0:02 in a recent episode of almost impossible
0:04 I looked at the limits of speed cubing
0:06 an event in which people compete to
0:07 solve a Rubik's Cube as fast as they
0:09 possibly can and in the course of
0:11 reporting that piece I actually learn to
0:13 solve a Rubik's Cube myself with help
0:15 from Tyson mouse co-founder of the world
0:17 cube Association in a little under two
0:19 weeks using the method now taught me I
0:20 went from not being able to solve a cube
0:22 at all to being able to solve it
0:25 consistently in just under a minute now
0:27 some of you asked us to post a
0:29 step-by-step tutorial on how to solve
0:31 the cube and maybe you've also heard it
0:32 said the true mastery of a subject is
0:34 achieved by teaching it to somebody else
0:37 so in the spirit of that Maxim I'm going
0:38 to show you the method that I used when
0:40 learning to solve the cube in this video
0:42 you're going to learn the fundamentals
0:44 of cubing how to hold and manipulate the
0:48 cube how to read cube notation and how
0:51 to solve the cube in eight steps all you
0:52 need to follow along is a scrambled cube
0:54 now if this is your first time solving
0:57 one I would budget about an hour plus or
0:58 minus fifteen minutes to your first
1:00 solve I know that's a long time but the
1:02 more time you spend practicing the
1:03 quicker those times will come down and
1:05 they do come down pretty fast at least
1:06 in my experience finally there are many
1:09 ways to solve a cube this is just one of
1:11 them it's not the fastest it's not the
1:12 best it's not the easiest by any stretch
1:14 it's just the method that was taught to
1:16 me by a co-founder of the world cube
1:18 Association and the method that I use to
1:19 bring my times down to under a minute
1:21 ready let's begin
1:24 so before you move anything here are
1:25 some concepts to keep in mind that will
1:27 make solving the cube easier the more
1:30 you practice number one when solving the
1:32 cube try to bear in mind that you're
1:34 solving four pieces not stickers what do
1:36 I mean by that most pieces on the cube
1:37 actually have more than one sticker on
1:39 them so if you try to solve a cube by
1:41 only solving four stickers you'll
1:42 quickly find that while you might be
1:43 able to solve for one face the other
1:46 faces won't match and that's because not
1:49 all pieces on the cube are alike there
1:52 are three types edge pieces like this
1:55 one have two stickers they look like
1:59 this corner pieces like this one have
2:01 three stickers and they look like this
2:06 and center pieces at the middle of each
2:09 3x3 face have one sticker
2:12 these centerpieces are attached to an
2:14 axle inside the puzzle so they never
2:17 actually move on this cube for example
2:20 the white center is always opposite the
2:22 yellow center the orange center is
2:24 always opposite the red center and the
2:26 blue center is always opposite the green
2:28 center and that's an important thing to
2:30 keep in mind because the fact that these
2:31 centers don't move meaning that they
2:32 actually dictate where all of the other
2:35 pieces need to go now this concept was a
2:37 little confusing to me the first time I
2:39 heard it but I promise the more time you
2:41 spend with the cube the clearer and more
2:42 helpful this idea will become finally
2:44 many people think of the cube is being
2:46 comprised of six phases but another way
2:47 to think about it is that it's comprised
2:50 of three layers a top a middle and a
2:52 bottom today we're gonna focus on
2:54 solving the cube one layer at a time
2:57 if you've already forgotten everything I
2:58 just said that's totally fine you can
3:00 just go back and re-watch it for now
3:02 it's enough to have these ideas floating
3:03 around in the back of your head so with
3:05 all of that stuff in mind let's get
3:07 started the first step in solving the
3:09 first layer of the cube is to make what
3:11 cubers call a daisy it's called making
3:12 the Daisy because when you're finished
3:13 you should have something that looks
3:16 like this a yellow Center surrounded by
3:19 four white edge pieces so how do we get
3:22 from here to here well you start by
3:25 finding the yellow center the goal of
