I first learned to solve the cube when I was nine years old. When I was ten, I entered a Rubik's Cube contest and placed in the top ten for the 17 and younger group. Back in the cubing days, I could solve the cube in less than 30 seconds. Today, it takes me about between 1 and 2 minutes.
Most of my solution method comes from Jeff Varasano's book Jeff Conquers the Cube in 45 seconds. I no longer remember all the shortcut moves from the book, and that's why it takes me longer now.
The solution is to solve all eight corner pieces, then finish the edge pieces. I have seen other solutions where you solve the cube in slices, but it seems more complicated and there are too many "shortcut" moves to know. Other people seem to like the slices method better.
The Rubik's Cube is a six color cube made up of 9 squares of each color on each face. According to the Official Rubik's Cube website, there are 43,252,003,274,489,000 different possible configuations, but only one of these configurations presents the 'solved' Cube.
There are a couple of different color arrangements for the cube. Most will look like mine, which is shown below. But I also have a cube at home which has Blue and White opposites and Yellow and Green opposites.
The Rubik's Cube is moved by rotating each face (slice) around it's center piece, thus mixing up the 4 faces on the edges of the rotated slice. The slices can be labeled and named:
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When most people start thinking about the cube, they see nine squares of each color that can be put in any random place on the cube. But in reality, there are only three types of pieces and they can only be kept in their respective positions. These types are center pieces, edge pieces, and corner pieces.
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For each color, it will have one center piece, 4 edge pieces, and 4 corner pieces. The corner pieces cannot be moved to the edge pieces, and so on. Thinking of the cube in pieces makes solving the cube much easier. Once the corner pieces are solved, they can remain solved as long as you do not move more than one edge slice in relation to another. The remaining cube can then be solved moving the center slices.
Something else to note is that the six center pieces cannot be changed with reference to each other. For my cube, the Red center piece and the Orange center piece will always be opposite each other. Same for the White-Yellow and Blue-Green centers.
This also means that no single piece on the cube can have two opposite colors on them. There will be no edge/corner pieces that have both a Red and Orange color on them, White and Yellow, or Blue and Green. There is also only one color combination for each piece. There is one and only one edge piece that has the Red/Yellow combination. There is one and only one corner piece that has Red/Yellow/Green combination.
Each move will consist of moving the slices (see above diagram of slices). The 9 slices will be labelled as follows:
L = Left Slice
V = Vertical-Center Slice (no moves associated with this slice)
R = Right Slice
T = Top Slice
H = Horizontal-Center Slice
D = Down Slice
F = Front Slice
M = Middle Center Slice (no moves associated with this slice)
B = Back Slice
Each piece will also have a corresponding label using the slice notations above. An edge piece will have 2 slices associated with it, and a corner will have 3 slices. Center pieces will be called centers. For example: T/R would be the edge piece in both the Top and Right slices, and T/R/F would be the corner piece in the Top, Right, and Front slices. The following figure shows examples of some of the piece labels:
Each move will consist of moving the slices in either a clockwise rotation, a counter-clockwise rotation, or moving it twice (either direction). The direction will be labelled with a ' for counter-clockwise, a 2 for twice, or nothing for a clockwise move. For example: R T2 R' F2 T would mean the following:
R = Move Right Slice Clockwise
T2 = Move Top Slice Twice (in either direction)
R' = Move Right Slice Counter-Clockwise
F2 = Move Front Slice Twice (in either direction)
T = Move Top Slice Clockwise
For each slice, clockwise and counter-clockwise are in respect to if you were looking at that face. For example, Left slice clockwise would be opposite in respect to a Right slice clockwise since they face 180deg from each other. Be careful, since a Back slice clockwise would be reverse to the direction you are holding it since it faces 180deg from the Front slice.
H-Center slice clockwise and counter-clockwise moves are in respect to the Top slice. The V-Center slice and Middle slice do not have any moves associated with them.
