Cube Tutorial

Learn

Learn the easiest cube tutorial and solve the Rubik's Cube and other twisty puzzles, like the 2x2, 4x4 and even bigger cubes.

The Steps

1. Experiment

Try to solve the cube without help before looking for a cheat sheet.
Try to make a white cross or an entire face by yourself. See how far you can get.

Learning the solution will be much easier after you spent at least an hour with the puzzle. Notice that when you turn a face the middle pieces always stay in place, which means that the color of the faces are already fixed. We know which will be the white, orange, etc.

  • A 3×3x3 Rubik’s cube has 6 sides.
  • There are 3 kinds of pieces in a 3×3x3 Rubik’s cube – Centers, Edges and Corners.
  • Details of the pieces:
    Centers     are pieces that have only one face. There are 6 center pieces in a 3×3x3 Rubik’s cube;
    Edges are pieces that have 2 sides/faces. There are 12 edge pieces in a 3×3x3 Rubik’s cube;
    Corners are pieces that have 3 sides/faces. There are 8 corner pieces in a 3×3x3 Rubik’s cube.
  • No matter how you turn your cubes, the center pieces will NEVER move.
  • Every piece has its unique position. To solve a piece, you’ve to match all the sides/faces the the corresponding centers’ colour. Meaning that, the colour of the center determines the colour of the face.

2. Notation

Next, familiarize yourself with the cube notation.
We use uppercase letters to describe face turns on the Rubik’s Cube. Every face of the puzzle is marked with a letter F (Front), U (Up), R (Right), B (Back), L (Left), D (Down). A letter means a 90-degree clockwise rotation of the face. A letter followed by an apostrophe is a counterclockwise turn.
For example, we can describe an algorithm like this: F R U R' U' F'

3. Solve the blocks

Most solving methods divide the cube into blocks and we solve them one by one, taking care of the solved pieces.

Cube Tutorial

Advanced Method

Fridrich Method the most commonly used method in speedsolving a Rubik’s Cube. This method was first developed in the early 1980s by Jessica Fridrich.

The method works on a layer-by-layer system. The first step is same sa the Beginner LBL method, which is making a cross on the bottom, then solve the First Two Layers (F2L), Orienting the Last Layer (OLL), and finally Permuting the Last Layer (PLL). This method is also commonly known as CFOP (Cross, F2L, OLL, PLL).

I can say that this is the easiest advanced method, because it has similarities with the Beginner LBL method, and the algorithms needed to be memorized are fewer than some other methods. Most of the world records holder like Erik Akkersdijk, Harris Chan, Yu Nakajima, Tomasz Zolnowski, Feliks Zemdegs and so on are using this method, with some modifications.

Steps of the Advanced Method

  • Cross - This is the fist step of this method. It’s same as the Cross that you’ve learnt in the Beginner LBL method. However, to become a speedsolver, you’d learn some advanced and faster way to solve the cross. Making the cross at the bottom is advisable. Experienced speedsolvers can solve it in about 2 seconds. This step is purely intuitive and can be done in 8 or fewer moves.
  • First Two Layers (F2L) – There are 41 different cases for this stage (42 include the solved case). In this stage, you’ll be paring up a corner with its corresponding edge, and then insert it into the slot that it’d belong to. You’re needed to pair 4 pairs and solve them in order to complete this stage. F2L can be intuitive and also algorithmic. Intuitive F2L is recommended for starters.
  • Orient the Last Layer (OLL) – In this stage, you’ll be orienting the top layer, without considering the permutation. This stage involves learning a total of 57 algorithms. This is the toughest stage to master, and it might take you months to memorize and practise. Only consider to learn all of these algorithms after you’ve mastered all the PLLs.
  • Permute the Last Layer (PLL) – This is the final stage and it involves positioning the pieces of the top layer while preserving their orientation so that your cube will be solved. There are a total of 21 algorithms for this stage. It isn’t hard to master all the algorithms, but I would still encourage you to learn slowly.