I am sure you have heard of a Rubik's cube. Speedcubing is the solving of this puzzle (or one of its variants) as fast as possible.
If you are curious to learn, there are hundreds of tutorials on YouTube. Search for a 'beginner's method', and if you want to improve, look for some basic CFOP. I would recommend the channel JPerm. Between that and his website, you will find everything you would ever need. Also, the entire community is extremely friendly and open to new members. There is most likely a group of speedcubers in your country you can contact, for example see Speedcubing Ireland and the linked discord channel. Happy solving!
No. Solving these puzzles can be split into two phases. First, just moving pieces around to where they belong. This is just on-the-spot problem-solving, done by the intuition built though experience. Eventually though, so many pieces are in place that you cannot do anything without disturbing your progress. Only then do we turn to algorithms, sequences of moves which are memorised and practiced to be recognised and performed extremely quickly. While speedcubers might know hundreds of algorithms, it is possible to solve the cube in under 30 seconds consistently knowing only 4 algorithms!
Some time around October of 2018, I pulled a Rubik's cube out of a drawer and thought to myself 'Surely I can learn how to solve this'. So I found a tutorial on YouTube, and 5 minutes later, the cube was solved!* Within a few days, I had learned off the steps of the begginer's method, and could solve the cube in under 5 minutes. This is the first addiction, just solving the cube. The second addiction kicks in later, when you start timing yourself, and watching your times go down with practice. That January, I bought myself my first 'speedcube', a Moyu GTS3M, which was kind of new at the time. Within a few days of that, my record was falling towards 20 seconds.
My parents also bought me a 5x5 that Christmas, and I realised this was even more fun. Remember that the last portion of the solve is just algorithms? I don't like this section, I much prefer finding a solution over memorising one. On a 3x3, the algorithmic section takes about half of the solve for me. But, on larger cubes, the intuitive section is far longer. So, I prefer the larger cubes, 4x4 - 7x7.
I attended my first competition that summer, and it was so much fun! A room full of people with the same hobby, with the mutual goal of beating their own records. (Only the best were actually aiming to try get a podium.) Upcoming competitions are listed here.
Over time, I started to really enjoy the 4x4 and 5x5 cubes. Actually, I was starting to creep towards being sub-40 on a 4x4, (I think the second best in the country was a 37 average at the time). And then BOOM, pandemic, cancelling all competitions. I would not get my first podium until we returned after the pandemic. In 2022 and 2023, I was mediocre at the larger cubes (4x4-7x7) at a time when few others in Ireland were. I started winning some competitions on these cubes. I earned 2 podiums at each of the 2022 and 2023 Irish Championships, and I was ranked top 3 in the country at 4x4, 5x5 and 7x7.
It was not a concious decision, but for a few factors I have stopped competing. University work was piling up so I practiced less which caused my times to plateau, the next generation is so fast that I felt washed up, accomodation for competitions is expensive for a student, and I broke my wrist in 2024 and it never fully healed. Oh well. It is still a hobby in my free time, but I am not as aggressively trying to improve. Maybe I'll go to a competition in 2026, but not with any hope of doing well. My profile is pretty boring now, I will soon be out of the national top 10 in every category.