Layer-by-layer · beginner method

Solve the cube,
one layer at a time.

Six colors, twenty moving pieces, and about seven ideas standing between a scramble and a solve. The cube on the right is live — every algorithm on this page plays on it, and you can grab it and turn it yourself. No memorizing a wall of symbols. Just follow along.

White · top Yellow · bottom Green · front Blue · back Red · right Orange · left

This guide keeps white centered on top for the first two layers, then flips to yellow on top for the finish — exactly the orientation each algorithm expects.

The move language

Every algorithm is just a string of single letters. Each letter is one face, turned a quarter turn clockwise — as if you were staring straight at that face.

R L U D F B — the Right, Left, Up, Down, Front, and Back faces.
A ' (prime, e.g. R') means turn that face counter-clockwise instead.
A 2 (e.g. U2) means turn it twice — half a turn, direction doesn't matter.

Tap any move below to watch it happen on the cube. The "prime" version turns the same face the other way.

Try this: the "sexy move" R U R' U' is the most-used trigger in cubing.

Three kinds of piece

The cube isn't 54 loose stickers — it's 20 little pieces that move as units. Knowing which is which is half the battle.

×6 · fixed

Centers

One sticker each. They never move relative to one another, so a center's color defines that face. Green center = the green side, always.

×12 · two colors

Edges

Sit between two centers. A red-blue edge belongs between the red and blue centers — nowhere else.

×8 · three colors

Corners

The corner pieces. A white-red-green corner has exactly one home: where those three faces meet.

Because centers are fixed, solving is really about escorting each edge and corner to the one spot it belongs — without knocking out the ones already home.

The white cross

Start with white on top. The goal: a plus-sign of white on the top face, where each white edge's other color matches the center it touches. A white-red edge lines up over the red center; a white-green edge over green. Get all four and you've made a correct cross.

This step is mostly intuition, not memorization. The reliable trick:

Find a white edge and bring it to the bottom layer, spun so it sits directly under its matching center.
Then turn that face twice (e.g. F2) to lift it straight up into the cross.

Petals-first tip: if a white edge is already on top but in the wrong spot or flipped, drop it to the bottom first, then re-insert. Don't force it sideways.

Aim for the finished cross before moving on — every later step assumes it's there.

White corners → first layer done

Now fill the four white corners. Find a white corner in the bottom layer and spin the bottom until it sits directly beneath the gap it needs to fill (the gap between its two side-colors' centers). Then run this trigger until the corner clicks in with white facing up:

Repeat R' D' R D — it may take up to five reps for one corner. Watch the corner cycle up-and-back until white lands on top.
If a white corner is stuck in the top layer facing the wrong way, run the trigger once to kick it down to the bottom, then re-place it.

Milestone: a solid white face with a matching band of color all the way around the top layer. That's your first layer.

Now flip the whole cube over. White goes to the bottom, yellow comes to the top. Everything from here happens on the yellow face — grab the cube and rotate it so you're looking down at yellow.

The middle layer

With yellow on top, look at the top layer for an edge that has no yellow on it. That edge belongs in the middle. Spin the top (U) until its front color matches a front center — it'll form an upside-down T. Now check where its other color needs to go:

Send it right

Use when the edge's top color belongs on the face to your right.

Send it left

Use when it belongs on the face to your left.

Stuck edge? If a middle edge is already in place but twisted wrong, run either algorithm once to eject it into the top layer, then insert it properly.

Do all four and you've got two full layers. Only the yellow face is left.

The yellow cross

Ignore corners for now — look only at the yellow edges on top. One algorithm handles every case; you just orient the cube first and repeat it:

Dot

No yellow edges up. Run it three times.

L-shape

Two yellow edges at a right angle. Hold them at the top-left, run it twice.

Line

Two opposite edges. Hold the line horizontal, run it once.

You're only forming the yellow plus-sign here. The side colors don't need to match yet — that's the next step.

Line up the yellow edges

You have a yellow cross, but its side stickers probably don't match the centers. Spin the top until at least one edge matches its center. Keep that matched edge at the back, then run this to swap the front and left edges into place:

If two matched edges end up opposite each other, run it once from any angle, then re-check — one will now match at the back.
Repeat until all four side colors line up around the top.

Reading the cube: a matched edge means the color on the side of the edge equals the center below it. Yellow-on-top doesn't count — check the sides.

Drop the corners in the right spots

Now position the yellow corners — ignore which way they're twisted, just get each into the right location. A corner is "home" when its three colors match the three faces meeting at that spot (even if yellow isn't on top yet).

Find a corner already in its correct location, hold it at the front-right-top, and run:

This rotates the other three corners into place. Repeat if needed.
No corner in the right spot? Run the algorithm once from any angle — that will force one into position. Then continue normally.

After this, all four corners sit in their correct homes — most just need a twist.

Twist the corners — and you're done

The final step reuses a trigger you already know: R' D' R D. It looks like it's destroying your cube. It isn't — trust it and finish the sequence.

Hold an un-twisted yellow corner at the front-right-top. Repeat R' D' R D (usually 2 or 4 times) until yellow faces up on that corner.
Then turn only the top (U) to bring the next un-twisted corner to that same front-right spot. Do not rotate the whole cube.
Repeat for all four. The scrambled-looking bottom snaps back into place as you finish the last corner.

Why the mess resolves: each corner needs 2 or 4 reps, and the four always total 6 or 12. Turning only the top between corners guarantees the lower layers land exactly back home. This is the step most people bail on — don't. Keep going.

A last little U to align the top, and every face is one solid color. That's a solved cube.

Your turn

Hit Scramble on the cube, then work through steps 03–09 using the face buttons — or your keyboard. Turn a real cube alongside it and check your moves against the model.

Buttons: the pad on the cube turns any face. Each tap is one clockwise quarter-turn.
Keyboard: press U R F D L B for clockwise; hold Shift for prime.
Drag the cube to look at any face. Reset returns it to solved.

Get comfortable being lost. Scramble, try to solve, and when a step won't click, scroll up and replay its algorithm on the model. Muscle memory beats memorizing symbols.