How to solve a Rubik's cube layer by layer: seven rules

Cheat sheet on one screen

White always stays on top — in the lesson and in this guide. When a rule says “hold the place front-right”, turn the whole cube around the vertical axis: white stays on top. The letters on the centers of the 3D model show which face is F, R, D and so on right now.

Many video tutorials hold the cube yellow-up and solve the last layer on top. The formulas are the same, only U and D swap places. We never flip the cube, so there is nothing to mix up: white on top from the first turn to the last.

1. Cross. Daisy: every white edge goes down, white facing down. Then each edge under its center and that face 180°.
2. White corners. Corner below its place, place front-right. R' D' R D until the corner is in. White facing you — the reverse four-move algorithm D' R' D R once is faster.
3. Middle layer. An edge without yellow makes a “T” with its center; face that center. The bottom sticker says: right or left.
4. Yellow cross. Dot → L (back-left) → line (left to right) → cross: F' · R' D' R D · F.
5. Yellow edges. Two neighbors match — hold them front and right, the fish R D R' D R D2 R' and D.
6. Corners to places. A corner already in place goes front-right-bottom. D' R' D L · D' R D L' until all are in place.
7. Twist the corners. Twisted corner front-right-bottom. R U R' U' until yellow faces down; reach the next one with the bottom only.

Learn the formulas in chunks of four turns: each chunk is one “square” drawn by the hand. Pause briefly between chunks.

Both four-move algorithms are a “square” drawn with the right hand: the second turn always goes left, the fourth right. The bottom one starts down (R') and turns the bottom; the top one starts up (R) and turns the top. “Up, down, left, right” here describe the side facing you; the exact meaning of a letter is clockwise or counterclockwise, see Turns.

Centers, pieces and hold

A face's color is the color of its center sticker. Centers never move relative to each other: they are the landmarks for the whole solve.

Hold the cube with the white center up and red facing you. Green is then on the left, blue on the right, yellow below and orange at the back.

Turning the whole cube

Before a formula the lesson may say “the blue center goes in front”. Turn the whole cube around the vertical axis, keeping white on top. Formula letters always follow your current hold: R is whatever is on your right now. That is why each formula works the same on all four sides.

Center, edge or corner?

A center has one sticker, an edge two, a corner three. Find a piece by all its colors: it belongs between the centers of the same colors. The white-red edge sits between the white and red centers, the white-red-blue corner between all three.

The colors of one piece always move together.

Turns: clockwise and counterclockwise

A letter is a face relative to your hold: R is whatever is on your right now, F in front, D below. A plain letter is a quarter turn clockwise, looking straight at that face. A prime (R', read “R prime”) is a quarter turn counterclockwise. 2 is a half turn, either way.

The key is to look straight at the face you are turning. The same hand motion is “clockwise” for the right face and “counterclockwise” for the left one: you look at them from opposite sides. That is why R moves the right layer up while L moves the left layer down. The bottom face is viewed from below: D sends the bottom to the right as seen from the front.

Under every turn the lesson spells out the direction — “clockwise, looking at the right face” — and adds the gesture: where the side facing you goes. The gesture is a quick cue for the hand; the clock is the exact definition:

Finished pieces may move temporarily inside a formula. Check what you built after the whole group of turns.

Try it: take the cube, look straight at the right face and turn it so the top sticker moves to the right, like the hand from 12 to 3. That is R. Now the same with the left face, looking at it from the left: the top moves right — that is L. Seen from the front, the right layer went up and the left layer went down.

Two four-move algorithms

The bottom four-move algorithm R' D' R D is the key move of the first layer: right down, bottom left, right up, bottom right. It swaps the top front-right corner with the corner below it. Repeat until the white corner is in: 1, 3 or 5 times. Six in a row bring the cube back.

The reverse four-move algorithm D' R' D R

The same four turns, but the bottom goes first: bottom left, right down, bottom right, right up. It is for one case only: the corner's white sticker faces you. The ordinary four-move algorithm works too, but it takes five repetitions; the reverse one puts the corner in with a single pass.

One move is enough to get started: learn only R' D' R D first and repeat it until the corner is in (1, 3 or 5 times). The reverse four-move algorithm is a shortcut for later; the lesson shows both.

The top four-move algorithm R U R' U' is the same square with the top: right up, top left, right down, top right. The last stage uses it to twist a bottom corner. Frames from a solved cube:

Do not mix them up: the top one breaks the white cross in the first stages, the bottom one breaks the yellow edges in the last.

White cross

On the result nets colored cells are required and gray ones may be any color. The white face is on top of the net; below it, from left to right, are green, red, blue and orange; yellow is below red.

Rule. Daisy: every white edge goes down, white facing down. Then put each edge below its own center and turn that side 180°.

How to find and drop an edge

Find an edge with white and see where it is. On the cards the pink frame marks that edge; the cube is drawn the way you hold it: white on top, the front face on the left, the right face on the right. Gray stickers may be any color.

• Top layer, white up — turn its side face 180°.
• Top layer, white sideways — turn the face with the white sticker: the edge moves into the middle layer.
• Middle layer — turn the face without the white sticker so the edge drops down with white facing down.
• Bottom layer, white sideways — turn that face: the edge rises into the middle layer.

Before turning a side face, turn the bottom so no finished petal sits below that face — otherwise it moves away.

Petals into the cross

Look at the petal's side sticker. Turn the bottom until it sits below the center of the same color, then turn that face 180°: the edge rises to the top with white up.

Check. A white plus on top. On every side face the top middle sticker matches the center. Corners do not count yet.

Remember

An edge belongs to a pair of centers. A white plus with mixed-up side colors is not a cross yet.

