The Corner and Face
Step 1 - The Cross
The first thing to know about the cube is that the middle pieces don't move. Go ahead, try and move them. They rotate, but they never move in relation to each other, which means that each face will always be that face. Also, a common mistake when people first approach an unsolved cube is to think they have to solve 54 stickers. This is wrong, as there are only 20 pieces that actually move around - 8 corner pieces and 12 edge pieces.
Throughout this website, it will be assumed that the first face is the white face. Every single time you do the cube, you should start with the white face so you get used to always looking out for the same colours at different stages. If I were to pick up a cube and start with, say, the green face, I would get hideously confused when it came to the last layer because I am so used to looking for yellow pieces instead of blue ones.
The first thing you have to do is to create a cross on the first layer, like so:
Grey cubies show cubies that aren't important at this stage - just ignore them.
There aren't many algorithms to achieve this as it relies mostly on logic, but there are some scenarios you can watch out for:
R
F R
F R U
It is also important to remember that the edge colours have to be aligned with the centers like this:
and not like this:
Step 2 - The Corners
The next step is to put the corners in, like this:
Just like the edge pieces before, it is important that the corner pieces match with the pieces around it, i.e. not like this:
The corners will most likely be on the bottom layer. It is important to first put the cubie you wish to move underneath where it needs to go. That is, the white-blue-red cubie should be underneath the white-blue-red corner. There is an algorithm for each situation:
F D F'
R' D' R
R' D R F D2 F'
(The white sticker on the corner is on the bottom.)
In some cases, the corner will be on the top layer but just needs reorienting or
The first thing to know about the cube is that the middle pieces don't move. Go ahead, try and move them. They rotate, but they never move in relation to each other, which means that each face will always be that face. Also, a common mistake when people first approach an unsolved cube is to think they have to solve 54 stickers. This is wrong, as there are only 20 pieces that actually move around - 8 corner pieces and 12 edge pieces.
Throughout this website, it will be assumed that the first face is the white face. Every single time you do the cube, you should start with the white face so you get used to always looking out for the same colours at different stages. If I were to pick up a cube and start with, say, the green face, I would get hideously confused when it came to the last layer because I am so used to looking for yellow pieces instead of blue ones.
The first thing you have to do is to create a cross on the first layer, like so:
Grey cubies show cubies that aren't important at this stage - just ignore them.
There aren't many algorithms to achieve this as it relies mostly on logic, but there are some scenarios you can watch out for:
R
F R
F R U
It is also important to remember that the edge colours have to be aligned with the centers like this:
and not like this:
Step 2 - The Corners
The next step is to put the corners in, like this:
Just like the edge pieces before, it is important that the corner pieces match with the pieces around it, i.e. not like this:
The corners will most likely be on the bottom layer. It is important to first put the cubie you wish to move underneath where it needs to go. That is, the white-blue-red cubie should be underneath the white-blue-red corner. There is an algorithm for each situation:
F D F'
R' D' R
R' D R F D2 F'
(The white sticker on the corner is on the bottom.)
In some cases, the corner will be on the top layer but just needs reorienting or