THE CUBING COMMUNITY MEGASURVEY 2021 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work follows in the footsteps of the r/Cubers tradition of yearly Megasurveys, of which this is the ffth instalment. For the frst time we've been able to integrate the responses and experience of our colleagues from China, whose communities do not always have access to the same online spaces. We're happy to present the results of this survey as a whole, reuniting these two big communities The following people contributed to this project: You guys were awesome, The r/Cubers mods: have been running the survey for the • welcoming and super supportive past 5 years, wrote and managed the bulk of it and proofread this during the whole analysis process! whole monster of a document. Thank you naliuj, gilzu, stewy, greencrossonleft, topppits, g253, pianocube93 and leinadium! It's been a blast discussing with you, Ruimin Yan / CubeRoot : provided great ideas for the • getting your ideas and seeing you recruit survey, helped coordinate between the east and the west, a thousand people in a matter of days! leveraged his online standing and following to gather all respondents across China and re-translated most this document • Justin Yang: translated the survey into mandarin and helped You have no excuse for speaking re-translate answers during the re-combination and cleanup flawless french (on top of all phase your other languages) at your ridiculously young age! About the author of this document: Basilio Noris is an older cuber, who has spent the past 15 years working on understanding and measuring human behaviour. He spends way too much time playing with data and looking for ways in which to present it. Also, don't get him started talking about fonts...

2 AND BEFORE WE FORGET...

A Very Big thank you to the 1501 participants who flled in the survey from all the sides of the globe

You made this a serious dataset with a sample size that rivals professional surveys in politics, psychology and behavioural sciences

3 ONE BIG COMMUNITY, WITH ITS MANY COLORS AND VOICES

The r/Cubers 魔龙 community

The Dragons The Aliens

The data we present here comes mainly from two sources, that we affectionately call Dragons and Aliens. This is a useful shortcut, as these two big groups don't often meet each other, but it does not come close to portraying all the many facets, nuances, warts and beauty of the cubing community as a whole, most of whose members did not participate to this survey. Keep that in mind when going through this document and seeing some differences between some somewhat arbitrary groups. And now, less go...!

4 THE DATASET IN NUMBERS : MILLENNIA WORTH OF EXPERIENCE

1'501 2'803 years 23'216 puzzles respondents of cubing xp in our collections

01101100 01100001 01100011 01100001 01110000 01110010 01100001 01100011 01100001 01101101 ✓ 01110000 01100001 662 hours 60 hours 366'150 of survey time of data analysis datapoints (excl. Cube Collections)

5 Chapter 1 :

WE THE CUBERS A POPULATION THAT SKEWS MOSTLY YOUNG AND MALE, BUT NOT ONLY!

AGE OF THE ONLINE CUBING COMMUNITY

14- 32% AVERAGE 15-16 20% median 17-18 16% 16.5 18.3 19-20 10% years old 21-25 12% 26-30 4% 31-35 2% 36-40 2% 41-50 2% 17.5 20.6 51+ 1% years old years old 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% N=1486

GENDER SPLITS 3X3 AVERAGE 88% 2% BY GENDER Gents Fabulous 18.20 17.81 10% 18.60 Ladies

7 MOST OF US ARE RIGHT-HANDED, SOME LEFT-HANDED, AND MANY OF US THINK WE ARE AMBIDEXTROUS WHEN WE PROBABLY ARE NOT

HANDEDNESS OF THE ONLINE CUBING COMMUNITY

Left Right Handed Handed 8% 83%

9% 3X3 AVERAGE BY Ambidextrous IN THE GENERAL HANDEDNESS POPULATION 18.00 17.83 10% 89%

17.15 Call them whatever we want, 1% but ambidextrous people are definitely a bit more dextrous than the others. As for Lefty/Righty, the difference is not statistically significant

8 WE DISCOVERED CUBING ON AVERAGE 3 YEARS AGO, BUT STARTED SPEEDCUBING MORE RECENTLY; IN MANY CASES, HOWEVER, WE STARTED AT (ROUGHLY) THE SAME TIME

HOW LONG AGO DID YOU HOW LONG AGO DID YOU GET INTERESTED IN CUBING? START SPEEDCUBING?

1 month 2% 1 month 7% 3 months 4% 3 months 11% 6 months 7% 6 months 13% 1 y 10% 1 y 17% median 1.5 y 8% 1.5 y 10% 1 y 2 y 13% median 2 y 13% 3 y 13% 3 y 4 y 11% 3 y 11% 5 y 10% 4 y 5% 6+ y 13% 5 y 5% 10+ y 6% 6+ y 4% 15+ y 1% 10+ y 1% In the 80's 1% 15+ y 0% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20%

CORRELATION BETWEEN CUBING many 6y+ cubers AND SPEEDCUBING 2.5 year 3 years 1 year 1.5 years 3y

Aliens started on

speedcubing 1y average half a year before the dragons few cubers 1m Started speedcubing last 1m 1y 3y 6y+ month, 6 years after cubing getting interested in cubing 9 OK, BUT HOW FAST ARE WE? OUR MEDIAN AVERAGE IS SUB18! THE DRAGONS AND ALIENS ARE AVERAGING EXACTLY THE SAME

CUBERS GLOBAL 3X3 AVERAGE

Sub6 0% 99.9% MEDIAN GLOBAL Sub7 0% 99.6% AVERAGE Sub8 0% 99.4% Sub9 2% 97.7% Sub10 3% 94.7% Sub11 90.8% 4% All Sub12 5% 85.5% cubers Sub13 7% 78.7% Sub14 7% 72.0% 17.7 17.7s 17.7 Sub15 6% 66.3% Sub16 6% 60.5% Sub17 6% 54.7% Without the oldies* Sub18 5% 49.8% Sub19 6% 44.0% 17.6 17.4s 16.9 Sub20 4% 39.9% Sub25 14% 25.6% *Median global average if we remove all cubers above Sub30 10% 16.1% 36 years old. Brought to you by one of the oldies! Sub40 8% 8.5% Sub50 4% 4.3% Sub60 3% 1.7% Here is where that half a year Sub90 1% 0.7% If you average advantage in speedcubing Sub120 1% 0.2% sub20, you're experience comes to the fore Sup120 0% faster than 0% 4% 8% 12% 16% 40% of cubers

10 Chapter 2 :

CUBING LIFE PRACTICE MAKES IT PERFECT: THOSE OF US PUTTING IN THE TIME EVERY DAY TEND TO BE FASTER THAN THE LAZIER (OR BUSIER) OF US!

HOW OFTEN DO YOU CUBE WHAT IS THE LONGEST BREAK

4+ hours every day 5% I am unable to stop! 12% A couple of hours A couple of days 22% 24% every day A couple of weeks 17% One hour each day 33% A couple of months 13% I do a handful of 27% Half a year 10% solves every day A year or so 9% Once per week 6% More than a year 16% More rarely 5% Several years 1% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

GLOBAL 3X3 AVERAGE BY CUBING AMOUNT

More rarely 19.0

Once per week 19.1

I do a handful of solves every day 19.0 Hardcore cubers doing 4+ hours a One hour each day 17.4 day tend to be more at the beginning 17.0 4+ hours every day of their cubing career, hence the A couple of hours every day 16.4 slightly slower averages than people 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 cubing slightly less time per day.

12 MOSTLY WE CUBE AT HOME : WHEN WE'RE OUTSIDE HALF OF US DON'T BRING ANY CUBES!

HOW MANY PUZZLES DO YOU WHERE DO YOU USUALLY CUBE? USUALLY CARRY WITH YOU?

