This blog entry will discuss the basic steps of solving the Rubik’s Cube, but not explicitly explain every algorithm, or pattern of moves, needed for the later steps. If you wish to fully learn, you can use this guide, but this blog is intended to teach the general outline of solving the 3x3x3 cube so it can be compared to other puzzles in later posts.

The first step of solving the Rubik’s Cube is to choose a side, and construct a cross or plus sign on the face; it is most common to start solving the white face, so start orientating the cube so the side with the white center is on top. Remember that the centers of the cube are stationary, so the edge pieces must be rotated relative to each center to be correctly aligned with both colors. For example, the edge piece that is white and green must be aligned with both the white and green face of the cube, as pictured below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After completing the cross, the corners in the same layer need to be filled in. Because we started with a white cross, we will now continue with the white corners. Similar to the edges in the previous step, the corners must be correctly aligned with all of the colors on the piece. For example, the white-green-orange corner piece must be placed so it is aligned with all three of the faces. Once the corners are all in place, the whole white layer will be complete, and the cube should be flipped vertically so the yellow face is on top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this point, it is fairly difficult to solve the cube using only the intuition of pieces. Algorithms are required to continue solving the puzzles without messing up the progress that was already made. The next step is to fill in the four edges in the middle layer to fully solve the middle layer. Again, make sure to properly the edges are the proper orientation so each of the two colors is aligned with the respective center.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now we have to make the top face a solid color, without worrying about the secondary or tertiary colors on each piece; this is called the orientation of the last layer. We first need to make another cross, but unlike the cross on the first face, where the edges were aligned with both the color on the first face and its secondary color as well, this cross only has to be aligned with the color of the last layer. There are three potential cases here: the top face will either have a line, an “L” shape, or just the center square of its color. Each of these cases has a specific algorithm to create the cross.

Next, we perform an algorithm to rotate all of the corners on the final layer to match the color of the top face. In the case of our cube, we should have the top face as solid yellow now, as shown below.

The last step is to shift the pieces in the last layer to fully solve the cube; this is called the permutation of the last layer. At this point, there are 21 possible states the puzzle can be in, each of which is solvable with a single algorithm. A list of cases and their respective algorithms can be found here.

Congratulations, now you know the basic steps of solving the standard Rubik’s Cube! In the next entry, we will cover how the procedure has to change for solving a 4x4x4 cube.