Toid's Guide to Rubik's Cube
Being a child of the 80's, I grew up with Rubik's Cube hysteria. I remember my parents having one, but never being able to solve it. By the time I grew old enough to figure out how it worked, the fad of the cube had long since faded away. However, I recently came across one in a game store one day, and had to buy it. After playing with it for two days I felt like throwing it up against the wall and smashing it. I couldn't get it to work. Two months later I picked the cube up again and looked at it a little more seriously this time. I can honestly say that you need to know moves if you want to solve it. Period. You can twist and turn all you want, but unless you have a plan of attack, and have a system, chances are you won't solve it. Ever. So, I offer you a couple of options. I list a beginners section, which has less than 20 moves that you can learn and solve the entire cube in under 10 minutes. If you memorize these 20 moves, you can probably solve the cube in a minute. The world record is down below 20 seconds for the entire cube. If you are interested in speedcubing, I recommend other sites, as my site (as of now) is more geared towards the beginner. It is not the most efficient way to solve the cube, so therefore it's not the quickest, but it will get the job done. I guarentee you, that if you follow my instructions, you can solve a cube from any position in about 15 minutes. So, let's get started!
Terminology
Now, for those of you that are beginners, please skip this section. This section will do nothing but confuse you. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the heck this all means, and truth is you don't need to know unless you want to start getting better (faster). If your goal is simply to solve your cube on your own, then just go down a section, and leave this section until you decide you want to become more advanced.
Here you can see that each side of the cube has a different name:
Front (F), Back (B), Right (R), Left (L), Up (U), Down (D).
These sides are named because of their orientation to you, not because of their color. If you turn the cube upside down, the UP becomes DOWN, and the DOWN becomes UP, so the sides don't retain their names. DOWN is whatever side is pointing to your feet, and UP is always pointing up.
There are only 3 types of turns that are useful: clockwise(), counterclockwise('), and half turns(''). The symbols in parenthesis will be what I use to differentiate between different types of turns.
For example:
R would mean to make a CLOCKWISE quarter turn of the RIGHT face:
F' would mean to make a COUNTERCLOCKWISE quarter turn of the FRONT face:
U'' would mean to make a HALF TURN of the upper face:
The color grey in my diagrams will represent sides that you do NOT need to worry about for this step. The color purple will represent the position where the current move will place the current piece. The other colors are just normal.
Step 1 - Make a Cross
The first step is to get the cube looking like this:
First pick a color to be on the UP face (or TOP face). This will remain UP for the entire process. In my diagrams, I have chosen the color white, but you are welcome to pick a different color. What you need to do is get the 4 top edge pieces matched up with the center of the UP face, as well as with the other center pieces like in the above picture. In other words get the cube looking like the picture above, not like this:
So, as you can see, it basically makes a cross on the UP face. If you don't understand what's going on, I'll try to explain. The center cubie on each side doesn't move. On my cube White is opposite Yellow, Orange is opposite Red and Blue is opposite Green. Whatever cubie is in the center on a face is going to be the end color for that face. Basically, you are not going to solve the cube successfully if you try and make a face all Green, but the center cube is White. That White cubie will never move, so you had best try and put all the Green cubies on the one with the Green center.
So, if you look at the first pic here in Step 1, since the center cubie is White, then I'm going to make my UP face White. However, as you can see, my Front face is Red. So therefore, on top, I'm going to put the White edge cubie that has Red on it's other side, and match that up with the Red center cubie. Then of course I'll try to align the White and Green edge cubie between the White center and the Green center cubie. Then you complete this for all four sides on the top. This will make a cube similar to the one I have in the first diagram. Hopefully now you understand why the second picture is wrong. Even though the White edges are in place, they are on the wrong colors for the other sides. This is useless.
I think most people can figure out how to do this first step. Yes, it's hard, but if you can't do this, then well, you aren't thinking. You have the entire cube you can mess up without worrying about what is going on. You are just trying to place 4 edge cubes in their correct place. Once you accomplish this, then you're ready for my instructions and I can carry you throughout the entire process.
Step 2 - Top Corners
Spin the bottom of the Rubik's Cube until you find the piece you want. For my example, Blue is now on top, however, if you're continuing with White on top, then obviously change out the color and just look at how the cubies are moving.
It is possible that the corner you are looking for is not on the bottom layer. If this is true, then you need to rotate the cube to get them on the bottom, without messing up the UP face you just did in Step 1, of course.
Once you have found the piece you wanted, keep turning the bottom until the piece is in the bottom right-hand corner, directly below where you want to place it. Your Rubik's Cube should match one of the three images below. Follow the procedure below the appropriate image to put the piece in its proper place and remember, make sure it contains the THREE colors of the corner you're placing it in. I will include two notations. What I call the beginners notation, with pictures, and then the advanced notation. They are the same thing so just follow whichever is easiest for you. For me, when I first started they were the pictures.
