u/EntertainmentBorn953

Apologies for starting a thread that’s similar to one I just saw on here, but I didn’t want to hijack that person’s post in the comments when my question/request is a little different.

I’ve been working at learning how to solve the 3x3 for a couple of weeks. I sailed through the first two steps of the beginner method. It’s the algorithms that are slowing me down. I finally took one video that I could follow better than most and wrote down that person’s way of solving, which I’ll share at the end.

I can follow these directions and solve the cube pretty reliably now. (Occasionally I space out and forget where I am, but that’s how I roll. 😂)

I’m surprised by how slow I’ve been to “master” this approach. Normally I’m good at rote memorization. I’ve memorized long chunks of dialogue in plays, etc. For some reason these algorithms aren’t very sticky in my brain.

I’m sure part of the problem is that I don’t understand what the pieces are “doing” with the various moves. When I look at the pieces and think too much, I forget where I am in the process. 🥴

I guess I’m wondering if I should spend another week hobbling through my written directions and trying to memorize them or if I should switch gears and try another approach. I’ve considered ordering one of the smart cubes solely for the interactive tutorials.

I’m still motivated to get better at this. I don’t see myself competing or anything, but I think I’d enjoy the puzzle more if I understood it better — the pattern recognition, etc.

I love puzzles of all kinds, and I usually have a pretty good aptitude for them. I admit I’m surprised at how slow my progress has been on the Rubik’s Cube, but I also attribute some of that to my haphazard approach to instructional content thus far.

Do y’all have any guidance or suggestions?

Many thanks for your help!

———

Directions I’ve been following:

After yellow cross, do this to line up top edges with corresponding centers:

R’ U R’ U’
R’ U’ R’ U
R U 2R’ U’

Fix the top corners — just colors, not orientation:

R U’ L’ U
R’ U’ L U

“Dodge” method for corner color orientation:

Flip cube to white side up. Put a not-solved corner piece on bottom right facing me. This step happens either 2 or 4 times. No odd numbers. Color/side facing me shouldn’t move.

R U R’U’

I’ve been learning for a few days and am making some progress. For some reason I struggle with mixing up the right and left movements as shown on YouTube videos. I’m left-handed and wondering if that might be a factor. Anyone else have this issue?

Second, any sudoku fans out there? I’m curious how the learning curve compares. I labored over suduko puzzles for some time until one day I started spotting patterns quickly. Wondering if the cube might be similar.

Cheers and thanks!