Rubik's Cube

A long time ago, I took several online tutorials on how to solve the Rubik's cube and mashed them into my favorite, fairly easy-to-remember solution. Here it is:

1. Complete the top row as white with all sides matching the center cubies. The simplest way to explain the moves to complete the first layer is: Look at the cubie you’re trying to move and swing that face so it puts the cubie in to position. Now swing the perpendicular row to the one you just swung out of the way to save that cubie in its new position. Now move the first row you swung back to its original position, and then swing the row with the correct cubie back to its original position. Once you’ve completed each side, you should have a short T shape on all sides where the top row and the center cubie for each side are correct.


2. Complete the 2nd row as follows:
   
   
   
   1. If you need to replace a cubie on a face where the incorrect cubie is in the FRC position and the correct cube is in the FDC position, make sure the F face of the correct cubie matches the color of the FC cubie, then perform the following:
      
      
      
      1. D’ R’ D R F’ R F R’
   
   
   2. If incorrect cubie is in the FLC position, perform the following:
      
      
      
      1. D L D' L' F L' F' L
   
   
   3. If the F face of the correct cubie does not match the center cubie, find the face where the center cubie is the color of the F face of the correct cubie, then make that face of the cube the F face and rotate the B layer to make the correct cubie face F, then follow step 2a or 2b.
      
      
      
      1. Example: You have the green face as F and you need to replace the FLC cubie with the O/G cubie that's in the bottom layer, but the color on the O/G cubie that's facing you is orange instead of green. Rotate the cube so that the orange face is F, then rotate the bottom layer so the O/G cubie is on the F face, then do 2a or 2b.
   
   
   4. If you end up with a cubie that's in the 2nd row, but in the wrong position, rotate the B face so that a cubie containing yellow and 1 other color is in the FBC position and use either 2a or 2b, depending on where the cubie you want to move lies on that face. This will put the cubie you wanted to move in the bottom row so you can use it for 2a or 2b.


3. To create a cross on the bottom layer, flip the cube so the white face is now D and the yellow face is now U. This will be the case for all future algorithms. You will now have one of the following two states showing on the yellow side of the cube:
   
   
   
   1. The center cubie is the only yellow showing on the U face.
      
      
      
      1. Solution: Complete solution for 3b or 3c and the U face will become state 3b or 3c. Then complete the solution for 3b or 3c again depending on the result.
   
   
   2. The U face has one full row of yellow cubies that crosses the center.
      
      
      
      1. Solution: Orient the cube so the yellow row runs R-L on the U face and perform:
         
         
         
         1. F R U R' U' F'
   
   
   3. The U face has half a cross of yellow cubies.
      
      
      
      1. Solution: Orient the cube so the L-shaped set of cubies is as follows: ULC, UC, UBC; then perform:
         
         
         
         1. F U R U' R' F'
   
   
4. You now need to correctly permute the 4 U corners (for this step, the rotation of these 4 cubies is not important, only their position). There are now 3 possible states for the cube. One is that all of the corners are in the correct places. The other two are as follows with the following solutions:
   
   
   
   1. Two adjacent corners need to be swapped.
      
      
      
      1. Solution: Orient the cube so the two that need to be swapped are in positions URF and URB. Perform:
         
         
         
         1. L U' R' U L' U' R U2
      
      
   2. Two diagonal corners need to be swapped.
      
      
      
      1. Solution: Run the solution for 4a once with at least one of the corners that need to be swapped on the R face. The cube should now be in state 4a. Orient and run solution for 4a again.


5. You now need to correctly orient the 4 corners so that the entire yellow face of the cube is correct. The simplest way to do this is to rotate the corners one at a time. This will take less time than trying to figure out what state the cube is currently in and running one of 7 sets of algorithms. Running this algorithm 2 times will rotate the cubie once clockwise and 4 times will rotate it twice. To do this, make sure the corners are in their correct positions and perform:
   
   
   
   1. (R’ D’ R D) x 2 or 4
   
   
   2. After performing this on one corner, rotate the 1st row ONLY (yellow) and perform again on the next corner that is incorrect. The R face of the cube will become jumbled while performing these rotations, but once you’ve completed all of the corners that need to be rotated, the R face should be back to normal.


6. The final step is to orient the 4 yellow edges correctly so they match the faces of the cube. If this is already done, congratulations, you’ve solved the cube. If not, here are the final 4 possibilities:
   
   
   
   1. Two of the edges need to be swapped F-B and the other two need to be swapped L-R (or visa versa).
      
      
      
      1. Solution: Run solution 6c or 6d. The cube will then be in state 6c or 6d. Run appropriate solution.
   
   
   2. Two of the edges need to be swapped from URC to UBC and two need to be swapped from UFC to ULC (or visa versa).
      
      
      
      1. Solution: Run solution 6c or 6d. The cube will then be in state 6c or 6d. Run appropriate solution.
   
   
   3. One edge is correctly oriented (Left side) and the other 3 need to be swapped so UFC moves to UBC, UBC moves to URC, and URC moves to UFC.
      
      
      
      1. Solution: With the correctly oriented cubie on the L face, perform:
         
         
         
         1. R2 U F B’ R2 F’ B U R2
   
   
   4. One edge is correctly oriented (Left side) and the other 3 need to be swapped so UBC moves to UFC, UFC moves to URC, and URC moves to UBC.
      
      
      
      1. Solution: With the correctly oriented cubie on the L face, perform:
         
         
         
         1. R2 U’ F B’ R2 F’ B U’ R2

Congratulations! You’ve just solved the Rubik’s cube. With practice and memorization, you should be able to complete this set of algorithms in 60 seconds or less from a scrambled cube! Good luck!