J PERM

How To Solve The 3x3 Rubik's Cube

This is a super simple Rubik's Cube tutorial, where you don't need to learn move notation or long algorithms.

With some practice, you should be able to solve the cube in about 2-4 minutes. If you want to get even faster, you should learn How to do Finger Tricks and learn the CFOP Method.

Below are the steps from the video, for reference.

Example Solve

You can also watch the beginner method example solve in case anything is unclear.

If you have any further questions, you can go to the video and leave a comment, which I try my best to answer.

Step 1. White Cross

Hold the white center piece on top, and find an edge in the bottom layer that has white on it.

Note: An edge piece has 2 colors on it.

Look at the edge piece's other color, and turn the bottom layer so the edge is under the center of the same color.

Turn that face to bring the edge piece to the top.

Another example:

Anytime an edge piece is flipped (example above), fix it by doing the following moves:

Anytime you find a white edge piece that is not in the bottom layer, you can move it into the bottom by doing the following moves:

And then solve it like you would for any white edge in the bottom layer.

Solve all 4 of the white edge pieces to make a cross. Make sure you always look at both colors on each piece so that you end up with the side colors matching as well.

Step 2. First Layer

Hold the white cross on the bottom.

Before solving anything, do this 4-move sequence repeatedly until you have it memorized. It will be very important later on!

Right handed 4-moves:

Left handed 4-moves:

You can watch the tutorial video above to see the best way to do these moves quickly.

Now we'll use the 4-moves to solve the first layer.

With the cross on the bottom, find a corner piece in the top layer with white on it. Turn the top layer so the surrounding centers match the colors on the corner.

Note: A corner piece has 3 colors on it.

Hold the cube so the corner piece is on the front/right, and repeat the right handed 4-moves until this corner is solved.

You can also use the left 4-moves if you hold the piece on the front/left to start.

Repeat until all of the first layer corners are solved. If find a white corner incorrectly stuck in the bottom layer, you can bring it into the top layer by holding it on the front/right and doing the right 4-moves. The tutorial video above shows an example of this.

Step 3. Second Layer

Find an edge piece in the top layer without yellow as either of its 2 colors.

Turn the top so that it matches a center.

Face the piece and check if the top color matches the right center or left center.

If it matches the right side, do the following moves:

How to memorize this algorithm:

If it matches the left side, do the following moves:

How to memorize this algorithm:

Repeat this until all of the 2nd layer edges are solved.

If an edge you are looking for is stuck somewhere in the 2nd layer, move any edge into its spot using one of the 2 algorithms above. This will cause the edge to come out into the top layer. The example solve video above shows how this is done.

Step 4. Top Cross

Hold the cube to match one of the following (ignore the corner pieces):

Then do the following moves:

How to memorize this algorithm:

If the cross is not solved yet, hold the cube to match the new case and repeat.

Note: Focus on the colors on edge pieces, and not corner pieces. If you have 1 or 3 edge pieces facing up, your cube is unsolvable, and needs to be taken apart and reassembled.

Step 5. Match Cross Colors

Turn the top face until 2 cross pieces match the side color (if all 4 match, you have finished this step!)

Hold the 2 matching edges at the back/right. If they are across from each other, hold them in any way.

Then do the following moves:

How to memorize this algorithm:

Turn the top to match all 4 colors. If you can only match 2 colors, then repeat this step.

Step 6. Match Corners

A corner is in the correct position if all 3 colors on the piece match the surrounding colors.

Examples of corner pieces in the correct position:

If 1 corner is correct, hold it in the front/right (if 0 are correct, hold any corner in the front/right).

Then do the following moves:

How to memorize this algorithm:

Check if all 4 corners are in the correct position. If not, hold a correct corner on the front/right and repeat.

Note: If you have only 2 corners in the correct position, your cube is unsolvable, and needs to be taken apart and reassembled.

Step 7. Solve the Cube!

It is very easy to make a mistake during this step, so I recommend reading the whole thing, including the common mistakes, before attempting it.

Turn the cube over so that the unsolved corners are all in the bottom layer.

You may have 2, 3, or 4 unsolved corner pieces.

Repeatedly do the 4-move sequence until the front/right corner is solved (has yellow on the bottom).

Then turn the bottom layer (not the whole cube) to bring an unsolved corner to the front/right. Repeat until the whole cube is solved.

Common mistakes:

Note: If you only have 1 corner unsolved while the rest of the cube is solved, or if you followed step 7 correctly but it does not work, then your cube is unsolvable, and needs to be taken apart and reassembled.

Next Steps

Congrats on solving the Rubik's Cube! With practice, you should be able to do this in a few minutes, or even under 1 minute if you practice a lot. Some people stop there, which is totally fine. But if you want to get even faster, you should learn How to do Finger Tricks and learn the CFOP Method, which is most of the fastest cubers use.

My advice is that you should not rush to learn new things until you're well practiced with what you know, otherwise it can feel overwhelming. CFOP does have many algorithms to memorize, but don't be pressured into thinking that learning more algorithms is what makes you faster in the end. Cubing is much more interesting because that is NOT the case, and there's much more to learn besides algorithms. Check out my sub-11 second average using a total of 16 algorithms, which is part of what you learn with beginner CFOP.

People who share the hobby

There is an active community of cubers with hundreds of thousands of people who just enjoy speedsolving and/or solving a variety of puzzles! You can find us on Reddit, Facebook, the SpeedSolving Forums, and other decentralized places like YouTube and Instagram.

The World Cube Association (WCA) handles cubing events and official records. You can use their website to check world records, and look for competitions near you. You might be thinking, "competitions!?" Competitions are actually just events where cubers can meet up and hang out (and do some official solves). No cuber has ever told me they regret going, and most people (including myself) regret not going early enough. I highly encourage checking it out.

Although I highly recommend it, you don't have to subscribe to my YouTube channel. But if you ever have a question about anything, feel free to leave a comment on one of my videos! I try my best to reply to questions.