Today I’m going to show YOU how to solve a rubick’s cube. The method that I’m going to show you is, in my opinion, the easiest way to solve a rubiks cube. It may seem daunting at first, but I assure you, with time, patience, and persistence, you will, without a doubt, solve the rubicks cube. And with this method, you’ll be able to consistently solve the cube in under 2 minutes and if you really practice a lot, you can get it down to about 1 minute.
I’ll try to keep it quick, but there are some basics you need to get familiar with first. As we get deeper into the video, please pause and repeat steps if necessary. I’ll include time stamps in the video above for easy navigation.
First, the rubicks cube has 3 layers and we will solve it in that order. And note that there are also 6 faces. Green, red, blue, orange, yellow and white. Also note that certain colors are always opposite each other. Yellow and white, orange and red, and green and blue are always opposite each other because the center squares form the structure of the cube.
The center pieces, which only have 1 color, can only spin in place.. they can’t change position. They form the underlying structure of the cube. The edge pieces, which there are 12 of, have 2 colors on each side. Lastly, the corner pieces, which there are 8 of, have 3 colors on them look like this.
Rubik’s Cube Algorithms
The key to solving the cube is whats called an algorithm (a sequence of moves that need to be done in a certain order). In this beginner method, you only need to know 7 algorithms or so. With more advanced methods like CFOP, which can solve the cube faster (speed cubing), you need to memorize up to 78 different algorithms (uh, no thanks). So, learn this first, and then if you want to get faster than a minute or two, consider learning those advanced methods.
So, how do these algorithms work? First let’s get to know the cube’s notation. You have up face, front face, right face, left face, down face, and back face (see video above).
Which color you want for up face or down face, is up to you. Don’t worry about the sides for now, we’ll touch on that later. For this example, we’ll be putting red on the bottom, or what’s called down face, so all red pieces will be on the bottom and all orange pieces will be on top or on the up face.
Once you’ve chosen red as down/bottom, it will always be bottom for the rest of the solve. And I recommend you keep the same color in future solves because you’ll recognize patterns more easily as you advance.
Lastly, which way you want to turn the face also has a notation. There are two choices when turning a face – clockwise as you look at the face or counterclockwise as you look at the face.
Up face clockwise is annotated as U. U means to turn the up face clockwise.
And Up face counterclockwise is annotated as U’
Again, U means to turn the up face clockwise 1/4 turn, and U’ means to turn the up face counter clockwise 1/4 turn.
And this goes for each face of the cube.
For front face clockwise, you use F, and for front face counterclockwise, use F’
For right face clockwise, you use R, and for right face counterclockwise, you use R’.
Remember, it’s clockwise or counterclockwise as you’re looking at the face. So, I like to slightly tilt which ever face I’m turning so I can imagine a clock on the face and this makes it easier to remember which way to turn when you’re first starting out.
For left face clockwise, you use L, and for left face counterclockwise, you use L’
For down face clockwise, you use D, and for down face counterclockwise you use D’
For back face clockwise you would use B (as you’re looking at the face), and for back face counterclockwise you would use B’.
But don’t worry too much about back face and down face because we won’t be using them much.
We’re mainly going to be using right face, up face, left face, and front face with this method, so get very familiar with U L R F notations (clockwise turns) versus U’ L’ R’ F’ (counterclockwise turns). You need to get this down solid before moving on. It’s easy, but it does take practice. Practice this a lot as it will pay dividends later on.
Also, you need a good grip when turning the faces in order to stop the cube from becoming too distorted and difficult to turn (see video). All you have to do is grip the squares you won’t be turning. This allows for a smooth turn. Different grips and finger tricks make you much faster, but I won’t get into detail here on it just remember to firmly grip the parts that you’re not moving.
Now, it’s time to solve the rubiks cube! You ready?
The Solve: Layer 1
Ok, we have red center on bottom, or on the down face… and what we need to do is put the 4 red edges on the top, around the orange square. Like an orange flower and red pedals (mask flower). You’ll see why we’re doing this in a min.
Examine the cube and try to find the red edge pieces. As you find them, place them on top next to the orange center piece. How you do that is up to you. If you’ve never played with a Rubik’s cube, then this may not be very intuitive for you at first, at least it wasn’t for me… at all! But with practice and messing around with the cube for a while, it will become a little more natural and you’ll be able to do the first two layers with relative ease. So, put in the work and you’ll be rewarded.
So, we have our flower now, with orange center and red flower and what we want to do is match the adjacent side color with the center color. Once it matches, rotate it 180 degrees. And then look for your next one. Do that for all 4 sides. Flip your cube over and take a look. All the red edge pieces are in their correct positions.
Flip the cube and keep red on the bottom for the rest of the solve. If you know your way around the cube and just want to work the red cross without starting on the opposite face, that’s fine too. The flower is just very useful and easy for beginners. You’ll naturally skip that flower step as you get better with the cube.
The next step is to position those 1st layer red corners. There are 8 corner pieces in total, 4 on the 3rd layer and 4 on the 1st layer which we will be switching around into the correct configuration. Some red corners will be on the down face, which you’ll need to push up here in order to then bring it back down to its correct position. Some will be facing up, which is a problem we’ll address later. First let’s look for a red corner on the top layer that is on the side. We know it doesn’t belong up there on the 3rd layer, so let’s move it down to its home.