When a color is shown, it means look for that piece to be that color. Because of the limitations of my method for developing this page, White is the default color. Therefore, when a White face is meant to be shown, it will be labelled as "White". If the label "White" is not present, it means the color is not needed for that place.
To make the 'X', we will fill in one corner at a time. Start with the first corner piece in the T/R/F position. Match it with one of the figures below. (note: if you don't have (1), (2), or (3) and cannot match (4), (5) or (6), rotate the Down slice until you have (4), (5), or (6)):
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If you have (1) then this corner is complete. If not, then use the following moves:
(2)R' D' R D2 F D' F'
(3)F D F' D2 R' D R
(4)D' R' D R
(5)D F D' F'
(6)R' D2 R D2 F D' F'
Now that corner is complete, rotate the Top slice clockwise to work on the next Red corner. When all four corners are complete and you have an 'X', proceed to step two.
Flip the cube over. The color 'X' you solve next will match the center of the slice (for my cube, this will be Orange since Red was first 'X'). The goal of this step is to make your second 'X' on the opposite face and the first 'X'. When completing this step, the cube will look like:
If you alread have an 'X' then you can proceed to step three. If not, match the orientation with one of the seven below:
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If your cube looks like (1), then perform the following move:
F' T F T R T' R'
You will now have your second 'X'. If your cube looks like (2), (3), (4), or (5), then perform the same move above. You will now have (1). Orient you cube again to match (1) and perform the move again. If you have (6) or (7), you will have to do the move above three times: (6)-->(2)-->(1) or (7)-->(4)-->(1).
Verify you have two 'X's and proceed to step three.
Expert Section:
For those who want to solve this section faster, there is a special move for each of the above seven configuraions. If you wish to see them, click here (pop-up window)
The goal of this step is to finish all six 'X's. When completing this step, the cube will look like:
The way this is done is by fixing the edges so they match up with their centers. Each edge that does this is called a "correct edge". A correct edge is an edge where both corner faces match. For example, if you have Red X on top, and you have an edge on the top slice with both Yellow corner pieces facing the same side, the Red/Yellow edge would be a correct edge. But if the two Yellow pieces are on different faces, then the Red/Yellow edge is not a correct edge.
Below are examples of the edges, labelled as correct or not correct. The Red/Yellow edge is a correct edge because the Yellow part of each Red/Yellow corner piece are on the same face (Front). But the Red/Blue edge is not since the Blue part of each Red/Blue corner piece are on different faces. Also, the Orange/Blue edge is a correct edge because both Blue parts of the Orange/Blue corner pieces are on the same face (Right), but the Orange/Yellow edge is not a correct edge.
For each slice containing the X's (Top/Down), you can only have 0, 1, or 4 correct edges for that slice. For both slices, there are only 6 combinations possible:
The example above would have two correct edges since the Top slice has one (Red/Yellow) and the Down slice has one (Orange/Blue).
Count up the number of correct edges. The only possible numbers are 0, 1, 2, 4, 5, or 8. If you have all eight, then line up the edges with the centers to make all 6 'X's and proceed to step four. If you have 1, 2, 4, or 5, position your cube as shown below. You may need to flip the cube over (top/down are interchangeable at this point). The X, Y, and Z represent colors for lining up correct edges. Z may or may not be the same color as X or Y since it is on the Top slice:
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If you have zero or one correct edge perform the following move:
R2 F2 R2
If you now have all eight correct edges, line up the edges with the centers to make all 6 'X's and proceed to step four. If you don't, arrange your cube again as above and repeat this step.
If you have two, four, or five correct edges perform the following move five times:
R2 F2 T (five times)
If you had two or four correct edges, you will now have five. Repeat this step. If you had five correct edges, you will now have all eight correct edges. Line up the edges with the centers to make all 6 'X's and proceed to step four.
