I timed myself once. Now I'm hooked.


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## lucarubik (May 4, 2011)

we had to take a regular objet to draw in class, some of my mates took a rubiks cube, i just loved it


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## Georgeanderre (May 6, 2011)

Found a cube in my cupboard, didn't put it down until i could solve it...
took a month to come up with a method...and each solve took 3mins+
none of my friends seemed that interested, so i never tried to teach them


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## y3k9 (May 6, 2011)

My gate teacher gave me this cheap $1 cube. Nuff said.


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## ImJustANubCuber (May 6, 2011)

OP's reason. I was thinking one day of how many times ive tried to solve one, so i bought the "You can do it!" package from Rubiks and used the DVD to learn.


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## tozies24 (May 6, 2011)

At my school I lot of people knew how to solve them but there were barely anyone who did more than just the beginners method. I had no interest in learning how to solve one but then on a bus trip, my friend told me that he was going to teach me whether I wanted to learn or not. So I learned the beginners method in a 4 hour bus trip. In the next week, I had my own cube and then like all things, I need to be the best I can be, so I started learning stuff off Macky's website and then kept progressing. What is funny, is that I joked about solving a cube in 30 seconds since it seemed impossible at the time, but now I can get 30 seconds easily lol.


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## gymnerd (May 6, 2011)

Got drunk one night and saw a video so I walked to Walgreens and bought a cube.


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## ilikecubing (Jun 17, 2011)

*How it started* : I was just walking around randomly in the toys section of lifesyle in Bangalore getting bored.I was with my uncle,aunt and my 5 year young brother,they were shopping and I was looking for sports items and other random stuff.

I saw a place in the store where there were a lot of Rubiks cubes kept together.I went over to that place and started thinking 'I've seen this puzzle so many times in my life before,i've spend hours trying to solve it but I'm just not able to get further than a 2x2 block(I didn't know what a 2x2 block on a rubiks meant at that time so I was just thinking of it visually,co incidentally a few weeks after that I came to know that it is the first step of petrus method which I didn't know about as well),then I thought more and more and thought "wouldn't it be great if I could be able to solve it myself,wouldn't it be so much fun and a nice little achievement??" Right there on that very moment I decided that I will learn to solve this puzzle.I purchased it and took it home,that was the only thing I bought that day,usually when I go to a mall,I buy a lot of stuff.

for about 2 weeks it was just kept idle because I didn't get time to play with it,then finally the day came and I searched up for a tutorial on YT.Yes you guessed it right it was 'Dan Brown's' tutorial

*First day* : I didn't understand the 'cross thing' at all,I patiently watched the first part of his tutorial but I failed on making the cross on the first day,I was stupidly getting all the green edges with their centers without caring about their positions.thought to myself '"I'm gonna try again tomorrow"

*Second day* : Watched the video again,realized that I had missed some things which were important and finally after trying hard that very day itself,I made the cross!!! That very day I easily understood how to insert the corners into their right slot using R' D' R D,that part was luckily easy for me  "Yaayyy.I can do the first layer now " was what I thought,I was happy.

*Third day* : Went to part 2 of the tutorial and learned the algorithm for inserting middle edges into the right place which was not much of an issue.Took at break for the rest of the day.
*
Rest of it* : next day I learned all the LL algorithms in Dan Brown's video was finally able to solve it after 2-3 more days and I really very happy.Practiced on my storebought and reached to 90secs,thought that was a great time.

But no,I was way too wrong,just browsing through YT and searching through stuff I found THIS video,I thought this was the best and fastest method :fp I ofcourse knew about F2L thing by lurking through other videos but I thought that was Crap.Later on I came to know that its called keyhole.So I continued practicing with keyhole and started getting better times and after 4-5 days broke the 1 min barrier.

When searching for "ways to get faster" on YT,I found two channels which had most views and comments,they were 'badmephisto and thrawst',saw some of thrawst's videos,I thought "****,how can this guy be so damn fast" and I felt wish I was this fast,anyway continued looking for videos and got stuck to badmephisto and learned F2L.When I just started using F2L in my solves,I was like :fp and thought that this method had no potential,I was getting very bad times etc etc and thought continued with keyhole,thought keyhole was better and got to sub 50 with it,but then I saw more videos of sub20 averages by YT cubers and thought that I think I should get back to F2L,then I practiced without stopping,I was getting times as bad as 2:30-3:00 but eventually after some days came down to 1:10-1:20

I came to know about speedsolving.com,I forgot the source from where I came to know of this site.I found this site nice,fun and helpful,kept coming here regularly and got faster side by side and also kept watching badmephisto's videos and came to knew about OLL and PLL,but I didn't understand a single thing of it and continued practicing with Dan Brown's LL.

One day I googled 'how to solve a rubiks cube' and came across a video which was by Tyson Mao maybe,not too sure.He taught me 2 look PLL and 4 look OLL,I started doing the LL that way I got to sub 45 and...............

_Well its a huge long story ahead,I'm sure the reader must be getting bored_  _I will continue this some other time,bye.
_
*Speedcubing.com and WCA* : had no Idea about what is WCA and competitions and stuff,I didn't even know that there is a sport in this world called 'speedcubing',I just saw speedcubing.com in a video description of some cubing related video on YT and entered the site,saw stuff like 'X open will take place on A date','B wins Y open' and got kind excited there are cubing tournaments all around the world,I browsed through the site and I reached 'records and rankings',saw that WR at that time was 7.08 seconds by Erik,I was like "WTF,who solved the cube in 7.08 seconds?",I browsed the site more and more and saw my country's records and a lot of other things.



Sa967St said:


> why you chose to pursue getting faster at cubing and what you expected from it, not why you started to cube.



Umm well I thought It would be a great thing to solve the cube in under 30 seconds and It will surely attract a lot of girls around,so I continued cubing,but now after being sub 20,I sometimes think that sub 30 was not so tough.

I don't expect anything from cubing except a sense of achievement and its a hobby anyway for me.


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## JackJ (Jun 17, 2011)

I starting cubing because I had nothing better to do in the summer of '08. I think I would have quit if I realized how long it would be for me to achieve good times, though.


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## insane569 (Jun 17, 2011)

so one day my friend brings in a cube. i saw it and remembered about the tutorial by dan brown i watched about 4 months before. so at that time i could get the first 2 layers but i couldnt remember the LL. so i went home and looked it up. a week later i got a cube and i could solve it, my friend could also solve it. so we both started to race and i started to look into more advanced methods.i came across CFOP and i was like "i gotta learn this" . soon my friend and i were nearing sub 40 and then i started to learn CFOP. i soon surpassed my friend and was on the edge of sub 30. i gave him tips and showed him some OLLs and PLLs it was about 6 months from my start and i decided to stop using 2look and started to learn all my PLLs. around january i started to finish my OLLs i went threw about 2 a day in groups. my goal was acomplished. i knew full CFOP with intuitive f2l. the only reason i wanted to progress in cubing was because i knew know one at school cubed. thats what sets me appart from everyone.
in the end im near sub20 average and nearing sub 6 BLD along with sub 30 OH
never thought id even make it pass 30
-insane569-


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## iEnjoyCubing (Jun 17, 2011)

Friend was doing it, I saw fast solve videos on YT and decided how to learn it. I watched Dan Brown's tutorial and worked from there.


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## iSolve (Jun 18, 2011)

My dad had a very early Rubik's cube and both my brother and my dad could solve it. I wanted to solve it too, but I wanted o start out with the 2x2. I got an eastsheen 2x2. I didn't touch it for about a year. In November 2010 I decided that I wanted to solve the 3x3, so my dad printed off some instructions so he could review. He taught me the notation and how to solve the first 2 layers. I eventually could solve it in under 3 minutes and did that for my Christmas talent show. I wanted to get faster, so I kept practicing and I am currently around 35 seconds average.


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## buelercuber (Jun 18, 2011)

first thing to happen to me related to cubing, (not speedcubing, but just cubing) is when i got my first cube back in 2004, i always had fun with it, whether when i couldn't do it or when i got one side, but no f2l. And at the tie i was getting far, i could get to f2l but i would use keyhole, without even knowing that i was using it!! anyway and after that i found out that my cousin had some free time on his hands, so he decided to look up how to solve a rubiks cube, surprisingly enough it was dan browns tutorial that got me started. Now that i look back at it i think to myself, holy **** that's to bad.....besides that point i started to solve it, eventually within a week i could do it in 1 minute, i slowly but surely got to 30 faster than anything, within a week. After the learning and solver curve started to attack me, it would be from then on a hard to achieve sub XY to do. I even remember me telling my dad that i'd never be able to be sub 20, and look at me now, i'm sub 17!! i was a slow cuber at start because i had no other ways of getting information. I Never went on speedsolving, until 2008, when i was approximately sub 30. At that comp i found otu alot of ew stuff, including the site Speedsolving.com, i was spending more time on this site then cubing, and because of that my learning curve became easier, and i flew by my times of 30 and within a week's time, i went from 29 a average to 20 average. After that i am kinda stuck on 17, until another thing comes my way to help me for further.

hope that made sense.


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## cs071020 (Jun 19, 2011)

just for fun


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## MoRpHiiNe (Jun 19, 2011)

Learned to cube because of two reasons;
1. My friend had been cubing for a couple of years and just started getting back into it.
2. Because I tore my Anterior Crucial Ligament and wrecked some of my meniscus, putting me out of walking for 8 weeks.

I'm able to walk again but am still cubing, I have just come to enjoy solving and beating my own times. I also love the challenge of learning new algs and incorporating them into my solving. My goals keep changing but atm am aiming for sub 40 constant, then will move to sub 30. I also aim to learn full PLL, and learn to solve a 2x2 and 4x4 when I get them.