At home 64% 0 53%

In public (when I'm waiting 18% 1-2 40% / when I'm bored)

At school, during breaks 18% 3-5 5%

In public (all the time) 11% 6-10 1%

At school, while in class 7% 11+ 0%

0% 25% 50% 75% 0% 25% 50% 75%

GLOBAL 3X3 AVERAGE BY AMOUNT OF CUBES USUALLY CARRIED

0 17.3

1-2 18.2 The data is in ! The more 3-5 17.9 cubes you have on you, the faster you will be! 6-10 14.9 (Note: that's a joke) 0 15 30 45 60

13 THE FASTER OF US TEND TO TIME MORE SOLVES, BUT THE FASTEST ONES DON'T FORGET UNTIMED SOLVES; THE DRAGONS TEND TO SKEW MORE TIMED THAN THE ALIENS

"WHEN I CUBE, I..." SOME REGIONAL DIFFERENCES

...only do untimed solves 2%

...mostly do untimed solves 18% ...do timed and untimed 25% solves in equal part ...mostly do timed solves 46% 59% 49% ...only do timed solves do mostly or only do mostly or only 10% timed solves timed solves 0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

GLOBAL 3X3 AVERAGE BY TYPE OF CUBING ACTIVITY ...only do untimed solves 35.0

...m..o.osntly do untimed solves 23.8 35.0

...do timed and u.n..tmi.m.o.osentdly s dolov eusn itnim eeqdu aslo plvaerst 19.203.8 35.0 The fastest cubers do

...do timed and u.n..tmimose..td.loy sn dolylov deuosn itnim eeqdu aslo plvaerst 151.39.203.8 mostly timed solves, but not only, putting in some ...do timed and untime..d.o snolylv deos itnim eeqdu aslo plvaerst 11561..390.0 ...mostly do timed solves untimed practice seems ...m..o.osntly do timed solves0 111565..30 30 45 60 to be useful!

...mostly do timed solves0 1165.0 30 45 60 0 15 30 45 60

14 IF YOU NEED TO PROVE THAT CUBING IS A SOCIAL ACTIVITY : A LOT OF US STARTED BECAUSE WE SAW SOMEONE CUBING, AND MOST OF US HAVE CUBING FRIENDS

HOW DID YOU HAVE YOU EVER INTRODUCED DISCOVER CUBING? SOMEONE TO CUBING?

I saw someone solving and got interested 39% 82% My parents got me a cube Yes 22% and I started from there A friend/family 21% introduced me to it

I saw a video on youtube 17% 18% / a documentary No 0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

DO YOU HAVE FRIENDS IRL HOW DID THE COVID19 PANDEMIC WITH WHOM YOU CUBE? INFLUENCE YOUR CUBING?

No 37% I cube more 56%

Yes, many 36% I cube less 14%

Yes, but only one 23% About the same 6% I started during Other 4% 21% the lockdowns 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% Other 5%

0% 15% 30% 45% 60%

15 AND WE WONDER WHY NORMIES FIND OUR CUBING DISCUSSIONS DIFFICULT TO FOLLOW...

WHAT DO YOU DISCUSS WITH DO YOUR PARENTS / FAMILY SUPPORT FRIENDS (IRL OR ONLINE) ? YOUR PASSION FOR CUBING?

Yes, I share with them ...algorithms 64% my achievements, PBs, ... 40% ...methods 59% They are ok with me cubing but I do not talk to them about it 45% ...top cubers & records 46% They do not like much the 12% ...hardware 41% fact that I spend time cubing ...speed-cubing related youtubers 21% They are against / forbid me cubing 1%

Other 3% Other 1%

Dragons Aliens DO YOU FOLLOW ANY CUBER / MANUFACTURER SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT? 67% Algorithms 57%

62% Methods 51% Cubers Manufacturers Stores

36% Hardware 56% No 31% 50% Top cubers & records 38% 45% 41%

OPEN 19% Cubing Youtubers 28% 55% 59% 69% Yes

Dragons are more interested in algs, methods and records; Aliens discuss more about hardware and youtubers

16 A BUNCH OF US LEARNED FROM YOUTUBE, BUT SOME LEARNED IN OTHER WAYS, AND MOST OF US LIKE TO DISCOVER THINGS ON OUR OWN

HAVE YOU EVER SOLVED A PUZZLE HOW DID YOU LEARN COMPLETELY ON YOUR OWN HOW TO SOLVE THE CUBE? WITHOUT ANY HELP OR TUTORIALS?

Watching youtube videos 57% No 31%

A friend/family showed me 16%

From the small leafet that 14% came with my cube 69% Yes From a book 7%

I learned on my own trying 5% things out on the cube IN GENERAL, WHEN FACED WITH A NEW PUZZLE, WHICH DO YOU DO FIRST? Asking questions on 1% our online community

0% 15% 30% 45% 60% Look up 38% a solution Figure it I guess cube manufacturers will be out on my happy someone actually uses those! 62% own

17 FEW OF US HAVE GONE TO COMPS : WE GET THE BUG WHEN WE AVERAGE SUB20, AND THE FASTEST OF US ARE THE ONES WHO HAVE GONE MOST OFTEN

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN AT A WCA COMPETITION? AT WHICH TIER OF COMPETITION DID YOU GO?

Yes, all the time when I can 12% Local Comp 100%

Yes, once or twice 17% National Comp 19%

No, but I want to go to one. 53% Continental Comp 6%

Worlds 6% No, never been 18% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 0% 15% 30% 45% 60%

HAVE YOU READ THE WCA REGULATIONS? GLOBAL 3X3 AVERAGE BY COMP PARTICIPATION Yes! 25%

60 Yes, even though 31% I've never competed. 45 What I need to 22% 30 27.0 know for my events 19.5 No, but I've 15 14.7 20% 13.0 never competed.

0 Yes, all the Yes, once No, but I No, never No, even 2% time when or twice want to go been though I compete. I can to one. 0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

18 Chapter 3 :

SOLVING AND TIMES ONLY ABOUT 1/4 OF US PRACTICE ONLY ONE PUZZLE : FOR EVERYONE ELSE, ONCE WE GET HOOKED WE HAVE TO DIVERSIFY!

WHICH PUZZLES DO YOU # OF DIFFERENT PUZZLES ROUTINELY PRACTICE? PRACTICED

3x3 94% 2x2 41% 27% 4x4 36% OH 27% Pyraminx 20% 19% 17% 5x5 18% Skewb 14% 12% Megaminx 11% 8% Square-1 10% 6% 3BLD 9% 3% 2% Clock 8% 1% 2% 6x6 7% 7x7 7% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+ FMC 3% MBLD 1% 4BLD 1% 5BLD 1% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

3.2 3.1 different puzzles different puzzles practiced practiced

20 3BLD AND FMC ARE THE MOST ENTICING EVENTS, SQUAN AND PYRA THE MOST DISLIKED AFTER BEING TRIED

WHICH EVENTS WOULD YOU WHICH EVENTS DID YOU LIKE TO TRY BUT HAVE NOT YET? TRY BUT DIDN'T LIKE?

3BLD 37% Square-1 16% FMC 35% Pyraminx 16% Clock 31% Skewb 15% Square-1 28% Megaminx 14% MBLD 25% 6x6 10% 4BLD 24% 7x7 10% 5BLD 24% 5x5 9% 7x7 21% 2x2 9% 6x6 19% OH 8% Skewb 18% 3BLD 8% Megaminx 17% 4x4 8% 5x5 14% Clock 6% OH 12% FMC 6% Pyraminx 11% MBLD 5% 4x4 9% 4BLD 4% 2x2 5% 5BLD 4% Other 2% Other 2% 3x3 2% 3x3 1% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 0% 4% 8% 12% 16%

Note: the vast majority of us DON'T have an event that we tried but disliked, goes to show that we tend to like what we try!

