V2b

[Sebastien]

Well, after having tested the Shengshou 7x7x7 this weekend I see another important point: The cube feels huge when using it (comparable to the 8x8x8 to my mind). I think I have quite average sized hands, but I had some problems handling it compared to the V7.

[Erik]

Imho a pillowed 3x3 should not be allowed to use for BLD if it's also not allowed for speedsolving. The advantage you have on the pillowed cube is that you can see more faces with just one blink of an eye, this also helps in seeing more faces at a time during memorization of blindfolded events. Also: allowing pillowed cubes only in 3x3 BLD and not in 3x3 speed will imho cause confusion among competitors. The advantage in speedsolving and blindfolded solving is thus the 'same'.

A 6 coloured guhong is a bit different since you actually need to do a bit of a move to see any extra colours. Imho this puzzle is 'less bad' than a pillowed cube if the reason for not allowing it in speedsolving is that you can see more than just 3 faces in one blink of an eye. This advantage is already there without doing a part of a move on a pillowed cube. Also for this puzzle I think it's a bad idea to allow it for one event, but not allow it for another.
I think it's quite clear the possible advantage of a 6 coloured guhong is smaller than a pillowed cube btw.

Main point in both of the puzzles is that IF the reasoning for not allowing it in speedsolving is that you can see a bit more of the cube than a standard 3x3, this advantage is still there for blindfolded inspection.


7x7: The first cube that was widely available was pillowed, the only cubes that were used for the first few years were all pillowed (IF at all there is probably a 10.000 to 1 use of pillowed cubes at the moment). To the majority of the cubing world the pillowed cube is the standard. Therefore I think it would be bad if the pillowed version of this puzzle would ever be illegal. My personal experience with pillowed cubes is that IF any difference, a pillowed 7x7 is actually a disadvantage because when doing U moves the surface you have to hit with your index finger is actually smaller than on a cubic-version, thus increasing the chance of 'missing' the BUR sticker.

[BryanLogan]

So let me pose this question to people:

Would it really matter if people could see the extra colors if they were using a pillowed cube? I mean seriously, if it's going to make that much of a difference, and everyone else has access to the same thing, why not?

Look at the tennis rackets, golf clubs, baseball gloves, etc. All of them evolved to give an advantage. Why not cubing?

[Stefan Łapicki]

Becouse of current regulations:
3h) No modifications are allowed that enhance the basic concept of a puzzle. Some examples of enhancing the basic concept are: new moves are possible, normal moves are impossible, more pieces are visible, colours on the backside of the puzzle are visible, moves are done automatically, more or other solved states.

[BryanLogan]

Becouse of current regulations:
3h) No modifications are allowed that enhance the basic concept of a puzzle. Some examples of enhancing the basic concept are: new moves are possible, normal moves are impossible, more pieces are visible, colours on the backside of the puzzle are visible, moves are done automatically, more or other solved states.

Yes, I mean why not get rid of that regulation. Would being able to see pieces like that lead to such a giant disparity? If people say, "Well, the original cube didn't do that". Well, the original cube also turned like crap. And it didn't have purple stickers. But we allow any color combo (as long as it's 6 unique) and any lube/tuning you want to do.

[Radu]

Yes, I mean why not get rid of that regulation. Would being able to see pieces like that lead to such a giant disparity?

Well, the disparity is near to 0 and of course more important for a 2x2 than a 7x7. I quite agree with your 2nd statement, but I'm afraid if we get rid of that regulation there are chances we will see competitors using balls instead of cubes or who knows what other shapes? So, I think the regulation should exist in order to keep cubing in "normal" standards.

PS - I totally agree with Erik's statement about not allowing these cubes in BLD either.

[StefanPochmann]

Look at the tennis rackets, golf clubs, baseball gloves, etc. All of them evolved to give an advantage.

Swimsuits evolved to give an advantage, and got banned:
http://reachforthewall.com/2009/07/24/s ... id=artslot

[anders]

Look at the tennis rackets, golf clubs, baseball gloves, etc. All of them evolved to give an advantage.

Swimsuits evolved to give an advantage, and got banned:
http://reachforthewall.com/2009/07/24/s ... id=artslot

In Javelin Throw, the javelin has been redesign to perform poorer in terms of flight distance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javelin_th ... _redesigns

[Dene]

Not to mention the heavy regulation of Formula 1 cars over time.