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