Can you solve a Rubik's Cube?

[ultraviolet]

No, I was the kid who pryed it apart with a screwdriver and put it back together again.

Solved! :D

 

[Doctor Jimmy]

I used to know how to solve it, but then I forgot ._.

(I tried to impress my friends...then they were taunting me for using instructions when I was trying to learn. Besides, real dedication is having the algorithms printed on the Rubik's Cube...it would be so much easier, wouldn't it?)

 

[Eevee]

I destickered and painted an old dying cube last night. Still waiting for it to dry but this will hopefully be pretty cool. B) I dismantled it and cleaned up the insides too so it turns.. well, better, but not quite what I would call amazing.

By the way, if you take a minute to actually understand how the cube works, you should be able to get an entire layer without much trouble (and possibly two if you play with it enough). It's really only finishing it that's difficult.

 

[Mercury]

I can't. But one of my friends (who is my age) can do it in about 30 seconds. Its amazing to watch.

 

[EvilCrazyMonkey]

By the way, if you take a minute to actually understand how the cube works, you should be able to get an entire layer without much trouble (and possibly two if you play with it enough). It's really only finishing it that's difficult.

The last layer is easiest for me to do. It's the hardest to understand, yes, but easiest to apply.

maybe i'm just weird.

 

[Daigonite]

I've seen people do it in school during class. It's pretty amazing to see them solve them, and they're the 5x5 kind, not the 3x3 kind!

 

[Eevee]

The last layer is easiest for me to do. It's the hardest to understand, yes, but easiest to apply.

Sure, but the last layer is largely just applying the same few moves depending on how a few cubies look. I mean that the first layer or two are easiest to intuit.

I've seen people do it in school during class. It's pretty amazing to see them solve them, and they're the 5x5 kind, not the 3x3 kind!

The 5-cube is fairly simple to reduce to a 3-cube, actually.

 

[Zhorken]

I'm still trying to figure out how the thing works; I easily got up to one layer and figured out a way to get *most* of the second layer, but I'll have to find something else since it displaces another of the layer's cubes so I always end up with one moving incorrect space left. I'm trying to figure it out for myself.

 

[Dannichu]

is it me or does the plastic feel really wierd and cheap? My friend has a metal one. Its awesome.

Metal Rubik's cubes? That's a terrible idea! Plain old plastic ones leave big enough dents in the wall when I hurl them across the room in frustration!

(I'm actually kidding, but could definetly see this happening)

 

[voltianqueen]

I can't solve a Rubik's Cube... There was this one that I played with for a really long time, and I got it to where only two stickers were out of place. So I switched them up and then went into the other room announcing that I had solved the cube...

 

[Eevee]

I'm still trying to figure out how the thing works; I easily got up to one layer and figured out a way to get *most* of the second layer, but I'll have to find something else since it displaces another of the layer's cubes so I always end up with one moving incorrect space left. I'm trying to figure it out for myself.

glhf :(

Most of the finishing moves -- and especially the middle layer fixing move -- revolve around taking a solved cubie out of the right place, putting it back a different way, and ending up with a couple other cubies swapped or rotated as a side effect.

 

[opaltiger]

Eevee where did you get your 4 and 5? I really want both (and I think I have some ideas about how to solve the 5, too) but I don't know where to look. :(

 

[nyuu]

!!

 

[opaltiger]

amazon doesn't like sending things that aren't DVDs or books to slovenia

eta: just timed myself, 1:51. Not too bad, and I was really unlucky with the middle layer edges.
eta2: 1:47, and I had to pause a few times to straighten out the edges. plus I fucked up slightly when permuting the last layer corners.

 

[KOOLIONESSFULL]

It takes me about 4 or 5 minutes to solve it.

 

[Ice tiger]

I've never even played with a Rubik's cube without half the stickers already missing. So I've never solved one~

 

[EvilCrazyMonkey]

My 4-cube just broke :(
Not disassembled, but one of the corners snapped in half. The part that actually looks like a miniature cube is now a separate piece from the other one.

But I just ordered a replacement 4-cube and 5-cube from amazon 8)

 

[Pikachu]

It takes me about a minute and twenty seconds. But I have to warm up about three times (this means I have to solve the cube three times.)

 

[Tailsy]

I smashed a Rubik's Cube after being unable to solve it for about three hours (I threw it out of my window, very messy). Does that count?

 

[Eevee]

Eevee where did you get your 4 and 5? I really want both (and I think I have some ideas about how to solve the 5, too) but I don't know where to look. :(

I got them as presents, actually. :( I've seen them in a few dedicated brick&mortar toy stores, but not department stores. If I needed replacements I'd get them online, which probably won't work so well for you!

Also: if you can solve the 4, you can solve any size cube. The same strategy works for every bigger size -- just expanded upon. In fact, I was surprised to notice (after cheating a bit to find out how to solve it) that reducing a scrambled 4-cube to a scrambled 3-cube takes no mystery moves at all. Everything follows the same basic intuitive principles as getting the first layer of a 3-cube; i.e., move something to the right place, keep it there, move everything else back or the reverse.

eta: just timed myself, 1:51. Not too bad, and I was really unlucky with the middle layer edges.

Speaking of, I should probably pick up speedier moves for some awful combinations...
Solving the bottom layer: the last corner cubie is facing opposite from the otherwise solved face (requires wrecking and then fixing another corner)
Solving the middle layer: an edge is correctly placed but backwards (requires removing and replacing it, although this may be simple to resolve on reflection)
Flipping the top layer's edge cubies to have the top face's color on top: anything but having two adjacent up and the other two down is a pain (requires a shuffle move up to 3 times)
Permuting the top layer's corners correctly: two switched diagonally (requires three-way corner shuffle twice)
Flipping the top layer's corners face-up: many cases (can require two corner-rotation moves, or even 3+ if I don't guess which way to do it first)
Permuting the top layer's edges: any combination of all four edges incorrect

>:(