Rubiks Cube Basics

Learn the basics of a Rubiks cube and prepare to solve one

When you look at a Rubiks it looks very intimidating and challenging but it's really not. I was able to teach myself in 3 days and now I can solve a Rubiks cube in a minute or less. All you need to do is learn the basic patterns and algorithms. The is the the first instructable in a five part series on how to solve a Rubiks cube

A traditional Rubiks Cube is 3×3 with six colors. white, orange,blue,red, yellow, and green. Yellow is usually the top color with white on the bottom. One of the most important things to remeber is that the center pieces never change. what that means is the side that has the middle white piece is always going to be the white side. another very important thing to remember is the orientation of a solved cube. white will always be on the opposite side of yellow, blue will always be on the opposite side of green , and the same for red and orange. That will never change no matter how you solve a Rubiks cube.

The algorithms used to solve a cube consist of only letters. There are 9 letters that are used. E,S,M,F,B,R,L,U,D and i.

D is the bottom side. no matter what the color , what ever is on the bottom layer is D. When you need to turn D it goes counterclockwise. you may also see the letter D with an I (Di). Di means turn the bottom layer Clockwise. i always means to turn the side the opposite way of how you normally would

Side U is the top layer. On a completely solved cube U is the yellow side. U turns clockwise unless it is Ui , in which case it goes counter clockwise

R and L are the most turned sides when solving a Rubiks cube. The R stands for Right side and the L stands for Left side. R goes clockwise and L goes counterclockwise. Just like all of the other sides they can also have the letter i with them. when that happens they just turn the opposite direction the usually go.

Side F is the front and side B is the back. F moves clockwise and B moves counterclockwise. note: the direction a side is turned( clockwise or counterclockwise) is always relative to the side that is facing you

These sides are a little more difficult to remember.M is the middle line vertically and E is the middle line horizontally.S is the most challenging. S represents the middle Line that cuts directly through the cube.Refer to the picture for more help

I use a cyclone 3×3 stickerless. Its very smooth, the corner cutting is great and it looks nice.You can get it on Amazon for under 15 dollars. It is classified as a speed cube, and even if you don't get this specific one I would highly recommend getting a speed cube because they are much easy to use especially for beginners. I would also recommend getting a stickerless cube because I think they look nicer and because you don't have to worry about stickers coming off