Rubik's Cube Mania is back again

(tags game, puzzle, Rubik's Cube, stunt)

It has been quiet around here, only because I have been playing more Rubik's Cube than video games. We've got skills to develop like "how to get faster", moves to remember like Ryan Heise's "no memorization" solution, notation to remember like OLL and PLL, software to check out like Jelinek's Java Applet for the Rubik's Cube Animation (which is better than Lars Petrus's Java Applet) and Gabbasoft's free Windows-based simulator that supports from 2x2x2 to 20x20x20 (!), and also Ryan Heise's amazing Speed Version Rubik's Cube Simulator. This latter software is written as a Java applet but there are single-solves there that are faster than even the world record! You solve it using the keyboard, not the mouse.

I am working on trying to get faster at basic cube operations, for example, solving the first two layers (first two layers or F2L). Basically it seems like I'm working on the Fridrich method which is F2L, OLL (Orient Last Layer) and PLL (Permute Last Layer). Most of the official guides that are packaged with the Cube or found in a bookstore have explained this as "the" speedcubing way. In Japanese its called the Layer By Layer or LBL method (LBL法). At the end though, there is a daunting 57 position list that I have to memorize for OLL and 21 position list for PLL. This will take a couple of months. But as I said in the beginning I'm trying to concentrate on the Heise Method, which starts like F2L.

According to the book I recently bought about Rubik's Cube solving called Ketteiban atama wo kitaeru Rubik's Cube kanzen kaiseki! (決定版 頭を鍛える ルービックキューブ 完全解析！, ISBN 978-4-7966-5687-0), the method that I memorized from my childhood is called, in Japanese, the Tsukuda Method (ツクダ式). I don't what the name of it is in English, but it calls for solving the first layer then the third layer, and is heavy on center slice moves. This method is not good for speedcubing, but it is so simple that the book explains it without notation! Also it is not the Corners-First Solution Method. After 20 minutes of searching the Internet, I still cannot find a sample that explains it.

Currently I am walking to and from work with a Rubik's Cube in my left hand, practicing my moves without looking and trying to improve my dexterity. If I practice imagining a move set in my mind, perhaps I can speed up my brain. If I have my right hand free as well, then I practice F2L Heise. Even though I lubricated my cube before using it, I need to re-lube. Perhaps I should take more pictures of it. I think I need to go to the beach and dunk my cube in the sand. LOL