3:27 this step is to surround this yellow
3:29 center with four edge pieces of the
3:30 opposite color which in this case is
3:32 white if you've never solved the cube
3:34 before it is very tempting to just start
3:36 turning faces at random in hopes of
3:37 placing an edge piece where you want it
3:39 to go but I want you to resist that
3:41 impulse I'm gonna give you two tips that
3:42 will help me position those edge pieces
3:45 logically the first tip is that there
3:48 are only four white edge pieces that's
3:50 it remember you're moving pieces not
3:52 stickers and there are only four edge
3:56 pieces on this cube with white sides to
3:57 find them all you have to do is inspect
4:00 the cube in your hand once you find one
4:02 pause think about the turns that you'll
4:03 need to move to place it beside the
4:05 yellow Center for example here's a white
4:07 edge piece to place it beside the yellow
4:10 Center all I have to do is this turn
4:12 that right face 90 degrees here's
4:14 another one to get it beside the yellow
4:15 Center I need to turn it here and then
4:18 up trust me the first few times I solved
4:20 the cube this process was not intuitive
4:22 to me at all but making the Daisy becomes
4:22 becomes
4:24 second nature very quickly the more you
4:26 practice the second tip is that once you
4:27 have a pedal to the Daisy in place you
4:29 actually won't have to remove it from
4:31 beside the yellow center to put any of
4:33 the remaining pedals in place that's
4:34 what I'm going to do now
4:36 and you should do the same when you're
4:37 done your yellow Center will be
4:39 surrounded on all four sides with white
4:42 edge pieces like a daisy don't worry if
4:43 you have a white corner piece as well
4:46 we'll get to that in a second the second
4:47 step to solving the first layer is to
4:49 create the white cross when you're
4:50 finished with this step you'll have a
4:52 face with what looks like a white cross
4:54 or a plus sign sort of depending on how
4:56 you look at it start by looking at your
4:58 Daisy if you've got white on any of your
4:59 corners remember just ignore them for
5:01 now we're gonna focus on the four petals
5:05 that reside on the edge pieces each of
5:07 these four edge pieces has two stickers
5:11 one and two by rotating the top face of
5:14 the cube match the non-white sticker
5:16 from each of those edge pieces to the
5:19 center piece of the same color so for
5:21 example the non-white sticker on this
5:24 edge piece is orange I'm gonna turn the
5:25 top face until the orange sticker is
5:28 aligned over the orange center like so
5:30 once you've matched the sticker to the
5:32 same color Center rotate the face with
5:34 the matching Center two times moving a
5:36 white daisy petal from the top face of
5:38 the cube to the bottom I'm now going to
5:40 repeat this step three more times once
5:43 for each of the remaining Daisy petals
5:45 so I've got the red center I'm gonna
5:47 match that with this red edge piece here
5:49 turn it twice I've got this green edge
5:51 piece I'm gonna match it with the Green
5:54 Center and turn it twice and I've got
5:55 this blue edge piece that I'm gonna
5:58 match with the blue Center and turn it
6:00 twice when you're finished you're gonna
6:02 have a white cross on the bottom of your
6:04 cube like I said before don't worry if
6:06 you've got white corners as well for now
6:07 you're just looking for this
6:11 configuration right here one more tip to
6:14 keep in mind that white cross is gonna
6:15 stay pointing down for the entire
6:18 remainder of the solve we are finally
6:20 ready to solve the very bottom layer of
6:21 the cube when we're finished with this
6:23 step the bottom layer of the cube will
6:28 be solved and as a bonus the bottom face
6:30 will be solved as well but before we
6:32 start let's pause for a quick lesson on
6:34 organ onyx that's how to hold and
6:36 manipulate the cube with
6:37 the white face pointing down place your
6:39 left thumb over these four squares and
6:42 your middle and ring fingers over the
6:47 four squares on the opposing face now
6:49 position the middle and ring fingers of
6:51 your right hand on these two stickers up
6:52 here and your right thumb on the
6:55 underside holding the cube this way
6:58 allows you to do two things first it
