I am Feliks Zemdegs, Rubik's cube world record holder. AMA

Would you rather solve 100 duck-sized cubes, or one horse-sized cube?

One horse-sized cube. It would only take about 55 turns to solve, and a duck-sized cube would take longer than normal anyway.

Do you put any lube or something inside the cube? Mine's all slow and crap.

Yeah, every few months or so. I use differential oil. Most 'speedcubers' use 'speedcubes' - which are non-Rubik's brand, and are designed for quick turning. They're actually cheaper than the ones you buy in stores.

How much time do you spend in your room lubing your weapon, on an average day?

What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I’ll have you know I graduated top of my class at royal institute of cubing, and I’ve been involved in numerous secret raids on MIT cubesat, and I have over 300 confirmed solves. I am trained in the Fridrich method and I’m the top cuber in the entire US armed forces. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across the USA and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You’re fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can solve cubes in over seven hundred ways, and that’s just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in the 3x3, but everything from the 2x2 to the 7x7 you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little “clever” comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn’t, you didn’t, and now you’re paying the price, you goddamn idiot. You’re fucking dead, kiddo.

for context: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/navy-seal-copypasta

How many girls have dropped trou specifically due to cube solving abilities?

From solely cubing ability? Approximately zero.

Saying this stops anyone from even thinking about trying to get good. Way to kill the competition. I see what your game is now ;)

Haha, it's a decent conversation starter I guess, but I avoid bringing it up myself, it's always someone else. I generally try to avoid talking about it at parties and stuff, just cause I don't want to be seen as 'that cube guy' - but it's hard to avoid. Generally, people are pretty fascinated by it.

do you use one specific set of algorithms or do you just pick whichever one suits the current cube the best?

Is there a guide you have written that i can follow? Is there already a guide that you like or think is a good place to learn?

Heres an interesting tidbit: one of my friends lied and wrote that he could solve a Rubiks cube in under 60s on his CV. Come interview day at this top Investment Bank, he impressed them with everything. When they placed a Rubiks Cube in front of him, he panicked, obviously couldn't solve it in even 10 minutes and got rejected straight up.

The method I use is CFOP (Cross, F2L, OLL, PLL) I only use 2 algorithms to solve the cube, and this accounts for about 1/3rd of the solve. There are 55? algorithms for solving OLL, and 21 for PLL. On each solve, I encounter one case each, and have to use the corresponding algorithm. It's a lot easier done than said, and I'm not the best at explaining these sorts of technical things.

The best guide by far is at www.badmephisto.com He has tutorials for CFOP and for those who are learning for the first time. Anyone can learn, it just requires patience.

you lost me at "is"...

http://www.speedsolving.com/wiki/index.php/CFOP explains it better I think

i'm just getting into speedcubing (bought my first Rubik's cube today), where does the red one on the side go?

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now i've got a bunch of blue in with some yellow, or a "sad Asian" as the speedcubers call it.

No, no we don't

edit: Yes, I got the joke when I read it.

Have you ever hurt yourself or someone else cubing ?

Sometimes little bits of stickers get caught under my fingernail, and that is pretty annoying. One time I was prying tiles off a cube with a knife, and I cut my finger (a small cut). I've heard of a couple of people who have developed RSI from cubing.

Have you ever been recognized in public?

Yeah once, it was really weird. I was getting off the train after school, and one of my friends said 'cya Feliks'. Next thing I know, this middle-aged man asks me 'Are you Feliks Zemdegs?'.

Rock stars get teenaged whores as groupies.

You get a middle aged man.

Life's a bitch.

Nah, I've had a few online stalkers in the past. (Yes, girls)

Three short questions, needing three short answers

• If you had to lose 15 pounds in order to save your life, how soon could you do it?
• Do you like the word "falter" or "decompress" more?
• Which color deserves its own holiday the most?

1. Give me a year. I've never needed/tried to lose weight
2. decompress
3. Blue?

Your name sounds Latvian. Is it?

Yes, my dad's parents were born in Latvia, my mum's parents were born in Lithuania.

When you travel around and do Rubik's cube related events do you bring a posse? Does everyone in the Rubik's cube field recognize you? Do you try and intimidate challengers to your title? If so, how?

No posse. Yeah, everyone knows who all the fast/famous cubers are at competitions. No, most people get along really well at competitions, it's a pretty friendly atmosphere.

