My fascination for The Rubik’s Cube

The Rubik’s cube is a unique 3D puzzle invented by a Hungarian sculptor and professor of
architecture Erno Rubik in 1974. It was originally made to teach his students about 3D design.
However, after turning the cube a few times, he could not bring it back to the original state and
he wondered if there any method to solve it, without reversing moves. He spend a whole
month to figure out the method to solve any given scramble.

Mechanism
The Rubik’s Cube is a cube made out of smaller cubes. More precisely out of 6 center pieces
(with 1 color), 12 edge pieces (with 2 colors) and 8 corner pieces (with 3 colors). It has 6 sides
and 6 different colors: yellow, white, green, blue, orange, red. Centers are connected to a core
inside of a cube with screws and holding other pieces together

Methods

There are many methods to solve Rubik’s Cube some are easier than others and some are more
efficient. In speed cubing there are three main methods to use: CFOP, ROUX and ZZ. The most
popular one and the one I use is CFOP. It stands for Cross, F2L (First 2 Layers), OLL (Orientation
of the Last Layer), PLL (Permutation of the Last Layer).
The CFOP method uses approximately 70 algorithms, (an algorithm is a sequence of moves that
swaps pieces) and used to do particular cases at the end of solve. I use a simplified version of
this method with 2-look OLL and PLL it means that I use two algorithms for OLL and PLL instead
of one, which is less efficient but easier to memorize since there are less algorithms. With this
method, I am able to solve a Rubik’s cube in 20 second on average after practicing 1 year.
For people who just want to solve Rubik’s cube without spending time learning 70 algorithms
there are much simpler methods use three or less algorithms, for instance a “Layer by Layer”
A.K.A Beginner’s method or an “8355” method. They are less efficient than Speed solving
methods but they definitely can solve Rubik’s cube under 2 minutes with enough practice.

How fascinating is Speed cubing

However, Speed cubing is not only about memorizing sequence of moves, it is also about
pattern recognition, turning speed, finger tricks “Look ahead” and more. It allows people to
solve Rubik’s cube in 3 seconds, which is fascinating especially when you know how it is done
and how much dedication they spent to get to this point. Even though I have been solving
Rubik’s cube for a year by now, there are still many things that I don’t know about the Rubik’s
cube because there is always something to learn. Even the CFOP has so many techniques that I
am yet to learn.

There is more
At this point the best to clarify that the famous 3x3 Rubik’s cube is not the only puzzle of that
kind. There are hundreds of other variations, some are easier some are harder, and they all
have their own rules and methods to solve. For now I have the 3x3, the 4x4, the 5x5, the
Megaminx, the Gigaminx and the mirrow Rubik’s cube the hardest of them all is the Gigaminx
with 190 moving pieces! I solve this one in about 30 minutes.

Conclusion

I find it fascinating that it is so complex and challenging, yet it looks so simple. The Amount of
permutation for a regular Rubik’s cube is 43 quintillion, for a reference, it is larger than the total
number of grains of sand on the Earth's surface, and even the number of stars within our
observable Universe. Yet people solve it within seconds! I like to grab a Rubik’s cube and just
turn it around like an anti-stress toy or learn more algorithms and practice solving when I’m
more serious about it. It’s a great puzzle that people are solving for the past 50 years and even
after that much time, people invent new methods, new techniques and cubes, which keeps this
franchise so popular and interesting.