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## Sharon (Jun 19, 2011)

Because I love solving puzzles. I used to watch House because he reminded me of my obsession with finishing every puzzle XD


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## cubeslayer (Jun 19, 2011)

I was addicted to chess tourneys and chess books. My parents took them away from me. School was busy work, not mentally challenging ( yes, that's how the APs were sadly run from my area--attended multiple schools throughout HS) ... I was going through withdrawal...I needed a new drug...I thought the high from a chess game was ethereal. CUBING, that is something I take everywhere with me---and I mean everywhere.


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## izovire (Jun 19, 2011)

My wife said I was bored at work so she got me a keychain 3x3.

I could go into the rest of the details but I might mention it if I'm a guest on cubecast.


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## tx789 (Jun 19, 2011)

I just learned to solve it because I wanted to (some in my class could) I was given one for last Chirstmas (2008) it was junk brought another junk one off trade me. Finally got a storebrought. This was in Feb 2009. I already new of the existence of 2x2's to 7x7's by randomly researching it in Aug 2008. Started timing solves and sort of flowed on from there brought a 5x5 when avgeraging 2 min or so on 3x3.


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## chrissyD (Jun 19, 2011)

my grandma had 2 cubes in her house and i always played with them even though i didn't have a clue how to solve them cause i was only little. Then i got a cube for christmas and thought i should learn to solve it (so i went straight to youtube) and i've been cubeing ever since even though i had a break for an entire year last year which was a bad idea.


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## princefalcy10 (Jun 19, 2011)

Looking back at those cloudy memories of mine...I shoud've been around 6 or 7 then,if I'm not wrong.Here in my Nation,you don't really get good quality cubes...even rubik's storeboughts could be a thousand times better !!
Trust me...I swear I'm not kidding,a couple of turns...and your cube is done.

I could just solve one colour at a time...and I know that's pretty lame.I never solved one completely until a couple of months ago.I seriously had bad notions about using algorithms to solve a cube...and I even wasn't aware of the notations then.

A while later..I started to get the basics about cubing...
I was like," What the Heck ?? " when I first solved my Rubik's Cube.I just used LBL and a couple of techniques like Block Building ( I don't insist Petrus here ) and there you go...a solved cube.

Yet,I seldom believed that I coud get into Speedcubing...Lurking through YouTube...I found some videos of top-notch cubers.That...literally disheartened me....mainly those solves of Yu Nakajima 

But then..I gained some interest in Cubing and found that I was getting a lot better.That was when I realised..."Wait a minute...looks like I'm pretty good at this !! "

I can see myself addicted to speedsolving...and that's how my motives evolved with time.......
As of now,I see I can average pretty decent times and I look forward to get good speedcubes and be a better person at speedcubing....


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## fagundes (Jun 30, 2011)

I learned how to solve it. Then, I wanted to be faster.


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## DRAGON_RYU (Jun 30, 2011)

i used to be a stuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuupid nerd.
I thought I can solve it by myself.
but I couldn't.
so i learned lbl.
got interested.
started timing myself.
got intersted.
see.
before that my friend got to solve it by himself.
really really.
He made a very stupid way.
anyway.
I kept solving and timing.
and racing with friends.
and our school held a comp.
I got into it before I even realised.


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## Tao Yu (Jun 30, 2011)

My 5th class told us it was the most annoying toy ever. I set out to prove him wrong...
I knew there were solution guides on the internet
I managed to get the first layer by myself after I learned what a layer was.
I gave up trying to solve the second layer and checked on the how to do it on the internet .( Rubiks .com) 
after I met a random person on the street who could solve the Rubik's cube I learned to solve the last layer.
After that i started to time myself an tried to get faster.
Then OH, 4x4 ,2x2 ,BLD...


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## Gaétan Guimond (Jun 30, 2011)

princefalcy10 said:


> Yet,I seldom believed that I coud get into Speedcubing...Lurking through YouTube...I found some videos of top-notch cubers.That...literally disheartened me....mainly those solves of Yu Nakajima
> 
> But then..I gained some interest in Cubing and found that I was getting a lot better.That was when I realised..."Wait a minute...looks like I'm pretty good at this !! "



The challenge yesss

GG


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## blakedacuber (Jun 30, 2011)

It was x-mas 2008 and my mum got one for me(coincidence but i also got her one).i played around with it for 5-6 months and by may time i had exams coming up and didnt want to study so i decided to learn how to solve it but before i did i said I'd try one more time and ended up ompleting 3 sides and then i just thought what the hell im gunna finish this and so i did.
by xmas 2009 i got my first speedcube(white type C) 2010 began and i saw there was a uk comp around april but mum said i can go to the next one and i did in november and broke 5 NR's  then i had a cubing hiatus but got back into it in the last 2 weeks but now i mostly practice OH with my goal to be top 50 in europeand just keep progressing


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## Jorghi (Jul 1, 2011)

There were like 5 cubers in my math class. And this cocky kid kept bragging because I couldn't solve it, and when I solved it for the first time I had to use an algorithm sheet. He was sub 50 lol. 

I learned how to cube and now I'm faster than him  And I am almost gonna beat the sub 30 guy. 

They use F2L and begginers method Last Layer lol. xD


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## hammerhead (Jul 1, 2011)

I was grounded from playing videogames, so to keep me busy? I bought a cube. I spent 6 hours on Dan Brown's videos and learned to solve it in a day. The next day, I was able to solve it without an alg sheet. 

I was happy so I told my other cubing friend! He asked,"Have you timed yourself yet?" Opened a whole new world for me. When I was about sub 1:40, he taught me finger tricks. I kept progressing until I decided to learn F2L and improved QUICKLY. 

It just became an obsession to solve it faster than before. Learned full PLL and working on OLL...
I never thought I would compete, but I did. Never thought I could hit a NL time of 13.4, but I did.

All from being grounded from playing videogames in late December 2010.


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## MostEd (Jul 1, 2011)

i found some old cube at school, picked it, i was able to solve none, then slowly over one week that guy taught me to solve it via LbL but not last layer, i met another guy who also knew how to solve it, he finished teach me, they both used LBL, so i wanted to get faster(i still do because i'm new) I found all speedcubing methods gave roux and cfop the biggest try out of others and kept with roux. 

now i've got several my own cubes and progressing rather slowly.


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## chicken9290 (Jul 1, 2011)

i decided to start speed cubing when my little brother went to a party and there was a kid bragging that he could solve the cube in 75 seconds. for some reason this got me upset and i continued to pursue cubing


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## QCcuber4 (Jul 1, 2011)

Some guy on summer camp back in 2007 could solve it in 2 minutes. I thought he was the bomb. He teached me LBL. When I got home I wanted to solve it faster and accidently found Yu nakajima's 7.85 second solve video on YT.... I fell in love and searched for a week till I found Bob Burton's and Macky's webpages. Learned everything from those two.


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## Blurry (Apr 4, 2014)

*What got YOU into Cubing? First Cubes and First Impressions*

So, A question I feel we all have the answer too.
Question 1:
When & Where did you find out about cubing?

Question 2:
What was your first cube? Your impressions?

Question 3:
What did you originally think about being able to solve this what seemed insanely difficult puzzle?

Feel free to explain in as much/little detail as you want, adding other answers along the way.

So, here is *MY* story.

Q1:
Ill admit, I'm not the most experienced with cubing, I found out about cubing early 2013, where I stumbled across redKB's video on a bandagable LEGO cube. I knew what a Rubik's Cube was, as I feel the majority of people would be, but I had no clue of the real extent of which the art of cubing was pursued and how it was done and accomplished. I'd watched a fair amount of Cubing videos since then, but I realised that I'd never had a cube. So decided to get one and went from there.

Q2:
My first cube was a Rubik's brand 3x3, and thought it was great! I had no knowledge of speedcubes and makes, so I just assumed the other cubes were either rip offs or modifications on the original.

Q3:
My first solve was great, I felt like I had accomplished and overcome the most difficult task a human could do,
the LBL method, or LayerByLayer, was the only way of solving I assumed. So I proceeded to show all my close friends and family what I had achieved. I was disappointed that I had to carry paper around with me, with the algs wrote down, but I soon had them memorized into muscle memory.


Even writing this now brings back those memories. Wow.

Please share!

Blurry/Jake


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## TDM (Apr 4, 2014)

Blurry said:


> Question 1:
> When & Where did you find out about cubing?


I saw a friend at school with one. Soon, several people were doing it. I tried to do it too, and to be the first one out of us to have solved it without help from the internet, a person or books. After doing that, I was very slow because the commutators I used were so bad, so I decided to look on the internet to see if you could get faster. I was half surprised, half not really surprised about the amount of information and interest in cubes online. I continued to learn and get faster, and I eventually found Speedsolving.com (the first thing I found was the "Where to buy cubes thread").


Blurry said:


> Question 2:
> What was your first cube? Your impressions?


I assume this question means after a Rubik's Brand, otherwise everyone's answer will be the same, although I had two cubes at first instead of just a Rubik's Brand. I had an unbranded cheap supercube which was very bad. The other, a Rubik's brand, was slightly better but two Green stickers had peeled off. When I got the second Rubik's Brand, my first cube purchased since I started cubing (but before I could even solve one), it was much better than both of the other two. I broke it in for the next few weeks, and my first successful solve was 1:15.xx (second, but first was untimed). My first speedcube was a GuHong v2, recommended to me by someone at school. That's what really got me into speedcubing. I liked it, then someone told me about tensioning... I then ruined it. It was dead for a long time. I tried not to kill my second speedcube either, a ZhanChi, but I failed at that too. It pops on whatever tension.


Blurry said:


> Question 3:
> What did you originally think about being able to solve this what seemed insanely difficult puzzle?


I was bored of it by the time I eventually did it. It took me a month. I wasn't trying to solve it most of the time, perhaps 10-15 minutes a day, but it took a very long time.


