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Rubiks Cube, The Easy Way To Solve It,Step By Step With Pictures!
by Mark Wipfler
Don't Be Discouraged, It's Easier Than You Think!
I WILL NOT BE USING SUPER LONG ALGORITHMS AND COMPLICATED STUFF,
AS A MATTER OF FACT THERE ARE VERY FEW THAT ARE NEEDED TO
COMPLETE THE CUBE, AND OUT OF ALL THE ALGOS I KNOW, THESE ARE
WHAT I BELIEVE TO BE THE EASIEST ONES. IF YOU CAN REMEMBER A PHONE
NUMBER, THEN YOU CAN SOLVE A CUBE, ITS THAT EASY!
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM IF YOU CANNOT READ THE TEXT!
Solving a Rubik's Cube may seem to be impossible, in fact most people give up on
it after playing with it for only a few minutes.. They put it down and never pick it up
again. Some people, however, are willing to tame the beast no matter how long it
takes.
Here is the secret that most people do not know: You cannot expect to solve the
cube without prior knowledge of the basic solve, either from a friend that already
knows how to do it, or from tutorials on the web such as this one, or you can use
the pamphlet that comes with the cube, which can be very confusing. There are a
few things that you have to learn from other sources, and they are not difficult.
For instance, you may think that the way to solve the cube is to do one side at a
time. This is not true, it's almost impossible, as a matter of fact it would require
very long computer generated Algorithms that even the most experienced cubers
would not even attempt. (please Right-Click on the links that I provide and choose
"open in new window" or "open in new tab" in order to keep this tutorial open
without having to hit the "back" button)
The Layer by Layer method is the beginners way to do it (and the most common),
there are other methods that are more advanced, but they are used for Speed
Cubing (the art of solving the cube in the fastest time possible rather than just
solving it). The first step in the Layer by Layer method is done by picking a color
(most common is the white side, which has the white center dot) to make the
"White Cross". Then comes inserting the corners to complete the first layer, then
fixing the edge pieces in the 2nd layer to complete it, and then completing the last
layer.
I'll explain each step in an easy to understand way with pictures and video to
demonstrate the basic solve. Be prepared to spend some time, even if its only 10
to 20 minutes at a time, and you will be solving the cube quicker than you could
ever have imagined. Remember, do not give up if you get anything wrong in any of
the steps, you can always start over no matter how bad the cube gets messed up.
I will be adding some short videos this this tutorial for various steps in the future,
so check back often for updates..
NOTATION
Last update: 05-27-2012
Get To Know Your Cube
The cube has 3 parts, the center dots that never move, the 4 center pieces that
connect to the center dots, and the 4 corner pieces that fill in the gap between the
edge pieces, as seen here:
DONT FORGET, ALL IMAGES CAN BE ENLARGED WITHOUT LEAVING THIS
PAGE!
In total, there are 6 Center dots, they
have only one color each,
12 edges, which have 2 colors each,
and 8 corners, which have 3 colors
each.
There are 20 pieces that can be
moved around, while the 6 center dots
always remain in place.
Also, in this picture White is the "UP"
side, Red is the "FACE" side, and Blue
is the "RIGHT" side. This is called "Notation". The sides you cannot see in this
picture are Green "LEFT" side, Orange "Back" side, and Yello "Down" side. The
colors are always opposite of each other (Green/Blue) (Orange/Red)
(White/Yello), unless you have a cube with a different color scheme, such as
Japanese.
Notation
Standard notation for the cube is UP,
DOWN, RIGHT, LEFT, FACE, and
BACK, or U, D, R, L, F, B.
For the purposes of this tutorial, I will
be using mostly UP, RIGHT, and FACE
as much as possible, as they are the
easiest moves to make.
Making the move UP, as in this picture,
means to turn the UP side Clockwise
90 degrees (1/4 the way around the
top of the cube). Another way to look
at it is to imagine you are looking at
the top of the cube and you want to
turn a hand on a clock from 12 o'clock
to 3 o'clock, so you would turn the top
layer to the right one time. If the move
to make is RIGHT, then you would
imagine your looking at the RIGHT
side (blue) and do the same, turn it
clockwise one time. FACE is the same,
your already looking straight at it, just
turn the red side to the right one time.