7:00 lets you rotate the right face freely
7:03 and easily conversely swapping the
7:05 position of your hands allows you to
7:10 rotate the left face as well and second
7:12 it lets you use your index fingers to
7:16 rotate the top face when you string
7:18 these rotations together you get two of
7:20 the most fundamental moves in cubing the
7:23 first sequence is called the right
7:26 trigger it looks like this using your
7:28 right hand rotate the right face ninety
7:30 degrees away from you use your right
7:31 index finger to pull the top face
7:34 towards you by 90 degrees then use your
7:36 right hand to rotate the right face
7:38 ninety degrees back towards you with
7:41 your left hand it looks like this use
7:42 your left hand to turn the left face
7:45 away from you by 90 degrees use your
7:47 left index finger to pull the top face
7:50 towards you by 90 degrees then use your
7:52 left hand to turn the left face back 90
7:56 degrees towards you now calls this three
7:59 move sequence the left trigger the right
8:00 and left triggers are the most
8:03 fundamental moves in cubing the more you
8:05 practice them the faster you'll get
8:07 we're also going to use these triggers a
8:08 lot for the remainder of the solve
8:10 starting right here in step three
8:12 remember the goal of this step is to
8:14 solve the bottom most layer of the cue
8:16 and to do it we're gonna search for
8:19 white stickers on the top layer that are
8:21 facing outward we want to solve the
8:23 parts of the first layer that aren't
8:25 already solved which are the corners
8:26 that have white stickers so we'll be
8:28 looking for those and placing them one
8:31 at a time now you might find that the
8:33 cube you're holding has a white sticker
8:34 on the top face of your cube in fact we
8:36 actually see that here on this one you
8:38 also might have a white sticker in this
8:40 bottom layer if you see either of those
8:41 things don't worry about it we'll get to
8:43 those in a second for now just focus on
8:45 white stickers on the sides of your top
8:48 layer so you have a white sticker
8:51 it's on a corner piece corners have
8:55 three stickers ignore the top one
8:58 instead identify the color to the side
9:00 of your white sticker in my case that
9:02 sticker is green and it is diagonally
9:04 matched to a red Center what I want you
9:07 to do now is rotate the top face until
9:08 the color beside your white sticker
9:10 which in this case is green diagonally
9:12 matches to the center of the same color
9:15 if your corner sticker is oriented to
9:17 the left of your Center sticker you're
9:19 going to use your left hand to perform
9:21 the left trigger by rotating the left
9:23 face away from you pulling the top face
9:24 towards you with your left index finger
9:26 and then rotating the left face towards
9:29 you if the corner sticker is oriented to
9:31 the right of the center sticker you're
9:32 going to use your right hand to perform
9:34 the three move sequence by rotating the
9:36 right face away from you pulling the top
9:37 face towards you with your right index
9:38 finger then rotating the right face
9:41 towards you you're gonna perform this
9:43 move again search the top layer for
9:45 outward facing white stickers like this
9:47 one identify the color next to it align
9:49 that color until it is diagonally
9:50 matched to the center of the same color
9:52 and perform the appropriate right or
9:55 left-handed trigger move here it's to
9:56 the left of the center sticker so I'll
10:00 use the left trigger same thing here
10:07 left same thing here now there are a
10:08 couple unusual situations that can arise
10:10 during the third step and they didn't
10:12 actually happen on the cube I was using
10:14 to solve so I'm gonna use a demo cube to
10:16 show them to you here the first is an
10:18 outward facing white sticker on the
10:20 bottom layer instead of the top if you
10:22 run into this situation simply find the
10:23 sticker and determine whether it's on
10:25 the right or left side of the face
10:26 you're looking at if it's on the right
10:28 side perform the right trigger by
10:29 turning the right side 90 degrees away
10:31 from you pulling the top 90 degrees
10:33 towards you and then rotating the right