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## CiaranBeahan (Apr 4, 2014)

Blurry said:


> So, A question I feel we all have the answer too.
> Question 1:
> When & Where did you find out about cubing?
> I was on a boat to England and my sister bought a crappy sheep cube. Then at the hotel I thought myself a side. Then almost a year later at my computer I decided to learn the whole thing so I went on youtube. After a month of learning I then searched the internet for other people who could do it, and then I found out about cubing.
> ...


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## newtonbase (Apr 4, 2014)

1. Saw my nephew just after Christmas. He had been learning for while on a Rubik's brand but had got some kind of speed cube and he solved it in 2 mins which really impressed me. He let me have his Rubik's brand a couple of days later and I solved it from memory the same day. In fact I had first used owned a cube during the craze in the 80s but had never managed to solve more than a side but I hadn't touched one for 30 years.

2. First cube after the 2nd hand Rubik's brand was a Zhanchi. I cut a massive chunk off my PB the day it arrived so I really liked it but I never got it set up properly and moved on to a Weilong.

3. First solve was fantastic. Took me 7 and a half mins. I'm a bit faster now but still one of the very slowest here. Not sure I'll ever hit my sub 30s average goal so may move on to big puzzles (enjoying 4x4) or even blind.


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## kcl (Apr 4, 2014)

1. I wanted to just solve a cube. I wasn't interested in speed. I got one over Christmas break and learned to solve. I got home, and a few weeks later Chris broke the 2x2 world record for the first time. I realized he lived really close to me and that I should try this. I did.. I'm now entirely obsessed 

2. First cube was rubiks brand, first speedcube was stickerless zhanchi. 

3. I was so confused when I first got it so I took it apart to see how it worked.


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## Jaysammey777 (Apr 4, 2014)

I was bored in my math class which was extreamly easy, so I started finding diffrent random things to do in it. Like spinning pins. And I decided a Rubik's cube would challenge me (I really didn't). So I bought one, learned to solve it and found this community one day.

1. 4 years ago on the Internet
2. A Rubik's brand 3x3, this is cool and fun
3. I didn't think much of it till other people started flipping out from it.


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## DW9550 (Apr 4, 2014)

1) I was given a cube for Christmas in 2005, I always messed around with it, and had the classic non-cuber comment 'I solved one side', but I was never able to do better. I lost that cube, and found it again in July 2013. I really wanted to learn how to solve it, so I looked it up on the internet. I first solved it on 27th July 2013. I then had an urge to solve it faster and faster. I didn't find this website until December 2013 XD
2) My first cube was rubiks brand, and it said 2005, 25 years of cubing on the white face. It seemed fine at the time. I think it is awful now, and all the stickers have peeled off :/
3) I was buzzing all day, I first solved it in front of my two friends, and when we went out later that day, I told everybody there. I was very happy!


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## Blurry (Apr 4, 2014)

Wow. Thanks for the great response. All your stories have really motivated me, and I'm sure others.

Make sure to post your story if you can!

Blurry/Jake.


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## pipkiksass (Apr 4, 2014)

*Question 1: When & Where did you find out about cubing?*
I was living in a shack in Haad Rin in Thailand, working on dive boats during the day. One day I woke up and I'd somehow ended up shack-sharing with an Irishman called Finbar, who... was... MAD! This guy was mental. Bearing in mind we lived in a gecko-infested bungalow with acid-induced murals, and I often slept in a hammock outside due to his mad, all-night chatter, I'd assume his brain had been addled by excess consumption of class-A substances.

One day, after returning from work, I was lying in my hammock drinking a beer and staring out to sea when Finbar came home and produced a Rubik's cube from his rucksack. He showed me how to build a cross (on top) and a corners-first keyhole method for F2L (on top). He didn't know how to do the last layer. At least not consistently. 

I'm no longer sure Finbar existed. Maybe he was a projection of my own psyche?

Anyway, on my return to the UK I bought a cube. I went off to uni, and in my first vacation I looked up some LL algs. I developed my own odd and ineficient method of solving LL on the bottom. I think my method averaged between 100 and 110 moves - I remember challenging myself to find a sub-100 turn solution.

Then I forgot about my cube for 10 years, when an old friend asked me if I could still solve a cube. I stumbled on a video of Faz on YouTube, and that's how I discovered speedcubin'. 

*Question 2: What was your first cube? Your impressions?*
Rubik's brand. Awful. Retrospectively, even awfuller!

*Question 3: What did you originally think about being able to solve this what seemed insanely difficult puzzle?*
I thought it was the most awesome thing ever. Back in those days, working out how to solve was an achievement. I remember poring over Jessica Fridrich and Lars Petrus' websites, trying to understand their algs. These days, with YouTube videos, tutorials are so much more accessible.


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## TinaIsAwesome (Apr 4, 2014)

Question 1:
I feel like most people have heard of or know what a Rubik's Cube is but the first time I actually picked one up and tried to solve it was back in 2007 when I was in science class in middle school. My science teacher had a table full of science toys, gadgets, and puzzles and one of them was the Rubik's Cube. He said that he had figured out how to solve it in college and for some reason, I don't remember exactly why, he taught me how to solve it. I was hooked after that. 

Question 2:
My first cube was a Rubik's brand 3x3 but my first speedcube was a Type A. My original impression of the Rubik's 3x3 was that it was hard to turn and it hurt my hands but it's all I had so I went with it. As for my Type A, I thought it was okay. I didn't fall in love with it because I could never get it quite to my liking but at the time all I cared about was that it turned better than my Rubik's Cube. 

Question 3:
I honestly don't remember how I felt the first time I solved a Rubik's Cube but maybe that's because it never seemed that difficult to me. When I got home from school that day after my teacher taught me how to solve it and going to the store to buy my own cube, I spent that that afternoon memorizing what he had taught me and was able to do it on my own after a few tries. So in reality I didn't think I had done anything special until people started freaking out about how I could solve a Rubik's Cube in under a minute.


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## Blurry (Apr 4, 2014)

TinaIsAwesome said:


> Question 1:
> My science teacher had a table full of science toys, gadgets, and puzzles and one of them was the Rubik's Cube.


Wow. How I would love to have a class dedicated to solving = My dream.


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## TDM (Apr 4, 2014)

TinaIsAwesome said:


> My science teacher had a table full of science toys, gadgets, and puzzles and one of them was the Rubik's Cube.


How big is this table? It probably can't beat my Physics teacher's collection (although it doesn't have a Cube). He has one normal size desk for work and a table probably the size of ~3 2-person desks covered in various toys.


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## Blurry (Apr 4, 2014)

TDM said:


> How big is this table? It probably can't beat my Physics teacher's collection (although it doesn't have a Cube). He has one normal size desk for work and a table probably the size of ~3 2-person desks covered in various toys.



I think any Teacher who employs Toy/Puzzle variants into lessons is awesome. I wish I'd had someone similar.


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## TinaIsAwesome (Apr 4, 2014)

My science teacher was a pretty fun guy if I remember correctly. I don't exactly remember everything he had on the table since this was about 7 years ago but it was basically an average folding table. He switched it up often though and I specifically remember when he got a 4x4. It was the first 4x4 I ever used.


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## Blurry (Apr 4, 2014)

TinaIsAwesome said:


> My science teacher was a pretty fun guy if I remember correctly. I don't exactly remember everything he had on the table since this was about 7 years ago but it was basically an average folding table. He switched it up often though and I specifically remember when he got a 4x4. It was the first 4x4 I ever used.


Haha, I'd love to know someone else who knows how to cube, or atleast uses ZZ or Rouz or CFOP, and not Layer by Layer..
The majority of people who I know who own cubes either peel stickers, replace pieces or just constantly repeat R U R' from a solved position..


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## TinaIsAwesome (Apr 4, 2014)

Blurry said:


> Haha, I'd love to know someone else who knows how to cube, or atleast uses ZZ or Rouz or CFOP, and not Layer by Layer..
> The majority of people who I know who own cubes either peel stickers, replace pieces or just constantly repeat R U R' from a solved position..



That's unfortunate  I ended up teaching a lot of my friends how to solve the cube but none of them ever loved it as much as I do. In fact only one still solves today. On the plus side, I did recently make a cubing friend at a competition.


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## Blurry (Apr 4, 2014)

TinaIsAwesome said:


> That's unfortunate  I ended up teaching a lot of my friends how to solve the cube but none of them ever loved it as much as I do. In fact only one still solves today. On the plus side, I did recently make a cubing friend at a competition.


That's awesome. Theres no groups here in the UK, apart from some people at comps, I don't get to interact in person with a lot of people.


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## CuberAtCanada (Apr 5, 2014)

Q1: My uncle knows how to solve one, and I wanted to be like him.
Q2: My first cube was a dollar sore cube, and my first speedcube was a DaYan ZhanChi.
Q3: I was overcome when I first solved my cube and was very proud.


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## RageCuber (Apr 5, 2014)

my friend could solve one with a guide about 3-4 years back, one day I said 
"why don't you just memorize the guide, and then solve it from memory?" he
never did. so I decide I wanted to learn, but I could neverget past one side
because I had no idea that you were supposed to permute it (could solve a 
side, not a layer) I forgot about the cube for a few years. and then one winter
day/night my siblings and I were bored so our parents took us to target to get 
monopoly, I noticed a rubiks brand on a shelf. it said it came with a guide so I 
decided I would get it (my other one broke lol) after solving it the first night i kept solving it with the guide, then I remembered what I said to my friend a 
long time ago. So I got to work memorizing algs and before I knew it I was showing off my "amazing" skills of doing it in 6 minutes. later after reaching about 45-ish I pretty much stopped for an entire summer, then at school my friend said he got a 25 second solve... 
that was it, I started practicing as soon as I got home. I and have been cubing since. He's still faster than me,
but we are only about 2-3 seconds apart in average (I'm 19 sec average he's 17 sec). If anyone read all that
it's probably impossible for you to die of boredom


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## DeeDubb (Apr 5, 2014)

Q1: I was about to ship out for US Army Basic Training. I saw someone on a shuttle to the airport playing with their cube. I don't think I had ever seen one in person (strange, I know). I was like "Oh, those are impossible". Then I saw him solve it. I watched him a few times, trying to see the method (I think it was beginner's, but I'm not 100% sure). 

