≈160 moves
Beginner
Layer by layer: the daisy, the cross, the sexy move. It takes a while, but every algorithm is short and makes sense.
Textbook and solver
Let's solve it together
Turn the cube with your finger, read the first nine chapters, and within an evening you’ll be solving it yourself. Already holding a scrambled one? Show it to us and we’ll walk you through the solution, naming every trick along the way.
- 43 quintillion positions
- 20 moves are always enough
- 7 steps for beginners
Your browser can’t draw 3D here, so here’s the net instead.
Drag a sticker to turn a layer; drag outside the cube to turn the whole thing. On a keyboard: U R F D L B, plus Shift to turn the other way.
Tap the cube to pick it up: drag a sticker to turn a layer, or drag outside the cube to turn the whole thing. Tap “Done” and the page scrolls again.
Solved! 🎉
The textbook
Fourteen chapters, from what’s inside the cube to God’s number. Every chapter has a live cube: turn it as you read and solve the exercises yourself.
- 1 How the cube works Before you turn a single face, look inside: the cube has just three kinds of pieces, and every piece has a home of its own. ✓
- 2 The language of turns Six letters, a prime and a 2 are all it takes to write down any solve. ✓
- 3 The daisy and the white cross Four white petals around a yellow heart, and your first layer is already under way. ✓
- 4 The white corners One trick, repeated the right number of times, finishes the entire white layer. ✓
- 5 The second layer Spot an upside-down T, learn two mirror-image algorithms, and two-thirds of the cube is solved. ✓
- 6 The yellow cross Watch only the yellow — dot, L-shape, line — and let one algorithm carry you from pattern to pattern. ✓
- 7 Lining up the yellow cross The cross is already yellow — now each of its edges has to sit under its own center. ✓
- 8 Putting the corners in place The corners can still be twisted any which way — for now, all that matters is that each one sits in its own spot. ✓
- 9 The final twist The strangest step in the course: the bottom falls apart and then rebuilds itself, not by luck but by law. ✓
- 10 F2L: pairs, not layers A white corner and a middle-layer edge don't have to go in one at a time. They can drop in together, as a single column. ✓
- 11 F2L: building a pair Hide one piece, turn the top, bring it back: that's how a corner and an edge that sit apart find each other. ✓
- 12 F2L: stuck pieces and all four pairs A piece is stuck down below, in its own slot or someone else's. The same six tricks are still all you need. ✓
- 13 CFOP: how the champions do it The same layers, built in bigger blocks: the cross is planned ahead, the pairs go in whole, and the last layer takes just two looks. ✓
- 14 God's number: how a computer thinks Forty-three quintillion positions, and not one of them more than twenty moves from solved. Here's how we found out, and how a computer finds its way home. ✓
Four ways to solve the same cube
One scrambled cube, four very different solutions. Show us yours and compare.
≈75 moves
Intuitive F2L
The bridge from beginner to CFOP: a white cross without the daisy, corner–edge pairs built by eye, the last layer in four looks.
≈55 moves
Like a champion — CFOP
Cross, F2L pairs, OLL and PLL: the method behind solves that take seconds, with every case named.
≈20 moves
Like a computer
Kociemba’s two-phase algorithm: close to the shortest possible solution. No human could learn it, but it’s mesmerizing to watch.