Rubick's Cube

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Simple question really. Not looking for an in depth discussion.

This is in the Autism forum, because I've always felt that something about my Autism is what made me able to do this.

Anyone ever solve the cube WITHOUT following solution steps or reading anything? I mean, just picked it up messed up to begin with, and not put it down until it was solved without having any idea how to do it when you picked it up?

I bought one of the stupid things back in the eighties, when they first came out. Refused to look at any cheats, methods or instructions. I handed it to someone else to screw up so I wouldn't have a clue what was done to it. It took me a little over two days, no sleep, but I solved the stupid thing. Something happened after hours on end of messing with it. It was like suddenly something just "clicked" and I SAW how it worked. Four or five turns later and done.

I'm curious whether anyone else has ever done this, and if you have, do you think you're Autistic thinking is what made you able to do it?

No, I never solved it, because I had one only for a short time age 6 or something and it disappeared, but reading your post gives me a fuzzy feeling and makes me smile, so tomorrow I will organize to get a Rubick's Cube and I am all excited now. Hope that I can sleep now...
Thank you for putting this back into my memory.

I find it incredibly easy to solve Rubik's cubes without using any of the solution steps. Except I knew exactly how to solve them before picking them up. Simply take it apart and put it back together.

All you have to do is turn one side halfway, so the corners are sticking out, stick a screwdriver or other flat object between the squares, then pry that corner piece off, and the cube comes apart rather easily. Then, you reassemble it. Simplest, easiest, fastest solution. If they don't want me to solve them this way, they better make a Rubik's cube that you can't take apart.

I only played with a rubiks cube a few times and I wasn't particularly interested in it. I solved 2 sides but that's as far as I got.

Yeah, I took mine apart too eventually, but I didn't use any tools. Screwdriver? You cheated man!

The first solve I did not take it apart.

I got too distracted just spinning the pieces and not looking at the colors.

No way I could ever solve that...

Never solved it. That would require planning ability.

I don't think I have ever solved it.

For each of the three axes, define a certain rotation direction as positive. Then there are nine basic moves you can do, three on each axis, always turning one step in the positive direction. Let M be the set of these nine moves. From a given starting position, every possible position can be achieved in a finite number of steps, where each step is an element of M. One of these possible positions is the solution.

The set

Interesting, not so much that you solved it without help, but the way you saw it, the way you say it just clicked

As for myself, I did solve it but it took many many hours, and I had to take a very analytical approach. I started writing patterns down, breaking it apart analytically.

I have a question.... are you able to explain to people your process or is it just something that you "see?"

It was never interesting to me.

I had a Rubik's cube as a kid, but I couldn't see the point. After a few seconds, I asked myself "why the heck am I doing this?" and gave up.