Learn How to Solve the Rubik's Cube!

Hey, welcome to Learn Rubik's Cube. Here I’m going to teach you how to solve the 3x3 Rubik’s Cube in a few simple steps. Unlike what many people believe, you do not need photographic memory, nor do you have to be a genius to solve the Rubik's Cube. All you need to do is memorize a few simple algorithms. Don't let the word algorithm fool you, it's not complicated. Algorithms are just steps you follow to solve a problem, in this case the problem is a scrambled Rubik's Cube.

Note: The guide is broken down into parts via the link on the right side.

A few things we'll need to know before solving an algorithm. When an algorithm is displayed, it will look like this: 

 


This is actually the very last step, and the longest algorithm you'll need to know.
All these images displayed tell you how to move the front face of the cube. The front face of the cube is the one that is facing you. In this picture below, the front face is the colour green.

The images indicate which row or column you turn, and towards which direction.
 For example,
means that you turn the bottom row towards the left.
 
means you turn the left column downwards.

You follow the instructions from left to right. So in this case, you first turn the entire face of the cube counter-clockwise, then turn the left row upwards, right row downwards, middle row towards the left, etc.

STEP 1

The first step to solving a mixed Rubik’s Cube is to solve the top layer.
First step is to choose a colour. In my video I chose the colour white. What I want to do now is get the colour white all together while keeping the whites with the orange side on one side, the whites with the green side together, whites with blue side together, and white with red side together.

Note: I am using a classic Rubik's Cube so your colours may differ.

My best advice would be to play around with the cube and learn for yourself how to do this first step. I find this not only fun, but it will help you learn the cube and how moving one piece affects another. In my video I show tips and tricks on how to do it quickly.

STEP 2
Next thing you want to do is to line the middle colour of the front face
What we want to do is to fill out the whole second row with the correct colours.
In the picture below, I want to put the bottom blue in the middle column onto the left middle row. The reason for this is because the other edge of that bottom blue is red so if I put it on the left edge, it will fit with the blue on one side and red on the other. This may not make sense yet, but take a look at the pictures below.

                    This                                       to                                   This

To do this make the blue side facing you and use this algorithm:

Lets say you want to move the bottom piece to the right side. For example I want the green in the picture below to move to the the right side and fill in with the red. I would use this algorithm.





                  This                                         to                                    This

Once you have completed all of the second/middle row and make it all the correct colour, you can move onto the third step.

Step 3

After you have completed the second row, it's now time to finish the last row.

The first thing we need to do is place all the corners in their rightful positions, they don't have to be facing the correct way, but as long as the piece with the red, blue, yellow faces is in the corner that has those three colours, it is correct.

Example below, the red, yellow, blue piece is not positioned correctly, but all we want to do is to get it into that corner.











To do this you may have to switch the left corner with the right corner, or the right corner with the left corner.

If you need to switch the left corner with the right corner you use this algorithm.

If you need to switch the right corner with the left corner you use this algorithm

When using these algorithms, the face of the cube is when the piece that you want to move is on the top right. In this case if we wanted to switch the red,yellow,blue piece to either the right or left side then the blue face would be the face of our cube.

Now that we have the corners in their correct places, we'll solve for the corners and try to get them matching the colours in the correct positions.

To do this, we will use this Algorithm

When using this algorithm the face of the cube is in one of these postions:
Note: Only pay attention to the top row. Ie. Unfinished row

In this scenario, the face is the blue side and that is because on the right face (red side) there are 2 yellows, one on the top left and one on the top right. In this case you may perform the algorithm on the blue face.

In this scenario, the face is the red side. To identify this, there must be a yellow (base colour) in the corner, in this case the yellow,red,green block is in the corner. And then on the green face there is a yellow block at the top right. If you see this situation, perform the algorithm on the red face.







In this scenario, the face is the blue side. To identify this, there must be a yellow (base colour) in the corner, in this case the yellow,red,green block is in the corner. And then on the green face there is a yellow block at the top right. If you see this situation, perform the algorithm on the blue face.







You may have to perform this algorithm numerous times, sometimes even 5 or more instances.
Once you complete it, all the corners should be in the correct orientation:

Step 4

Now that we've completed all the corners, we now want the edges in the correct position.
What we want to do is find the edge piece that is in the correct place, but may be in the wrong orientation.

Notice in this scenario, the blue middle edge piece is in the correct position, it has blue and yellow faces.
We now use the blue side as the face to do this algorithm:

You will know when you are finished when 2 edges are solved, and there are only 2 unsolved edges.

Note: Just like the last algorithm, this may require several tries before you end up with either the H Pattern or the Fish Pattern.

Once you have completed it, if you're lucky, the whole cube will now be finished. However, most of the time you will get either the Fish Pattern or the H Pattern

Fish Pattern

In this case you have the Fish Pattern, you can tell it's the fish pattern because only 2 adjacent sides have edges that are not finished and the pattern looks like a fish. In this case, we will use orange as our face to apply the Fish algorithm:





H Pattern

In this case you have the H pattern, it looks like the letter H and edges that are not completed are opposite to one another. In this case you want the face to be a side in which the edge is already completed, does not matter which of the two sides, either will work. In this case we will use the orange side.

After completed the correct algorithm you should have a completed Rubik's Cube!

Congratulations! You have just completed one of the hardest, and most popular puzzles in the world. The next time you go into a toy store and see a scrambled Rubik's Cube, you can go solve it and put everyone around you in awe.