10:36 face back 90 degrees towards you this
10:38 reposition is the white sticker from the
10:40 outside of the bottom layer to the top
10:42 of the first layer which is actually
10:44 edge case number two if you find a white
10:47 sticker on the top face rotate that top
10:48 face until the white sticker is directly
10:51 above that is to say opposite a non
10:53 white sticker on the bottom face of the
10:55 cube to help you see what that looks
10:57 like this is what I mean this white
10:59 sticker on the top face of the cube is
11:01 currently directly opposite
11:03 another white sticker on the bottom face
11:05 of the cube you don't want that so what
11:07 I want you to do instead is rotate the
11:10 top face until the white sticker on the
11:12 top is directly opposite a non-white
11:14 sticker on the bottom in this case that
11:17 sticker is blue next determine if the
11:18 white sticker is on the right side of
11:21 the cube or the left side if it's on the
11:22 right side like it is here perform the
11:24 appropriate trigger move but instead of
11:27 doing it just once do it twice once
11:31 twice now the white sticker that was
11:33 right here is on the top layer facing
11:34 outward and I can solve it by matching
11:37 the adjacent sticker to its coloured
11:38 Center and performing the appropriate
11:40 trigger move which in this case is a
11:44 right trigger continue performing the
11:45 appropriate moves until there are no
11:47 more white corner stickers to solve for
11:49 I'm going to do that on my cube now I
11:51 have two that are facing up so I'm going
11:55 to match this over a non white side pull
11:58 the trigger two times repositioning them
12:01 to the side this is to the side of a
12:02 blue sticker which is diagonally matched
12:03 on the right to this so I'm going to
12:07 perform the right trigger this is beside
12:09 an orange sticker and to match that to
12:11 it's orange Center it's to the left so
12:12 I'm going to perform the left trigger
12:16 and I'm done when you're done the entire
12:19 bottom layer will be solved and as a
12:22 bonus so will the bottom face on to step
12:26 four the goal of this step is to solve
12:28 the second layer of the cube when you're
12:30 done your cube will look something like
12:33 this these first two layers completely
12:36 solved first search the top layer for
12:39 edge pieces with no yellow stickers once
12:40 you find one match the edge piece that's
12:42 facing towards the side with the center
12:44 piece of the same color when this top
12:45 sticker is appropriately matched you'll
12:47 have an upside-down T so for example
12:49 this is an edge piece with no yellow
12:51 stickers the sticker facing the side is
12:53 green I'm gonna rotate this top layer
12:55 until the green piece is Center matched
12:57 over the same color I've got my
12:59 upside-down T so I'm gonna look at the
13:00 sticker on the top of this edge piece
13:02 and see whether it matches the left
13:04 center or the right Center in this case
13:05 it matches the right center so I'm gonna
13:07 use my right hand to first pull the top
13:09 face towards me 90 degrees and perform
13:11 the right trigger
13:13 I've displaced the white sticker so I'm
13:15 gonna use the sticker beside it orange
13:17 diagonally match it to the center of the
13:19 same color and because it's on the left
13:21 side I'm gonna use the left trigger to
13:24 place it back on the bottom just like in
13:26 step 3 if at any point the sticker on
13:28 the top of your edge piece is color
13:30 matched with the sticker on the left
13:32 side instead pull with your left index
13:34 finger then perform the left trigger and
13:36 fix the displaced white sticker as you
13:39 wouldn't step 3 continue solving for
13:40 edge pieces on the top layer without
13:42 yellow stickers until the second layer
13:45 is completely solved occasionally you'll
13:47 run into an edge case like this one
13:48 where there are no edge pieces in the
13:50 top layer without yellow stickers and
13:52 yet the middle layer is not solved in
13:55 cases such as these you need to pull
14:00 these middle pieces out by performing
14:01 the left or right trigger and then solve
14:03 for the edge pieces without yellow
14:04 stickers as you normally would
14:06 here's what that looks like there are no
