Rubik's Cube solved in twenty moves, 35 years of CPU time
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted August 9th 2010 8:06PM
posted August 9th 2010 8:06PM
The term "God's number" refers to the minimum number of moves that it takes to solve a puzzle like the Rubik's Cube. Because, you know, if God truly is omniscient (and not a node in a vast satellite network, à la Philip K. Dick) you can bet your bubby that it would be able to solve such a puzzle in the minimum number of moves -- and it would have nothing better to do all day than solve puzzles. According to a team of engineers and some thirty-five CPU years worth of idle computer time (supplied courtesy of Google) it has been established that of any of the cube's 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 potential positions, a solution can be found in twenty moves or less -- making God's number twenty. And we're guessing that any of those solutions has to be more satisfying than our Uncle John's own Rubik's Cube solution (which he taught us in the early 1980s), removing the stickers and putting them back on in the proper sequence.
That's pretty amazing...
@NuklearPanda Takin off the stickers is stupid though, especially since they lose stick, and it's shameful to not solve it correctly (or in 20 moves) I feel like it's not possible for it to take 20 moves, but I'm sure it does if god said so ;)
@NuklearPanda Now we wait for some guy to start memorizing all the solutions..
Omnipotence means god can solve it in 1 move...
@NuklearPanda
Everyone one of the editors at Engadget has an Uncle John, and every one of them did the sticker trick? LOL
I have an Uncle John. I'll have to ask him about the trick this Christmas.
@Extinction
No, not one. It would just be already solved.
:p
I'm 35 years old and still cant solve it :(
@Guimo 14 and I can solve it :P but age really has nothing to do with it, when you say "I can't solve one" it's not really that you can't, you just never learned how, it's designed so everyone can do it, I got it when I was like 12, used it for a year, and then haven't used it in a year, you should learn how to do it just to amaze yourself/make yourself seem awesome :)
@Guimo
I hate the people who just look up the method online. I still haven't solved it (closest I got was 2 sides) and have been frustrated numerous times by it, but I'll never resort to online cheating.
@Guimo
I solved it once... but it was pure luck... indeed I was trying to finish one face and suddenly I noticed the cube was finished. So I wont count that...
And my method of throwing the cube to the floor so it breaks and I could rebuild it piece by piece wont count either :)
@Guimo
lol
@That guy 2
He was being ironic.
You are being moronic.
Solve that!
@Guimo
i have avoided an unnecessary feeling of mental inadequacy by never even trying to solve it. h
@bravokiloromeo
just a hint. you don't want to think about solving in terms of sides. think of it in terms of layers. this way, when you build each layer by layer, you get a completed cube. doing it by sides increases the complexity of the puzzle (actually, i'm not even sure it can be solved if you do it side by side).
@Guimo I'm a couple decades older than that and haven't finished one...I started on it then said "Okay, I get the idea, the rest is simply grinding it out - boring" and stopped.
@profgaylord
Sounds just like something Marvin would say. :)
I can solve it...
It just took me a few years the last time...
@APV - I can say from experience, you wont get any better in the next 20 years either.
@appsman - oops. Thsi reply was supposed to go under Guimo a few posts up.
removing the stickers? I always took the thing apart and snapped it back together....
@ummhello
I have one of the originals that used plastic color pieces instead of cheap stickers. So, instead of removing stickers, you had to take apart each plastic cube and snap them back in.
End result is the same. :)
@ummhello I never understand why the first thing everyone says is to take the stickers off and put them back on. That would take so much more time than just pulling the cube apart and reassembling it!
So the answer to life is 20? =0
@Seb6554
No. It's always 42...
@Seb6554 No, it's 42.
@Seb6554
42
@Seb6554
I thought it was 42...
@Seb6554
Wait I thought it was 42.
But see, the difference in my comment, is that I've actually read the book (the first two actually, need to get number three soon)
@Seb6554 http://www.google.com/search?aq=0&oq=the+answer+to&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=the+answer+to+life+the+universe+and+everything Google it.
@Seb6554
Jack Bauer says it was "24"
@Meekermoloko
c-c-c-combo breaker!
@Seb6554 The answer was 42, the question was 6 x 9 I believe. Which means that the Universe is base-13. Except Douglas Adams just made it up.
@IndiaTech
I thought 42 was the integral of a teapot
@Seb6554
What about 23 pairs of human chromosomes, defining Homo sapiens sapiens, now dont ask me about Homo superior (X-men).
@techee44
I've read all umm... 5 of the books in the trilogy. Excluding Eoin Colfer. He even did the title wrong. I might read his later though.
@Seb6554 No the answer is Pi!
@IndiaTech 6 x 9 base 13.
The '6' is key for a cube.
When I was 10 I was told that taking the stickers off messes with the mathematics, so I figured out how to dismantle it and put it together again in matching order.
@Juice
When I was 10 I was told demons are trapped inside Rubik's cubes and dismantling them would set them free taking posession of the dismantler's soul.
@inquisitor
You must set forth to free the kingdom of Boletaria, and use the power of the Demon's Souls
@Osnaz
As a smart kid I never even touched a Rubik's cube, of course!
@inquisitor
You got it wrong, that was Pandora's box...
Life has so much more meaning now, Im using 20 for everything now
Now this just makes you feel even more stupid for not being able to solve it if it only takes 20 moves. So did the computer solve it from each combination? And thanks Google.
Has there ever been a Rubiks cube iPhone app/game?
@rysle
http://ax.itunes.apple.com/app/id361231506?mt=8
@rysle Yup, there's a few, there's a virtual solver game, and there's a cheater app that let's you take a pic of each side and it tells you how to solve it, which is a lot of work considering I can solve it in 1 minute without a cheater :P which is not impressive but whatever, Asians can do if one handed in about 22 seconds (actual number, not just an exaggerated stereotype)
@That guy 2
Not an exaggerated stereotype?
So ALL Asians can do it in 22 seconds?
I'm in Turkey and there are a lot of people here who don't even know what a Rubik's Cube is.
I have yet to solve a rubiks cube. I feel like a dumbass. Damn.
If there was a god he would destroy these masterpieces of evil, which have wasted so much of people's precious time, by throwing thunderbolts!