Prologue

So you want to learn to solve a Rubik’s cube?   The 4.3 quintillion possible facelet combinations may lead you to believe that completing a scrambled cube is impossible – or at least a feat attainable by only those with Herculean mental capacity.  I can attest autobiographically that the cube may be intimidating, but certainly not impossible.  Unable to solve a cube three months ago, I can now routinely solve one in under a minute, giving it nary a thought.  My wife jokes that it’s become my stressball, since I spin the faces almost subconsciously at this point as we watch TV.

Building off the very good work of several others (especially RobH0629, from whose excellent Beginner Tutorial videos I originally learned), I wanted to create a highly approachable tutorial that would demystify the cube – turning its solution from an other-worldly feat to a nearly brainless habit.  You will feel overwhelmed as you go through it, and you will ask yourself how anyone could possibly memorize all of the steps.  I asked myself the same, and was certain I’d never commit it to memory.  At this point, it’s beyond memory — it’s auto-mechanical muscle memory.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am well aware that I’m not the world’s best cuber — never will be, and, frankly, do not aspire to be.  Spend a couple minutes on youtube and you’ll find hundreds of folks who can regularly solve a cube in less than 20 seconds (never mind Feliks and his 5.6 second solve).  I do enjoy cubing, however, and I’ve found great satisfaction in teaching it to others.  Two of my friend-pupils are now competent cubers.  In two weeks, both went from not being able to solve a cube to regularly solving it in about a minute.

So, don’t sweat it.  Follow along closely, practice a lot, and you’ll be there in no time. Continue reading →