YJ WHEEL CUBE (WINDMILL)

The YJ Wheel cube is a 3x3x3 modification that shape-shifts really amazing. It’s very similar to a 3x3x3 Fisher cube but this one only has 4 pieces from each side.

The basic concept of the cube:

The YJ Wheel cube is a 3x3x3 modification which shape-shifts really amazing. It’s very similar to a 3x3x3 Fisher cube but this one only has 4 pieces from each side.

The basic concept of the cube:

As I previously said, this is a cubic 3x3x3 modification, but it’s reduced to 2 centers, because the other 4 act like edges and have an specific orientation. You can easily solve this cube with beginners’ method, but CFOP is a little bit hard to execute.

The cube has really standard stickers and it turns really nice. The only problem that I see to it is that when it’s scrambled, is a little bit harder to execute fluid algorithms because of the shape-shifting. Something I’d like to mention is that it’s a little hard to correctly align all the faces of the cube; therefore, you will sometimes have some lockups.

It’s not a hard cube but I recommend it only to have it as an item to your collection, it’s like a Fisher cube but I’m really sure that you can have a good time with it. If you want to buy it, I will leave links bellow and a tutorial of how to solve it.

Buy it here:

http://www.amazon.com/YJ-YJWB-Wheel-Cube-Puzzle/dp/B003OTLIV4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1435108323&sr=8-1&keywords=wheel+cube

Tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSdw__UCkEw

Cube Explorer (create your own algorithm)

Hello my friends, I have a surprise for you. Right now I have found a great app, it runs on Windows and Linux, and it is free: what makes great this app is that solves the cube and you can even create particular algorithms, such as changing certain vertices, edges, or anything you can imagine.

Honestly I found this app because my math teacher suggested that I could not write my name in my cube, and when at last I had succeeded, I thought of a search an algorithm, and then I found in a forum talking about this app ... and so, I hope you enjoy this gadget.

PD, The day after tomorrow I will show my name in the cube to my teacher!

Here is the link of the page: Cube Explorer

http://kociemba.org/cube.htm

**in this page you can download the app, just go to Downloads and click there, then unzip the file and open the "readme.txt" file and follow these instructions**

and here is the forum (it's in spanish, sorry):

http://www.rubikaz.com/foro/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=3588 

New 3x3x3 World Record! Abril 2015

Yesterday (04/25/2015) Collin Burns broke Mats Valk’s 5.55s Rubik’s cube World Record. Collin Burns set up the new official record at Doylestown Spring Competition. He had a PLL skip and a perfect F2L, it was so unexpected. He didn’t use a Zanchi, an Aolong, a Weilong, Gans or any other famous speedcube; he beat the record with a Yuxin. I even didn’t know too much about the cube. I think now everybody will want to buy a Yuxin and it will quickly get out of stock, and why not?, probably Collin’s face will now appear on Yuxin’s cubes boxes, as Feliks is in Moyu’s boxes.

I think Feliks will beat again the world record, probably this year, but he doesn’t seem to be worried about that. I can’t imagine Mats’ reaction about this. Will Feliks break the record this year? Do you think Yuxin is going to make better speedcubes? Let us know your opinion.

Here is the video taken from Collin’s channel, so don’t forget to take a look to his other vids.

P.S. A girl is screaming too loud in the video so if you are wearing headphones take them off!

Buy here the Yuxin 3x3x3: http://thecubicle.us/yuxin-p-3939.html

Watch Cubeologist's review for the Yuxin 3x3x3

Cubing Competition in Tijuana, B.C., Mexico!

Journal. 

04/17/2015

Today I went to a speedcubing Competition in a high school at Tijuana. There was only one category (3x3x3) and it was a small competition. I think only high school students could participate but I’m not really sure about it. Because I was taking classes at my school I couldn't arrive early to the event, so I didn’t have the opportunity to talk with other cubers because they were waiting for their turns to pass and solve the cube.

It’s an experience that I will never forget because it was my first speedcubing competition and I did it really bad. I know there weren't lots of people but I was too nervous. When I was waiting for my turn, I saw other people solving their cubes, they were doing like 12 to 25 seconds solves, and they also knew the full Fridrich method. By the other way, I'm relatively new at this because I don’t even know all the cases of OLL and I need more practice with my F2L. I’m a 35 seconds solver, that was a good time to pass to the second phase, but I had some really bad/funny problems: my hands were shaking a lot and the pressure made me forget the G perm (Gc) which presented on 2 of my 5 solves. I will only tell you that I averaged 1 min! I couldn't believe that, it is one of my worst averages in my speedcubing history, I intentionally made a DNF, and my other times were like 39s, 40s and 1:00 min. But it doesn't matter, It was my first competition and I’m really excited because now I know that competitions are organized in my city and I that I will be prepared to give my best on the next one. Also I officially consider the G-perms my least favorite PLL cases.

