Puzzled 2: Blindfold Solving

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Blindfold Solving

Rory is here for the weekend and to pick up the kiddos and take them home. We will be going to visit Raymond and fam this week and Ro and fam are moving to Washington soon.

Rory asked if I had seen the video of a little boy solving a Rubik's Cube blindfolded. I rarely watch solve videos of any kind nowadays. There was talk in the house about having to have a phenomenal memory to be able to do that. I didn't think so, so looked it up. I read a little and watched part of a video and am ready to try to do blindfold cubing. First I want to do more research on it, but I think I have the gist of solving pieces one by one using just a single algorithm. The algorithm is not the one that was given in the video. I am not going to learn any new algorithms to do this. Nor do I know the 5 or so algorithms in the article I read. I don't think they are necessary. I think I can do the whole cube with just one algorithm that I already know. The hard part will be memorizing the 20 key stickers in order. I think I will start with corners and see if I can just master that. Then add the edges later.

The video I watched part of is by J Perm.
The article I read part of is at ruwix.com.

After watching some and reading some I figured I would see if my idea to use the algorithm that came to mind might work. It works! I solved a scrambled cube using setup moves and one algorithm.

The algorithm: ( R'URU' R2 ) y ( L'U'LU ) y' x ( RUR'U'R2 ) x' U'

y = turn the entire cube so the Right face is in Front
x = turn the entire cube so the Bottom face is in Front

What does it do?
It swaps ULB and UBR.
It swaps UR and UL.

Might want to check out the different methods in the list on this page. I get the impression that most people that are interested in BLD solving are speedcubers. You know what that means. They want to memorize more algorithms to speed things up. The thing I like about the method I am working on devising is that it only uses one algorithm and I already know it.

A lot of blindfolded solvers memorize the cube using Speffz.

I've been thinking about a lettering/numbering scheme for memorizing and came up with something I haven't seen online but it makes sense to me.
U starts with A; L starts with E; F starts with I; R starts with O; B starts with U; D starts with 1.

I also need to get setup moves down—how to get any corner to ULB oriented correctly.

June 19, 2017
In thinking about the setup moves I realize there is a lot of work with the Left, Back, and Down faces. Pain. I am more used to working with Right, Front, and Up faces. So now I am thinking that I should move the corner that I want to swap to to DRF using the Up, Front, and Right faces, then twist the whole cube so the swap algorithm can be done, then twist the whole cube back to undo the setup move. When I say setup move what I mean is moving the ... nevermind, do I really want to develop an extravagant vocabulary to describe this process?

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Rubik's Cube Books

I got my first Rubik's Cube in the early nineteen eighties. The only way I could solve it was to take it apart and put it back together solved. Until, that is, I got some little books that explained sequences of moves that could be used to put pieces where you want them without messing up what was already in place.

The Simple Solution To Rubik's Cube
by James G. Nourse
Notes on Rubik's Magic Cube
by David Singmaster
Solve That Crazy, Mixed-up Cube Puzzle
by Don Frederick.

I think I put together my own strategy using bits and pieces gleaned from all three books. Eventually I lost interest and forgot how to complete the cube, forgot I had those books, and lost track of the cubes.

Mark Jeays' Working Corner Method

http://jeays.net/rubiks.htm

In 2007 my interest in Rubik's Cube was rekindled when I watched the movie The Pursuit of Happyness. Marae found my 1980s cube for me and I tried to solve it. Huh-uh. I could do part of it, but not the last layer. Looking online I found various tutorials. Mark Jeays included YouTube videos with his Solution 2. This method worked for me and although I no longer use it in its entirety, nor could I, as I have forgotten the yellow edges sequences, I still find the basic working corner technique helpful, and use a slightly modified version of his corner twisting technique at times.

In the summer of 2014 we packed 30 or so puzzles and flew to visit Raymond and Fam in the Czech Republic. Breann, who had learned this method and no other, made some comment about bubururu or something like that, and it piqued my curiosity. What were those algorithms, and how similar are they to the EPS technique I use now when using a working corner? So I looked them up. Actually, the three algorithms were for dealing with the two last edges solved, which either needed to be swapped, or flipped, or swapped and flipped. The swapper is very similar to the one I have learned and used since, but I actually like it better in one sense, with a slight modification.

To swap UR and FR without flipping:

U' R U' R' U' R U' R' U'

To swap and flip UR and FR:

F' U' F U' F' U' F U2

To flip UR and FR:

F' U F U' R U' R' U

Will I actually learn and use these? Probably not. But I like them. :)

There is a slightly different implementation of the Working Corner Method. Arnaud van Galen calls it the Keyhole Method. I like his demonstration better than the one I originally learned. It just dawned on me why he is able to get away with doing it the way he does. He goes ahead and finishes the F2L before going to the last layer, unlike the way Jeays uses the working corner (keyhole) to also get the last layer. Since I no longer use the working corner to get the last layer, I should implement Arnaud's technique.

Jasmine's Scalable Method

http://peter.stillhq.com/jasmine/rubikscubesolution.html

This was the next method I learned. For awhile the idea of speed cubing appealed to me. This promised to be a good beginner's method for those that wanted to go on to faster method's later. Now that I know what I know, I wouldn't recommend this method if your goal is to be able to consistently solve the cube in less than 30 seconds. Rubik's Speedsolver Champion Leyan Lo presents a beginner's method that I like the looks of although I've never learned it. I have recently watched Arnaud van Galen's complete beginner's method video series and recommend them. Gilles Roux presents a beginners' method that is very close to one of my favorite ways of solving the cube. The simplicity and comprehensibility make this method a good place to start if you want to understand the Rubik's Cube. Also, if you are interested in speedcubing you should check out this YouTube video.

After trying for months to get under a minute with both Jasmine's Method and the Corner's First Method—and failing, I finally decided to quit trying and just enjoy cubing at a nice slow pace.

Don't get me wrong. Jasmine's Method has its merits. The sequences for orienting the last layer edges and corners, and permuting the last layer edges are still in my arsenal of useful algorithms.

Adam Cheyer's Corners First Method

Philip Marshall's Ultimate Solution

http://helm.lu/cube/MarshallPhilipp/
After learning to solve the cube corners first, what is next? An Edges First Method! This was a very difficult tutorial to follow, but once I got it, it was my favorite way to solve the cube for awhile. It uses only a few algorithms, and when you are finished solving the cube you feel like you've solved the puzzle, not just used memorized sequences to unscramble it.

Gilles Roux presents a beginners' method that could be used to solve the cube edges first. The simplicity and comprehensibility make this method a good place to start if you want to understand the Rubik's Cube. His technique is much easier to follow than Marshall's.