Q2: I got injured in Basic Training (broke my wrist) and sent to the injured brigade where the training soldiers either go to heal up or get sent away. We got a trip to Walmart at one point, and I picked up a Rubik's Brand Cube. Actually, we weren't supposed to have "toys", so I opened the cube and snuck it into my bag. I put the instructions in my pocket. The cube ended up stored away in my personal belongings which I couldn't touch after I was healed up and back in training. So, each night, I would study the instructions, trying to memorize all the algorithms (without having a cube to practice on). About week 7 of the 9 weeks of training, we were allowed to go into our personal possessions (but still not supposed to have "toys" or anything like that). I snuck the cube out anyway, and put it in my locker. I figured getting in trouble for having a Rubik's Cube would be the funniest possible way to get in trouble. Anyway, at night, I started working on solving it, using the instructions. After a few days, I managed to get it solved.

Q3: The feeling the first time that R' D' R D sequence led to the cube completing, I was soooo shocked. Especially because the cube looks like it's just getting completely scrambled. I was very happy. I memorized all the beginner method, and was solving in around 2 minutes for a while. Eventually, I put the cube down (I think it broke or something).

Fun Story:

After training, the first duty station I went to in the Army was Korea (I'm back now, but not in the Army. I'm an English teacher). Anyway, I was out drinking with my buddies, and we were pretty inebriated. We went into this little Korean market, and there was a Rubik's Cube on the counter all scrambled (it had flags all over it, but still a cube). Anyway, I snagged it up without permission, stumbled around the store for about 5 minutes and put it back on the counter solved. The two Korean employees were completely shocked to see a stumbling drunk soldier solve their cube. That's probably my best cubing story so far.


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## Padfoot (Apr 5, 2014)

_Q1_
One day, when I was 10 yrs old, my best friend gave me a Rubik's cube for my birthday. This resulted in me finally understanding badmephisto's tutorial 2 months later. This resulted in a massive obsession.

_Q2_
At first I thought it was very cool, having one before I got that one from my friend, but my littlest brother through the cube off our indoor railing from our two-story house, causing a center piece to pop off, causing the whole cube to shatter. But the cube was a little stiff out of the box.

_Q3_
I thought it was awesome, and when I showed my parents, they thought it was awesome too. My mom put a picture on facebook. This was in November of 2012.

Just a little side note when I imagined this while typing this I imagined it in a Bear Grylles voice. I have no idea why.


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## guysensei1 (Apr 5, 2014)

1) My grandmother's house had a Rubik's cube. I played with it ever since I was a little kid, but never learnt to solve it.

2) My first cube was a Rubik's Brand, but that was confiscated by my teacher within 2 days and I never saw it again. The cube I learnt how to solve on was a Fisher Cube, then a mastermorphix, then I got a rubik's brand, followed by a GuHong.

3) 'Cool, I did it.' Everyone else around me thought that too.


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## SnackeyG (Apr 5, 2014)

*Question 1* - Reddit about 2 months ago. This video was posted to /r/videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbVfmmsdk1c 

That led me to /r/cubers. Then that led me to badmephisto's how to. I thought it seemed simple so I dug out my cube and got to practicing. 

After not needing the cheat sheet I was at a time of 4:45 and now I'm currently fluctuating between 1:45 and 2:15. I make stupid mistakes timing myself. 

*Question 2* - Rubik's brand. I find it to be extremely slow and stiff. My first and only speed cube, for 3x3 at least, isan Aurora. I love it. It's extremely smooth. 

*Question 3* - I was just surprised how easy it could be to solve. 

Now here I am currently learning in order:
4x4(Moyu AoSu)
2x2(Dayan 50mm)
Megaminx(ShengShou). 

I also have a Pyraminx(ShengShou) which is extremely easy. I want to pick up a skewb and 5x5 after seeing what Moyu puts out.


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## nikhil647 (Apr 5, 2014)

Question 1 : One of my friend in my class could solve the cube with LBL method,slowly my whole class got into cubing..I then started leanrning how to solve it,we always used to compete with each other i then found out how famous cubing is on internet and that there were comps and stuff..Iam currently the fastest in my class 

Question 2 :My first cube was Rubiks Brand when i bought it i dint even know what a speedcube means..i was under the impression that it was the fastest I then found out how many speedcubes were out there and was shocked by their speed and how they used to cut corners

Question 3: All of my friends could solve the cube when i learned how to solve it,I dint feel like it was a huge accomplishment.I Learned solving the cube in rubiks's website guide.I could'nt memorize all those algs like the op said,it took me about a month to learn them.Now i memorized the whole pll in 4 days.


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## CriticalCubing (Apr 5, 2014)

*My Story!*

*Question 1: When & Where did you find out about cubing?*
It was the end of 2013 and I was watching this video of the Guinness World Records Broken that year and saw Mats Valk solve it in 5.55 seconds. I was astonished as I had a crappy cube on my study table which I used as paperweight and thought of solving it. Without internet, without books, it took me 3 hrs to figure out basic piece movements and ultimately solve on my first try. After a week with the my method of solving I was stuck around 2 mins. Now I thought if I have to be fast like Mats then I have see the internet. I went to Youtube and searched how to solve Rubik's cube. Found the video by Dan Brown. Didnt like it so switched on to another video. There in comments someone had linked to badmephistos video of solving the cube. It was pretty similar to how I solved it but first I would solve a side and then move the pieces around so that the pieces were permuted properly and badmephisto was making the cross properly, not just anywhere and then adding the corners also properly. That saved some time there. Learned that and got my avg down to 45 sec. Then saw his video on how to become a speedcuber, learned CFOP from his videos and approx 3 months later, I am SUB 20  The BEST TEACHER, BADMEPHISTO!

*Question 2: What was your first cube? Your impressions?*
Local Brand. Pretty awful but was better than Rubiks brand cube. Second cube was Rubiks brank. Made my avg worse and when I was averaging about 30 seconds, bought the Weilong and still use it. Also own other cubes which I bought but didnt use much.

*Question 3: What did you originally think about being able to solve this what seemed insanely difficult puzzle?*
I thought of this puzzle as an easy puzzle as my father used to solve the 3x3 and 4x4 when I was a kid, like 4 years and I saw him solving and I always thought, what my father can do, I can do so I thought of this as easy puzzle.And my father was more faster than me using LBL. He was around 30 sec with LBL and he didnt want speed, but it came naturally to him  My inspiration was him


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## brian724080 (Apr 5, 2014)

Blurry said:


> Question 1:
> When & Where did you find out about cubing?



I never really know about speedsolving until my cousin came to my house sometime late 2012 and showed my how to solve the cube with the "Fridrich" method. After that, I decided to look up "speed-solving a Rubik's Cube", and started learning CFOP.



Blurry said:


> Question 2:
> What was your first cube? Your impressions?



My first cube was just a random storebought, wasn't even a Rubik's brand. It was worse than a Rubik's brand and cannot be broken in. I ended up adding a drop of Maru and it does a U5 instead of a U, I threw it away -- it wasn't like anybody would want that cube.



Blurry said:


> Question 3:
> What did you originally think about being able to solve this what seemed insanely difficult puzzle?



Nothing, really. I've always liked to think logically, and since people are about to solve it in ten seconds, I figured that there must be an easy and systematic way of doing it. That turned out to be very true.


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## Blurry (Apr 5, 2014)

brian724080 said:


> Nothing, really. I've always liked to think logically, and since people are about to solve it in ten seconds, I figured that there must be an easy and systematic way of doing it. That turned out to be very true.


Yes, I guess that is quite true, unfortunately for me, I had never heard of 'Speedsolving' when I got my first cube, so I was unaware of how much faster people could get than 2min solves.
I think with my Rubiks brand using Layer By Layer I was sub 5 only just, so finding out about the speedsolvers at comps who do it in Sub 20 was something I believed to be out of this world, and not achievable.


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## Renslay (Apr 5, 2014)

Q1: I figured out how to solve my babylon tower puzzle. I get excited, then thought "Well, there is a similar puzzle, what was that, yeah, Rubik's cube or something... Maybe I can solve that too?" It was years ago, like I don't know, 2002.

Q2: A good old stiff original Rubik's. Hard to turn, but hey, as a beginner, that was the lest thing I minded.

Q3: Impossibru! It was hard... All the colors... The pain... No, there is yellow, that should be white... How do I put this green sticker to there?! What is your secret? I managed to solve one layer after a while, but then I stopped, and I put the cube on the shelf for years. Then I saw that someone was able to solve it in like 5-10 minutes, and I was wow! I must learn the secret! So I learned the second layer and the last layer edges. Due to lack of his time, I had to figure out the last steps (last layer CO and CO) by myself.


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## LNZ (Apr 5, 2014)

Q1

I was part of the Rubik's Cube craze in the early 1980's. My parents brought me a 3x3 and two solution books (remember no internet then!) and despite that I could not solve it.
I always got stuck when doing the last layer. In May 2009, I thought of things I saw in my childhood and did not achive. Solving a 3x3 was one of them. So I ordered the same solution book I was given in 1981 and brought it on Ebay. Then I solved a 3x3. My issue all along. I was confusing D' for D and vice versa!

Q2

A store brought Rubik's Cube from KMART (an Australian deptartment store). I still own it.

