When good cubes go bad

Check out this funny cube movie about what happens when good cubes go bad!

New best 3x3x3 average of 100: 29.50s

I got a new best average of 100 last weekend. Here are the details.

Average of 100: 29.50s
Best time: 22.12s
Worst time: 36.47s
Best average of 10 during the 100: 26.58s

New best 3x3x3 average (one handed): 1 min 49.41 seconds

Yesterday I got a new best average for 3x3x3 one handed speedsolving. Here are the details.

Average: 1 min 49.41 seconds
Fastest: 1 min 26.06 seconds
Slowest: 2 mins 9.30 seconds
Individual times: 1:54.92, (1:26.06), 1:53.39, 1:42.71, (2:09.30), 1:40.86, 2:03.63, 1:38.21, 1:39.06, 1:35.20, 1:56.90, 2:09.17

Personal speedcubing records

I've created a personal records page for my speedcubing. It includes both official and unofficial personal records.

I created this page because I often forget my best times on puzzles that I don't play with much. This is pretty much every puzzle except for the 3x3x3. By 'forget' I mean that I don't remember the exact time. I usually remember approximately what the time was though.

For official times this wasn't too bad because I could always remember in which competition I'd set the record, so I could easily look it up in the speedcubing.com official records. However, it was more problematic for unofficial records because I didn't always submit them to speedcubing.com.

The page also lists all the official competitions in which I've competed:

• World Championships 2003
  (Toronto, Canada, 23-24 August 2003)
• US Nationals 2004
  (California, USA, 10 July 2004)
• Dutch Open 2005
  (Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 16 October 2005)
• World Championships 2005
  (Florida, USA, 5-6 November 2005)
• Dutch Open 2006
  (Delft, The Netherlands, 14-15 October 2006).

German National Championship 2006

Congratulations to Stefan Pochmann on winning the German National Championship today with an average of 16.54 seconds in the final. Full results available on speedcubing.com.

New best 3x3x3 average: 26.15 seconds

I got a new best average today. I submitted the details to speedcubing.com, but then forgot to take a copy myself to write about here. Anyway, the average was 26.15 seconds. I'l post the details later when they are updated on speedcubing.com.

Dutch Rubiks Open Championship 2006

Last weekend I competed in the Dutch Rubiks Open Championship. As always, I had a fantastic time meeting up with all my cubing friends, both new and old. I'm also very happy with how I performed!

Prior to competition, I usually set myself some personal goals. My goals are always about improving my own previous competition records, not about beating other competitors. Here were my goals for this competition:

Event: 3x3x3 speedsolve
Goal: Beat my previous competition average of 34.77s (from Dutch Open 2005). Was hoping, but not expecting, to beat my previous competition single solve record of 27.96s (from Worlds 2005).
Outcome: Got an average of 28.19s, and a new best competition single solve of 25.59s.

Event: 4x4x4 speedsolve
Goal: Beat my previous competition single solve of 3 mins 28.02s (from Worlds 2003). I was going to be disappointed with anything over 3 mins, but ideally was aiming for something in the range 2 mins 40s to 2 mins 50s.
Outcome: Solved in 2 mins 57.96s.

Event: 5x5x5 speedsolve
Goal: Solve in under 6 mins. I had never competed in this event before, so I didn't have a previous competition time to beat.
Outcome: Solved in 5 mins 40.16s.

Event: 3x3x3 one handed speedsolve
Goal: Beat my previous competition single solve of 1 min 52.24s.
Outcome: Got single solve of 1 min 34.86s, and an average of 2 mins 1.64s.

Event: 2x2x2 speedsolve
Goal: Beat my previous competition single solve of 34.16s (from Worlds 2005).
Outcome: Got a single solve of 13.72s, and an average of 18.78s.

Event: Clock
Goal: Beat my previous competition average of 34.96s (from Dutch Open 2005). Was hoping, but not expecting, to beat my previous competition single solve record of 22.68s (from Worlds 2005).
Outcome: Didn't beat my best single solve time, but did beat my previous competition average with 28.29s.

New best 4x4x4 average: 2 mins 42.68 seconds

After a little more 4x4x4 practice I got a slightly better average of 2 mins 42.68 seconds. My 4x4x4 times are still pretty inconsistent though. There are regularly times around two and a half minutes, but there are also regularly times over 3 mins.

New best 4x4x4 average: 2 mins 43.40 seconds

So I kept going with the 4x4x4 practice session from my previous post and improved my average ever so slightly. Unfortunately, I forgot to write down all the details before I closed the timer, so I only have the average time: 2 mins 43.40 seconds.

New best 4x4x4 average: 2 mins 44.67 seconds

I've been gradually working my way through the re-stickering. It's pretty boring, so I've been interspersing the re-stickering with cubing.

I've just done a 4x4x4 average. I'm not sure what my previous best 4x4x4 average was, but it can't have been very interesting because I didn't post it to speedcubing.com.

Here are the details of the average I just completed.

Average: 2 mins 44.67 seconds
Fastest: 2 mins 25.80 seconds
Slowest: 3 mins 3.38 seconds
Individual times: 2 mins 47.41s, 2 mins 35.56s, 3 mins 2.96s, 2 mins 40.87s, 3 mins 1.82s, 2 mins 30.10s, 2 mins 29.45s, (3 mins 3.38s), 2 mins 48.48s, (2 mins 25.80s), 2 mins 38.76s, 2 mins 51.28s

Re-stickering is not fun

The stickers on several of my competition cubes are looking pretty ratty, so I figured I'd better re-sticker them (with Cubesmith stickers of course!) before the competition next weekend.

I'm currently part-way through re-stickering my 5x5x5. I love having nice new shiny stickers, but I really hate actually doing the re-stickering. It's so laborious, especially for the 5x5x5. Blurgh! I'm not sure if I'll make it around the whole cube, so I'm starting with the rattiest looking sides.

4x4x4 centres are fun

I'm really enjoying the 4x4x4 at moment. There are three reasons for this. One reason is that I'm improving, so that makes me happy.

The second reason is that Dan showed me a more efficient way to pair up the edges. Ages ago when I first started solving the 4x4x4, I was doing edge pairs one-at-a-time. This is so obviously the most inefficient way to do the edges!!

The third, and most fun, reason is Stefan's method for the 4x4x4 centres. I used to find the 4x4x4 centres rather boring, but now they are the most FUN part of the 4x4x4!

New best time on the 4x4x4: 140.52s

Among other events, I've registered to compete in the 4x4x4 at both the Dutch Open and the UK Open. I've only ever competed in this puzzle once before and that was quite a while ago (Worlds 2003).

I figured I'd better get practicing. My aim is to beat my previous competition record, which is 3 mins 28.02 seconds. I think this is achieveable. For me, a major concern with the 4x4x4 are the edge parity cases. Actually, I'm pretty comfortable with the permutation case, but the orientation one always makes me nervous. :/

Anyway, I was doing some 4x4x4 practice last night and got a new best time: 140.52 seconds. If I can get that time in competition then I'll be really happy. Actually, I think I'll be very happy with anything that's sub-3 mins.

Upcoming Rubiks competitions

Yesterday I registered for the Dutch Rubik's Open and the UK Rubik's Open. These are both official WCA competitions, so they are opportunities to set new official records. Cool. I'd better start practising because it's been quite a while since I've competed in an official competition! Last one was the Rubik's World Championships in November last year!