What's your opinion on Rowe Hessler?

Yeah I like Rowe, we met at worlds, and we talk on facebook.

Do you have an unofficial record outside competition? Is it lower?

Also, what common question do people who don't cube ask that you find most annoying? ("Why don't you just peel off the stickers?", "Isn't it all just math?")

Yeah I've done a 4.68 at home, but that was over 2 years ago.

The most annoying statements are 'I just used to peel the stickers off' 'That would be a good pickup line' 'I once got 5 sides and couldn't get the last one' -That's just impossible

a lot of critics have said that your record doesn't hold up because in frame 174 you can clearly see that you didn't return the cube to the table in true cube form (sort of skewed), thus not finishing the puzzle. how do you respond?

a lot of critics

^lol

I'd tell them to read the rules. As long as the angle is less than 45 degrees, then the cube is considered solved. any more than that, and it's a 2 second penalty

Do you like to solve other types of cubes that are more complicated than the orthodox cube?

Yeah, in competitions they've got 17 events, but I mainly just solve the cubic puzzles. (2x2 - 7x7)

My fastest time is about a minute. Is that considered... slow?

Slow to speedcubers, amazing to the general public.

What was the first thing that you thought after you beat the world record?

'Finally'

The world record had been 7.08 for a few years at that stage. I was getting 7 second solves regularly, but I just couldn't break that barrier. In November, 2010, I got a 7.03, and then a 6.77 later on in the competition. It's a weird thing in cubing - it seems like once someone breaks a time barrier, then everyone else is suddenly able to do so.

Hey man! Love watching your solves, big fan! I know a lot of people buy zhanchis because you set the WR on them but do you prefer a different cube? I have V2 Guhong and I think its great! Also, I use jigaloo for lubing my speedcubes. Do you know something better? One more: what is your favorite puzzle? any size, irregularity or anything. ONE MORE! (i lied) how many puzzles do you have? thanks

1. No, I still use a zhanchi as my main cube
2. I use differential oil, i would recommend it
3. Shengshou 7x7 at the moment
4. About 60 total

Do people follow you around sometimes asking for you to solve their Rubik's Cubes?

Uhh, no, that's a bit odd. If I'm at a friends house or something, and they have a cube there, I might get asked.

Do you make money off this?

A little bit. At the world championships in 2011, the winner received 5500 euros (I came 3rd). The prize pool was between 20,000 and 30,000 euros I think, I won about 5000, some of which was used to pay for flights.

But my main income from cubing is from ads on my youtube videos, but it's still minimal compared to a real job.

At a competition, how are the cubes set up to be random but equal?

Computer generated scrambles. 5 different scrambles for each round, each competitor receives the same scramble for each of their solves.

Can you do it behind your back and/or blindfolded?

Well that's basically the same thing, and yes, I can do it. There are guys who specialise in blindsolving, and can do it much faster than me.

What got you into Rubik's cube?

When people like me give up immediately do you laugh?

Youtube - I saw some videos of speedcubing and I thought I'd give it a shot. Took a few hours to learn, a few weeks to get under a minute, and then I gradually got faster.

Not really, it's what everyone does. I've only heard of a couple of people who actually solved a cube by themselves without any instruction.

I can never predict if I'm going to run into a parity issue on 4x4x4 and 6x6x6. Can you tell at any point ~before~ you have your edges completed?

No, I can only tell when I get to the last F2L pair or so.

How fast can you type?

About 60 wpm

White on top?

Any colour

I'm a Petrus solver and have been having difficulty breaking through the 23 second barrier. There are so many websites and forums dedicated to CFOP improvement, but i can only find a few threads/videos on Petrus improvement. Erik Johnson seems to be a good resource, but his content is few and far between. Any advice on where to go?

Also, come on over to reddit.com/r/cubers. I moderate over there and we'd be tickled pink to have you as a subscriber (and there are weekly competitions in case you feel like dominating them :P)

Umm, having minimal experience in petrus, I can't offer much help here. Erik Johnson's stuff is very good though.

I just created this account for the AMA, I don't really plan on doing too much redditting. (I'm a hopeless lurker) I'll go and subscribe though :p

do you find that cubing helps other pursuits? for example are you good at science or maths or anything else? (dont be modest). also, how do you get 'in the zone' before a competition, like music or wearing lucky t shirts etc? also who or what is your inspiration?

