[Deepeasttx]

Back in the 80s there was a book with the sequences needed to rectify a distorted rubics cube. I studied and memorized, and practiced practiced practiced. At best, I might have, rather quickly, righted the cube in approx. 5 minutes. It’s extremely hard to believe it can be done in 3+ seconds. Some sort of illusion must be employed.

[packagingguy]

“Back in the 80s”

That’s the operative phrase for this story.

Nowadays people aren’t paying much attention to the cube.

[scrabblehack]

Same here. Maybe I could have done it in 3 minutes but not 3 seconds.

As I recall, every cube can be solved in 20 or fewer moves. However it takes longer than 3 seconds to analyze the cube and see which moves have to be done.

[grundle]

It's not an illusion. I also had one of those books in the 80s. The way that I solved it required a large number of moves, but I only had to remember a small number of sequences.

For these people, it's the opposite They memorize a huge number of sequences, and they also plan out their moves in advance during the 15 second inspection process. So they only have to make a much smaller number of moves.

Also, they use speed cubes that have magnets so they can be turned very quickly without locking up.

Most of the real work is done during the 15 second inspection before they even make their first turn.