21 THE OLDER WE GET, THE LARGER THE CUBES BECOME, IN GENERAL SOME EVENTS TEND TO SKEW YOUNGER OR OLDER, RARELY BOTH (WITH THE EXCEPTION OF TRUSTY OLD 3X3)

98% 100% 100% 97% 95% 96% 94% % OF CUBERS PRACTICING 90% 89% 89% 88% EVENTS BY AGE GROUP 75%

50% 3X3 60% 52% 2X2 25% 46% 45% 0% 39% 38% 14- 15-16 17-18 19-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-50 51+ 33% 40% 39% 30% 28% 27% 24% 30% 29% 26% 25% 25% PYRA 19% 15% 14% 20% 17% 18% 18% 7% 12% 10% 0% 0% 14- 15-16 17-18 19-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-50 51+ 14- 15-16 17-18 19-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-50 51+

40%

31% 31% 30% 28% 29% OH 40% LARGE CUBES 26% 24% 25%

(6X6+) 20% 30% 27% 10% 9% 9% 9%

0% 20% 18% 14- 15-16 17-18 19-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-50 51+ 16% 14% 40% 11% 12% 11% 3BLD 10% 6% 7% 30% 20% 21% 19% 18% N/A0% 20% 0% 15% 14- 15-16 17-18 19-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-50 51+ 10% 10% 9% 8% 9% 5%

0% 14- 15-16 17-18 19-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-50 51+

22 DIFFERENT PUZZLES TAKE DIFFERENT TIMES TO SOLVE, GIVING US PLENTY OF DIVERSITY AND NUANCE 3X3 GLOBAL AVERAGE

GAP BETWEEN AVERAGES AND SINGLES Fast people are fast: typing WPM speed 13.4 is inversely correlated to cubing times 17.7 11.1 15.0 16.2 17.7 Single AO5 AO12 AO100 63% 85% 92% 100%

24.0 Words per minute Words

25% 25% 25% 25% 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 Global 3x3 Avg

SMALL PUZZLES AVERAGES LARGE PUZZLES AVERAGES

60 10m 50 8m 40 36.7 6m 5m 30s 30 30.0 4m 3m 50s 20 17.7 13.9 2m 2m 1s 10 8.9 9.4 2m 5.8 1m 7s 0 0s 2x2 Pyraminx Skewb Clock 3x3 OH Square-1 4x4 5x5 Mega 6x6 7x7 (AO100) (AO12) (AO12) (AO12) (AO100) (AO100) (AO12) (AO12) (AO12) (AO12) (AO12) (AO12) OH 6 7

23 SUB 10 IS THE MOST SOUGHT AFTER TARGET AVERAGE. IN GENERAL WE AIM AT SLIGHTLY BELOW THE HALF OF OUR CURRENT TIMES

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR 3X3 CURRENT AVERAGE GLOBAL AVERAGE TO BE, ULTIMATELY? BY DESIRED TARGET

I don't care 2% Sub 60 62.4 Sub60 is only the As fast as I can be first step: as soon 27% Sub 30 58.1 Sub 60 1% as we get below it, Sub 20 38.5 Sub 30 2% we set our target Sub 15 26.3 Sub 20 6% to 30! Sub 15 9% Sub 12 21.3 Sub 12 6% Sub 10 18.4 Sub 10 27% Sub 8 17.3 AVERAGE Sub 8 18% Sub 7 9.8 Sub 7 0% TARGET Sub 6 1% Sub 6 17.3 Sub 5 0% Sub 5 15.1 0% 10% 20% 30% 44% of current times Gotta love the optimism here! DO YOU CONSIDER

YOURSELF FAST? HOW FAST ARE THE FAST ONES?

60 No, I'm slow 22% 50 40 No, I think I'm medium speed 56% 30 24.0 There's some Yes, somewhat fast 20% 20 18.0 14.5 humble people 10 12.5 Yes, quite fast 2% around here! 0 No, I'm No, I think Yes, Yes, quite Slow I'm medium somewhat fast speed fast

24 AGE MATTERS : THE YOUNGER WE START, THE FASTER WE IMPROVE! AND FROM 25 ON SPEED STARTS DIPPING EVER SO SLOWLY (AND THEN NOT SO SLOWLY ANYMORE)

3X3 GLOBAL AVERAGE GLOBAL AVERAGE BY AMOUNT BY AGE GROUP OF CUBING EXPERIENCE

90 60 Median Cubers (50%) 80 -14 70 50 15-16 60 70.0 40 17-18 50 19-20 40 30 21-25 29.5 26-30 30 20 20 19.1 20.8 20.1 31-35 18.0 16.0 15.0 15.3 17.5 36-40 10 10 41+ 0 14- 15-16 17-18 19-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-50 51+ 0 1 month 6 months 1 year 2 years 4 years 6-10 years

Top25% Cubers 60 The average cubers -14 take 4 years the get 50 15-16 to their bests times, 40 17-18 19-20 30 it takes less time for 21-25 the fastest ones 20 26-30 10 31-35 36-40 0 1 month 6 months 1 year 2 years 4 years 6-10 years 41+

25 5X5 AND 4X4 GO HAND IN HAND, SO DO SKEWB, PYRA AND 2X2 : BEING GOOD AT ONE MEANS BEING GREAT AT THE OTHERS TOO

CORRELATION ACROSS EVENTS 2x2 3x3 4x4 5x5 6x6 7x7 OH Pyra Skewb Sq1 Mega

2x2

3x3 56%

4x4 54% 36%

5x5 48% 24% 81%

One-Handed tends to be a thing 6x6 13% 15% 11% 9% of its own: being good at it doesn't tell us much about how 7x7 23% 35% 46% 48% 10% we do on the other puzzles OH 11% 14% 16% 12% -1% -1%

Pyra 74% 56% 39% 63% -2% 10% 8%

Skewb 78% 53% 26% 47% -2% 5% 7% 87%

Sq1 39% 39% 36% 40% 63% 64% 22% 48% 53% Squan and Mega are for the well rounded: being good at them means Mega 46% 60% 63% 66% 2% 61% 16% 46% 56% 58% we're kinda good everywhere.

26 Chapter 4 :

OTHER EVENTS FOR 2X2, PBL AND CLL ARE THE "FASTER" ALGSETS, AVERAGING ALMOST HALF A SECOND FASTER THAN OTHER ALGSETS/METHODS

GLOBAL 2X2 WHAT 2X2 ALGSETS AVERAGE DO YOU KNOW & USE?

Cubers regularly practicing 2x2 OLL 60% Everyone PLL 56% 5.66 EG 28% Dragons Aliens 5.66 5.66 CLL 27% PBL 21%

25 Ortega 19% Other 3% 20

15 2X2 GLOBAL AVERAGE BY ALG KNOWLEDGE 10 6.53 5.58 5.50 5.38 5.40 5.01 5.00 5.66 4.68 5 4.34 5.00

0 AO5 AO12 Global

None OLL PLL Ortega EG PBL CLL Other

28 A LOT OF US ARE USING BEGINNER OR LBL FOR PYRAMINX, AND SOME OF US ARE PUTTING IN A LOT MORE TIME IN IT THAN FOR 3X3

PYRAMINX HOW DO YOU TYPICALLY AVERAGE SOLVE PYRAMINX?

Cubers regularly practicing Pyraminx LBL 57% Everyone 7.98 Bob Burton 41% Dragons Aliens L4E (Polish V) 27% 7.98 7.79 Keyhole 22%

Oka 16%

3X3 VS PYRA PERFORMANCE Other 3% 30

20

10 As a general rule, the faster we are at 3x3, the faster we become at Pyraminx as well Pyraminx Average Pyraminx 0 However, the spread of the data shows that some 0 15 30 45 people get really good at pyraminx even though their 3x3 Global Average 3x3 speed is average

29 A ROSE, BY ANY OTHER NAME... A LOT OF SKEWBERS ARE 2X2ERS IN DISGUISE, AND THEIR TIMES TEND TO MATCH QUITE WELL!

SKEWB HOW DO YOU TYPICALLY AVERAGE SOLVE SKEWB?

