I HAD a Rubik’s cube back in the eighties; it was required by law. I could solve one side and get the corners on all the sides, but that’s where I fizzled out. I even bought a book, but either it didn’t make sense, or it was too much work, and I never progressed. One time, I blindly followed the steps to get the cube solved, then I left it alone on a shelf. 

I can solve one now. A couple years ago, my cousin Nate asked me if I could solve one. We were chatting during a videogame night, and they were coming back in vogue. He’d figured it was the kind of thing I’d have learned to do. I had to admit my shortcoming, but was immediately spurred to resume the challenge. I bought one, but somehow got sent two, so I have one for home and one for work. I did what anyone does to learn a new skill these days: I googled a tutorial. I don’t find the videos helpful because the perspective is wrong. If I can’t see the cube in my hands, I can’t understand the instructions. There’s a pretty standard set of moves that you can learn to solve one in between 2-3 minutes. I won’t claim to understand what I’m doing spatially; it’s just pattern recognition and repetition, like memorizing state capitals or digits of pi. When I get a step wrong I have to start over at the very beginning, as opposed to really undoing my error. Still, it’s a comforting, tactile ritual that takes me out of my head into a very specific brain-space, much like a rosary, strangely enough. 

To get faster than two-minutes you have to move to a better understanding of how moving the piece you’re looking at affects all the other pieces with each turn and/or memorize a lot more potential move patterns. Each time I’ve considered doing that, I realize that I’m just not motivated to improve beyond my existing level. If YOU are interested, here’s a video of your competition.