In my last post, I discussed my understanding of the CFOP method to solve a 3×3 cube. I actually found the video tutorials less helpful than expected. So, my son and I were able to find some documents that I could print out and use to help me.
The first document I found was in a Reddit thread and it looked fairly simple until I tried it. I found it confusing and when I looked back at the thread, it seems that not only are there errors, the algorithms and images were stolen from another website. So, that one wasn’t helpful.
The second pages I found were on a blog by a cuber named Badmephisto and I was really hoping these would be more helpful. In fact, this website is the one that my son has been using to learn all 57 of the OLL algorithms. I liked the layout of these pages and the fact that the algorithms were listed with names such as Sune, Car, and Chameleon. I find it easier to memorize the algorithm if I have a visual representation or fun name to go with it! By the way, I call Sune the “fish” algorithm.
Finally, my son sent me a document from the CubeSkills page – made by Feliks Zemdegs himself! For those of you (probably all of you) who have no idea who Feliks Zemdegs is, check out this YouTube video all about Feliks who is considered the Greatest Speedcuber of All Time!
I don’t know if it is because of my age or… well, it’s probably because of my age… I wanted to have these documents printed so I could make notes on them. I practiced for a few days with each of the pages and found that the CubeSkills document was the easiest to follow.
With this “cheat sheet” I am now able to do the 2 look OLL and 2 look PLL together to finish a solve. I have memorized a couple of the algorithms but I still rely on the page to complete solves.
The other thing I have been practicing this week is timed solves. I am not ready to do the 2 look OLL and PLL in a timed solve yet because I know I won’t be able to use the paper in a competition. In my practice sessions, I do a few solves with the new algorithms and then do a couple of solves using the Beginner method and time myself. The reason I am switching back and forth is so that I don’t lose the muscle memory of the Beginner method while I learn the new method.
My goal for this week is to get to the point where I can use the 4 Look Last Layer algorithms for the most common cases without having to look at the paper.