Solving a Rubik’s Cube

Solving a Rubik’s cube was something I always wanted to know how to do, but had never taken the time to figure out. My son Sam recently got one (a 3×3) and has been obsessed with trying to solve it, so it was finally time to take this seriously.

Luckily, I’m good at following instructions, and you can learn anything on YouTube, so over the past week we’ve been using a beginner video and slowly learning an “easy” method (there are lots of ways to solve a cube, it turns out). Last night, after a bit too much wine, I buckled down and finished it for the first time.

Even though it was a “beginner method” and I used YouTube to guide me through it, solving these things is no joke. The basic approach (for the easy method) is to get one side done (usually the white side) by starting with solving for a white cross, and then solving the corners to get a fully white side. From there, the white is your “base” and you then build one layer at a time, starting with the bottom and working to the top. The whole method involved 4-5 “algorithms” and I’m still not sure if I fully grasp how those work, but they do!

Once I had the finished cube in my hand, it felt like magic, and now I’ve now got to teach Sam how to do it. Wish me luck.