Cubers regularly practicing Skewb Sarah's Everyone Beginner 63% 14.3 8.15 Sarah's 29% 7.2 Dragons Aliens Intermediate

8.00 8.91 Sarah's 3% Advanced 4.2

SKEWB VS PYRA PERFORMANCE Other 5% 25.5 60

OVERLAP BETWEEN THE TWO EVENTS 40

20 40%

Pyraminx Average Pyraminx 45% 0 15% 0 10 20 30 40 Skewb Average Pyraminx Skewb 30 SOLVING ONE-HANDED TAKES TWICE AS LONG AS TWO-HANDED, EVEN FOR THE FASTEST AMONG US... WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT :D

OH ONE HANDED PREFERRED AVERAGE HAND FOR OH

Cubers regularly practicing OH Everyone Left Right 27.6 77% Both 14% Dragons Aliens 29.0 25.6 9%

Left-Handed Right-Handed OH VS 2H RATIO 92% 3% 77% 15%

Sub10 Sub30 Sup30 5% 8% solvers solvers solvers Ambidextrous 1.8x 1.9x 2.1x (self-declared) 68% 13% How slow are OH times for each solver compared to their 2H times, 19% by 3x3(2H) sub group

At least those of us who like to call ourselves ambidextrous actually use both hands more frequently than the others!

31 SQUAN : WE SHOULDN'T WAIT TO THE END FOR PARITY, AND WE HAVE TO PING- PONG WHEN SLICING; ALSO VANDERBERG LOOKS TO BE THE WAY TO GET FAST!

SQUARE-1 HOW DO YOU TYPICALLY AVERAGE SOLVE SQUAN?

Cubers regularly practicing Square-1 Beginner 49% 50.9 Everyone Vandenbergh 44% 24.7 35.7 Lin 4% 35.0 Dragons Aliens 39.8 34.6 LBL 1% 48.8 Roux'n'screw 1% N/A WHEN DO YOU DO PARITY? Other 3% 38.4

During CS 4% 15.9 HOW DO YOU SLICE? After CS 3% 45.0

During CP 4% 34.6 Western Polish During EP 10% 26.1 80% 20%

At the end 68% 41.2 Alternate Always directions Clockwise I just DNF 11% 32.5 35.0 56.7

32 WE ALL USE YAU, BUT WHEN WE DON'T, WE TEND TO BE (ON AVERAGE) FASTER!

4X4 HOW DO YOU AVERAGE TYPICALLY SOLVE 4X4?

Cubers regularly practicing 4x4 Yau 72.5% Everyone 63s Reduction 32.0% Dragons Aliens Meyer 2.6% 64s 62s Hoya 1.5%

4m K4 1.3%

Other 3.0% 3m

4X4 AVERAGE BY METHOD USED 2m 87.6

1m 3s 66.5 1m 1m 61.0 59.5 58.0 60.0 60.2

0s AO5 AO12

None Yau Redux Meyer Hoya K4 Other

33 MOST OF US DON'T USE A PARTICULAR METHOD FOR MEGAMINX S2L, BUT WE REALLY SHOULD : ON AVERAGE WE'RE ALMOST 1/5 FASTER WHEN WE DO!

MEGAMINX HOW DO YOU SOLVE... AVERAGE Cubers regularly practicing Megaminx S2L No method 67% Westlund 22% 1m Yu Da-Hyun 3% Bálint 1% 39s ZZ-Spike 1% Dragons Aliens 1m 35s 1m 42s Other 6% LAST LAYER 4 Look LL 67% MEGA VS 7X7 PERFORMANCE 400 2 Look LL 14% Smth. more 6% 300 adv. than 4LLL Beginner 3% 200 Other 12%

100

Megaminx Average NO S2L ANY S2L 0 0 500 1000 1500 2000 METHOD METHOD 7X7 Average 1m 53s 1m 32s Megaminx and 7x7 performance is highly -19% correlated: Being good at one usually means being good at the other

34 ON LARGER CUBES MORE OF US USE REDUCTION, BUT YAU5 IS A TINY BIT FASTER, ALSO DRAGONS START TO HAVE A SMALL EDGE ON THE ALIENS

5X5 HOW DO YOU AVERAGE TYPICALLY SOLVE 5X5?

Cubers regularly practicing 5x5 1m Reduction 59.3% Yau 36.6%

Dragons 55s Aliens Yau5 17.2% 1m 50s 1m 57s Meyer 1.8%

Hoya 1.1% 6m Other 4.4% 5m

4m 5X5 AVERAGE BY METHOD USED 3m 191.4

1m 55s 2m 1m 50s 126.5 109.8 110.8 108.8 118.0 1m

0s AO5 AO12

Redux Yau Yau5 Hoya Meyer Other 35 THE DRAGONS FLY AHEAD ON THE LARGEST CUBES, WHERE REDUCTION IS BOTH THE MOST USED AND THE FASTEST METHOD

BIG CUBES HOW DO YOU TYPICALLY AVERAGE SOLVE 6X6, 7X7 ?

Cubers regularly practicing 6x6 or 7x7 6X6 3m 29s Reduction 69.4% 7X7 4m 58s Yau 28.4% 3m 11s 6X6 3m 47s Hoya 2.2% 4m 40s 7X7 5m 50s Meyer 1.5%

6X6 VS 7X7 PERFORMANCE Other 9.7% 600

450 6X6 & 7X7 AVERAGE BY METHOD USED 300 373 312 289 280

6X6 Average 150 243 243 191 216 0 0 250 500 750 Yup : good at one,. good 7X7 Average 6x6 7x7 at the other big cube Redux Yau Hoya Other 36 HALF OF US HAVE TRIED TO BLINDSOLVE A 3X3, MOSTLY WITHOUT SUCCESS YET; WE'VE HAD MORE LUCK WITH 2X2

DO YOU KNOW HOW TO SOLVE A CUBE BLINDFOLDED? 3BLD AVERAGE

No Cubers regularly practicing 3BLD but I'd like 27% 27% Yes to learn Everyone 2m 10s

Dragons Aliens 13% 2m 9s 2m 11s No 33% Yes but I've never succeeded WHICH EVENTS HAVE YOU SUCCESSFULLY SOLVED BLINDFOLDED? WHAT IS THE MAIN DETERRENT KEEPING YOU FROM LEARNING BLD? 2x2x2 28.1% 3x3x3 26.8% No Time 47% 4x4x4 3.2% Too diffcult 27% 5x5x5 0.6% 6x6x6 0.4% No interest 13% 7x7x7 0.3% I'm too new to cubing 12% Skewb 1.7% Other 1% Other 2.6%

37 MOST OF US USE OLD POCHMAN, BUT WE'RE FASTER WITH 3-STYLE; WHEN IT COMES TO PARITY, WE MAKE PLENTY OF DIFFERENT CHOICES

WHICH METHOD DO YOU USE? WHICH M2 PARITY ALG DO YOU LIKE BEST?

64% OP M2 U' M U2 M U' M' U2 M' U2 45% 3m 36s 29% 3-Style 12% 15% 1m 38s Just memo UB/UL swapped 23% 4% M2 / R2 2m 18s 20% D' L2 D M2 D' L2 D 22% 4% Orozco 1% 1m 48s R perm 1% 14% 3OP 1% 3m 3s 1% UrM or UFM 6% Eka 2m 10s 1% Corners 15% Edges Other 6% Others 16% 2m 20s

3BLD VS 3X3 PERFORMANCE 600

450 A bit all over the place : Being good 300 at 3x3 doesn't necessarily translate to great 3BLD performance 150 3BLD Average 0 0 15 30 45 60 3x3 Average 38 WE START MEMORISING CORNERS BUT SWITCH FOR EXECUTION, AND WHILE ALIENS STICK TO ONE COLOR, DRAGONS LIKE MORE VARIETY

MOST USED COLOR MEMORISATION EXECUTION ORIENTATIONS ORDER ORDER Edges Yellow Top White Top Edges Red Front Green Front First First 80% 36%

64% 32% 83% 20% of Dragons of Aliens Corners First Corners Yellow-Blue 11% White-Red 5% First White-Green 9% White-Blue 3% Yellow-Green 6% Blue-White 2% MEMORISATION TECHNIQUE White-Red 5% White-Blue 4% Sentences 36%

LETTER SCHEME Visual 22%

16% Speffz 66% Audio 19% Chinese 43% Encoding Memory Modifed Palace 17% 16% Speffz 15% Other 6% 25% Other 19% Sentences are used by many, but by far not by most : to each their own way to learn and memorise! 39 WHILE SOME OF US ARE VERY GOOD AT BIGGER CUBES AND MULTI-BLIND; 2X2 IS NOT TAKEN SUPER-SERIOUSLY AS A CANDIDATE FOR OFFICIALDOM

WOULD YOU LEARN 2BLD IF IT WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT 2BLD? BECAME AN OFFICIAL EVENT?