Q3

I saw others in 1981 solving it. Back then 25 seconds was really close to a WR time. And 45 seconds was a very good tome to get.


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## Lazy Einstein (Apr 5, 2014)

Question 1:
Back in College. Mandatory training for my job. Classmate had a Rubik cube every day. Became lab partners. Eventually in a few weeks he convinced me to try and solve it. He showed me the beginner's method. Few weeks later, went to mall and bought a Rubik's brand and finished learning Beginner's method from Rubik's website. Determined to beat him. So we raced pretty much every day after I bought a cube from the mall. 5 months in for me and 1 year in for him we are tied at around 28 sec ave. After I beat his PB single(20.22) he became less competitive. We don't race much any more. So now my goal is to beat Antoine Muhahahah.

Question 2:
Rubik's Brand. It was bad. Modded it heavily till it was awesome. 
Now I am obsessed and just bought every 3x3x3 (Phil Yu has all my money)

Question 3:
"Good I can solve it without help from Rubik's.com now.... but how can I get faster?"


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## cubingawsumness (Apr 5, 2014)

Question 1:
When & Where did you find out about cubing?
Sometime early in elementary school (age 6/7ish?), my mom's friend came to visit us and could solve a cube. I was very interested in it, and he taught me to solve a side and gave me his cube. A couple months later, we went to visit them in Taiwan, and he taught me to solve the first two layers. I'm pretty sure he came up with at least part of his method on his own, based a lot on intuition. For example, he would do an x rotation and a U perm to solve the second layer. My friends at chinese school had also taken to solving cubes (not really cubing, but they could solve), and taught me how to do the last layer (more like wrote down algs from the manual that comes with Rubik's brands). I was kind of obsessed for a few months. I picked it up once in a while and had a few intervals of obsession afterwards, but did not truly start cubing until the second half of 8th grade (age 13-14) when I got a stickerless zhanchi.

Question 2:
What was your first cube? Your impressions?
My first cube was the one that my mom's friend gave me, just a Rubik's brand. Like I mentioned, I was very interested in it even before I knew how to solve any of it. I had not seen any videos of fast cubers or anything like that, being a little kid without a computer.

Question 3:
What did you originally think about being able to solve this what seemed insanely difficult puzzle?
It was fun at first and I liked how amazed it made people (narcissistic, I know). I didn't know about faster people, faster methods, or faster cubes, so I didn't get very fast (1:30ish I think). I only got interested in getting fast after watching world records on youtube.


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## ClovisKoo (Apr 6, 2014)

Question 1:
When & Where did you find out about cubing?'
I saw a bunch of Rubik's Cubes at the mall one day in 2008. By then, I had heard several people say it was impossible to solve. For some odd reason, this gave me the urge to buy one and just turn it a few times then "solve" it.

Question 2:
What was your first cube? Your impressions?
A Rubik's brand. Didn't think much about it because I thought all cubes turned the same. For some reason though, it didn't hurt my hands as much as it does now, maybe since I have speedcubes now. I completely forgot about it until I saw it scrambled one day, and got the urge to solve it.

Question 3:
What did you originally think about being able to solve this what seemed insanely difficult puzzle?
I wasn't very proud of myself since it was a combination of being solved in an unsolvable state and because I spent the entire night solving it. Though, I did have fun in the solving process whenever I wasn't getting mad at not being able to do the headlight algorithm and screwing up. After some more minutes of popping out pieces and fixing them back, I felt satisfied that I solved a cube. I'm still pretty slow though, since I average 45 seconds.


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## GuRoux (Apr 6, 2014)

I saw my friends solving, i wanted to join in too.
My first cube was a Rubik's brand. With petroleum, I thought it was pretty good.
I felt pretty accomplished once I solved it without any help.


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## QQW (Apr 27, 2014)

I started cubing/speedcubing in december 2013(i know, not a long time ago).

I started cubing because I found a rubiks cube in a drawer that i got for Christmas 2008/9(i was 9 years old). And I wondered if i could solve it and I went on rubiks.com where there was a great tutorial with little icons to help you with notation. it was LBL and 6-alg LL. When I beat the 1:30 mark I suddenly understood how f2l worked and started to use it. I learned 4LLL at 1:10. I currenty try to pass the sub-20 barrier.

my first cube was a rubik's brand. it turned pretty well for that time(no finger tricks at ALL)(i modded it when i was avg 1min) and i could pretend to drop it by accident(I would be heartbroken if I did that to my ZhanChi today). But the core broke when I dropped it at school(really by accident) when I was avg 45. 

what I thought when I could solve this puzzle: nothing special, just a little bit of mathematics and intuition.


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## Destro (Apr 28, 2014)

1. I saw a lot of Rubik's cubes on toys r us when I was 7 (im 14 now) (i just started in cubing)
2.as u can see, my first cube is a rubiks brand but now I'm looking into buying a moyu or a dayan (see my thread Dayan or moyu?)
3. I felt happy after solving it (i watched thesergsb tutorial) (i first solved it a month ago) 
I have a question though, are there any girl cubers out there? (Just curious)


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## Rocky0701 (Apr 28, 2014)

1. My Dad used to be able to solve in under a minute when he was my age back in the early eighties, he can still solve F2L, but not LL, i keep trying to get him to let me teach him, but he is too lazy. I used to have a cube when i was like 8 and he would he would solve the F2L, but i have no idea where it went. I was at my friends house last summer and saw that he had a Rubiks cube, so i started messing around with it and he just let me have it since he never played with it. So then i went on youtube and was amazed by the speedcubers on there. I watched a ton of Feliks' videos and instantly became addicted. I first learned how to solve in september 2013.
2. You guessed it! A Rubiks store bought. Once i had it broken in i thought it was awesome, i didn't really believe people on the forums when they would talk about different speed cubes. I didn't think cubes would be able to tur. much faster than my store bought. When my first speedcube (a stickerless zhanchi) arrived, i was shocked at it's quality.
3. My goal when i wanted to learn was to break my Dad's old PB which was 45 seconds. The first time i solved, it took me 45 minutes because i kept messing up, the next day i was already down to 2 minutes, and i couldn't wait to sjow my friends at school. They thought it was amazing! Of course now they don't even bat an eye when i solve much faster because they are used to my cubing.


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## Jihu Mun (May 2, 2014)

Question 1:
When & Where did you find out about cubing?
In 8th grade i saw my friend solve a rubik's cube under 20 seconds and i wanted to become like him

Question 2:
What was your first cube? Your impressions?
I got a rubik's brand and lubed it with vegetable oil lol. I was addicted to it and brought it wherever i went. my first time was 4 minutes.

Question 3:
What did you originally think about being able to solve this what seemed insanely difficult puzzle?
I thought using algorithms was cheating but i realized that all speedcubers use algorithms.


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## Hypocrism (May 2, 2014)

I saw a video but didn't have any place near to buy a cube for quite a while. I looked online and found Petrus method, which I learn the vague concepts of without a physical cube. When I did get a chance to buy a cube I didn't have an internet connection any more, so I tried to solve without any instructions! I didn't understand orientation so I didn't understand why I couldn't finish the bit after the 2x2x3, I think I got lucky one time and they were all oriented so I did manage to solve the f2l. Then I learned CFOP.


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## Deleted member 19792 (May 2, 2014)

4th grade classroom. Saw it on a desk. Solved it. Almost seven years since 

I tried F2L and got pretty ok with it..

Dedicated to Speedcubing since August 2012 since due to my grades dropping for stupid reasons in Middle School I could not try speedcubing.


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## Petro Leum (May 2, 2014)

cubingawsumness said:


> Question 1:
> When & Where did you find out about cubing?
> Saw a WR vid from Feliks Zemdegs on youtube and was super fascinated. got a rubiks brand cube for christmas (coincidence?) and immediately got addicted.
> 
> ...


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## 261B (May 2, 2014)

Q1

I bought a Chinese cube when I was about 5. I remember handing it to some random guy and asking him to solve it for me (unsurprisingly, he failed...). I'm not sure what really happened to it after that. Fast forward ~13 years, and my history teacher played a radio 4 series on the Italian risorgimento, in which events in Italy (1848-70) were quite memorably described though a 'Rubik's cube of Europe' analogy, in which Italians had little actual role in the shaping of their own country. I'm rambling again

Q2
Rubik’s brand. I remember being bummed that I didn’t look into what other options existed (This was only a few months ago, mind.). After that, I got a stickerless Lunhui, which I found to be ridiculously small for my gigantic hands. But god, it was better than the Rubik’s brand.

Q3
Meh. Not much, really. I never saw it as ‘OMFG 3DIFFICULT5ME’ because I knew that it’d all be online. Everything’s on the WWW these days now, huh?


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## Marco Cuber (May 9, 2014)

Question #1
I found out cubing at around when I was 10 years old because our school had a bazaar for Christmas and they sold cubes which were fake and horrible turning with a wrong/random color scheme >_> I bought one anyway because it was 20 pesos in the Philippines or around half a dollar. I saw my classmate who was impressing people with his skill of cubing and I wanted to impress people too with that and because I was also very interested in it. He averaged around 45 secs. if I recall correctly. I asked him to teach me tins if times but he just reffered me too RobH0629'S tutorial. And so I learned how to solve it and I solved that fake cube 3 times or so and then I bought a Rubik's brand. This events happened in the early December of 2012.
Question #2 
It was the cube I mentioned on top, it turned horribly (worse than a Rubik's brand out of the box, mind you) so I solved it around 3 times and then I 
switched to a storebought Rubik's brand.
Question #3 
My first ever solve without looking at notes felt AWESOME. I was in a state of shock and joy simultaneously. Little did I know that would soon, be a quite-life-changing event. I quickly told my 45 second friend and so we kept on challenging each other with PB's and soon enough I beat him. I now average sub-15 on 3x3 and he averages around 30


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## Tempus (May 9, 2014)

Blurry said:


> Question 1:
> When & Where did you find out about cubing?


