rubiks-cube

How to solve a 3x3 Rubik's Cube

The beginner's method I learned it with, in eight steps. Each move is drawn as the front face of the cube: the lit stickers are the layer that turns, and the arrow shows which way they go.

Face rotations

Every algorithm is a list of face turns. A letter alone means turning that face clockwise, as if you were looking straight at it; a letter with an apostrophe (R') means anticlockwise. B, the back face, is drawn with a dashed arrow, as seen from the front.

step 1

Daisy

Make a daisy: the four white edges around the yellow centre.

step 2

White cross

Turn each white edge down so it matches its centre piece, building the white cross.

step 3

White corners

Match the white corners with their edge and centre pieces.

step 4

Second layer

Move the middle-layer edges into place with the right or the left algorithm.

Right edge

Left edge

step 5

Yellow cross

Repeat this until the yellow cross appears.

The top goes centre dot → reverse L shape → line → cross.

step 6

Yellow edges

Swap two wrong yellow edges with this algorithm.

step 7

Yellow corners

Find a yellow corner that is in the right position, hold the cube with it at the front-right-top, and run the algorithm.

If the pieces did not land where they belong, run it again. If no corner is in the right spot, run it from any corner first to bring one into place.

step 8

Orient the corners

Hold the cube so the top piece you want to orient is in the front-right-top corner, then run this algorithm two or four times.

Warning: do not stop at the last D turn as soon as the yellow sticker faces up. Keep going until the whole algorithm is done.