STEP 1 - WHITE CROSS
To make the white cross, it is easiest
to turn the cube upside down, so that
yellow is now on the top of the cube,
and then find the white edges and put
them on the top, connecting them to
the yellow center dot, this looks like a
daisy flower when done.
If you go to put a white edge on top,
and there is another white edge in the
way, just turn the up (yellow) side to
the left or right until a spot is open to
put the white edge in.
Video for this step will be here soon!
To finish making the white cross, look for a white edge that is lined up with one of
the middle layer centers.. for example, in the picture above, the white/red edge
piece is already lined up (connected) to the RED CENTER.. since it is, you can
easily place that white edge on the white side by turning the right side twice (180
degrees), in either direction. That transfers the white edge from the yellow side to
the white side and leaves it connected to the red center.
Do the same thing for the 3 other edges. If you do not see an edge connected to a
center dot, rotate the top layer until one is, then rotate that face twice to put the
edge on the white side.
STEP 2 - INSERT THE WHITE CORNERS (F2L PART 1)
F2L is First 2 Layers.
Now that you have the white cross.. it's time to put in the corners to complete the
first layer.
Flip the cube upside down again.. so that White is on top (UP) and Yellow is on
bottom (down).
Look on the bottom layer for a corner
piece that has a white sticker, then
rotate the bottom layer until that
corner piece is directly below the spot
that it belongs in on the top layer
(since the corners have 3 colors, place
the corner in-between the 2 center
dots that are not white). In the picture
to the right, the white/orange/green
corner is below the spot that it belongs
in on the top layer.
Do this to put it in place: Hold the cube so that the white sticker is facing you, since
the white sticker is on the bottom right hand side of the cube in this picture, you
would turn the FACE (orange side) 90 degrees, then the DOWN side (bottom side)
90 degrees, then the FACE side backwards to its original position.
IMPORTANT, making a move backwards is referred to as F' ... or Face Invert, it
means to turn it Counter Clockwise (like turning the hand of a clock from 12 o'clock
backwards until it is on 9 o'clock)
2nd Case: In this picture, the white
sticker is on the bottom left side of the
cube, do this to put it in place:
Hold the cube with the white sticker
facing you, and do
FACE INVERT, DOWN INVERT, FACE
(that is F' D' F, or Face Counter
Clockwise 90 degrees. Down Counter
Clockwise 90 Degrees, then Face
Clockwise 90 degrees).
F is Face, F' is Face Invert, and that goes for all the moves.. a letter by itself
means clock wise, (R), and (R') means counter clockwise.
3rd Case: In this picture, the white sticker is on the bottom, do this to put it in
place:
Hold the cube with the white sticker
facing down and on the right hand side
of the cube, just like the picture, then
do RIGHT INVERT, DOWN INVERT,
RIGHT, DOWN.... and then repeat that
2 more times.
4th Case: in this picture, the corner
piece is already in the correct spot, but
it is twisted the wrong way. To fix this,
put it in the bottom layer, and then it
will become one of the 3 cases above.
Do this to put it in the bottom layer:
RIGHT INVERT, DOWN INVERT,
RIGHT, DOWN. (the same algorithm as
the 3rd Case, but do it only once). Now
that the white sticker is in the bottom
layer, spin it around until it is under the corner it belongs in, and then look to see
which one of the 3 cases above it matches and fix it accordingly.
Here is what it will look like with the 1st layer complete... the white side is solved,
along with the edges being connected to the center dots.. and the corner pieces
are in place.
Next is fixing the 4 edge pieces in the 2nd layer.
STEP 3: Complete the 2nd Layer (F2L PART 2)
For this step, turn the cube so that the white side is to the left, and yellow is to the
right. It's just easier that way when it comes to the 2 algorithms that fixes the 2nd
layer.
