Introduction

Let’s start with the terminology we’ll be using, and a bit about how the cube works.

• A cube has 6 sides, or faces.
• The cube is made up of 3 types of pieces: if you look at one face of a cube, you’ll see it has
  • 1 centre piece in the middle of the face,
  • 4 edge pieces that each connect to one other face, and
  • 4 corner pieces that each connect to 2 other faces.
• The centre block on each face never moves. This is a good thing: this lets us know, even on an unsolved cube, which face we’re working with. e.g. If the center block is yellow: then we know that’s eventually going to be the yellow face of the cube.
• The faces are always the same relative to one another. Just like in a regular die how 1 and 6 are always on opposite faces, on a standard cube, the yellow face and the white face are always opposite one another. This can help you create an anchor, or a starting point, no matter how mixed up your cube is. For me, I always start solving with the yellow face, so my starting point is finding the face with yellow as its centre piece.
• The algorithms* that follow are not the only way to solve a cube (there are others that are better for speed, for example), but it’s the set I learned and I find the algorithms relatively easy to eventually memorize, so that’s what we’re using here. This set of algorithms solves the cube one “layer” at a time, starting at the top.

<aside> 💡 The word “algorithm” is just a fancy word for “a series of steps”. Our job is to figure out figure out which algorithm, or set of steps, we need to apply at each point in the process of solving the cube!

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1: Solving the top layer

Let’s begin! I, for no particular reason, always use the yellow face for my “top” layer, but it really does not matter. Pick a colour, and make sure that “face” is facing up towards the sky. If you’re also starting with yellow, that means finding the face with yellow in the centre block, and hold the cube so that face is facing up.

1.1: The cross

Our first step is to create a tiny + sign on the top of our cube.

Since the centre block is already in place, that means we need to find the 4 edge pieces the make up the rest of the cross, and put them in the correct places.

In my case, that means finding the 4 edge pieces that are yellow on one side, and rotating them into the spot where they belong, making sure the other half of the piece matches the face that it’s on. For example, in Figure 1: the edge between the yellow face and the green face should be yellow on top, and green on the side. And it is: hooray! That piece is in the correct location. But… the edge piece between the yellow face and the red face should be yellow/red, but we can see in the picture that the yellow/blue edge piece is there instead. This is wrong and means that edge piece is NOT in the correct place.

I won’t give you an algorithm for this: this is a good way to get comfy with how the pieces move, and if we make a mistake, that’s ok, we are just beginning and can easily start over!

Once you have a yellow cross on the top face, with edges matching the side faces, like Figure 2 (doesn’t matter what the corners look like), you’re ready for the next step.

Figure 1: One quarter of the cross is done! The yellow/green edge is in place.

Figure 2: The cross is complete! (Mine has an extra corner done too: yours may or may not also have corners in place.)

1.2: The corners

Now, it’s time to finish the top layer. One by one, find one of the yellow corner pieces, and rotate them into place. Make sure the colour of the sides match the faces they’re on. e.g. in Figure 3: the yellow/green/orange corner has the yellow on the yellow face, the green on the green face, and the orange on the orange face.

And don’t worry: this is the last part I’ll make you do on your own.

Once the top layer is all the same colour, and the first layer of each side face matches the centre colour of each face, you’re ready for the next step.

Figure 3: The yellow face is complete.

2: Solving the middle layer

Now, we’re going to work on the middle layer. Since the centre pieces never move they’re already where they’re supposed to be, and that means there are just 4 edge pieces we need to get in the correct places. For example, let’s look at Figure 3: the edge piece between the green face and the orange face should be green/orange, but another piece is there instead. We need to find that green/orange piece, and then use an algorithm to get it where it belongs!

To make this a bit easier to see, flip the cube upside down. For me, that means the completed yellow face is now on the bottom, and the white face is on the top. (We’ll be holding the cube this way for the rest of the solve.)

If we’re lucky, the edge pieces we need will be sitting somewhere on the white face. Take a look now: can you find each of the edge pieces you need, somewhere on the white face?

<aside> ❓ What if the piece I need isn’t on the white face?

This is totally possible. In that case, that means all the edge pieces are already in the middle layer. If they’re in the middle already, AND in the correct place, amazing, we can skip to the next step.

If they’re all already in the middle layer but not in the correct place, we’ll still use the algorithm that follows: instead of moving the edge piece we want into the middle layer, we’ll rotate in a random edge piece, which will kick out the piece that was stuck in the middle layer, and that “stuck” piece will end up on the top level, which is exactly where we need it for this algorithm.

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