14:08 edge pieces in this top layer that don't
14:10 have yellow stickers and yet the second
14:12 layer is not solved so we need to fix
14:14 this piece here it's on the right side
14:15 of the cube so I'm gonna use my right
14:17 trigger to pull it out I'm gonna fix the
14:19 white piece that we just displaced by
14:20 diagonally matching with the red Center
14:22 here it's on the left side so I'm gonna
14:25 use my left trigger now I should have an
14:26 edge piece in the upper layer that
14:28 doesn't have a yellow side that's this
14:30 one right here notice it's the one I
14:32 just kicked out like before I'm gonna
14:33 take the side that's facing out and
14:36 match it to the same Center got my
14:38 upside down tee I'm gonna look at the
14:41 top sticker it's red it's red on the
14:43 right face so I'm gonna use my right
14:45 hand to pull the top once towards me
14:48 then perform my right trigger again I've
14:50 displaced this white piece so I'm gonna
14:52 move the red diagonally match here it's
14:54 on the left side I'm going to perform my
14:56 left trigger and now my second layer is
14:59 entirely solved alright that brings us
15:02 to step five the goal of Step five is to
15:04 create a yellow cross on the top of your
15:07 cube but before we do let's pause for a
15:09 second to discuss cube notation cube
15:11 notation is what cubers use to describe
15:13 algorithms and algorithms are the
15:15 memorized sequences of moves that they
15:17 use to solve the cube quickly F stands
15:19 for the front face of the cube relative
15:23 to you B stands for the back
15:30 l stands for left R stands for right D
15:37 stands for down and U stands for up if
15:39 you see a letter it means to turn the
15:41 corresponding face clockwise by 90
15:43 degrees relative to the perspective of
15:46 somebody looking at that face head-on so
15:49 this and this are clockwise rotations of
15:52 the right and left faces respectively
15:54 similarly if you see a letter followed
15:56 by the number two it means to turn the
15:59 corresponding face two times for a total
16:02 of 180 degrees so for example you two
16:04 would mean to turn the upper face two
16:06 times if the letter is followed by an
16:08 apostrophe that is to say a prime symbol
16:10 it means to rotate the corresponding
16:13 face counterclockwise by 90 degrees for
16:15 example L prime means to turn the left
16:17 face 90 degrees counterclockwise
16:20 like so I know all of this sounds like a
16:22 lot and that's because it is but with
16:24 practice reading and following notation
16:28 becomes a lot more straightforward so
16:29 now that you know cube notation it's
16:32 time to learn an algorithm the notation
16:36 for it is as follows F u R u prime R
16:38 prime f prime if you're looking for a
16:41 mnemonic you can call it for Earth
16:43 the goal of step 5 is to make a yellow
16:45 cross and when you're done the top of
16:47 your cube should look like this if you
16:50 have no yellow edge pieces perform fir
16:57 earth f u R u prime R prime F prime if
17:00 you have two yellow edge pieces such
17:01 that they form a line with the center
17:04 piece orient the line so it faces up and
17:06 down relative to your perspective and
17:13 again perform f u R u prime R prime F
17:16 prime if you have two yellow edge pieces
17:18 such that they form a backwards L turn
17:20 your top layer until the edge pieces are
17:23 at the 12 and 9 positions on a clock and
17:31 perform f u R u prime R Prime
17:33 at this point you should have a yellow
17:35 cross on your top face on to the next
17:39 step the sixth step is to solve the
17:41 entire yellow face begin this step by
17:44 inspecting the top face of your cube how
17:46 many corners have yellow stickers you'll
17:48 never have three but you'll have either
17:53 0 1 or 2 if you have 0 or 2 rotate the
17:54 top face of your cube until there is a
17:56 yellow sticker in this position right
17:58 here if you're holding it in your left
18:00 hand it's in the upper right hand corner
18:03 of the left face like that once that
18:05 yellow sticker is in position perform
18:13 the following algorithm R u R prime u R
18:19 u2 R prime again if you have either 0 or
18:21 2 corner stickers like we do here
18:23 position this top layer such that there