Cubing doesn't really help other pursuits, the skills used aren't very applicable to much else. It's taught me that I can achieve a fair bit with motivation.

I'm pretty good at maths.

Uhh, at competitions I'm generally helping out (judging, scrambling) so I don't have time to listen to music or practice very much. I think that at the world championships this year (in Las Vegas) I'll listen to some music before the final.

I don't really have an inspiration. When I started cubing, I was inspired by the guys who could get sub-10, but now that I'm at that level it's hard to say. Cubing-wise, anyone that can solve large numbers of cubes blindfolded (multi-blind event) is pretty inspiring.

Outside of cubing, probably Rory Mcilroy, and Jobe Watson.

What is your slowest algorithm? Fastest?

PLLs? Slowest is probably my N-permutation, I get around 1.3 seconds. Fastest is either U or A permutation, which are around 0.7. (But it's really difficult to time these, and it's inaccurate)

Do you play any instruments?

yes, saxophone and piano, but I'm not very good at either.

How many cubes do you own?

about 60

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I plan about 8-10 moves before I start solving.

What's the largest cube you have solved?

8x8

do you earn good money at all from cubing ?

Doing something that I don't consider work, for money, is always 'good money'

let me rephrase the question

how much ?

~20,000 AUD in the last 4 years

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Generally, those who are good at maths would tend to be more interested in puzzle solving, I can understand the correlation. So yes, I agree.

You are an awesome guy,

Do you talk to fellow competitors outside of the competitions? Like Facebook, or texting?

Do you know much girl speedcubers?

Besides cubing, what is one hobby you have, or would like to take you up?

Do your teachers know about your record? Are they particularly nice to you?

1. Yes, to those who I'm good friends with
2. Not really, it's fairly male dominated, but I do know a few female cubers
3. Golf - I'm getting addicted, I feel the same sense of motivation that I had when I started cubing, but I'm finding it to be far, far more challenging.
4. Most teachers do, and they treat me the same as everyone else

If you get an OCLL will you do COLL/EPLL or OLL/PLL? Would you say that COLL/EPLL is faster once recognition isn't a problem?

Have you learned, or have interest in learning new methods just for fun? (Roux, Petrus, ZZ) If so, how fast are you with these?

How far do you see into a solve? I know for inspection, you usually find cross+first pair, but after that do you usually look ahead to each pair one by one, or do two then one? Do you force certain OLLs/PLLs?

Half the time I'd use OLL/PLL, the other half COLL/EPLL - It just depends if I know the case. I think it might be slightly faster to do COLL/EPLL

Yeah, I've learned those methods. I average about 20 with petrus, 15 with roux, and 12 or so with ZZ

Just wanted to say that you got me interested in cubing! My best time at the moment is 56 seconds with a 3x3 speedcube. I'm in the process of learning F2L, and it's very exciting.

My question... When you solve blindfolded, what do you actually look at when you study the cube? Do you memorize where the pieces are?

It's difficult to explain, basically, I memorise the cycles of pieces in the cube - I solve one piece at a time, without affecting the other pieces.

I am stuck on 2 look OLL and PLL. Any advice?

Force yourself to learn the algorithms?

Best tip for a n00b?

Started with beginners. Moved into CFOP a couple of months ago. The intuitive solve for the F2L is probably slowing me down the most.

Any nuggets of wisdom off the top of your head?

Do untimed, slow solves - they help you learn about which pieces move when you execute particular algorithms. It helps with spatial awareness.

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No, I've got one more year in school (Finishing in November)

I don't really know what I want to study, but I'm looking at Engineering. I'm trying to decide between Melbourne and Monash University.

i've always been fascinated by rubik's cubes but i never thought i was smart/talented enough to solve em. how long did it take you just to learn how to solve one at a regular pace?

edit: spelling

To solve it in under a minute took about 2 weeks or so.

I have 3 questions if you don't mind. 1. How did you first get into cubing? 2. What is your favorite cube? 3. Do you have any advice for improving times?

1. I saw some speedcubing on youtube, thought I'd try it out
2. Shengshou 7x7 at the moment.
3. Practice. Seriously, that's the best advice I can give. The factors determining a fast solve are movecount and turn-speed - those are the things which you need to practice.