3×3 Rubik's Cube · the beginner's method

Layer by Layer

Solve the cube in seven stages: the white side first, then the middle, then the yellow side. Every stage has a live cube you can step through move by move, starting from the exact situation it fixes. Keep your real cube in your hands and copy along.

7stages 5algorithms to memorize 8moves in the longest one

Got a scrambled cube in your hands? Enter its colors and get a step-by-step solve for your own cube.

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Before you start

Reading the moves

Algorithms are written as letters. Each letter is one face of the cube. Hold the cube with one face toward you (the front) and keep it that way while you do the moves.

Letter	Face	A plain letter turns it so that…
R	Right	the front column goes up
L	Left	the front column goes down
U	Up (top)	the front row goes left
D	Down (bottom)	the front row goes right
F	Front	the top row goes right
B	Back	the top row goes left

A plain letter is always a quarter turn clockwise, as if you were looking straight at that face. That is why R and L seem to go opposite directions from the front.

R' (read "R prime") turns the same face counterclockwise.
U2 turns the face twice (a half turn). Direction doesn't matter.

Try each button on the cube. R followed by R' undoes itself, which is a handy way to check you have the direction right.

Stage 1 of 7 · yellow center on top

White cross

Goal

A white plus sign on the bottom, where each white edge's other color matches the center above it. Green edge under the green center, red under red, and so on.

How

Hold the cube with the yellow center on top, and keep it that way until stage 7. You build the cross in two parts: first a daisy on top, then you send each petal down.

Part 1, the daisy. Bring the four white edges up around the yellow center, white facing up. They look like petals. Their side colors don't matter yet. Before you lift an edge, turn the top so the spot it lands in has no petal.

In the middle layer: turn the side its white sticker doesn't face, so the edge rises with white on top.
On the bottom, white facing down: turn that side twice.
White facing out, on the top or the bottom: turn that side once. The edge moves into the middle layer, and you lift it from there.

Part 2, the cross. Turn the top until a petal's side color matches the center below it. Then turn that side twice, and the petal drops to the bottom. Do the same with the other three.

Send a petal down

Check the side color before each double turn, not just the white. A white plus with mismatched sides is the most common early mistake, and it shows up two stages later.

Stage 2 of 7 · yellow center on top

White corners

Goal

The whole white side, now on the bottom, with the bottom row of every side matching its center. Each side shows an upside-down "T".

How

Find a corner in the top layer that has white on it. Its other two colors tell you where it belongs. Turn the top (U) until the corner sits right above that spot, at the front right. Then repeat these 4 moves until the corner drops into its spot with white on the bottom:

4 moves

We call R U R' U' the 4 moves. You'll use them again inside the Cross move in stage 4, and in stage 7. This guide follows J Perm's beginner method.

Which way the white sticker faces decides how many rounds it takes:

Corner in the bottom layer but in the wrong spot, or twisted? Hold it at the front right and do the 4 moves once. That lifts it to the top, and you continue from there.

Stage 3 of 7 · yellow center on top

Middle layer

Goal

The bottom two layers finished. Only the top layer is left.

How

Find an edge in the top layer that has no yellow on it. Turn the top (U) until its front color matches the front center, making an upside-down T. Now look at its top color: the edge belongs on that side.

Goes right

Goes left

The two are mirror images. The first half moves the edge away and lifts the slot, the second half brings the matching corner back with it.

An edge stuck in the middle layer in the wrong slot, or flipped? Put any yellow-topped edge into that slot with the same algorithm. That kicks the stuck edge up to the top, where you can insert it properly.

Stage 4 of 7

Yellow cross

Goal

A yellow plus sign on top. Ignore the corners and the side colors for now.

How

Look only at the four top edges. You'll see one of these patterns. Each use of the algorithm moves you one step to the right in this row:

Cross move

Hold the L with its arms pointing to the back and left. Hold the line left to right, not front to back. From the dot, do it once and you'll have an L; turn the top until the L points back and left, then keep going.

The middle of the Cross move is the 4 moves: F, then R U R' U', then F'.

Stage 5 of 7

Match the yellow edges

Goal

The yellow cross, with each edge's side color matching the center below it.

How

Turn the top until at least two edges match their centers. If the two matching edges are neighbors, hold them at the back and right and do:

Edge swap

If the two matching edges are opposite each other (front and back), do the algorithm once from any angle. You'll then have neighbors, and a second run finishes it.

The first seven moves are the most famous algorithm in cubing. Speedcubers call it the Sune.

Stage 6 of 7

Place the yellow corners

Goal

Every top corner in its correct spot, meaning it sits between the three centers that match its colors. It's fine if it's twisted; that gets fixed last.

How

Find a corner that's already in its correct spot. Hold it at the front right, top. Then do this, which cycles the other three corners:

Corner cycle

If the corners aren't all in place afterward, do it once more. If no corner is in its spot to begin with, do it once from any angle and one will be.

Stage 7 of 7 · yellow center on the bottom

Twist the yellow corners

Goal

Solved.

How

Every corner is in its spot now, and some are twisted. Turn the cube over so yellow is on the bottom, keeping the same side facing you. Hold an unsolved corner at the front right, on the bottom. Repeat the 4 moves until that corner's yellow faces down. It takes two or four rounds.

4 moves

Then turn only the bottom (D) to bring the next unsolved corner to the front right, and repeat. When the last corner is done, one last turn of the bottom lines everything up.

The top will look scrambled halfway through. That's expected. It fixes itself after the last corner, as long as you only turn the bottom between corners and never turn the whole cube in your hands.

When it goes sideways

Getting unstuck

The daisy keeps losing petals

Turn the top before you lift an edge, so the spot it lands in is empty. Lifting into a spot that already has a petal knocks that petal off.

Stage 7 wrecked the top

Keep going. The top layers come back once every corner is twisted, provided you only turned the bottom between corners. Rotating the whole cube mid-stage is the usual culprit.

Stage 4 never gives a cross

Check how you're holding the L and the line. A line held front to back just turns back into an L.

One edge flipped, or one corner twisted, and nothing fixes it

A correctly assembled cube can't end up that way. The cube was probably taken apart and put back wrong, or a sticker was peeled and moved.

Learning it

One stage per sitting works well. Use Restart on each demo and copy it on your own cube until the moves feel automatic. Then scramble and solve up to that stage.

Still stuck? Get a solve for your own cube

Enter the colors of your scrambled cube, or scan it with the camera. Solve my cube shows every move for your exact cube, one step at a time on a live cube.

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