P.S. I won’t forget to eat chew gum the next time I compete. 

Thanks and I hope you enjoyed this post. I will leave some photos down here of the competition.

 This was my first or second solve

Other competitors

The three winners

Pyraminx

First I want to tell you the history of the Pyraminx puzzle, because it’s very interesting and funny that it was invented before Rubik’s cube.

The Pyraminx is a tetrahedral (pyramid) twisty puzzle which was created by Uwe Meffert in 1970, before Erno Rubik designed his popular three layer cube. Meffert didn’t launch his puzzle until 1981, after he saw the success that Rubik’s cube had at the market and how popular it became. Millions of Pyraminx puzzles were sold, and now Meffert has created lots of new twisty puzzles. Interesting right?

Now we don’t only see Meffert’s Pyraminx in the market, other brands like ShengShou and Moyu have created their own versions for speedcubing. I don’t have one of those two versions but with what I have seen, they are excellent. The speed and turning quality is really good and I think that Moyu’s version is a little bit better that ShengShou’s.

I do have a Pyraminx but it’s not a Meffert’s, Shengshou or Moyu version, it turns really bad, of course it doesn’t corner cuts, and obviously you can’t do speedcubing with it. A friend of my dad bought it to me from Amazon, in the buying webpage says that the puzzle is a Shengshou version. I was really excited because I was going to have a Shengshou Pyraminx but when it arrived I immediately noticed that it wasn’t a known brand puzzle. I learned how to solve it, but because it’s hard to turn I don’t solve it too much. In a future, I would like to buy a Moyu or a ShengShou version of this amazing puzzle. I will leave links where you can buy it. I will also put a link of the webpage where I bought my Pyraminx so you don’t buy it from there, that buyer is a fraud.

Interview to Uwe Mefferts from the Rubiksguy at the Rubik’s Cube Worlds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8CRld9CCnQ

Lightake

Moyu: http://lightake.com/p/MoYu-Triangle-Pyramid-Pyraminx-Magic-Cube-Speed-Puzzle-Twist-Toy_m1561.html

ShengShou (Black): http://lightake.com/p/ShengShou-Pyraminx-Magic-Cube-IQ-Toy-Black_58875.html

ShengShou (White): http://lightake.com/p/ShengShou-7098A-Pyraminx-Magic-Cube-IQ-Toy-White_59287.html

Amazon. Don't buy this one!

http://www.amazon.com/Shengshou-Triangle-Pyramid-Pyraminx-Education/dp/B00LXZLKXW/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1428819787&sr=8-5&keywords=pyraminx

             This is my Pyraminx

Images taken from:

mefferts.com

lightake.com

Day 1. Rubik's Brand Speed Cube

The Rubik’s brand speed cube it’s not that good as their webpage says, but what can we expect from a Rubik’s brand cube? Not so much. It has a completely new design from their original cube. It has a spherical core and comes with additional springs. Personally, mine was terrible out of the box. I recognize that it was really faster than the original one, but at the time of solving it and trying to do, at a fast speed, the algorithms it blocked a lot even if my tensions were not too tight. As you probably know, it doesn’t have stickers because they were replaced with tiles, I really like how do they look and the feeling they give to my fingers.

It makes so much noise, if you live with your parents or with anyone else and you don’t want to wake that person up, you mustn’t solve this cube, sometimes that noise becomes so annoying that can desperate you or people around you. What was really frustrating to me is the facility that the cube has to block while turning it.

But all these bad things that I mentioned, considerably changed one day after I lubricated it (thanks to my friend Oliver L. a collaborator of the blog who lent me his lube). Now it’s much faster and has a better feeling, I don’t know why but it doesn’t blocks that much now. I think it’s a good cube to have in a collection but it’s not the greatest thing, instead of buying it you should better purchase a Moyu or Fangshi speedcube. But who knows, probably Rubik’s will take out a much better speedcube, we have to take into consideration that it’s the first Rubik’s brand speedCube and we can’t expect too much from it. Remember the First Dayan cube, it can’t be compared to an actual speedcube, but know Dayan has been improving their cubes and we have the Dayan Zanchi V or even the sixth version of Dayan’s cubes: the Panshi.

So, what do you think about the cube? Do you think Rubik’s will make one day an excellent speedcube? Do you recommend it? Are you going to buy it? 

Here you can see the Rubik's cube spherical core
Image from rubiks.com

Learn Fridrich method (CFOP)

Before we start, let me tell you that we don't specialize on making advanced methods tutorials so I definetly recommend you to have another guide wich can support you. I will leave a link of some cubers channels which can help you. I also want to say that this guide will constantly use images that shows all Fridrich cases and that we don't own the rights of them, they are taken from badmaphisto's webpage (Link bellow). And a last thing, remember this guide is to clear your questions or problems learning this method and don't forget that you can comment your problems so we (or the community) can help you to solve them.

