I thought this would be an unreality for me. But who knew how easy it is to solve a Rubik’s cube?
I watched The Speed Cubers on Netflix and knew about the sport. I assumed it required a lot of memorization, but when my youngest asked if they could learn how to solve a Rubik’s cube, I put on my “Dad Face” and told them they could do anything.
I bought a “speed cube” for them—nothing too fancy, but it was better than Rubik’s. I then started watching The Wired’s 30-minute YouTube video on how to solve a Rubik’s cube.
Meanwhile, my child seemed overwhelmed and didn’t want to take the time to learn the steps. I refused to step. If this random journalist can solve a Rubik’s cube, so can I.
OK. But How?
The simple fact is that there is a brute-force way to solve every Rubik’s cube. If you move your fingers fast enough and get lucky, you can probably solve it this way in about a minute; it’s not close to the five-second world record, but it’s still an impressive feat.
My success pushed my youngest further away, but my oldest saw it was possible and took on the challenge. Before I knew it, I set my best at 1m39s, and my oldest kept pushing.
My youngest jumped back in the game once my wife was willing to attempt it.
My youngest was excited when I got a nicer cube with paper instructions. They no longer needed to ask me for algorithm help. It didn’t take much longer for our whole family to be able to solve a Rubik’s cube.
I had every intention of improving my times, but life took over, and these forty-year-old fingers are no match for the future generation. I’m no world record holder, but I can solve a Rubik’s cube!
