I’m pretty sure I saved this blog title back in 2020 when we were all in the alternate universe that was Covid-19!

I have a vague memory of playing with Rubik cubes when I was much younger, which makes sense, as it was launched to the world 2 years after I was born.  It’s the kind of thing my Dad would have picked up, so undoubtedly we had at least one when I was growing up.  I suspect it’s more because I also have memories of peeling off the stickers and reattaching them to solve one (which you can’t have done many times without losing stickers) and also taking it apart, removing the pieces, rearranging and then clicking it all back together.

I have no need to do this now, as I picked one up during COVID and watched a few YouTube video tutorials showing how to solve it without removing any stickers or pieces.  The tutorial was almost 30 minutes, but you could generally follow along, so that’s how long it took to begin with.  I eventually managed to complete it without the tutorial, and through daily repetition got it down to less than 2 minutes.

I was a little humbled on a visit to see friends in Windsor, as I’d been told their son was a Rubik’s Cube whiz.  I thought my 2 minutes was pretty good, only to be schooled by G, who can do it in about 30 seconds!  I’d need to learn some more algorithms to get sub-1 minute, and I think that’s the fastest I’ve managed with my ‘technique’ about 90 seconds.  After that visit, I put it down for a while, but recently bought another cube from KEWBZUK – a DaYan TengYun V3 (Magnetic) – and have been playing daily again.

I was going to put my 7-step guide here, as much as a memory for me as anyone else.  If you want to learn, use the YouTube link above!

1. White cross on top, with edges aligned to the centre colours (F U’ R U)
2. Cross on bottom and drop corner pieces in with left/right hand ‘sexy’ move (R U R’ U’)
3. Complete middle row, aligning top centre colour  and pushing away from the colour on top (U > left/right sexy)
4. Yellow cross on top, with top and left aligned (F sexy F’ repeat)
5. Align top colours, left and back preferred (R U R’ U R U2 R)
6. Align corners, one right-front (U R U’ L’ U R’ U’ L
7. Complete, with white face on top (repeat sexy for corners to get yellow on bottom, twist bottom around and repeat)