You’ve probably seen one sitting on a shelf, dusty and scrambled, or maybe you just bought a brand-new SpeedCube and the tension is already killing you. It’s frustrating. You move one side, and three other colors fly out of place. Most people think solving a Rubik’s Cube requires some kind of mathematical genius-level IQ or a brain that can see four dimensions at once. Honestly? It’s just muscle memory and a bit of spatial recognition. If you can follow a recipe for sourdough bread, you can learn rubik's cube how to do without losing your mind.
The biggest mistake beginners make is trying to solve the cube "face by face." You see someone get all the whites on top and they feel like a king, right? Then they try to solve the red side and—poof—the white side is a mess again. That’s because the cube isn't a collection of stickers; it’s a collection of pieces. You have to solve it in layers. If you don't shift your perspective from "colors" to "layers," you're going to be stuck forever.
The Secret Geometry of the Cube
Before we even touch an algorithm, let's talk about what you're actually holding. The Rubik's Cube is a mechanical marvel designed by Ernő Rubik in 1974. He didn't even know if it could be solved when he built it. It took him a month to figure it out.
There are three types of pieces. Centers never move. Look at the white center; it will always be opposite the yellow center. Always. Then you have Edges, which have two colors, and Corners, which have three. You can't move an edge piece into a corner slot. It’s physically impossible. This sounds simple, but once you internalize that the center pieces dictate what color a side must be, the mystery starts to evaporate.
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Starting the Solve: The Cross and the First Layer
Most tutorials tell you to start with the white cross. Why white? No real reason, honestly. It's just the industry standard.
To figure out rubik's cube how to do the right way, you start by building a "daisy." This is a beginner's hack where you put four white edge pieces around the yellow center. It looks like a flower. Once they're there, you line up the other side of the edge piece with its matching center color and flip it 180 degrees down to the white center. Now you have a white cross that actually lines up with the side colors.
Don't rush this.
Getting the corners in is where people usually get their first taste of algorithms. You'll hear the term "Sexy Move" a lot in the cubing community. It’s a four-move sequence: Right side up, Top side left, Right side down, Top side right. In notation, that's $R U R' U'$. It’s the Swiss Army knife of cubing. You use it to tuck corners into their spots. If the corner isn't facing the right way, you just keep doing the move until it snaps into place.
Moving to the Middle
The second layer is actually the easiest part, yet it’s where most people quit because they’re afraid of breaking the white layer they just spent ten minutes finishing. You aren't going to break it. Well, you are, but only for a split second.
You’re looking for edge pieces on the top layer that don't have yellow on them. If an edge is green and red, it belongs in the middle layer between the green and red centers. You move it away from where it needs to go, do a version of that "Sexy Move" we talked about, and then do the same thing with your left hand. It’s a symmetrical dance. If you do it right, the edge piece slides into the middle layer, and your white base stays perfectly intact.
The Yellow Face: Where the Math Gets Weird
Now you’re at the top. This is the "Last Layer" or LL in cubing lingo. This is where things get technical. You’re going to deal with "OLL" (Orienting the Last Layer) and "PLL" (Permuting the Last Layer).
First, you need a yellow cross. You might have just a dot, an "L" shape, or a horizontal line. There’s a specific sequence—$F (R U R' U') F'$—that toggles through these states. It’s like a combination lock. Once you have the cross, you use an algorithm called the "Sune" ($R U R' U R U2 R'$) to flip all the yellow corners upward. Suddenly, the whole top is yellow.
But wait.
The colors on the sides of those top pieces probably don't match yet. It looks solved from the top, but the sides are a chaotic rainbow. This is the final hurdle.
Fixing the Corners and Edges
You need to look for "headlights." These are two corners of the same color on one side. If you see them, you point them to the left and run a longer algorithm like the T-Perm. If you don't have headlights, you run it anyway until they appear. It feels like magic when the corners finally snap into their permanent homes.
The very last step is swapping the edges. You might have one side completely finished and three edges that need to cycle around. Or maybe all four are wrong. There’s a move for this. You perform a sequence of moves that basically lifts the pieces up, rotates them, and drops them back down. If you’ve followed the steps, the cube will suddenly click into its solved state. The feeling of that final turn is genuinely addictive.
Why Speedcubers Do It Differently
The method I just described is the "Layer-by-Layer" method. It’s great for beginners, but if you want to solve a cube in under 20 seconds like the pros at the World Cube Association (WCA) competitions, you’ll eventually move to CFOP.
- Cross: Solving the cross on the bottom (not the top) to save time.
- F2L (First Two Layers): Solving a corner and an edge at the same time and slotting them in together. It’s way faster but requires learning about 41 different cases.
- OLL: Fanning out the top color in one single algorithm. There are 57 variations.
- PLL: Solving the rest of the cube in one last algorithm. There are 21 of these.
It sounds like a lot of homework. It is. But humans are incredible at pattern recognition. Max Park, one of the greatest speedcubers alive, can do this in under 4 seconds. He isn't thinking about the moves; his hands are just reacting to the patterns.
Common Pitfalls and Broken Cubes
Sometimes, you’ll follow every instruction perfectly and the cube still won’t solve. If you’ve ever had a sticker peel off or if a piece has popped out and you put it back in randomly, the cube might be in an "unsolvable state." There are 43 quintillion possible positions for a Rubik's Cube, but only a fraction of them are reachable through legal moves. If a single corner is twisted 90 degrees by hand, the math breaks. You could turn it for a billion years and it would never solve. If you suspect this, just take the cube apart (carefully!) and reassemble it in the solved state.
Actionable Steps for Your First Solve
Stop looking at the whole cube and start looking at the pieces. It’s a puzzle of 20 moving parts, not 54 stickers.
- Lubricate your cube. If you're using an original 1980s-style Rubik's brand, it probably turns like it's full of sand. Get some silicone-based lube or buy a dedicated speedcube (brands like GAN, Moyu, or QiYi are great). A cube that turns easily makes learning much less frustrating.
- Learn the notation. $R$ is right side clockwise, $R'$ (R-prime) is right side counter-clockwise. $U$ is top (up), $D$ is bottom (down), $L$ is left, $F$ is front, $B$ is back. Once you can read these, you can follow any tutorial on the internet.
- Finger tricks matter. Don't turn the cube with your whole hand. Use your index fingers to "flick" the top layer. This is how you build the speed and muscle memory necessary to move past the beginner stage.
- Don't memorize moves, memorize shapes. Watch how the pieces move when you do an algorithm. Notice how a pair of pieces leaves the bottom, travels around the top, and comes back. Visualizing the "journey" of the pieces is much more effective than memorizing a string of letters like $R U R' U'$.
- Use a timer. Download an app like CSTimer. Even if you're slow, tracking your progress is the best way to stay motivated. Seeing your average drop from 5 minutes to 2 minutes is a massive rush.
The Rubik's Cube is a lesson in patience. You will fail. You will mess up the very last move and have to start over from the beginning. That’s part of the process. Every time you restart, you’re burning those patterns deeper into your brain. Eventually, you won't even be thinking about rubik's cube how to do; you'll just be doing it while you watch TV or talk to a friend.
Pick it up. Scramble it. Start with the cross. You’ve got this.