3x3 Cube for Beginners - cheat sheet

The layer-by-layer method in 9 stages. Full course with animations and simulator: strefa-kostek.pl/en/kursy

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1Move notation

R right, L left, U up, D down, F front, B back - a quarter turn clockwise when you look straight at that face (for L from the left, for D from below, for B from the back). R' = the other way, R2 = half turn, y = rotating the whole cube in your hands like U. The cube is yellow side up the whole time.

2The daisy

Four white edges around the yellow centre, white facing up.

Edge on the side: turn the face with its non-white colour towards the top.
On the bottom with white facing down: two turns of that face.
First turn the top (U) so that the spot above the edge is free.

3White cross

White cross on the bottom, edge sides match the centres.

Turn the top (U) until the side colour of a petal is above the centre of that colour. Then two turns of that face, e.g. F2. Repeat for all four petals, in any order.

4White corners

The whole bottom layer solved.

Put a corner with white from the top layer above its place (between the centres of its two other colours); hold that place at the front right. Repeat:

R U R' U'

white facing right: 1 time, up: 3 times, front: 5 times.

Corner on the bottom, but wrong? Put it at the front right, do the sequence once - it will come up to the top.

5Second layer

The two bottom layers solved.

Edge from the top without yellow: turn U until its side colour is above the centre of that colour (upside-down T). Hold that face at the front. The colour on top tells you which way:

to the rightU R U' R' U' F' U F

to the leftU' L' U L U F U' F'

Edge in the middle, but wrong? At the front right do “to the right” with any edge - it will come up to the top.

6Yellow cross

Yellow cross on top (the sides do not matter yet).

F R U R' U' F'

linehorizontal, once

letter Lback + left, twice

dotonce, then as for L

7Yellow edges

The sides of the yellow edges match the centres.

Turn U until at least two match. Put the matching ones at the back and on the right (rotating the whole cube):

R U R' U R U2 R' U

adjacentonce

oppositeonce from any side, put the matching ones next to each other, once more

8Corners into place

Every yellow corner between the centres of its three colours (twist does not matter).

Hold a corner that is already in place at the front right:

U R U' L' U R' U' L

1 or 2 times. None in place? Do it once from any side.

9Twisting the corners

A solved cube.

Untwisted corner at the front right. Repeat:

R' D' R D

until yellow is on top (2 or 4 times). Turn only the top (U) to the next corner and again. The bottom falls apart along the way - do not stop, do not rotate the whole cube. Finally turn the top.

!When something does not work

Worse after the algorithm: one move in the wrong direction (L, D, B) or the wrong grip - check what should be at the front and on the right.
One twisted corner or one flipped edge: carefully twist the corner back, or pry out the edge and put it back correctly (mind the core).
Lost in an algorithm: do not undo, solve again from the stage that went wrong.

Hold the cube with the yellow centre on top the whole time. Letter = quarter turn clockwise, looking at that face; ' = the other way; 2 = half turn. StrefaKostek.pl