Rubik's Cube Tutorial--Wilson

Although I don’t cube anymore, cubing is a cool party trick and it is a great skill to have for relieving stress and a great alternative to video games. People get easily discouraged when learning to solve a Rubik’s cube given 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible combinations, but with proper directions it’s well within reach for anybody. 

Before you learn how to solve a Rubik’s cube, you need to learn the cube notations in order to read algorithms, or move sets to orient pieces in a certain way. Cube notations mark each face of the cube with a letter. An apostrophe after a letter is prime, which is the opposite of the normal notation. For example, if R is to turn the right face clockwise, R prime is to turn the cube counterclockwise. If there is a 2 after a notation, you need to rotate that side 2 times. 

Triggers are short sequences of move sets. For example, the “Sexy move” R U R’ U’ is a trigger that is used often when solving a cube. (Apparently it’s called the sexy move because it looks sexy when it is performed fast). 

You also need to change your perspective on the cube. Instead of trying to solve the cube from each individual side, you need to solve it in layers. There are five steps in the beginners method. Cross, first layer, middle layer, orientation of the last layer, and permutation of the last layer. (Shown below). 

Knowing what a center, edge, and corner piece is will also come in handy. (Rightmost piece is a corner, to the left of it is an edge, the centerpiece is the center part of a Rubik’s cube.)

 

Step 1 - First Layer Cross To make a cross, first hold the cube with the yellow side facing up and the white face facing down. The centerpiece color determines which color each face should be. Now you need to find all the edges with white on them. There should be four. Align the white edges facing the top side of the cube. (Shown below).

Each white edge should have a color connected to it. Align those colors with the corresponding center piece and turn the side 180 degrees. (Shown below). Do this with all four edges and you get a white cross. 

Corners For this step you will need to hold the cube with the yellow face on the top, and the white face on the bottom. First, find all the corner pieces that have white on them. Then you will align them above the slot with corresponding colors. For example, if a corner has white, orange, and blue, you need to align that corner between the orange and blue sides. (Shown below). 

To insert corners, we will use the “Sexy move” that I mentioned earlier. Now that your corner is above the slot you want to insert it in, perform the sexy move until the white part of the corner faces the bottom of the cube. Rinse and repeat until all corners are inserted and now you have solved the first layer. 

Step 2 - Middle layer 

When solving the middle layer, you need to hold the cube with the white face you just solved facing down. There are four edge pieces that need to be inserted in order to solve the middle layer. All four of those edges should not have white or yellow on them since it is in between the layers that have white and yellow. You need to insert each edge to their corresponding slot. If we use the previous image for example, the orange and blue sides are adjacent, so you would need to insert an orange and blue edge. 

Line the orange edge with the orange centerpiece and follow this algorithm with the orange face toward you: U R U’ R’ U’ F’ U F. (Shown below before and after). 

If the orange and blue edge is switched, make sure the blue piece is aligned with the blue center (Shown below) and follow this algorithm with the blue face toward you: U’ L’ U L U F U’ F’. This algorithm is just a mirrored version of the last one with the use of left turning moves. 

Once you can insert one corner, rinse and repeat for the last three and now you should have a cube looking something like this.

 Step 3 - Yellow Cross (Orientation of the Last Layer/OLL) 

The sexy move (R U R’ U’) will be very prominent in this step. An F move and a F’ move will be placed in the beginning and end of the sexy move: F (R U R’ U’) F’. There will be three instances where you will use this algorithm. When there is a yellow dot, yellow bar, or yellow L. (Shown below). 

(The pieces with the blue tape show the yellow dot, bar, and L. Corners may be different each scramble but they do not matter for this step.)

When there is a dot, use F (R U R’ U’) F’ and you will get a bar or an L. When you get a bar, use F (R U R’ U’) F’ with the bar sideways and you will get the cross. If you get an L, put it in the top left corner (shown above) and use F (R U R’ U’) F’. 

Now you should have a yellow cross. 

Step 3.5 - Yellow Corners (Orientation of the Last Layer/OLL) 

There will be seven variations of the yellow cross. Regardless of which one you get, you will need this algorithm: R U R’ U R U2 R’. 

Whichever cross you get, you need to perform R U R’ U R U2 R’ with a yellow tile on the left facing you. 

Your goal is to use this algorithm repeatedly to get a yellow fish looking configuration. (Shown below). 

Once you have this fish, do R U R’ U R U2 R’ with the head of the fish facing the bottom left of the top face. (If you get another fish, just do it again). 

Now your cube should look like this. 

Step 4 - Corners (Permutation of the Last Layer/PLL) 

To correct the corners, you will need this algorithm: R’ F R’ B2 R F’ R’ B2 R2. 

Before using this algorithm, you need to know where to use it. Find headlights and hold them at the back of your cube when performing the algorithm. Headlights are where there are two of the same colors sandwiching a different color. (Shown below). Hold as shown below. 

Keep using this algorithm with headlights in the back until you get three headlights like shown below. (The second cube is just to show what the back should look like). 

Step 4.5 - Edges (Permutation of the Last Layer/PLL) 

For the final step, you need this algorithm: R U’ R U R U R U’ R’ U’ R2. 

Perform this algorithm holding the solid face in the back. (You may have to repeat the same algorithm.) Now you have solved the Rubik’s Cube.

Now that you have solved the Rubik’s Cube. You may want to consider learning all of these algorithms to skip some steps and get faster. 

 Or you can learn a variety of puzzles and compete in events.