Layer 2 Edges
Now, let’s tackle the 2nd layer. We don’t want to screw up what we’ve already completed on the first layer, so this is when we really have to start using algorithms. Now what’s great is the 2nd layer center pieces are good to go, so, we only need to focus on these 4 edge pieces.
The easiest way to start is to look for a top layer edge piece that doesn’t belong on top. We know all the top layer pieces are supposed to be orange, so we move the ones that are not orange down to the 2nd layer. Match the side with the matching center color and do your first algorithm.
If it needs to go right, you’ll use this algorithm: URU’R’ U’F’UF
If it needs to go left, you’ll use this algorithm: U’L’UL UF U’F’
Now, sometimes you end up in a situation where the edge pieces are stuck in the wrong 2nd layer edge slot. All you need to do is pop it up top by switching it with a different edge piece and then performing the algorithm again.
For some people this will come naturally, but for others like me… this is confusing as heck at first!! I wont lie.. I was like how is this working!?!?! Just keep at it and it will get much easier over time.
Practice doing the 1st and 2nd layer and it will pay dividends later down the road. Write these algorithms down so you can refer to them when practicing.
Layer 3
I won’t lie, the third layer is a pain. This is the most challenging part but hey, that’s what separates those that can finish 2 layers from those that can complete the whole cube! I’m sure some of you can do 2 on your own without any algorithms.. but now you’ll see why that third layer is such a pain.
I’ll add that this makes sense though. The closer you are to solving it, the more challenging the algorithms become because the goal is to only move certain pieces, while at the same time, not destroying the progress you’ve already made.
Ok, so first, we need to get all the orange pointing up.
We’ll do what’s called the “cross algorithm” until we have an orange cross on top. If you have an orange edge on top, put it on the right side before doing the algorithm. If not, then don’t worry about it, just do the algorithm until you have a different configuration. .. Go, FRU R’U’F’
And now we have a line down the center. We want that line to be horizontal when we do the algorithm again. Go, FRU R’U’F’
And now we have a cross!
But let me back up for just a second. There are a lot of possible cases here with orange on the top. Just make sure you put one of the orange squares on the right side and then perform the algorithm. If you end up with no orange edges on top, then just do the algorithm on any side, it doesn’t really matter. Eventually, you’ll get that one you need on the right side. Perform the algorithm again and you have your cross!
Once you get a cross, it’s time to move on to the next algorithm, which I’ll call the corner twist: R’ U2 R U R’ U R
Three corners will twist in a clockwise manner. The one in the bottom right (on the up face) does not twist. The goal is to get all orange pointing up. Once done with that, we’ll move on to the top layer corner pieces.
First we look to see if we have any corners in place already. If so, we point them away from us. Think of it like headlights pointing away.
This algorithm switches the two corners closest to you with each other and leave the other two in place. If all the corners are in the wrong place, you’ll have to do this algorithm a couple times: It goes: R’ F R’ B2 R F’ R’ B2 R2
Once all the corners are in the right position, we’re going to do the 3rd layer edge pieces. If one is already in the correct spot, point it away from you. If not, than do this algorithm on any side face.
This algorithm rotates the three edge pieces closest to you.
It goes like this: R U’ RU RU RU’ R’U’ R2
I know what you may be thinking.. there is no way I can get all that done in under 2 minutes. I promise that with consistent practice, you can easily get it down to under 2 minutes pretty much every time.
Also, after you practice this for a while, you won’t even remember the algorithms anymore. It’ll mostly be muscle memory. But until you get to that point, write down the algorithms and practice on your own, or watch the video and try to follow along as best you can. The first few times will be slow going, which is a good thing, because one wrong turn on the third layer and you may have to start all over.. so make sure that you are good at doing these turns. Start off slow!!
After about 3 or 4 times, you get a little more familiar, a little faster. After 20 times, you’ll be getting it done in a couple minutes. So, you just have to put in a little work up front and then it’ll just keep getting easier. Stick with it and don’t give up!! The algorithms are listed here for your convenience.
STEP1 – RED/ORANGE FLOWER
STEP 2 – 1ST LAYER CORNERS (RED)
STEP 3 – 2ND LAYER EDGE PIECES LEFT: U’ L’ U L U F U’ F’ / RIGHT: U R U’ R’ U’ F’ U F
STEP 4 – 3RD LAYER – (MAKE ORANGE CROSS) F R U R’ U’ F’
STEP 5 – CORNER TWIST (GET ALL ORANGE POINTING UP) R’ U2 R U R’ U R
STEP 6 – SWITCH CORNERS R’ F R’ B2 R F’ R’ B2 R2
STEP 7 – SWITCH EDGE PIECES R U’ R U R U R U’ R’ U’ R2
If you truly want to understand the late stage algorithms, put a piece of sticky paper on the square(s) you’re going to be moving around so that you can track where it goes with each turn. This is tricky, but it can be done methodically if you’re into that kind of thing… If you’re not into that kind of thing, that’s fine too!
Last tip – If your cube doesn’t turn well, consider another brand. Rubik’s cubes can be hard to turn at first, so go with a speed cube for easier and smoother turning. Hit me up with questions below! And let me know your best time with this method as you practice.
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