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Beginner Guide

Welcome to Cubesolver beginner's guide for solving the cube.

In this guide, you will learn to solve the cube from scratch. No former knowledge required.

We will do this in 3 steps as follows:

  • First, you will get familiar with the cube.
  • Second, I will teach you the moves, that is, the moves' names and terminology so that we'll have a common language while learning the recipes, or algorithms if you prefer to call them that.
  • Then I will present you with the 7 stages needed to complete the cube.

1. Knowing the cube

There are 3 parts that make up the cube.

Centers - These are the parts in the middle that have only one color. There are 6 centers, one for each of the cube 6 faces.

Note that:

  • The centers do not move in relation to each other, meaning that if you hold the cube with the white center facing up and the green center facing towards you, the red center will always be at the right, the orange center will always be at the left, the blue center at the back and the yellow at the bottom.
  • I can tell you which face to turn simply by telling you its center color (e.g., "turn the red face" means: turn clockwise the face with the red center). However, this notation is not customary, hence it will force me to adjust the algorithms to the cube orientation. We'll use Right, Left, Up and Down instead. I'll show you exactly how in the next section.

Edges - The parts with two colors that form a cross when correctly aligned. There are 12 of them in the cube.

Corners - The parts with 3 colors. There are 8 of them in total.

2. Cube terminology

There are 6 faces of the cube that move independently, so you have 6 basic moves to start with.

R, L, U, D, F and B represents Right, Left, Up, Down, Front and Back, respectively, so R means turn the right face 90° clockwise.

In addition, there is the direction of rotation. For example, R means Right clockwise, so Ri, some times referred to as R' (R inverted or R prime), means Right counterclockwise.

Lastly, we will use the notation of R2 for 180° rotation (double turn).

Throughout this app, I will use the combination of Letter, Icon and color to make it easier to remember and be oriented.

For example:

R
L
F
B
U
D
Ri
R2
Fi
F2
Ui
U2

Note that:

  • When turning 180°, direction doesn't matter.
  • In this example, the cube is assumed to be with white center facing up and green center facing towards you (front).
  • At a more advanced level, you will learn more notations such an 'M' and 'E' for middle layers, 'r' (lower case) for rotating right and middle faces together, etc.

At this point, before jumping to actually solving, I encourage you to go back to the Home page "Scramble" segment and play with the rotation buttons.

The next section will briefly describe the 7 stages required for solving the cube. This is, of course, only one of many methods, but it's easy to master, so it is suitable for a beginner. The following is only a short description. You will find detailed instructions in the next sections.

3. The 7 stages

 A. White cross


The first stage. Align 4 white edges with the corresponding colors of the center pieces of the neighbouring faces (Red, Blue, Green and Orange).

 B. White corners


Complete the white face by putting into place, one at a time, the white corners in such way that the two other colors will match its surrounding edges. When complete, expect to see the white face solved and first line "crown" of matching colors.

 C. Second layer


For each of the 4 green, red, blue and orange, complete the edges of the middle layer. This is a bit trickier, but there is a simple way to do it. Don't worry, I will show you how.

 D. Yellow cross


It's time to turn over the cube, yellow face facing up, and start completing the last layer. First, you will learn to create a cross.

 E. Top layer


Now, you'll complete the last layer. You might think, "Last layer? I'm done". But there are two steps left.

 F. Aligning the corners


Here you will have one or two corners switch places.

 G. Rotate the edges


One (or two) steps to go. Rotate the last layer edges to complete the cube.

Voilà...!

P.S. before jumping to the next segment for the solution itself, you might want to pay a visit (again) to theHome page. scramble the cube randomly and have the app solve it for you. You can also customize it to mimic your real cube and follow the solution.

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