[Linus F]

Habs aus dem internationalen Speedsoving-Forum und hab mir gedacht des könnte euch auch interessieren:

Cubing in Public - or how to impress people with your cube.

The thoughts of this thread have come to my brain about the last months, so i'm finally going to write them down.

You might ask, what qualifies me for writing this thread.
Here we go:
I have two 15minute rides at the Subway a day (to university and back home).
I'm studying political science, which is related to social science, so i have a big interest in how people think and behave. Over the last few months I enjoyed it to observe people, who are observing me cubing.

One further point is, that I really enjoy cubing in public and enjoy the reactions of people. Their reactions are totally different from other reactions i see in my life. Do you know why?
If you see someone running 100metres in 10 seconds you are impressed, but you know how to do that: Run really fast. What differs cubing of that is: The people do not know what are you doing there. Cubing is more like street magic than sports (at least from their point of view).

This is not meant as a 'real guide' but more like a satire about cubing and people untderstanding our hobby.
My text is not final, nor complete, so if you made different experiences, or have different tipps, feel free to comment.

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"Damn, whats he doing there? He's moving that 80's cube really fast. I never was able to solve that thing. WOAH! Wasn't it solved a second ago? Damn, it's messed up again, I'm not sure...."

This is what 90% of people think the first time they see someone cubing in front of them. And for sure most people are impressed of it.
Phrases like "I only could solve one side [or two sides]" want to say "damn i couldn't solve that thing". I've often seen people looking really excited while watching me solving and I think most of the people really have respect and are impressed of what you're doing. Talking to you about this (even if you as cuber know they're talking nonsense) is a way of the people to show you they like what they see (or do you talk to that stinky unshaved guy with the bottle of booze?). Breaking the habit of not talking to strangers or on public transport in general is a big step! Be friendly to those people who are talking to you, the most of them really want to show respect to you.

Even one step further are people asking "How do you do that?". If I see they really want to know it I have a little introduction:
Do not talk about algs oder use some other words only you know! Instead go for something like this:
"There is a system. This system contains several steps and for the last pieces of the cube, there are cases of which I am able to solve."
If you see that the person really is interested just show them what you do and explain it:
Slowly create your cross (or block or whatever your first step is). Tip your finger at the pieces you move. "This Corner belongs right here" Then fill it in.
Same with F2L, and OLL and PLL.
Most of the people will understand what you're doing there.
What usually happens when i explain this so someone is like 15-20 people listening to what I'm explaining.


This was for generel understanding.
Now we go for the second step:
Impress people with cubing skills.

The first step to this is to know what the people see.

You're solving your cube:
solved - scrambling - inspection - solving - solved - and so on

We all know, that it makes no sense to wait after finishing the cube. But the spectator has to know that you're finished. So: After you finished, just give it a second. Take on deep breath, just look at the cube. (This is like 3-5 seconds, i feels awkward at first but really helps the people to see you have finished that thing.)

Second point: Do NOT look at your cube while scrambling. Again: We all know, that traking all the pieces is just not possible. (Or of the spectators view: Reverse the scramble to solve the cube X-)).

Third: Take a break between scrambling and solving. (If you go for the usual 15secs inspection thats fine, if I'm cubing without taking time I often start right away).
Look at the cube, try to look like it's really hard to solve.

Fourth:
(This is the most important point to impress people).
Do NOT stop turning the cube! At the moment the people see you pausing your solve to look for a F2L pair or whatever, they know you have to think about what you're doing.
What impresses people the most is a very high move count, not the time you need to solve it. They have no idea what the world record is, but its impressing to turn that thing so fast, they can barely see what you're doing.

If you're going hardcore and just want to impress people, do not use your "normal" method. Go for OldPochman.
T-Perm,T-Perm,T-Perm, BAM Solved! That is what impresses people.
+ using OldPochmann really shows an advance while solving because you're bringing one piece after another in it's position

(I sometimes solve the Cube this way:
Solve all Cornes like a 2x2, Then solve the Edges like Old Pochmann one after another. T-Perm provides a high movecount.)


tl;dr:
1. People talking to you about cubing mostly want to show respect and interest.
2. To impress people part your solving-scrambling-process into good looking parts.
3. Solving impresses people, movecount impresses people even more.
4. Be nice to the people, you know more than they, feel like a represantative of speedcubing while solving.


I hope you enjoyed my 'guide'.
I always enjoy observing people observe me ;-)
And feel free to contribute..