I found out about cubing when the world at large did, around 1980.



Blurry said:


> Question 2:
> What was your first cube? Your impressions?


My first cube was an original Rubik's, but when I say that, I want you to understand the full measure of my meaning. It had screws, not rivets, so the tension was adjustable. It was made in Hungary, not elsewhere. It came in a round plastic case branded "Ideal" in black and gold, but all signs point to it being a so-called "Studio Cube" from Ernő Rubik's own studio. This was the best cube you could get at the time, but I didn't appreciate this fact until much later on when I also acquired some of the more disagreeable Rubik's cubes that weren't made in Hungary, and which came in brightly colored square cardboard packages.



Blurry said:


> Question 3:
> What did you originally think about being able to solve this what seemed insanely difficult puzzle?


To tell the truth, I can't really remember a time when I couldn't solve it. This is because when I received my first cube, I also received a large, maybe 8.5"x11" solution system booklet with a black cover. I can vaguely remember a time when I could not solve it without occasionally peeking at the book because I had not yet memorized the various algorithms, but I don't remember a time when I was unable to solve it.

I studied that booklet until it disintegrated, and at this late date I don't think I could find even a shred of it. As a side note, the solution system it contained is unlike anything else I've seen. Without going into too much detail, the general order of events was to solve the first layer, then permute the corners of the opposite later, then orient the corners of the opposite later, then slot the four edges into the opposite layer (such that they are already oriented correctly) by means of a "keyhole" made by temporarily removing one edge piece from the first layer, then restore the keyhole, and finally solve the four edges in the middle layer. Does anyone know what this system is called? For the longest time, it was the only system I knew, and I don't even know its name. :confused:


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## Blurry (May 9, 2014)

Tempus said:


> Does anyone know what this system is called? For the longest time, it was the only system I knew, and I don't even know its name. :confused:



I'm not sure, I guess it would be the keyhole method, but that is for Pyraminx..


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## Filipe Teixeira (May 9, 2014)

Question 1:
When & Where did you find out about cubing?
I saw the movie in Pursuit of Happiness with Will Smith when he solves the cube to get the job. I was very impressed that it was possible to solve the cube xD. Then I searched the internet on how to solve the cube and I saw pogobat video on how to solve it. I was soo complicated to me and when I saw Yu Nakajima solving it in 6 seconds I tought that you must be alien to solve that thig.

Question 2:
What was your first cube? Your impressions?
Back in the days I was very into juggling so one day we went to the supermarket and I saw a cube. I said: "I need a new addiction" so I bought the cube. It was 1 dollar a very cheap and horrible cube.

Question 3:
What did you originally think about being able to solve this what seemed insanely difficult puzzle?
I loved the sensation I got when all the color were lined up. It was magical. Now I don't have this sensation anymore, just try to solve it faster and faster.


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## TheNumberZero (May 10, 2014)

1. I used to play with them when I was about 6, I used to take out the pieces and put them in the correct place only to mess it up again. I grew bored of it and stopped. Then about 4 months ago I saw my friend playing with one at school. He had a DaYan Zhanchi and I was so jealous that I learned the beginners method off a YouTube video by theSergsB. It was through that video that I discovered that there are 4x4s, 5x5s, shape mods and an entire community dedicated to them.

2. My first cube was an original Rubiks brand cube and I didn't think to bad of it until my friend let me play with his Zhanchi. After that day I hated it...

3. At the start, when I was 6 I thought that it was literally impossible, despite the fact that my brother had solved it once in front of me. When I solved it for the first time I thought that it was really easy, but I kept struggling and had to go back to the video until I eventually was able to solve it without the video and I thought I must be one of the cleverest people in my household. My brother kept rubbing it in about the fact that I used the internet, but he stopped once I told him that most speedcubers probably use the internet to learn. I never was an attention seeker, in fact quite the opposite. I hate attention. So when I got everyone on the playground to stop playing football just because I could solve a rubiks cube I felt like it was an amazing thing to be able to, but the only thing I get satisfaction out of them any more is when I break my PB. That is one of the greatest feelings.


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## cysewo (May 10, 2014)

Question 1:
When & Where did you find out about cubing?
2009 at School, It suddenly became popular. My PE / Math teacher said during PE time that you could go play outside if you can solve cube without help otherwise you stay in class. So I had to learn that thing because I'm the only guy that doesn't know how to solve so I had to learn it so I could play with my friends.

Question 2:
What was your first cube? Your impressions?
I think my first cube is Diansheng because it cost so cheap and the only cube you could buy in my place. Back then I don't care if it's too blocky or something as long i can solve. :3

Question 3:
What did you originally think about being able to solve this what seemed insanely difficult puzzle?
I was so freaking happy I jump and shout like for 5 seconds. Feels so happy that I could play with my friends outside lels :3


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## WhatIsRubiks (May 13, 2014)

Question 1:
I have always known about the rubiks cube. My uncle had one when I was younger (he is only 4 years older than me) and we used to play with it when I was like 6 and he was 10. I never had a clue about it. I actually got into cubing dec 2013. My wife went to the thrift store and bought a brand new knock off brand rubiks cube as a stocking stuffer for me. I started trying to figure it out and finally, after only being able to do one layer. I looked up tutorials on youtube. I was "hooked" I guess you could say. I don't really spend a ton of time doing it, but maybe 30 minutes a day when ever I am out somewhere or bored I will scramble it and solve it. 

Question 2:
My first cube was a knock off of a rubiks cube. The funny thing is, the stickers on it were a hundred times better than the actual rubiks brand stickers. My second was a rubiks brand I got at walmart. It actually wasn't that bad. I lubed it was some natural lotion my wife had and it was quite nice. My first speedcube was a cyclone boys 3x3 (simplified version from lightake) I bought two of them. When I got them I was baffled by how much better they were than the rubiks cube brand. Of course, I had to tighten the tensions and slowly loosen them the more I practiced because it was uncontrollable to me.

Question 3:
I was pretty happy with it. I showed my wife, who didn't really give a **** about it..lol..My first times were around 6 minutes 30 seconds. I remember getting a 2 minutes 32 second solve and being so exicted because I had shaved 4 minutes off my time. I then started learning f2l and 4LLL..Now I get pissed if I get above 40 seconds. I am still really slow compared to most on this forum, but I average around 35 seconds now. I have moved on to 4x4 and that is my new obsession though.


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## CubeShapeMind (May 13, 2014)

Question 1:
I started in 2007 when I had a dream I solved a Rubik's Cube so I decided to go out and buy one. This also happened to be around the time The Pursuit of Happyness came out so it was becoming sort of popular. The first time I solved it was at school and my friends were all inspired to get one. It started a bit of a craze.

Question 2:
My first cube was a Rubik's brand 3x3 that I still have and use quite a bit even though it'd be terrible for speed solving. I usually let people borrow it when they're learning. The stickers are all still intact although the clear layer on them is coming off.

Question 3:
I was pretty proud of myself for knowing how to do it...pretty much the same way I felt after learning things like minesweeper, sudoku, those tile slider puzzles, etc...


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## cubeaddicted (May 13, 2014)

Question : 1
I started in Feb 2013 when I saw my friend solving a cube. Until then, I had thought solving it to be impossible, so I was determined to learn. I first solved it in my car, and exclaimed so loud that the car almost crashed.

Question : 2
My first cube was a Rubik's brand cube. I had lubed it with Vaseline, so it broke after a month.

Question : 3
I learnt how to solve it by watching Dan Brown's tutorial. When I first solved it, I felt I had done the impossible. And then I saw Faz's WR


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## GhettiBoy (May 13, 2014)

Question 1 : I first got interested in cubing at around last year, but I don't know the specific date  This happened in my school and my house.

Question 2 : My first SPEEDcube was a 57 mm. stickerless Zhanchi ( I was 10 when this happened, so it felt a little bit large for my hands). It was SO SMOOTH AND SO GOOD AT CORNER-CUTTING. This was probably because the cube I used before this was a 50 peso cube/ 1 dollar.

Question 3 : It has to be one of the most exhilarating moments in my life. I bragged to my family and friends, but my big brother (known as Marco Cuber in these forums) was a lot faster than me and still is. ( currently, I'm around sub-27 while he is sub-16)


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## Christmas (May 14, 2014)

This probably sounds a little absurd but the only other Chinese kid in my school could solve one in like 20 seconds (15 now) and I felt like I had to kind of treat him as my rival so that was really my motivation to start. So I took my original Rubik's cube onto a plane and figured out how to solve the cross and watched a video later when I got on the ground. Learned lvl with corners first for ll

My first cubes as my original rubiks which I had (still have) for like 7 years, never got solved before a year ago. Then I bought a pillowed v cube, I wanted a flat one but the employee at the puzzle store said pillowed ones turn faster or something.

I don't remember my first time per say but I remember my first time without looking at my algorithms, it was like 3:30. Then I solved it in front of my friend's family and his I older sister was really impressed, see curbing gets girls.


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## ComputerGuy365 (May 15, 2014)

1. I was in a toy store one day about 5 years ago and one of the employees was running a display of rubik's cubes. I thought it was pretty interesting so my parents bought me one. I then decided I wanted to learn how to solve it. I then quit for at least 3 years and I got back up just a year ago

2. First speed cube ever: My first speed cube was a zhanchi.

3. I had no idea this was even possible and it felt amazing to impress people with it.


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## Note (May 21, 2014)

1:Um, I really don't know.. I had watched a few videos on Youtube about a few different puzzles, but I was mostly watching Redkb's videos at one point.

2:My first cube(besides the crappy dollar store one) was the original Rubik's Cube. It was okay, but I was a little disappointed that there was a tension cube avalible, I guess I was just too excited.