I have no strong opinion on it. 30% Yes 29% It's okay as a stepping stone to 3BLD or for a small confdence boost. 27% 39% Maybe I like it, and hope it becomes an event. 19%

It's a bit silly, just practice corners only on a 3x3 instead 13%

I like it, but it clearly should No 32% never become an event. 11%

4BLD 5BLD MBLD

Cubers regularly practicing 4BLD Cubers regularly practicing 5BLD Cubers regularly practicing MBLD

Everyone Everyone Everyone 6m 21m 12pts 42s Dragons Aliens Dragons Aliens Dragons Aliens 2m 56s 7m 3s 4m 36s 26m 50s 12 pts 11pts

There are about 2x to 3x more Aliens doing 4BLD,5BLD, which explains the big difference: less "not so fast yet" solvers among the aliens are bringing the average up! 40 SOME EVENTS ARE SOMEWHAT NICHE, BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN THEY DON'T HAVE NUANCE!

CLOCK FMC

Cubers regularly practicing Clock Cubers regularly practicing FMC

Everyone Everyone 12.58 29 Dragons Aliens Dragons Mo3 32.5 Aliens 12.69 12.29 31 35 28 32

FMC RESULTS BY AGE 37 After a shamefully long 31 29 25 time thinking about 20 18 what to put here, we decided that Clock had 14- 15-16 17-18 19-20 21-25 26+ all the space it requires FMC RESULTS BY GENDER 29 And this after I went through all the 20 trouble of making an icon for it (-_-) N/A You go girl! Male Female Fabulous

41 Chapter 5 :

ALGS KNOWLEDGE MANY OF US DABBLE IN SEVERAL METHODS, BUT END UP MAINING CFOP; DRAGONS ARE A BIT MORE OPEN TO LEARNING OTHER WAYS TO SOLVE THE CUBE

WHAT 3X3 METHODS WHAT IS YOUR MAIN DO YOU KNOW? 3X3 METHOD?

Beginners 91% CFOP 81% CFOP 92% Beginners 8% Roux 76% Roux 4% ZZ 43% ZZ 1% Corners First 37% 3-Style 28% Petrus 0% CFCE 22% Other 1% Petrus 14% Method Neutral 4% Belt 11% Columns frst 5% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Heise 4% 3x3 Ortega 4% Other 3% 3X3 GLOBAL AVERAGE BY MAIN METHOD 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Beginners 40.5

Dragons Aliens Method Neutral 21.0 91% CFOP 95% 3-Style 21.5 91% Beginners 90% 86% Roux 53% CFOP 17.0 49% ZZ 30% 46% Corners First 13% 14.5 36% 3-Style 7% Roux 28% CFCE 7% 13.6 11% Petrus 23% ZZ 7% Belt 19% 5% Columns first 5% Petrus 12.8 3% Heise 5% 3% 3x3 Ortega 5% 0 15 30 45 60 5% Other 0%

Note: It is not surprising that the averages for niche methods is lower than CFOP, there are almost 100x more people maining it, which means a far larger distribution of good and not so good cubers

43 ABOUT HALF OF US ARE PARTLY OR FULLY COLOR NEUTRAL, THE DRAGONS ARE THE KINGS OF SINGLE COLOR SOLVING

COLOR NEUTRALITY (ALL METHODS) Dual Color/ Orient. 31% Fixed Color/ Orient. 52% 60% Fixed 36% 30% Dual 35% 17% Full Color 11% Full 29% Neutral

CFOP CROSS ROUX ZZ COLOR NEUTRALITY NEUTRALITY

White 82% Fixed 44% Fixed 49% Yellow 37% x2 y 30% x2 y 20% Green 14% y 29% y 21% Blue 15% y2 14% y2 16% Red 13% x2 y2 11% x2 y2 11% Orange 13% Other 5% Other 7%

44 WE START BECOMING COLOR NEUTRAL AT AROUND SUB60, BY SUB18 MORE THAN HALF OF US ARE DUAL OR FULLY CN

GLOBAL AVERAGE BY COLOR NEUTRALITY BY COLOR NEUTRALITY AVERAGE GROUP 60 Sub120 100% 50 Sub90 100% Sub60 78% 11% 11% 40 Sub50 70% 13% 17% Sub40 61% 17% 22% 30 Sub30 56% 32% 11% 20 19.0 Sub25 58% 30% 12% 17.0 15.6 Sub20 54% 24% 22% 10 Sub19 52% 28% 19% Sub18 42% 39% 19% 0 Single Full Dual Sub17 46% 35% 18% Sub16 28% 53% 19% Sub15 43% 43% 13% Sub14 45% 38% 18% Sub12 48% 41% 11% Sub13 37% 42% 21% Sub11 49% 40% 11% Sub10 53% 29% 18% Too few of us are Sub9 29% 33% 38% this fast, that makes Sub8 50% 50% the data here very Sub7 50% 50% sketchy

45 LEARNING A COUPLE OF ALGS EVERY DAY SEEMS TO BE A GOOD STRATEGY, MOSTLY LOOKING THEM UP ON A SCREEN; AND MOST OF US LIKE TO DISCOVER/CREATE ALGS ON OUR OWN

HOW DO YOU LEARN WHAT TOOLS DO YOU USE TO NEW ALGORITHMS HELP YOU LEARN NEW ALGS?

I look at algsheets on One or two algs every day and 62% drill them until I know them 41% my computer/smartphone I use an alg-trainer I learn a whole case-set at once 38% 10% (software / website) and repeat it over multiple days I look at youtube 36% videos with algs A bit of both 45% I use algsheets made 31% by other cubers Other 1% I print out algsheets, 29% make fipcards I make my 23% own algsheets HAVE YOU EVER COME UP WITH AN I use a smart-cube 17% ALGORITHM OF YOUR OWN? & trainer or modifed an existing one you already knew Other 2% Yes 19% I used tools No to help me 38%

34% No 48% Yes 42% (no tools) 39% Yes 43% Yes Without 24% (w tools) 13% using any tools

46 MANY FAST LADS ARE 2-LOOKING OLL EVEN AT SUB15 AND LOWER; FULL PLL IS UBIQUITOUS FROM SUB20 ONWARD; DRAGONS TEND TO LEARN FULL OLL SOONER THAN ALIENS

WHAT 3X3 ALGSETS DO YOU KNOW? 2-LOOK VS FULL ALGSETS BY SPEED

Full PLL 71% OLL PLL Full OLL 51% 2-Look 2-Look 2-Look OLL 37% Sub120 29% Full 14% Full 2-Look PLL 33% Sub90 54% 23% 39% 23% COLL (some) 23% Sub60 29% 12% 24% 12% ZBLL (some) 16% Sub50 39% 20% 32% 26% CMLL 7% Sub40 39% 21% 39% 33% Winter Variations 7% Sub30 36% 29% 32% 63% Other 6% Sub25 40% 40% 20% 80% COLL (all) 6% Sub20 45% 55% 19% 81% VHLS 6% Sub19 37% 50% 12% 88% VLS 3% Sub18 38% 62% 11% 89% ZBL (all) 1% Sub17 35% 54% 15% 85% Sub16 34% 66% 16% 84% Dragons Aliens Sub15 30% 70% 7% 93% 69% Full PLL 74% Sub14 20% 80% 6% 94% 18% 2-Look OLL 58% Sub13 10% 90% 22% 72% 54% Full OLL 42% 16% 2-Look PLL 26% Sub12 22% 64% 100% 22% COLL (some) 25% Sub11 18% 82% 16% 84% 17% ZBLL (some) 11% 6% CMLL 11% Sub10 8% 92% 5% 95% 6% WV 8% Sub9 14% 86% 9% 91% 6% COLL (all) 6% Sub8 100% 100% 6% Other 6% 7% VHLS 3% Sub7 100% 100% 4% VLS 1% 1% ZBLLZBL ( a(all)ll) 0%