18:24 is a yellow sticker in the upper right
18:27 hand corner of the left face and again
18:36 perform the algorithm R u R prime u R u2
18:40 R prime if you have your yellow cross
18:42 and only one yellow corner it'll look
18:44 like there's a fish on the top face of
18:46 your cube rotate that top face so that
18:48 the fish's mouth is pointing down and to
18:49 the left relative to your perspective
18:54 and perform the algorithm again R u R
19:05 prime u R u2 R prime you might have to
19:06 orient the fish and perform this
19:08 algorithm one last time but once you do
19:11 you'll have solved the yellow side onto
19:14 step 7 the goal of step 7 is to position
19:17 the corners of the cube to perform this
19:19 step inspect the top layer of your cube
19:21 you want to be looking at the uppermost
19:23 corner pieces of each face so here and
19:26 here here and here here and here and
19:28 here and here for step 7 we're gonna be
19:30 learning a new algorithm I'll be using
19:33 this cube to demonstrate it goes like
19:37 this l prime u
19:51 are you prime L u R prime R u R prime u
20:00 R u2 R prime now you'll notice that the
20:01 8th step of this algorithm actually
20:04 undoes the seventh step which is weird
20:06 but it actually makes this algorithm
20:09 easier to remember and that's because
20:12 the entire second half is exactly the
20:15 same as the algorithm we learned in step 6
20:15 6
20:19 got it good now occasionally you might
20:21 find that none of your faces have
20:23 matching corner pieces like on this demo
20:26 cube and if that's the case just perform
20:35 your new algorithm l prime u R u prime L
20:51 u R prime R u R prime u R u2 R prime if
20:53 one of your faces has matching corner
20:55 pieces like we do here hold that face in
20:57 the left hand and perform the algorithm
21:13 l prime u R u prime L u R prime R u R
21:23 prime u R u2 R prime now look you're
21:24 definitely gonna have to memorize all of
21:26 these algorithms if you want your time
21:27 is to really come down but the more you
21:29 practice the less sort of clunky and the
21:31 more natural they'll become at this
21:33 point all of your corner pieces should
21:36 match if they don't you might need to
21:38 perform step 7s algorithm one more time
21:41 now rotate the upper face so that the
21:43 corner pieces match up with the rest of
21:45 the cubes faces there's just one step
21:48 left to go alright this is it the eighth
21:50 and final step the goal of this
21:53 death is to position the edges of your
21:56 cube if none of the sides is solved just
21:57 hang tight and we'll address that in a
21:59 moment but for now if one of the sides
22:01 is completely solved like we have here
22:05 face it away from you now inspect the
22:07 edge pieces on the remaining three sides
22:09 they should be just slightly out of
22:12 position so for example this orange
22:14 piece really wants to be here this green
22:15 piece really wants to be here and this
22:17 blue piece really wants to be over here
22:20 to swap these three edges in a clockwise
22:22 fashion you'll be performing a new
22:30 algorithm it goes like this f2 u R prime
22:42 L f2 l prime R u f2 to swap the three
22:44 edge pieces in a counterclockwise
22:48 rotation perform the algorithm f2 u
23:01 prime R prime L f2 l prime R u prime F -
23:03 alright so what do you do if none of
23:06 your sides are solved simple perform the
23:08 counterclockwise algorithm once
23:10 reposition the cube and the performance
23:12 again that looks like this
23:23 f2 u prime R prime L F - L prime R u
23:27 prime f2 now you'll have one solved face
23:30 point that away from you and perform the
23:33 counterclockwise algorithm a second time
23:44 f2 u prime R prime L f2 l prime R u
23:48 prime f2 now your cube should be solved
23:51 and that's it you're done you solve the
23:54 cube like I said at the top this might
23:55 be the kind of thing you have to watch
23:57 multiple times and really try several
23:59 times over before you really start to
24:00 get the hang of it but I'd say after
24:03 about the first half dozen solves you
24:04 should be able to do
24:05 this without watching the video and the
24:07 more consistently you solve it after
24:08 that the more dramatically your times
