Learn how to solve a Rubik's Cube

This beginner tutorial should help you get started solving a Rubik's cube :-)

Step one: a cross

Pick a side of the cube you want to solve first. Only with fiddling around you need to be able to slide the edges of that colour, so that they join the centerpiece. Usually the white side is easiest to start with.

Be aware: the side needs to match colour of the adjecent centerpiece. So, the white-red edgepiece needs to be between to the white and red centerpieces.

Target is to create a cross on the selected side.

Examples: matching the first edgepiece

Edgepiece from the middle layer to the layer

* * * * R R * * *
* * * * W * * * *
* W * * B * * * *
* * * * G * * * *
* * * * O * * * *
* * * * Y * * * *

You can always freely rotate the top layer

* R * * R B * * *
* W * * W * * * *
* W * * B * * * *
* * * * G * * * *
* * * * O * * * *
* * * * Y * * * *

Edgepiece is on the bottom layer

Sometimes you'll have to move an already solved piece away (and back later) to position other pieces.

* R * * R * * W *
* W * * W * * * *
* * * * B * * * *
* * * * G * * * *
* * * * O * * * *
* B * * Y * * * *

Edgepiece is on the bottom layer

You can also freely rotate the bottom layer.

* R * * R * * B *
* W * * W * * * *
* * * * B * * * *
* * * * G * * * *
* * * * O * * * *
* W * * Y * * * *

Step two: fill in the corners

There are four cornerpieces that belong to the side you picked. Together with the edgepieces they will form the first two layers.

Notice that, because you made the cross, you can only move the opposite side freely. To solve the duo of a cornerpiece and edgepiece, you'll need to get both to the top layer. If a piece you need is not there, you can move one side, move the piece away and move the moved side back. (Some examples on how to do that, are below the main examples.)

Examples

Two equally colored sides on top

Position the cornerpiece with the cross-colour (red-green-white) in such a case, that the "opposite" slot does not matter (one you have not solved yet.) For example, the slot between green and orange has yet to be filled, and does not matter.

Rotate that slot up, and match the two pieces together.

* * R * R * * R *
G * * * Y * * G *
* * W G G * * * *
* * * * B B * * *
* R * * O * * O *
* W * W W W * W *

Two unequally colored sides on top

Position the cornerpiece with the cross-colour (red-green-white) above the slot you want to fill. Rotate so that the two colours match.

* * R * R * * R *
G * * * Y * * R *
* * W G G * * * *
* * * * B B * * *
* G * * O * * O *
* W * W W W * W *

Cross-colour on top

First, align the colors. In this example green needs to be aligned.

Rotate away, and match the cornerpiece with the cross-colour (red-green-white.) Rotate back.

* * G * R * * R *
W * * * Y * * R *
* * R G G * * * *
* * * * B B * * *
* G * * O * * O *
* W * W W W * W *

If you cannot find two pieces that belong together on the top layer, there are a few tricks to get them there:

Algorithms

The top layer can be solved with algorithms for all possible (hundreds of) ways it might be organized, which requires a lot of memorization. However, the bare minimum is to learn four short algorithms.

Algorithms are denoted by a series of letters. For example the U means to rotate the up-face clockwise, where Ui means to rotate the up-face the inverse way, counter-clockwise. The D for down-face will rotate the same direction as Ui. (The clockwise means if you would view the cube from that side.)

Other letters for movements are: front-face: F, back-face: B, right-face: R and left-face: L. All have a counter-clockwise version too.

A small case version of the letters (u f r b l d) indicate moving the two layers as seen from that face. (An r-move is the same as a Li combined with rotating the whole cube.)

Step three: make a cross on the top

If you already have a cross at the top, there is no need to apply this algorithm. You could have either a dot, a bar or a corner.

To get the cross, you will need to perform the algorithm F R U Ri Ui Fi one or more times. The examples below illustrate all three possibilities.

Step four: make the top solid

In most cases, the four top cornerpieces need to be rotated, to have the correct parts of the cornerpieces facing up. It can be that all of them need to be solved, only three or two, or none. If there is only one cornerpiece that needs to be rotated, the cube has been tampered with.

Place the cube with top up, and with one incorrect cornerpiece on the front right. If you perform this algorithm, the cornerpiece "flips" counter-clockwise, so you might need to do it twice.

Ri Di R D Ri Di R D

Be aware that the bottom two layers will look weird. They will be returned to the correct state when performing the algorithm three times.

when one cornerpiece is correct, rotate the top layer until another incorrect cornerpiece is in the front-right position. Perform the above algorithm again, and repeat these steps until all four top cornerpieces form a solid top colour.

Step five: cycling three cornerpieces

Position a cornerpiece you don't want to cycle in the front-left position. The following algorithm cycles the back-left piece to the back-right position, the back-right piece to the front-right position and the front-right piece to the back-left position. The solid top colour remains intact.

li U Ri D2 R Ui Ri D2 R2

You might need to perform this tice to get the corners right.

Step six: cycling three edgepieces

The last part involves putting the edgepieces in the correct place. You'll have either all edges correct, or there are three or four edges incorrect. In that case you can rotate three edges clockwise. The edge you don't want to cycle needs to be on the front-left position.

Ri U Ri Ui Ri Ui Ri U R U R2

There is a possibility you need to perform this also a couple of times to solve the cube correctly.