47 COLL AND ZBLL ARE THE PURVIEW OF OUR FASTER SOLVERS, WITH LITTLE OVERLAP; HEADLIGHTS CASES TAKE THE LEAD FOR BOTH ALGSETS

COLL ZBLL COLL CASES ZBLL CASES KNOWN 4% KNOWN Among cubers who know some COLL 15% 12% Among cubers who know some ZBLL U (Headlights) H (DblSune) U (Headlights) S (Sune)

69% 60% Sub120 Some COLL Sub120 14% ZBLL 61% 48% Sub90 15% 8%All Sub90 T (Chameleon) S (Sune) Sub60 15% Sub60 T (Chameleon) AS (Antisune) Sub50 6%6% Sub50 4% Sub40 8%2% Sub40 1% Sub30 15% 2% Sub30 8% Sub25 12%2% Sub25 10% 31% 56% 54% Sub20 23% 6% Sub20 23% 42% Sub19 23% 1% Sub19 22% Pi L (Bowtie) H (DblSune) Pi Sub18 21% 3% Sub18 18% Sub17 27% 1% Sub17 12% Sub16 30% 10% Sub16 34% Sub15 25% 6% Sub15 14% 50% 46% Sub14 42% 6% Sub14 27% 28% 25% Sub12 37% 8% Sub12 23% AS (Antisune) L (Bowtie) Sub13 42% 16% Sub13 25% Sub11 46% 12% Sub11 34% Sub10 58% 18% Sub10 40% Sub9 32% 27% Sub9 55% 42% Sub8 67% 33% Sub8 67% 24% Sub7 75% Sub7 75%

48 Chapter 6 :

CUBING HARDWARE ALMOST ALL OF US HAVE A MAGNETIC CUBE (WITH ADJUSTABLE MAGNETS MOSTLY); ONLY THE FASTEST AMONG US TEND TO MAGNETISE IT OURSELVES

DO YOU OWN A 3X3 GLOBAL AVG MAGNETIC CUBE? BY TYPE OF CUBE 37.6

Yes Yes 11% Magnetized 18.0 14.9 Factory- 83% it myself magnetized 6% No Not Factory Magnetized Magnetic Magnetized myself

TYPES OF MAGNETS DO YOU LIKE THE FEELING OF MAGNETIC CUBES?? Never Tried Adjustable Never 41% magnets Tried 33% Non- 6% Big Adjustable 59% 3x3 1% magnets 93% Cubes No 65% 2% Yes Yes No

50 DRAGONS ARE ALL FOR STRONG MAGNETS, ALIENS PREFER THEM MEDIUM; LIGHT AND ACCURATE TURNING STYLE USUALLY LEADS TO THE FASTEST AVERAGES

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR TURNING STYLE? YOUR MAGNETS?

None! Weak 1% Weak None! Don't really have one 31% 7% 3%1% Medium

Light & accurate 23% 24% 33% Light Light but Medium & Accurate imprecise Light but imprecise 20% 63% 68% Rough & imprecise 15% Strong Strong 5%1% Rough but accurate 12% 3%2%

Rough Rough but 48% 38% & Accurate 3X3 GLOBAL AVG imprecise 57% 47% Medium

BY TURNING STYLE Strong Strong

60

50

40

30 19.6 20 18.4 17.9 17.1 16.4 76% Strong 23% 10 23% Medium 60% 0 Don't really Light but Rough & Rough but Light & Weak have one imprecise imprecise accurate accurate 1% 15%

51 STICKERLESS HAS BECOME THE DEFAULT BY NOW, WITH COLOURED INTERNALS WHEN POSSIBLE, AND DOES SEEM TO BE A BIT FASTER THAN THE OTHERS

HOW DO YOU LIKE HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR YOUR (WCA) CUBES? NON-WCA PUZZLES?

Stickerless Stickered Tiled Stickerless Stickered Tiled 86% 11% 1% 69% 18% 1%

AND THE INTERNALS? 3X3 GLOBAL AVG YOU PREFER YOUR 60 BY TYPE OF CUBE FOR SQUAN... 50

Primary/ Colored Black White 40 With 59% 39% 2% 30% 30% with 30 Black White / Yellow 20 17.7 18.5 19.4

10

0 40% Stickerless Stickered Other No preference

52 ABOUT 1 IN 9 OF US LIKE TO PLAY AROUND WITH MODS AND QUIRKY CUBES, BUT WE TEND TO START WHEN WE'RE A BIT OLDER

DO YOU OWN A HAND-MADE HAVE YOU EVER DONE OR 3D PRINTED CUBE? SOME MODDING?

Yes, bought 4% Yes, made it myself 5% Yes 11% Yes, other 1% No 76% MOST FREQUENT MODS No, but plan on getting one 11% No, but plan on making one 2% Bandaged Siamese Force Cube Cubes Cubes

HAVE YOU MAGNETISED AGE OF MODDERS A CUBE BY YOURSELF? Modder Non-Modder Modder Non-Modder

19.6 18.3 20% 9% years old years old Magnetisation is the gateway drug to modding!

53 SPRING ADJUSTMENTS HAVE BECOME A MUST, FOR MAGNETS IT'S NOT SO CLEAR YET; WHEN WE GET FAST ENOUGH WE KIND OF GET LAZY AND DON'T MIND GETTING CUBES ALREADY SET UP

DO YOU OWN A PUZZLE WITH DOES INTERCHANGEABLE HARDWARE MAKE YOU MORE ADJUSTABLE HARDWARE? acheté OR LESS LIKELY TO BUY A CUBE?

Adjustable tension 54% Less More and magnets 6% 48% 84% Likely Likely Adjustable 30% tension

No 12%

No, but I sometimes 47% 4% Neutral swap out the springs

HAVE YOU EVER PURCHASED A CUBE THAT HAS BEEN PROFESSIONALLY SET UP?

60 3X3 GLOBAL AVERAGE Yes 30% 33% No 50 40

30 21.0 20 18.0 15.1 10

0 37% No I set up Yes I prefer to set up myself the cube myself

54 ONE THIRD OF US HAVE SMART CUBES, AND MOSTLY FIND IT A GOOD THING; THE FACT THAT THEY DON'T PERFORM AS WELL AS NORMAL CUBES REMAINS THE MAIN BARRIER

DO YOU OWN A SMART CUBE? WHAT DO YOU THINK A SMART CUBE IS GOOD FOR?

Analysing my solves, No, but it would be useful 46% look at time splits 67% and statistics Competing with other No, not useful 22% 56% people online

Solving without needing I have one, and it's great! 45% 20% to start/end a timer 33% I have one, but I stopped using it 13% Using alg-trainers 42%

Other 2% 60 3X3 GLOBAL AVERAGE 50

40 WHAT ARE THE DRAWBACKS OF

30 SMART CUBES?

20 17.7 19.8 17.0 14.5 The cube performance 53% 10 The battery life 44%

0 No, not useful No, but it would I have one, and I have one, but I be useful it's great! stopped using it Its weight 28%

Fast solvers tend to get bored Other 5% with smart cubes after a while

55 Chapter 7 :

OUR PUZZLE COLLECTION THE MORE PUZZLES WE HAVE, THE FASTER WE BECOME, IT'S A LAW*! ALSO, ALIENS MIGHT HAVE A HOARDING PROBLEM...

