Your first
solved cube
Seven steps, a handful of short algorithms, and a live cube performing every one. We build the cube one layer at a time — bottom, middle, then the famous yellow top. Take it slowly; by the end the whole thing is one solid colour.
The white cross
A white plus on top, with each edge matching its side centre.
Pick white as your starting face. Find the four white edge pieces and bring each one to the top so its white sticker faces up. The trick: the other colour on each edge must line up with the matching centre — a white-and-red edge sits above the red centre. This step is intuitive; there is no fixed algorithm, and learning to do it by feel is the first real cubing skill.
- Build the cross on the bottom once you are comfortable — it saves a cube rotation later.
- Match the side colour first, then drop the edge into the cross with a half turn.
The first layer corners
Fill in the four white corners to complete the entire white face and first layer.
Find a white corner in the bottom layer and position it directly underneath the slot where it belongs (its two side colours matching the two centres). Then repeat the 'sexy move' — R U R' U' — until the corner rises into place with white on top. If a white corner is stuck in the top layer facing the wrong way, do the move once to kick it out, then re-insert it.
R U R' U' - Hold the target slot at the front-right-top corner before you start.
- One sequence of R U R' U' may need repeating two or three times — that is normal.
The middle layer edges
Place the four non-yellow edges of the middle layer to finish two full layers.
Flip the cube so the solved white face is on the bottom. Look at the top layer for an edge with no yellow — that edge belongs in the middle. Turn the top until its front colour matches a side centre, forming an upside-down T. If it needs to go to the right, run the right-hand algorithm; to the left, the mirror. If all middle edges are stuck in the wrong place, insert any top edge to bump one out.
U R U' R' U' F' U F U' L' U L U F U' F' - No yellow on the edge = it belongs in the middle layer.
- Right alg goes to the right, left alg goes to the left — match the direction to where the edge needs to travel.
The yellow cross
Make a yellow plus on the top face (orientation of the last-layer edges).
Now work the yellow (top) face. You will see one of three patterns: a lone dot, an L-shape, or a horizontal line. Apply F R U R' U' F' to progress dot → L → line → full cross. For the L, hold its two arms pointing up-and-left; for the line, hold it horizontal. You only ignore the corners here — just the edges matter.
F R U R' U' F' - Dot needs the algorithm three times, the L twice, the line once.
- Orientation only — don't worry that the cross colours don't match the sides yet.
Orient the yellow corners
Turn the whole top face yellow, even if pieces aren't in their final spots.
This is the 'Sune' algorithm. Hold the cube so a corner that does NOT have yellow on top sits at the front-right. Run R U R' U R U2 R'. If the yellow face still isn't solid, turn only the U face to bring another non-yellow corner to the front-right and repeat. If you prefer a slower but unstoppable method, the R' D' R D twist (repeated on each corner with U between) also guarantees a yellow face.
R U R' U R U2 R' R' D' R D - Only rotate the U layer between repeats — never reorient the whole cube.
- The first two layers look scrambled mid-way through R' D' R D, then snap back. Trust it.
Permute the yellow corners
Send each yellow corner to its correct location.
With the yellow face solid, the corners are oriented but may sit in the wrong places. Find two adjacent corners that are already correct (sharing a side colour — 'headlights'). Hold them at the back and run this T-perm to swap the two front corners. If no two corners match, run it once from any angle to create a matched pair, then again.
R U R' U' R' F R2 U' R' U' R U R' F' - Look for two same-coloured stickers side by side on one face — those corners are a solved pair.
- Keep the solved pair at the back while you run the algorithm.
Permute the yellow edges
Cycle the last edges into place. The cube is solved.
One last step. Usually three edges need to rotate around the top while one is already home. Hold the solved edge at the back and run the algorithm — it cycles the other three. If all four edges are wrong, run it once from any angle to fix one, then again. When the final edge clicks in, every face is one solid colour. You solved the cube.
R U' R U R U R U' R' U' R2 - If one edge is already solved, keep it at the back.
- Reverse the cycle direction by mirroring the algorithm if the edges turn the wrong way.
That's a solved cube. Now make it fast.
The beginner method is the foundation. CFOP keeps the same last-layer ideas but solves the first two layers together — the door to sub-30 solving.