As in the picture below, line up an edge piece with it's center piece, you can do
this by either turning both of the layers on the left side until the edge is connected
to it's center dot, or turn only the right side and rotate the entire cube forward or
backwards.
Remember to keep the white side to the left and yellow to the right while doing this.
Now look to see where that edge piece belongs.. in the picture below it belongs in
the top layer. Do this to put it there:
RIGHT INVERT, UP INVERT, RIGHT, UP, then RIGHT, FACE, RIGHT INVERT,
FACE INVERT.
In the picture below is the opposite case, where the edge piece needs to go
clockwise (Down and to the left). To fix it, do this:
RIGHT, DOWN, RIGHT INVERT, DOWN INVERT, then, RIGHT INVERT, FACE
INVERT, RIGHT, FACE.
Sometimes you will see the case as in the following picture, where the edge piece
is in the right spot, but it's flipped incorrectly. The way to fix it is to first take it out
and place it into the yellow layer, while keeping the white corner piece in place,
and to do that, put the piece on top of the cube as shown, and then do the
algorithm above for Counter Clockwise.
Then you can spin the yellow layer around until the green sticker lines up with its
center piece, and then do the same algorithm again to fix it.
In the picture below is the last case you may run into. This is an easy fix.. keep the
edge piece on top and do this: (UP, UP), (RIGHT, RIGHT), (UP, UP), (RIGHT,
RIGHT), (UP, UP).
The short version of this algo looks like this: U2, R2, U2, R2, U2.
U2 means to turn the up face twice (180 Degrees).
R2 is the same, turn it twice.
In some cases, both of the edge pieces on the UP face will be in the opposite spot
of where they belong.. have no fear, that same algo fixes the both of them at the
same time!
The picture below shows what the cube looks like when you have the First 2
Layers solved.
Time for solving the last (yellow side) layer.
STEP 4: YELLOW CROSS (OLL PART 1)
This is the first part of OLL (ORIENTATE LAST LAYER). This step makes a yellow
cross on the yellow side.
For this step, rotate the cube so that the YELLOW center dot is on the top, and
white is on the bottom, which is the same as the very first step at the beginning of
this tutorial.
In order to solve the yellow cross, you will have to use an algorithm, sometimes
you will have to repeat this algo a few times to get the yellow cross. Unlike the
white cross, this time you only need to get the cross shape on the top side, and
you do not have to worry about whether or not the edge pieces are lined up with
their center pieces they belong with (not yet).
IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A YELLOW CROSS, YOU CAN SKIP DOWN TO THE
NEXT SECTION. (NEVERMIND WHAT COLOR THE CORNER PIECES ARE FOR
NOW).
If you do not have a yellow cross, you will have one of the 3 cases shown below. In
all 3 cases, the same algo fixes the yellow cross.. just hold the cube the same way
it is shown in each picture and do this:
FACE, RIGHT, UP, RIGHT INVERT, UP INVERT, FACE INVERT, OR (F, R, U) (Ri,
Ui, Fi).
STEP 5: COMPLETE THE YELLOW SIDE (OLL PART 2)
Now that you have the yellow cross, its time to complete the yellow side (UP side).
You still do not have to worry about lining up the top edge pieces (yellow/green,
yellow/red etc..) with the center dots they belong with yet, nor do you have to worry
about the placement of the top corner pieces, all you have to do is get all the
yellow stickers facing up.
This step only takes 2 algos (one is the mirror of the other) to complete, and you
may have to repeat it a few times.
IF YOU HAVE THE YELLOW SIDE COMPLETE ALREADY, YOU CAN SKIP DOWN
TO THE NEXT SECTION.
Keep in mind that while looking at the pictures below, the view is from the UP side
of the cube. You have to remember to hold the cube with the yellow side to
the top while doing the algo just like the previous step above.. these
pictures are only for the purpose of showing you the pattern of all the yellow
stickers. Position the cube the same way as the pictures, with the face side facing
you and yellow on top to do the algo.
Your cube will now look like one of the 7 pictures below. This is called the 7 Sunes.
Notice the placement of the yellow stickers on the corner pieces, some of them
may be on top or on the sides.