DO YOU CONSIDER HOW MANY TWISTY YOURSELF... PUZZLES DO YOU OWN?

0 3% 4% a Speedcuber 1 5% a Collector 2 5% 59% 3-5 21% 6-10 24% 11-20 19% 36% 21-50 16% 51-99 4% 100-199 3% Both 200+ 1% 0% 10% 20% 30%

MEDIAN AMOUNT OF PUZZLES OWNED GLOBAL 3X3 AVERAGE BY SIZE OF COLLECTION 0 25.0 1-2 22.0 3-5 19.5 6 20 6-10 17.7 puzzles puzzles 11-20 18.7 21-50 16.4 >50 14.8 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Seriously, *Note: obviously this just shows that those of us who have been get a grip! cubing the longest, tend to have the most puzzles and also tend to be faster on average 57 MOST OF US CAN WORK OUR WAY AROUND NEW PUZZLES, AND APPARENTLY WE FIND CUBES WITH OBLIQUE SLICES/CUTS DIFFICULT (BUT WE STILL MANAGE TO SOLVE THEM)

HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU THAT YOU COULD WHAT IS THE MOST DIFFICULT PUZZLE SOLVE ANY RANDOM TWISTY PUZZLE? YOU'VE SOLVED BY YOURSELF, IF ANY?

I can do them all! 8% Square-1 24% Axis Cube Shapemods? Pfff Easy. 11% Bandaged or jumbled? Ouch. 21% Ghost cube 11% Megaminx Mostly ok, sometimes need tutorial 37% 10% Mastermorphix 10% I'll defnitely need a tutorial 18% 7x7 5% 5x5 5% I can only do a couple 13% 34% Top 3 all have Gigaminx 5% oblique/slanted It's not a 3x3? RIP. 3% 4x4 5% slices Pyraminx 3% ARE YOU INTERESTED IN THE 3x3 3% THEORY / MATH BEHIND CUBING? 6x6 2% 2x2 2% Nah, I just like solving 21% Skewb 1% Clovers / Copters 1% I like the statistics of cubing 32% Others 3% I like to analyse specifc 28% methods or algsets I like to study how cube theory 18% relates to other domains of math

58 MANY OF US WOULD LIKE TO SEE RELAYS APPEAR IN WCA EVENTS, FEWER WOULD LIKE FEET TO COME BACK.. ALSO, THE LOVE FOR CLOCK NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE

WHICH EVENTS WOULD YOU LIKE WHICH EVENTS DO YOU FEEL TO SEE BECOME WCA EVENTS? SHOULD NOT BE WCA EVENTS?

Relays (any) 35% Clock 16% MBLD Mirror blocks 21% 10% 5BLD 8% 2x2x2 BLD 18% FMC 6% I do kinda feel 2x2x2 OH 13% 7x7 5% bad for the Kilominx 13% 4BLD 4% poor clock! 6x6 3% Mirror blocks BLD 12% Square-1 2% Team BLD 12% Skewb 2% 3x3x3 With Feet 12% 2x2 2% Pyraminx 2% FTO 7% Megaminx 1% 8x8x8 6% OH 1% Split into 2-tiers 13% 3BLD 1% 4x4 1% Add nothing! 11% 5x5 1% Other 2% 3x3 0% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 0% 4% 8% 12% 16%

TOP10 FAVORITE NON-WCA EVENTS NON-WCA PUZZLES FOR SPEEDSOLVING

Mirror Cube 18% Mirror Cube 19% 2BLD 7% Maple Leaf 9% Cuboids (2x2x3, ...) 6% Windmill 6% Maple Leaf 5% Kilominx 5% Kilominx 4% Gear Cube 4% Feet 4% Redi Cube 4% Gear Cube 4% 2x2x3 4% Redi Cube 3% Mastermorphix 4% Ghost Cube 2% 15-puzzle 3% FTO 2% Master Pyraminx 2%

59 THE ALIENS STILL HAVE A SOFT SPOT FOR THE ORIGINAL, THE DRAGONS ARE MORE ORIENTED TOWARD THE NEW GENERATIONS OF CUBES

OUR MOST WE COLLECTIVELY NOTED OWNED PUZZLES DOWN OUR COLLECTION OF Rubik's MoYu Brand RS3M MoYu Cubes RS3M Yuxin Little Gan 11MP 23'216 Magic GAN 356 XS

Tip: Don't show this to your parents/GF/Wife when they ask THE MOST OWNED BRANDS THE MOST OWNED BRANDS (ALL PUZZLES) (ALL PUZZLES) you if you really need a new cube...

MonsterGO MoHuan 0% MsCube 0% 0% MonsterGO LingAo 0% FangShi 0% KungFu MsCube Cyclone 0% Cyclone 1% 0% ShengShou X-Man GuoGuan KungFu 1% 0% 2% Yuxin 2% LingAo GuoGuan 1% FangShi 6% 1% 5% Rubik's MoHuan 0% QiYi 6% 1% 1% YJ ShengShou QiYi MFJS DaYan Yuxin 19% 13% 4% 5% 4% 4% DaYan 26% X-Man 5% 4% YJ GAN MoYu MFJS Rubik's GAN MoYu 7% 17% 18% 10% 7% 9% 20%

6 7

2x2 Pyra Skewb Squan Clock 4x4 5x5 6x6 7x7 Mega X-Man X-Man X-Man MoYu AoSu X-Man X-Man X-Man YJ MGC QiYi Valk 5 M Bell Wingy Volt V2 WRM Shadow M Spark Galaxy

X-Man must have been doing some things right at some point... 60 Chapter 8 :

OUR ONLINE COMMUNITY IES WE LOOK FOR AN ONLINE CUBING COMMUNITY ALMOST AS SOON AS WE START SPEEDCUBING, AND MANY OF US COME THERE EVERY DAY OR MORE

WHEN DID YOU FIRST DISCOVER HOW OFTEN DO YOU OUR ONLINE COMMUNITY? VISIT OUR COMMUNITY? 8% This week 2% Every. Waking. Moment 3% 3% 4% Whenever a 13% This month post appears 9% 50% 6% 49% A few times a day 22% Last 3 months 12% 23% 15% 7% Once a day 14% Last 6 months 13% 15% A few times a week 27% 31% 27% Last year 6% 26% Once a week 6% ~2 years ago 26% 16% 16% Less frequently 18% 7% ~3 years ago 7% 3% ~4 years ago WHAT CUBING COMMUNITIES 5% DO YOU VISIT? 1% ~5 years ago 3% Dragons Aliens 1% Dragons 5+ years ago 4% Aliens Bilibili 站魔⽅区 63% /r/Cubers 88% QQ魔⽅群 50% /r/Cubers Discord 30% WeChat魔⽅群 46% SpeedSolving Forums 20% SpeedSolving Forums 5% Other subreddits 19% /r/Cubers 4% My town/region's community Started TwistyPuzzles 9% 1 year Speedcubing 1.5 years 2% Cyoubx's Friends r/Cubers Discord 6% Joined 2% 1.4 years Community 1.5 years Cyoubx's Friends 1% TwistyPuzzles 3% Other 13% Other 19%

62 ONLINE COMPS ARE NOT FOR EVERYONE (YET?), THOSE OF US WHO COMPETE ONLINE TEND TO BE 1.5 YEARS OLDER THAN THOSE WHO DON'T

DO YOU PARTICIPATE WHAT MULTIPLAYER TO ONLINE COMPS? TIMER DO YOU PREFER?