White corners

Rule. A white corner goes below its place; the place is front-right. Four-move algorithm R' D' R D until the corner is in.

How to find the corner and its place

Take any white corner from the bottom layer. Its place is between the centers of its two other colors: the white-red-blue corner goes between red and blue. Turn the bottom so the corner is right below that place, and the whole cube so the place is front-right.

Where the white sticker faces

This tells you how many repetitions. On the cards the cube is tipped top away from you: the yellow face at the bottom left, the front face on top, the right face on the right; the pink frame is our corner.

• No need to count: do R' D' R D until white is on top and the side colors match. The cube “stops” you itself.
• No white corners left at the bottom, but a corner on top is wrong — hold its place front-right and do R' D' R D once: the corner drops down.

Check. The whole top face is white. The top row of every side face is one color and matches its center.

Remember

“White on top” and “corner in its place” are different things. You need both.

Middle layer

Rule. A bottom edge without yellow makes a T with its center; face that center. The bottom sticker shows the way: right or left.

Right or left?

Find a bottom edge without yellow. Turn the bottom until its side sticker matches the center — you get a “T”. Turn the cube to face that center and look at the edge's bottom sticker: if its color is the center on your right, insert right; if on your left, insert left.

The first turn of each insertion moves the edge away from its place. Then come two four-turn groups: one with a side face (right or left), the other with the front. Insert right starts with the familiar reverse four-move algorithm; insert left is its mirror copy.

No bottom edge without yellow, but the layer is not complete? Hold the wrong edge front-right and insert right: the edge comes down, then follow the rule.

Check. The white face is complete. On every side face the top two rows match its center.

Remember

First the “T”, then a look at the bottom sticker. The insertion always goes toward the center of its color.

Yellow cross

Rule. Look at the bottom: dot → L → line → cross. L at the back-left, line from left to right, then F' + four-move algorithm + F.

How to look at the bottom

Tilt the top of the cube away from you to see the bottom. On the pictures below the top is the side that faced you. Only yellow edges count; corners do not matter yet.

Check. A yellow plus on the bottom. The first two layers are in place. Side colors of the yellow edges may still differ.

Remember

The cross formula is the familiar four-move algorithm between two turns of the front face.

Yellow edges in place

Rule. Turn the bottom until two neighboring edges match: hold them front and right, fish R D R' D R D2 R', then D.

What counts as a match

On every side face compare the bottom middle sticker with the center. Turning the bottom, find the position where the most edges match. On the cards the cube is tipped top away from you: the yellow face at the bottom left, the front face on top, the right face on the right; a colored sticker on a side face next to yellow means that edge matches its center.

• Two neighbors — turn the cube so they are front and right, then the fish and D.
• Two opposite or no pair — the fish from any side, then look again.

Check. A yellow plus on the bottom, and the bottom middle sticker of every side face matches its center.

Remember

The fish keeps the yellow cross and swaps two edges — the ones at the back and on the left.

Corners to their places

Rule. A corner already in its place goes front-right-bottom. D' R' D L D' R D L' until all four are in place.

Is the corner in its place?

A corner is in its place when its three colors are the three neighboring centers, in any order. A twisted corner counts too: the next stage twists it. If there is no such corner, do the formula once from any side — afterward there will be one.

The formula keeps the front-right corner in place and moves the other three around. Sometimes it takes a second time. Do not turn the bottom on its own: the finished edges would move.

Check. Every bottom corner sits between its three centers but may be twisted: those stickers are gray on the net.

Remember

At this stage look only at where the corners are, not at where yellow faces.

Twist the last corners

Rule. A twisted corner front-right-bottom. R U R' U' until yellow faces down; to the next corner — bottom only. Never turn the whole cube here.

Where the yellow sticker faces

Bottom view, as on the cards: the corner's yellow sticker faces right — two four-move algorithms; faces front — four. No need to count: do them in pairs until yellow is below.

The top layers look broken in between. That is expected: they come back when the last corner is twisted. Just do not turn the whole cube and do not stop in the middle of a pair of four-move algorithms.

When every yellow sticker faces down, turn the bottom so the side colors match. The cube is solved.

Check. All six faces are one color. The cube is solved.

Remember

Try another solve on your own: before each step name the rule and find the piece, and open a hint only to check yourself.

Practice: test yourself

The lesson has two modes. Learn shows everything: the pink outline is the piece you need, the cyan one its place, the formula is split into labeled parts, and the gesture of the current turn is below it. Test yourself hides the hints until you answer:

• find the piece on your cube and click it on the model;
• click the place where it belongs;
• pick the case: where the edge is, what the bottom shows, which way to insert, how to turn the bottom.

If you make a mistake, the lesson explains why. Hint first describes the position in words; a second press shows the answer. Tasks without mistakes or hints count. A stage gets a star when it has at least three clean tasks making up at least 70% of attempts — or when you solved it yourself.

I'll solve this stage myself is the main exercise. Solve the stage without hints, scan the cube again and press Train: the app checks the cube itself to see whether the stage is complete and records your success.

Practice results are stored in a cookie in this browser and are not sent anywhere.

Pause and resume

Your place in the lesson is stored in a browser cookie after every confirmed turn. When you return to the site, you can restore the saved cube and turn or replace the lesson with a new scan. Nothing loads until you choose.

Before continuing, compare your real cube with the model: the lesson is saved, but the pieces stay in your hands. If the cube got mixed up, scan it again and press Train — the lesson starts at the first unfinished stage.

You can also save a lesson file with Menu → Save and open it on another device with Load on the scanning screen. Lessons from the old version of the method do not open: scan the cube and start again.

Back to scanning and Train