Expert Section:
For those who want to solve this section faster, there are special moves:
One correct edge. Orient the cube as (2) above and perform the following move:
(one correct edge only) B2 T B2 T' B2 T B2 T' B2
Two correct edges. Orient the cube as (3) above and perform the following move:
(two correct edges only) R2 T R2 T2 F2 T F2
Four correct edges. Orient the cube as (4) above and perform the following move:
(four correct edges only) B2 T2 R2 T R2 T2 F2 T F2 D2 R2
If Red is not already on top, then flip the cube so that it is. The goal of this step is to fill in three top edges. We leave the fourth edge undone, and call it the "keyhole". This keyhole will be used for step five. When an edge piece is in its correct place, it will match the corner pieces on both its faces. We will call this a "completed edge". When completing this step, the cube will look like:
We will fill in one edge at a time. Put the edge to be completed in the T/R postion. If the piece is already in place, you will have a completed edge. If not, match it with one of the following diagrams. You may need to rotate the H-Center or Down slice until you match up.
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If you have (7), (8), or (9), you will need to break the piece out first. For these cases, perform the following move, then match back up with the above diagrams.
(7) T' R' H R T
(8) T2 R' H R T2
(9) T R' H R T'
If the piece is not already in place, like (1), then perform the following moves. You may notice all the moves only consist of moving the Right and H-Center slices so we don't disturb our corners.
(2) R' H2 R2 H R'
(3) H R H R'
(4) R' H' R
(5) R' H R
(6) R' H2 R2 H2 R'
Now that edge is complete, rotate the Top slice clockwise to work on the next edge. When three edges are complete, proceed to step five.
Flip the cube over. This step is similiar to the previous step, but you will use the keyhole in the D/R position to put the edges into place.
Put the keyhole in the D/R position. Now match up with the nine diagrams from step four and perform the same moves from step four. After the edge is complete, rotate the Top slice once and repeat, remembering to keep the keyhole in the D/R position.
Repeat until all four top edges are complete. You will now have one completed slice. Your cube should look like:
Proceed to step six.
Flip the cube back over. This step will finish the first slice so that both the top and down slices are complete.
If the top slice is already completed, proceed to step seven. If not, match up the cube with one of the following diagrams (you may need to move the H-Center slice):
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(1) R' H R H R H R'
(2) R' H R2 H R'
(3) H R H' R2 H' R
You will now have two completed slices, opposite from each other. You cube should look like:
Proceed to step seven.
The remaining four pieces are in the F/R, B/R, F/L, B/L positions. For this section, ignore which way the color faces are, just the color piece itself. If a piece is reversed (i.e. the Yellow/Blue piece is backwards so the Blue face is next to the Yellow center and the Yellow side is next to the Blue center) we will fix this in the next section.
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We will work with the F/R position. Locate which of the four positions the piece that belongs in the F/R position is in.
If the piece is already in the F/R position (1) or (2), then rotate the Center slice once and repeat this step. If not, then perform the following moves based on where the piece is:
B/R Position: H' B2 H B2
F/L Position: H L2 H' L2
B/L Position: B2 H' B2 H
Continue until all four pieces are in their proper locations reguardless if they are reversed or not (should take no more than two times). Proceed to step eight.
At this point, you may have a completed cube. If so, congratulations. If not, you will either have 2 pieces reversed or 4 pieces reversed. Match up with the following diagrams below. Note: in the second and third figure, the colors may not be the same as below, just the fact that there are only two pieces reversed.
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If you have 4 pieces reversed like (1), perform the following move to get to (2), then repeat this step.
R' H R2 H2 R' T2 R H2 R2 H' R T2
If you have 2 pieces reversed and it looks like (2), perform the above move to complete the cube. If you have 2 pieces reversed and it looks like (3), rotate the Right slice twice, perform the step above, then rotate the Right slice twice again to complete the cube.
You have just solved the Rubik's Cube.
This site was created by Dan Lewis, last modified 4/16/2004. Any questions/comments, please email dan at: edanlewis@rubiks.com.
Official "Rubik" website: http://www.rubiks.com