Common No 84% Scramble tool csTimer 50% Cubingtime 14% cubers.io 7% LetsCube 11% cubers.io 6% speedsolving.com 2% Cube.Zone 3% Cuberslive 1% Roux Weekly Comp Aren't useful 0% on Facebook 2% Cubestation 0% Other 5% cubewithme.com 0% Other 14%

(SINCE WE'RE HERE, WHAT CUBE TIMER DO YOU USE FOR YOUR NORMAL SOLVES?) AVERAGE AGE Does online comps Doesn't csTimer (web) 60% DCTimer 39% 19.5 18.0 Twisty Timer (Android) 19% years old years old Other 13% Gan Cube Station (Android, iOS) 9% ChaoTimer (iOS) 6% qqTimer (web) 4% SpeedCubeStats Timer (web) 3% CubeTimer (iOS) 2% Cubeast (web) 2% SpeedCube Timer (Android) 2% Finger Timer (iOS) 1% Nano Timer (Android) 1%

63 WE VISIT OUR COMMUNITY ON MOBILE, ONLY SOME OF THE OLDER AMONG US STICKING TO A COMPUTER

HOW DO YOU NORMALLY HOW DO YOU NORMALLY ACCESS BILIBILI? BROWSE REDDIT? 82% 36% 82% 56%

New reddit Old Computer 36% Computer 43% 13% 56% Offcial app 3rd party Mobile App 70% Mobile App 51% 13% 64%

Mobile Web 12% Mobile Web 17%

MOBILE USAGE BY AGE MOBILE USAGE BY AGE 14- 70% 14- 65% 15-16 83% 15-16 89% 17-18 85% 17-18 86% 19-20 82% 19-20 86% 21-25 85% 21-25 80% 26-30 76% 26-30 80% 31-35 85% 31-35 78% 36-40 68% 36-40 69% 41-50 71% 41-50 71% 51+ 64% 51+ 60%

64 WE COME TO THE GROUP FOR NEW ALGS AND TUTORIALS, HARDWARE REVIEWS, OR SIMPLY TO WATCH SOLVES AND RECORDS FROM FAST(ER) CUBERS

DO YOU CHECK THE MESSAGES WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE TYPE OF OF CUBING WECHAT GROUP? CONTENT ON THE BILIBILI CUBING GROUP?

All the time 12% Frequently 17% 公式, ⼿法 (Algs & Methods) 31% Sporadically 26% 教程, 技巧(Tutorials & Tips) 22% Rarely 13% Never 10% 开箱, 测评 (Unboxing, Reviews) 20% We... have one? 22% 实例 (Example Solves) 16% HOW MANY CUBING WECHAT GROUPS HAVE 记录 (Records & Comps) YOU ADDED 8% Groups 盲拧 (Blind solving) 2% 4.7 on average 魔⽅改装 (Collections & Mods) 2%

搞笑 (Memes) 1%

抽奖 (Giveaways) 1%

格格 (Patterns) 0%

65 WE COME TO THE SUBREDDIT FOR THE DDT, THE MEMES AND HARDWARE REVIEWS, BUT WE FIND QUITE A BIT MORE TO LIKE!

DO YOU EVER VISIT THE WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE TYPE /R/CUBERS DISCORD GROUP? OF CONTENT ON R/CUBERS?

All the time 10% Frequently 6% DDT 22% Sporadically 15% Memes 14% Rarely 12% Never 38% New Hardware & Reviews 10% The what? 19% Collections 7% HOW MANY CUBING Records and Reconstructions 6% DISCORD SERVERS ARE Just in case, we're here: YOU A MEMBER OF? https://discord.gg/cubers Algorithms & Methods 6% servers Mods & Non-WCA 4.4 on average 6% Critiques & Tips 6% HAVE YOU EVER EDITED PBs 5% THE /R/CUBERS WIKI? Cubeography & Patterns 5% Analysis & Theory 4% Yes 4% Mail Day 2% Minor changes 3% No 69% Wait, what? 25%

Just in case, it's here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Cubers/wiki/index/ 66 MOST OF US LIKE THE DDT, EVEN THOUGH WE'RE NOT ALL AWARE THAT IT HAS SOME VERY NICE FEATURES!

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE WHAT ABOUT THE DAILY DISCUSSION THREAD? COMMENTS IN THE DDT?

Reasonable I like it. 78% amount Too few 33% I don't like it, but I 62% think it's necessary. 9%

I don't like it, and I Too 5% think it's unnecessary 8% many

I preferred the very old format 2%

OK YOU DON'T LIKE IT, BUT MEME- RELATED B2 B F2 SHOULD ALL CONTENT BE U2 R2 U2 ALLOWED ON THE SUBREDDIT? SUGGESTIONS DO YOU LOOK AT THE Yes, allow DDT DAILY SCRAMBLE? everything Ban all Allow 50% 50% Memes out of No, Memes 69% 31% everyday Yes, without timing it 23% 8% don't Regularly and time it 9% I try to FMC it 6% No 12% Good to see that at least The daily what? 55% we all agree...

67 THE CURRENT REDDIT RULES ARE MOSTLY CLEAR TO EVERYONE, AND MODS SEEM TO BE, BY AND LARGE, DOING THEIR JOB!

HOW CLEAR DO YOU PERCEIVE WHAT DO YOU THINK OF QUALITY OF THE RULES OF /R/CUBERS TO BE? MODERATION ON THE SUBREDDIT?

Very clear 22% Very good 49% Fairly clear 59% Pretty good 36% Mediocre but passable 6% Somewhat clear 16% Should be more active 5% Fairly unclear 3% Practically nonexistent 2% Very unclear 1% Other 3%

SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVING OURSELVES

It's difficult to put this in 7.2% 12% 6.0% 12% chart form, but know that of us had of us had of us had of us had suggestions for suggestions for suggestions for suggestions for we haven't ignored your Suggeston the DDT the Subreddit the rules this survey suggestions! Box

68 AND FINALLY: OUR DRAGONS PUT MORE TRUST IN LUCK, AND IT SEEMS TO PAY OFF!

HAVE YOU EVER WON A HAVE YOU EVER WON A GIFT CARD / GIVEAWAY? GIFT CARD / GIVEAWAY?

Yes, once 11% Yes, once 10% Yes, more than once 17% Yes, more than once 6% No, bad luck 54% No, bad luck 38% I don't participate 18% I don't participate 45%

you really thought I'd go through the entire document without a single cat?

69 SUMMARY AND TAKE HOME MESSAGE WHAT MAKES US THE SAME IS MUCH MORE THAN WHAT SETS US APART

Is a couple of years younger and Has a hoarding issue, started cubing a Does more casual making them collect bit more recently Very probably too many puzzles knows Roux untimed solves

Is much more likely to be Fully or Dual Color-Neutral Is not stuck with a single Color Scheme for 3BLD

Much of the rest, is so, so similar!

Prefers medium Is faster at magnets to big cubes stronger ones and Skewb Is much more likely to know Is better at ZBLL FMC and One-Handed

71 Drawing by u/Itchy_Innards WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED HERE?

• There's a lot of diversity • While many of us skew younger, the range of ages of people interested in cubing and speed-cubing is very broad and wide • The younger among us learn a bit faster, but the fastest among us are not all young • Some events are liked more by our youngest, others are more for the more mature, but we fnd something to fll our time and passion nonetheless • We're optimists • Our most sought after time target is Sub10, even though only 5% of us have actually achieved it, and 80% of us are stuck above 13 • We love to try out things and learn • Most of us practice several events, and have dabbled in many others • We learn many methods and algsets, even if in the end most of us opt for the same tried and true solutions (CFOP and 2LLL) • We are much more social than normies might think • Cubing has allowed us to know people, make friends and discuss, both online and offine (even if some of our discussion remain a bit obscure for the people around us) • We look forward and to the future • Many of us have adopted or at least started to dabble with new technologies as soon as they appeared, be they new customisation options, smart devices or online tools

72 CONGRATULATIONS FOR MAKING IT THIS FAR!

This was a very long survey (have I mentioned how awesome you are if you were one of the heroes who flled it in?) leading to an even longer document. I hope you were sane enough to consume it in manageable doses. If you have questions, comments or just want to have a chat, fnd me on the r/Cubers subreddit or the Discord.

Be nice to the ones around you, Bas