3:I was so amazed that I was able to solve the Rubik's cube. Shortly after, I memorized the algorithms and just kept solving it, until I found out about speedcubing. It was stunning to see all of the different speedcubes available, and I took no hesitation to buy some.(Sadly, my 'Zhanchi' I ordered from Fasttech was a Diansheng. :confused After finding out about Fridrich method from MeMyselfAndPi, and getting a real speedcube(Yup. I went there.), I was off to get faster times(I think I'm between sub-40 and sub-50 right now...). And here I am, impressing others(mostly non-cubers) with my cubing skills, and becoming a speedcuber. 

Current cube:Zhanchi


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## PJKCuber (May 21, 2014)

Quesion 1: We always had a cube at home. I didn't think it could be solved. Boy was I wrong!!! An older student solved it in around 1 minute at our school. He said there were some "formulae" to
solve it. I went home and then looked up a tutorial(badmephisto's) and then solved it. I discoverd speedcubing 1 month later and then got addicted. 

Question 2: My 1st cube was a Rubik's brand. 1st speedcube is a YJ Chilong.

Question 3: I was pretty happy . But then I remembered what my dad had said in 2010. He said he saw a person on youtube solve it in 7 seconds.
Then I started learning CFOP a month after my final exams.(Around Beginning of May). After 2 weeks, I average around 40 seconds.


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## rowan (May 21, 2014)

Q1: Well, I've seen Rubik's cubes around before, I think I even owned one as a child, and there was that movie with Will Smith, etc. My older brother also owns a few and solves them, but we don’t talk very frequently. But I found out about "cubing" as a hobby and a competitive activity from my partner who's been solving for six years. He basically always had one on him and he'd solve them in the dining hall at our school and everyone would crowd around in awe. I think I was pretty unimpressed and also I might have made one of those very stereotypical, "I just put the thing back together after I break it" jokes, but in all fairness I had done that once. For some weird reason, I learned how to reduce a 4x4x4 into a 3x3x3 first and then kind of left it at that. I didn't really care about actually solving cubes but was pretty fascinated with cube theory, after a couple months of reading up on all of that, later I decided that I wanted to learn how to solve one. I learned Roux in three days and that’s still the only way I know how to solve a cube.

Q2: The first cube I ever solved was a Maru CX3. I loved that cube for awhile and then I decided I wanted to switch to a drastically smaller cube (50mm) because I realized a lot of the finger tricks people execute were much easier for me on a smaller cuber since I have smaller hands.

Q3: Before I actually started solving I was already reading speedsolving forums and going through old thread archives, so I already acknowledged that solving a Rubik's cube wasn't difficult. When I actually did complete my first solve I was pretty stoked, though. Mostly because I was struggling keeping corner permutation and orientation algorithms separate in my head and kept executing them incorrectly. After that, I took about a month break, solved for a couple of weeks, and took another pretty long break because of college, but now that the semester's coming to a close I've been practicing more and will hopefully improve before US Nationals.


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## Thaynara (May 21, 2014)

Question 1: I first met the cube in 2009 during my xmas holidays. I was at a xmas party of my aunty and some people were giving away a bag for kids under 12 full of goodies and my cousin and I wound't stop looking at that colorfull cube that the kids were playing with. I was 15 and so my cousin was. We weren't able to get one of those bags. But by the end of the party, we saw some spare ones and asked if we could keep them. The main reason for me to stay until the end of the party and get that bag was because my cousin told me he knew how to solve on side (how typical right?) and i was doubting. On our way home he solved that one side over and over and i said to myself that I would learn somehow to solve the entire cube. A week after i was able to solve the cube.

Question 2: My first cube was a DianSheng 3x3. I thought it was the best cube on earth, firstly because I bought it in a brazilian store and it was pretty expensive compared to asians but back that time i didn't know i was able to buy from other countries. Secondly because it was in fact better than my 1 dollar cube that I had. Vivid and painted colors instead of crappy stickers and etc.

Question 3: During 15 years of my life I thought it was impossible but after seeing my cousin solving that one side I knew that somehow it was possible to solve the entire puzzle. It took me 3 days to solve it.


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## crazycubes (May 23, 2014)

Q1:
Well, one day, i just picked an old cube out of trash. I got interested in solving it but could get no farther than one side. Then i decided to take my quest to the internet. I started cubing about a year ago. I learnt how to solve it in a month and then in a cuple of months got to 40 sec. Then i abandoned it but i decided to resume now.
Q2:
My first cube was a local brand. My first speedcube was dayan zhanchi.
Q3:
i dunno, at first, i was unable to solve it because the alignment itself was wrong. I was stuck there was a couple of days but then when i tried out with my friends cube, i did it. I was of course bewildered. I brought his cebe here to try out and got a solved cube the next day. I was very happy at having solved the cube and kept it solved right like that for the whole day. Next day, i went and showed it to my friends after which the cubing craze caught in my class after which almost everyone knew how to solve it.


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## ZamHalen (May 23, 2014)

1. I had this friend in middle school who could solve the cube and it had always sort of interested me. One day I decided to buy a cube and tried to solve it myself. As is common I failed miserably so I decided to try copying what my friend was doing not realizing that he was using commutators to solve the cube. This failed just as badly so I gave up for a few months, after awhile though I caved and looked up a tutorial on youtube, being impatient I learned how to solve the first layer then gave up. I kept on just solving first layers for awhile before finally finishing off the tutorial in early 2009. After doing this I challenged my friend to a race... and lost by about 2-3 seconds. From that day I started working to get faster and accidentally became a speedcuber (greatest accident ever).

2. My first cube was a Rubik's brand, my first speed cube was an F-II (wow that makes me feel a bit old looking at others)

3.I always sort of knew solving it was possible with effort, I just applied myself finally.


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## Zuki (Jun 27, 2014)

Blurry said:


> Question 1:
> When & Where did you find out about cubing?



My mom was taking a college math course (don't remember which) and had a class related to the algorithms on a cube. She was playing around with one and I thought that it seemed pretty neat. I was in 6th grade so it was a pretty big deal for me, and also quite confusing 



Blurry said:


> Question 2:
> What was your first cube? Your impressions?



I had an original Rubik's brand cube for about 3 years, and never did enough research to realize that the speedcubing cubes were different. I always thought that everyone else was just better than me at turning it, and it would take decades to even begin to get under a minute... whoops. I tried so many different things to try to make my original move that fast but to no avail.



Blurry said:


> Question 3:
> What did you originally think about being able to solve this what seemed insanely difficult puzzle?



I was crazy happy the first time I solved it, but like Blurry, had to carry around that one sheet containing the last couple algs I had not yet memorized. Still, I showed off to anyone that would listen and they seemed pretty impressed, which felt pretty awesome especially when I was so young!


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## Jones (Jun 29, 2014)

*1.* Learnt beginners at about 9 years old with a typical storebought cube. Last year I was teaching a friend for fun when I felt like seeing if I could get faster and researched, then became interested very quickly.

*2.* Okay, technically a random non-rubik's brand store-bought. No particular opinion on it having not tried another cube yet, but obviously now I know it was terrible. First speedcube, I bought a Shengen-FIII and a guhong. The FIII was miles better than my original (not very good in comparison anymore), and the guhong was amazing.

*3.* I can't even remember actually. I only remember spending like a week trying to work out how Dan Brown did his last corner orientation step (being somewhat young and all when I learnt) until it finally clicked


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## Dane man (Jun 29, 2014)

1- I think I was about 2 or 3 years old when I first saw a cube. Had no idea what it was, just thought it looked cool.

2- A few years later, for my sixth birthday, I finally got my first Rubik's cube. My parents thought I would love it because I was into all sort of puzzles and riddles and things of the like. I didn't know what I was doing, so I asked my mom to show me how to get a side. I was amazed when she was able to put together the white side with the logo on it after just a few minutes. That encouraged me to figure it out, and also established my habit of solving white first, very time.

3- So I would frequently mess around until I got a side. I still remember my thought process as I intuitively discovered how the mechanism worked. "So, I need to move these colors out of the way, out this one in, then bring the others back.." It was fun. I finally solved one side, and continued to practice doing so, until I had the epiphany that it's made of pieces, not sides, and I determined that I could solve the top layer. When I accomplished that, I moved onto the middle four pieces, having discovered that the centers don't really move. The last layer was a challenge, and I never really figured out how to do it until I was 11, when I decided that I would find algorithms, and practice them until I had them memorized. I eventually worked it out, and soon I was setting sub-2 minute times. I felt accomplished in life. The most difficult puzzle I had ever encountered, and I had defeated it. I would impress kids on the bus, solving their cubes with nothing but wrist moves. Even with wrist moves on an original, hard to twist, Rubik's cube, I was able to get 55 seconds as my personal record. And I was satisfied for a time with that, only touching the cube once in a blue moon. Until I wanted to be faster. And so, over the many (and I mean many) following years, I went and got a new Rubik's cube, then a Rubik's brand speed cube, and finally my weilong. Not only that, I came up with a LL method that included finger tricks (BLL), and soon I was getting sub 40 times consistently.

To this day, I'm improving, and looking to have fun with the cube instead of simply solving it fast. But this is truly a timeless puzzle game.


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## Antonie faz fan (Jun 29, 2014)

chris angel.


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## Dane man (Jun 29, 2014)

Tempus said:


> Does anyone know what this system is called? For the longest time, it was the only system I knew, and I don't even know its name. :confused:



Did the booklet look like this?