D' R' D R
R' D R D" R' D' R
R' D' R
Step 3 - Middle Layer
Now your cube should look something like this:
And this is what we are going for in this step:
Before we start, rotate the top layer until the center colors on all 4 sides match the top row. This will in effect lock the two top rows into position. We're getting closer. Your cube should look like this:
This is one of my favorite steps. It's really easy, and while there are quicker ways of doing the middle layer, this is the simplist way to remember it. Two scenarios. You are just going to do one of these two moves until the middle layer is complete. NOTE: You could have a piece you need that's in the middle row but the wrong orientation, well, no problem, just send any cubie from the bottom layer to replace it to "unlock it" and now it should be on the bottom layer. Just rotate the bottom until you get it where you want it, then send it back to it's position, this time with the correct orientation.
D' R' D R D F D' F'
D L D' L' D' F' D F
Almost Done!
Step 4 - Bottom Cross
The fourth step is to get the cube looking like this:
Now you have the entire cube solved except for the top layer. Good work! That was the easy part. Here comes the hard stuff. The last 4 edges are going to be in the upper layer but probably not twisted the right way, and probably not in the right place. The first thing that you want to do is get all the edges twisted the right way. In other words, you want it to look like this:
Luckily, there are only 3 orientations you need to worry about. Either none of the edges are flipped the right way, or there are two flipped the right way. In the later case, the correct edges could be adjacent or opposite each other. Find out which it is, position the cube correctly, and then do the proper moves.
F U R U' R' F'
F T U R' U' F'
For the case when all 4 edges are flipped the wrong way, just pick one of the above pictures and do it. That gets it half way there. Now twist the top and apply that move again to finish it up.
Now, the last 4 edges will be turned the right way, but they will be in the wrong places. You will now have to preform a few swaps. There are 4 different swapping moves, so you will have to figure out which one you need to use. Here are the pictures and moves that you might need to make.
R' U" R U R' U R
R' U' R U' R' U" R
U R' U" R U R' U R
R' U" R U R' U R U' R' U" R U R' U R
Two more steps!
Step 5 - Bottom Corners
The fifth step is to get the 4 last corners in the right place, but not necessarily rotated correctly. For example:
Notice that the corners are not twisted the right way, just in the right spot. Twisting is the next step. There are 4 different swaping moves. You are going to have to figure out which ones to do. You will probably have to use several of these moves. But if you choose the right ones 2 sequences will probably do it. (Usually, it just takes me one though.)
U L U' R' U L' U' R
R' U L U' R U L' U'
F R U R' U' R U R' U' R U R' U' F'
R" L" D R" L" U" R" L" D R" L" U"
One more step, and your done!
Step 6 - Finish It!
The last step is to get the cube looking like this:
This is probably the most complicated step. It will look like you are totally screwing up the cube, but it will work out right in the end. There are only 2 sequences for this step. One to rotate a corner clockwise and one to rotate it counterclockwise.
This becomes a little tricky, because you need to do these following moves in pairs. First you rotate some corner piece; then rotate another corner in the OPPOSITE direction. Don't be scared if the cube looks messed up after one of the sequences. If you perform the other sequence without moving the cube then it will undo itself. (you just screwed yourself) Between sequences, just turn the UP face until a corner which needs rotation in the other direction is in the upper right hand corner.
F D" F' R' D" R
R D" R F D" F'
For example, here is how to solve a cube from this particular position:
F D" F' R' D" R U' R D" R F D" F' U
If it doesn't look like there is a corner that needs to be twisted the other way, just twist anything. Eventually you'll get it.
Thats it. You are done! Yaaaaaaaay!
Zen of the Cube
Well, that should get you started. Eventually you'll get to the point to where you can just turn the cube without having to think...this is where I hope to get, and I'll write more here when I get that good.
My Move List
Here are my moves in condensed form:
D' R' D R
R' D R D" R' D' R
R' D' R
D' R' D R D F D' F'
D L D' L' D' F' D F
F U R U' R' F'
F T U R' U' F'
R' U" R U R' U R
R' U' R U' R' U" R
U R' U" R U R' U R
R' U" R U R' U R U' R' U" R U R' U R
U L U' R' U L' U' R
R' U L U' R U L' U'
F R U R' U' R U R' U' R U R' U' F'
2x R" L" D R" L" U"
F D" F' R' D" R
R D" R F D" F'
Lube your Cube
When you start to get to where you can turn fast, you'll want to lube your cube so it will turn faster. I highly recommend a silicone based lubricant. This works really well without destroying your cube. Twist your cube 1/8th of a turn, and pop off an edge piece (not a corner). Spray a small bit of lube down in there, and then put the edge back on. Work the cube. Twist it around. It will be only slightly faster at this point. Then, after playing with the cube for 2 minutes, let the cube dry. After your cube driest, watch out! Viscosity breakdown no more! Hehe. Enjoy!
--Matt
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