See all 26 photos
The picture below is what the cube will look like with the yellow side solved. The
rest of the stickers are jumbled up. Notice the pair of headlights (don't confuse this
with the headlights from the previous step above). In the next section the stickers
on the 4 corner pieces on the top of the cube will be put in their proper place.
See all 26 photos
STEP 6: FIX THE 4 CORNERS ON TOP (PLL PART 1)
Its time to fix the positions of the 4 corner piece on the top layer, this is called
Permute Last Layer (PLL). This is the first step of PLL, the second step in the next
section will fix the positions of the 4 edge pieces in the top layer, and that will solve
the cube!
In some cases the entire cube will be solved at this point.. its pure luck.. but it does
happen!
In the picture above is a pair of headlights.. this is the first thing to look for to
complete this step. Although there happens to be a pair of headlights in the
picture above, sometimes this does not happen.
Another thing that does not happen very often, but is the goal of this step, is to
already have headlights on all 4 sides of the top layer, IF YOU HAVE THAT, THEN
SKIP DOWN TO THE LAST STEP.
There is 1 algo that will make a pair of headlights for you, and that same algo
when performed again will make headlights on all 4 sides, which completes this
step.
For this step, hold the cube with the WHITE side toward you (face), and the
YELLOW side away from you (back).
If you have a pair of headlights already, hold the cube so that the pair is on the top
of the cube, like in the picture below, and do the algo, and then you will have
headlights on all four sides.
If you do not have a pair of headlights anywhere, do this same algo once to make
a pair, then place that pair on the top of the cube and repeat this same algo to get
headlights on all four sides.
UP2 (TWICE), RIGHT2 (TWICE), UP, LEFT, UP INVERT, RIGHT2 (TWICE), UP,
LEFT INVERT, UP.
(U2, R2)(U, L, U') R2 (U, L', U)
This is the first time we have used the L move, it is the same as the other faces,
just imagine you are looking dead ahead at the left side of the cube, turn it
clockwise 1 time (from 12 o'clock to 3 o'clock). Left Invert is the opposite, counter
clockwise (12 o'clock to 9 o'clock).
So, to make the move L with your left hand without moving the cube around to look
at the left side, you would spin the left layer so that the top of that layer moves
toward you (toward the face side). To do Left Invert, you would spin the left layer
so that the top of that layer moves away from you (towards the back side of the
cube).
Once you have done this, return the cube to where the YELLOW is on top (up
side) and WHITE is on bottom (down side) and look around to make sure there are
4 sets of headlights, as in the picture below. Now its on to fixing the last 4 edge
pieces.
In some cases.. the cube will be solved at this point.. it's pure luck, but it does
happen!
STEP 7 (LAST): FIX THE EDGE PIECES ON TOP TO SOLVE THECUBE (PLL PART 2).
Now you only have this last thing to do, to permute the edges on top so that they
are in their correct positions and then the cube will be solved.
There are 4 possible configurations of the edge pieces at this point, and 1 algo
can fix any of them, but you may have to repeat it a few times.
It really does not matter what the configuration is though, all you have to do is look
for 1 side that is solved.. as in the picture below, and place that solved side
towards you (the face side).
When I say a solved side, what I mean is 3 pieces in the top (yellow) layer that are
solved. Follow the instructions in the picture to get a solved side. Remember to
perform the algo from the same side a few times until there is a solved side, then,
like the picture says, line up that solved side with bottom 2 layers of the same
color, and then position the cube so that the entire side of the cube that is solved
is facing you..
Then do the same algo once, if the cube is still not solved, do it again and it
should be solved!
The Algo is: RIGHT INVERT, UP, RIGHT INVERT, UP INVERT, RIGHT INVERT, UP
INVERT, RIGHT INVERT, UP, RIGHT, UP, RIGHT2 (TWICE).
(R', U, R') (U', R', U', R') (U, R, U, R2)
I will be adding some short videos this this tutorial for various steps in the future,
so check back often for updates..
Last update: 05-27-2012
Last updated on July 26, 2012