How To Solve A Rubik's Cube: Phase 1

3/4/2014

I taught myself to solve the Rubik's cube in 6 months by practicing during high school study hall every day. There are some people out there who can solve a Rubik's cube in about 7 seconds. I'm not one of those geniuses, but if you have wanted to learn to solve this puzzle, I can show you how in a method that takes about 2 minutes (with practice). Not as impressive as 7 seconds, of course, but it's still a good party trick! Just keep in mind, this is definitely a puzzle that takes practice. I've broken the steps down into 3 different phases, with each phase solving each of the three layers of the cube (top, middle, bottom). In this post, I will break down the steps of the first layer. Or, simply scroll to the bottom of this post to watch my step-by-step how-to video for solving this first phase! Stay tuned for upcoming posts on phases 2 & 3.

RETURN TO ALL BLOGS

You can start on whichever side of the cube you want to. In this tutorial, I will start by solving the white side. If you are following this guide step-by-step, it will be easiest if you also start with the white side, so that you will see what I see. The white side is the one that has the white cube in the middle of the 9 squares. Each of the cube's six color sides are indicated by that center cube. In the picture above, you can see the white side on top, the red side to the right and green to the left.

Getting Started: The Top Layer

When you solve the top layer of the Rubik's cube, it's not enough to just get all the white pieces on one side. We need to align the white cubes to the top so that their adjacent sides also match. In the above example, you'll see that not only are the white cubes lined up, but so are their green & red sides within the sides of the top layer. When the cube is mixed up, you can find the white side by locating the side that has a white square as the center piece.

Then, you have to start thinking about the cube 3-dimensionally. Every move you make on one side will affect the pieces on the other side.

Solving The Two-Sided White Pieces

Let's start by solving the white pieces that have blue adjacent colors. The corner piece to the far left in this image already has a blue & white piece in the right position, so let's start there. Your next step is to locate the 2-sided piece that has blue on one side and white on the other. If you're having trouble finding the piece, remember that the 2-sided pieces will never be on a corner - because that would require the piece to have three sides.

In my example, twisting the center column straight up would put it in the correct position. However, I don't want to leave it there, because it pushes away other pieces of the top layer that I need to stay in place. But, it's still important to make sure the piece is lined up, and then follow these steps:

Twist the whole bottom layer to the right one turn.
Pull down the center column so that the incorrect piece in the blue/white space is pulled down one turn. Be careful to keep the other two columns (left and right) in their same place. This move now results in the center white piece moving to a different side than the top layer.
Twist the whole bottom layer back to the left one turn.
Push that same center column back up to its original place. The white piece is now aligned in the right spot, but hasn't messed up any of the other pieces on the top layer.

Two-Sided White Pieces On The Middle Layer

But what happens when the two-sided white piece that you need is on the middle layer? Locate the 2-sided piece you need, and line it up so that rotating the piece is one turn up toward the white layer would put it into the correct spot (don't actually turn it, because that will push other white pieces out of the way). In my example, rotating the front side clockwise would move the green/white panel into the correct spot, but it would also cause me to lose another white piece from the top layer.

So, in my example, I'm going to hold the cube so that I am facing the side with the blue piece in the center. Twist the top layer (white side) once counterclockwise so that the correct piece is no longer lined up. Make sure the blue center piece is still the side facing you directly - we will use that as our anchor as all these other pieces are moving around.
Pull down the right side column of the cube one turn.
Rotate the top layer one turn to the left.
Making sure that the blue center piece is still facing you, rotate the front side (blue) one turn clockwise. This will bring the 2-sided white piece into place on the top layer.

Solving The Three-Sided White Corner Pieces

Next, we will need to find the corner piece that has the final blue/white side. In my case, the last piece has a third color side of orange. I located that piece on my cube, same as in the last step, and pulled it around to line up with the side it is meant to be on (with the other two blue sides we have just matched up). In this case, the white side is facing down, and the orange and blue sides are visible. If I pushed that right column upward to line up with that spot, as an example, it would be backwards. So in that case, we need to turn that piece over first. So, having that piece lined up exactly as I have (underneath it's place), follow these steps:

Rotate the front side of the cube (which has two of the three blue/white pieces) clockwise one turn.
Twist the bottom layer one turn to the left.
Rotate the front side of the cube (which has two of the three blue/white pieces) counterclockwise one turn, so the white pieces are now back on the white side on top.
Now, locate the final blue/white piece on the cube. If it was lined up correctly before this move, the white color should now be visible on the side of the cube (instead of on the bottom).
Twist the bottom layer around until the piece is correctly lined up with it's place.

Now, there are two different ways this piece could be lined up. In the first way, it is lined up with the open side and can be solved by pushing the right side directly up one turn.

The other way it could be aligned is with the white lined up with the other two blue/white pieces. You cannot push the piece straight up to the white side in this case without pushing the other two white pieces off the top layer. In this case, you need to move it around a little first. As you start to solve more and more of the white pieces on the top layer, you will need to move the pieces in this way to avoid rearranging pieces that are already solved.

Hold the cube so that the two blue/white pieces you have already solved are along the left or right side (not facing you straight on), and the missing corner piece is closest to you.
Twist the bottom layer so that the correct piece (on the bottom layer) moves AWAY from the side from step one (which has the other two blue/white pieces). In my example, those colors are lined up on the left, so I'm going to twist my bottom layer once to the right.
Pull down the left side column (with the two blue/white pieces lined up) on turn, so that they are now on the side facing you.
Twist the bottom layer back to where it was before. In my case, I will move it back one turn to the left.
Push the left column back up to it's spot on the top layer.

If you look back to the side, the blue/white pieces are now all lined up correctly!

Moving Pieces Off The Top Layer

So now we know how to solve for pieces that are located on the bottom & middle pieces, but what about when a piece is in the incorrect place on the top layer? No problem! You can use the same methods we used above. The only difference is, choose any random piece to place into top layer so that it can replace the incorrect white layer. You can use all the same steps from above, then go back and repeat the same steps to put the correct piece back into the correct position.