Week 4 (04-10.05.2015) Rubik's cube

Rubik’s cube

I’m a real Rubik’s Cube fan. I was playing a lot with this amazing toy when I was little. But I came back to it a year ago and now I’m trying to solve different types of cubes as fast as possible. I cannot say that I’m a speedcuber or speedsolver because my personal best solving time is only 31 seconds and the official world record for solving 3x3 cube using two hands and open eyes is 5,55 seconds (believe me that this annotation about hands and eyes is very important because people also solve cubes using one hand or feet and there are also magicians who solve dozens of cubes in a row without looking at them).

In this article I would like to show you how easy it is to solve a 3x3 cube. Also I would like to present to you other types of cubes. Maybe someday you will start practicing like me, to solve it faster and faster every day. Have fun!

The official world record:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCrTrtxAUbA

How to solve 3x3 cube

First of all, you have to know that there are many techniques of solving cubes such as: Fridrich, Roux, Petrus and many others. But in my opinion the best one is Fridrich aka CFOP and this method I’m using in this presentation.

Step one

The Fridrich method has 4 phases. In the first one you have to build a cross like the one in the picture below.

(source: http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metoda_Fridrich)

It doesn’t matter what colour you choose. I prefer white. It’s very important to match the cross with side center pieces. In the picture above you see only red and blue but you have to match also two other: green and orange.

Step two

The second phase is called F2L (First Two Layers). All you have to do is to arrange all pieces of two layers just like in the picture below.

(source: http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metoda_Fridrich)

To achieve that you have to utilize a few algorithms. Yes! You have to remember them. But believe me that after first fifty attempts your hands will work automatically. Mostly because there are many common moves.

First of all turn your cube to have the cross at the bottom (in our example white cross). All you have to do is to fill the missing corners. You have four of them. 

(source: http://www.kostkarubika.org/kursy/333/techniki-zaawansowane/fridrich/1/sajgon/3/f2l)

Of course there are many combinations. But you have to focus to solve missing corners one by one and don’t care about other pieces. Let’s consider one case like the one in the picture below. At the same time I will also explain to you what the Rubik’s Cube Notation is.

(source: https://www.speedsolving.com/wiki/index.php/F2L)

In this case we would like to arrange the Red-Green-White corner. Two pieces you need are located on the upper face, they are grouped together but the triple piece is turned. To solve this case you have to do:

U' (R U' R' U) (R U R')

I know! You say: what does it mean? Basically this is the solution written in the Rubik’s Cube Notation. Here is the description:

U =   U’=

R =R’ =

(source: http://ruwix.com/the-rubiks-cube/notation/)

I hope you’ve done it. It’s easy, isn’t it? Of course the notations have many more key letters. A good explanation you can find here:

http://www.rubiksplace.com/move-notations/

And all F2L algorithms you can find here: 

https://www.speedsolving.com/wiki/index.php/F2L.

Step three 

Once you have finished the second phase called F2L all you have to do is to arrange the last layer. This part is divided into two phases. First you have to turn all your yellow pieces to have a nice solved face. And don’t care about the border. For sure the colours will not match with the green, red, blue and orange faces. We will fix it later. Just focus on the yellow face like in the picture below:

(source: http://www.kostkarubika.org/kursy/333/techniki-zaawansowane/fridrich/1/sajgon/4/oll)

This time we will also have to use some algorithms. This phase (called OLL - Orientation of the Last Layer) has many of them but for now you need only a few listed below:

Of course the full list of algorithms is available online. You can find it here: https://www.speedsolving.com/wiki/index.php/OLL

Step four

This is the last part called PLL (Permutation of the Last Layer). All you have to do is to turn the border pieces to have your cube completely solved.

(source: http://www.kostkarubika.org/kursy/333/techniki-zaawansowane/fridrich/1/sajgon/5/pll)

As always you have to use algorithms which you can find here: https://www.speedsolving.com/wiki/index.php/PLL. Find your case and that’s it. Finish.

One more thing…

There is one more thing. The original 3x3 cube is only the beginning. You can try to solve also 2x2, 4x4, 5x5 and… 11x11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCUx-7bXfqc

Personally I have cubes from 2x2 to 5x5. And trust me it’s really enough. But if you are ambitious you can try to solve larger ones. To be honest – 80% of 3x3 algorithms you can utilize on larger cubes so it’s not as complicated as it looks like. There are some tips and tricks but it’s mostly the same as the basic 3x3.