I will also use badmephisto's CFOP guide but for F2L I don't recommend you to follow any guide like that or to learn algorithms. For F2L, I will explaining it later, we will use an intuitetive method so you won't need to learn any algorithm. I will tell you when you should consult badmephisto's guide.

Online version: http://badmephisto.com/badmephisto-speedcubing-method.pdf

badmephisto's webpage: http://badmephisto.com/

New Notation
In this method you will have to learn new notation of the cube like M, E and S moves or x, y and z moves, etc. A list of all the notation is at badmephisto's guide (link above). I'll leave here a link of a webpage where you can clearly see how to do every rotation of the cube.

Webpage: http://ruwix.com/the-rubiks-cube/notation/

Cube Notation tutorial (from Paradox Cubing): 

Step 1. The Cross

The first step of the Fridrich method is the Cross. As in the beginners method (explained in this blog) you have to make a cross on the first layer. I won’t explain it because you already have to know how to make it, but just in case I will leave a link of a video which explains how to do it and a link to our blog entry of how to solve the cross. Actually, there are other ways to get the cross with less moves but you will achieve and dominate while you practice.

Link of how to make the cross: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yU-EwlRRvc

Tips for of an advanced way to make the cross: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTydBg21aaw

Our tutorial: http://imagineacubeniverse.blogspot.mx/2015/04/step-1.html

Step 2. First Two Layers (Corners and middle or ecuator's edges pieces)

This step consists on solving all the corners of the first layer and thee edge pieces of the second layer. What does this mean? In the beginners’ method, you have to solve all the corners of the first layer, after that, you solve the middle (second layer) edges. In this method we are going to reduce these two steps into one.

Here, it’s not necessary to learn all the F2L cases because you can solve this part intuitively. Here is an image with all the possible cases that can be presented at F2L. But I don’t recommend you to learn all the cases with their algorithms. By the other way, I’m going to leave a link that will guide you to a video where the intuitively cases are explained.

But don't forget that if you have any questions, just comment them below so we can help you.

Step 3. OLL (Orientation of Last Layer)

This is the third step of Fridich method. It has 57 possible cases but we can reduce it to 6-10 algorithms with a 2-look OLL. But what is OLL? As it name says, it consists on orienting all the last layer pieces so at the end of the step, all the top side of the layer is yellow (or your first layer’s opposite color), but with 2-look OLL you first do an algorithm to form a cross on the last layer, so then you will just have to memorize the 7 cases that can be presented when a cross is solved.

If you already know 2-look OLL and all the PLL cases, you can continue learning the 57 cases of OLL. I don’t recommend you to start learning all the OLL cases before you have learned the 21 algorithms of PLL.

Youtube tutorial (badmephisto): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTYvklyOpVM
Fridrich guide: http://badmephisto.com/badmephisto-speedcubing-method.pdf

A video with all OLL cases: 

(Part 1):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beA18Drx1dc
(Parte 2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRbmaw82h4g
(Part 3): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AmBLu_wmPw

Or watch this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Mo2ax4Ib4

Easier algorithms (Summarized form):

(R U R' U)(R U2R')

(R U2)(R' U' R U' R')

(R U2 R’ B’ U R’ U’ B)

(L F R’ F’ L’ F R F’)

 

(L’ U’ L U’)(B U’ L’ U’ L U’ B’)

Step 4. PLL (Permutation of Last Layer)

PLL is the final part of the Fridrich method. Here you have to permute different pieces of the Last Layer to solve the entire cube. There are 21 possible cases of PLL, but as in OLL we can do a 2-look PLL, where we make a previous algorithm that solves all the corners so we only have to memorize 4 algorithms that solve the 4 cases where we have to permute the edges pieces. When you want to learn the complete Fridrich method I recommend you to learn all PLL cases before you memorize the 57 algorithms of OLL. Is very useful to have all the list of algorithms where you can see it so you can practice them at any time. You can consult them in badmephisto’s guide, I will leave Bob’s Burton printable page with all the permutations and a video that can guide you if you have problems with the execution of any algorithm. 

This is a video where 2-look PLL is explained.

Fridrich guide: http://badmephisto.com/badmephisto-speedcubing-method.pdf

Another list of the cases (if you don't like the other one you can see this one): http://badmephisto.com/pllprint.pdf

If you get it until here, Congratulations! You know probably know a little part of Fridrich method (if you studied 2-look OLL and PLL) or if you already memorized all the algorithms you have unlock an honorable achievement. Now you only have to practice and practice and probably one day you will be able to solve the cube super-fast. And why not? You can even compete with Feliks Zemdegs for the WR. :D