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## Future Cuber (Jun 29, 2014)

Gosh .... everybody owned a rubiks brand cube


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## Deductionist (Jun 29, 2014)

1. When I was about 8 we went to a hotel BC of a hurricaine and my mother took me and my brother to a Walmart to get us a toy that would entertain us for the time that we were to stay at that hotel. One of the first things that caught my mind was the rubiks cube. It stood out BC of the complex seeming case it had. I ended up getting one and it didn't take long for me to completely scramble it to the point of no return as it seemed. About four years later, now about 12 y/o, I found my old rubiks cube and sat down and tried and tried.
Eventually my father told me to just do it side at a time. I eventually figured out how to do one side consistently and put the cube back up for several more years. My sophomore year I was very good with math and all of my friends and classmates considered me to be one of the smartest students in our class. One day before our thanksgiving break a girl came to school and was asking if anyone knew how to solve the cube. She eventually asked me and believed that I could if anyone could, but I tried several times and could only solve one side of the cube. Over thanksgiving break I found my old cube and learned how to solve it. When I came back to school I solved her cube and not long after I became a speed solver.
2. My original Rubik's cube brand cube was very slow and blocky. When I looked online and saw all these guys flipping a cube so fast it seemed to defy the laws of the cube and I marveled at it. I quickly learned that the cubes they were using were designed differently and I soon after bought a dayan zhanchi stickerless.
3. When I was first able to solve the cube people were amazed by it as if I had just performed the impossible, solving the cube gave such a sense of satisfaction that was just great. My friends would sometimes get me cubes or bring me very difficult cubes of all sizes to solve and every time I solved each of them.


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## Tempus (Jun 30, 2014)

Dane man said:


> Did the booklet look like this?


Thank you very much! Mine may have been a different edition, as I think that more of the cover of mine was black, and it was less photographic and more cartoony, but I'm uncertain, as it's been ages and I don't trust my memory. 16 pages does sound about right, and I just looked up this "*Ideal Solution*" on YouTube, and the order of the steps looks about right, so I think I finally know the name of the first solution system I ever learned!

The version I actually used had a number of refinements I came up with on my own, but this is clearly the original basis, so thanks again.


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## Dane man (Jun 30, 2014)

Tempus said:


> Thank you very much! Mine may have been a different edition, as I think that more of the cover of mine was black, and it was less photographic and more cartoony, but I'm uncertain, as it's been ages and I don't trust my memory. 16 pages does sound about right, and I just looked up this "*Ideal Solution*" on YouTube, and the order of the steps looks about right, so I think I finally know the name of the first solution system I ever learned!
> 
> The version I actually used had a number of refinements I came up with on my own, but this is clearly the original basis, so thanks again.


Lol, no problem. I actually think that that cover is supposed to be black, but it came out kinda grey because of the scan. So yeah. I took it and made a PDF of it for download. I made a thread about it here. Hope you like it.


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## Matt11111 (Jun 30, 2014)

1. I started getting interested in cubing last summer, when my cousins gave me one of their 3x3 cubes. They can't solve it themselves, and I couldn't either before I broke it. I got a Rubik's brand cube for Christmas, and learned how to do the second layer. The next day, my mom gave me a challenge to solve the cube by January 2, 2014, one week later. 3 hours later, it was solved while I was with my grandmother.
2. My first cube is a Rubik's brand, and it's also the only one I have. I thought the cube was okay, (I'm not that experienced, I'm only 11) and I've done a lot of things with it (not involving lube (which some of my friends laughed at when I used the word lube (the teacher sent the three of us out for that (it wasn't really my fault, it was theirs (I had no idea what it meant anyway (I learned what the heck was up with it in science class)))))) but yeah, I now average around 45-50 seconds in a cubing session.
3. When I solved the cube, I was like YEEEES! and then I called my mom. Give me a cubing challenge for a week's length, I'll do it in 3 hours.

Extra info:
Now I have to solve my brother's Rubik's Cube, which is REALLY annoying.

I've solved about three classmates' Rubik's Cubes, (Owen, Tate, and Kira's) (wait, I also solved my cousins' cube), and Jason's 2x2. All my friends are impressed by my speed, and they were disappointed when they found out I'm not allowed to bring my cube to school, which I thought was a bummer as well. My friend Julian wanted me to try and solve his 5x5, and I failed. Surprisingly, I've never been asked to solve a 4x4.


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## ElectricDoodie (Jun 30, 2014)

*Question 1: When & Where did you find out about cubing?*
-I owned a cube. And wanted to solve it, so I looked up guides on how to do it. Learned from Some PDF online called Jasmine's Beginner Cubing or something.


*Question 2: What was your first cube? Your impressions?*
-The Rubik's brand. Never understood how everyone could turn their cubes so fast on YouTube. Then I learned about speedsolving, and how it's different from the beginner's method. From there, I learned more about how there are speedcubes that are better than the rubik's brand I had, and bought better cubes. 
My cubes went from Rubik's > AV > FII > Guhong > ZhanChi > Weilong


*Question 3: What did you originally think about being able to solve this what seemed insanely difficult puzzle?*
- I was amazed that I could do it, and that it made sense. The faster I got, the less I cared that I could solve it. I just liked solving it faster and faster. Every now and then I still think that it's pretty cool that I can solve a cube in 15-20 seconds, and some people can't even wrap their heads around how that's possible.


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## RjFx2 (Jun 30, 2014)

1. This is actually kind of funny (if not, cool). So I'm a PK (Pastor's Kid) and there was PK camp in Texas for PKs in MidWest. At the camp, some pastor did a sermon about a Rubik's Cube because his son could solve 2x2-5x5. He had his son solve the 5x5 (or 4x4?) while he did his sermon. I thought it was cool but I forgot about until a couple months later when it popped into my mind. So I looked it up on Rubik's Cube Site and asked my aunt and mom for a 3x3 and 4x4 for Christmas. So I get them and was determined to solve 3x3 using the You Can Do the Rubik's Cube Solution.

2. I got a 3x3 and 4x4 Rubik's Brand at the same time. In about 5 or 6 hours after I opened the present, I solved using the guide on Rubik's website. It didn't take me too long that I realized that my cube was bad. So I lubed it with Vaseline (my mistake) and made it better. So I cubed with that for quite a while because my 4x4 broke. So I got it in under a minute then, 50 seconds. I then got a 2x2 and 5x5 and learned how to solve them from MeMyselfandPi's tutorials. Then by my birthday in March I kept on asking my dad to order me better cubes. So he did order them, the Moyu sulong, Moyu weisu, and Shengshou Pyraminx. 2-3 days before they came I dropped and broke my rubik's brand core in half thanks to the Vaseline. About 3 or 4 months later my grandma bourgeois me another rubik's brand I have to my brother. I then taught my brother how to solve the 3x3. Before that, my brother was the first one to solve the Pyraminx in my family and he taught me how to solve the Pyraminx.

3. I was so happy I solved and my parents aunt and grandparents didn't look surprised but happy though (I must be smart lol). So I scramble again and start memorizing the algorithms. The part I don't believe is how easily I understood the guide and notation. And I think I just got a speed up in 3x3 and Pyraminx, getting lots more sub-22.5 solves and sub-10 solves.


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## creativecuber15 (Jul 4, 2014)

1. I picked up interest in cubing seeing my uncle and my cousin solving it. I soon learnt the layer-by-layer method from them and began to cube. 

2. My first cube was a Rubik's 3x3 - since I had absolutely no experience solving a 3x3, I thought that it must have been the best cube on earth (now that I have a Zhanchi, I really can't imagine what I must have been thinking ...)

3. I felt I had just done one of the greatest things that man could ever do ... it was a really great feeling. I kept practicing and eventually got a lot faster at it.


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## 3LEVAS3 (Jul 7, 2014)

Question 1:
When & Where did you find out about cubing?

_I saw a video of Feliks Zemdegs speedsolving and I decided I wanted to learn how to solve a cube. And this was on YouTube of course._

Question 2:
What was your first cube? Your impressions?

_Besides the horrid Rubik's brand my first good speedcube was a stickerless DaYan Zhanchi. It was amazing and a great change from my Rubik's Brand. But then I got a Weilong V2 and that's been my main ever since. Unless I like the Aolong better.
My first impressions of it were: IT'S SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE RUBIK'S BRAND! And I liked the smooth feel. But after I got the Weilong it started to feel blocky._

Question 3:
What did you originally think about being able to solve this what seemed insanely difficult puzzle?

_I thought that this was amazing and that since I learned how to solve it I can show off to my friends. But that didn't happen. It just distracted me quite a bit from school work. And I now realise, how easy it is to solve _

L


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## Tom606060 (Jul 8, 2014)

Question 1: I found out about cubing when I saw an old cube lying around ( no brand).I eventually learned how to solve it using PDFs. 
Question 2: My first cube was a DayanGuhong v1. It had no torpedoes and was terrible. Turning was slow and the cube popped every solve. Later I got a weilong v2 and i still use it.
Question 3: I was amazed at first but when I saw Feliks' solves on youtube, I figured out I was a failure.


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## G2013 (Jul 18, 2014)

Well, I saw a cube and after months of having it scrambled, I searched how to solve it, and that was it.


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## Makarov (Jul 20, 2014)

I'm a senior in college for computer science and I commute to class. There's a lot of downtime waiting for my trains and between classes. There's a Barnes and Noble I study at between classes and I bought a rubik's cube on a whim. I learned the beginners method and could solve it in around 2 minutes. There was also a girl in one of my classes that could solve a 3x3 much faster. But I put the cube away.

Few months later after summer break I'm back in class, so I throw the cube back in my bag for something to pass the time with. Around this time I decided to order a cube that would turn faster and be easier on the hands. Searching for cube reviews online led me to realize a lot of people were into solving against a timer.

Well I ended up getting a Fangshi Shuang Ren (which I'm not a fan of), followed by a Weilong. I learned a bit more and got my times down from 2 minutes to 40-30 seconds. I really just enjoy learning new methods and seeing how different cubes feel in the hands.


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