How to solve a Rubik’s Cube

I couldn’t stop myself from buying one of these when I spotted it in the shops for only £2.99!

Like a child at Christmas I tore it from it's wrapping and began twisting and turning. It has been 3 months now and I still haven't solved the damn thing (I almost wish I hadn’t touched it now!), so have turned to the internet for some help, which brought up this…

Instructions

Pieces: There are three types of pieces on the cube: Centre pieces are located in the centre of each face. Corner pieces have three colours and are located at the corners of the cube. Edge pieces have two colours and are located between the corner pieces.
Faces: There are six faces on the cube. They are defined by the colour of their centres. For example, the face with the red centre is called the 'red face.' The faces also have names based on how you hold the cube: * F (Front) looks at you.* B (Back) looks away from you.* U (Upper) looks at the ceiling.* D (Down) looks at the floor.* R (Right) looks to your right.* L (Left) looks to your left.
Rotating the faces: Note in the following examples that an apostrophe (') means turn the face counter-clockwise. If there is no apostrophe, turn it clockwise. A 2 after the face name (e.g. D2) means to turn the face 180 degrees. It is important to turn the face clockwise or counter-clockwise as if you were looking directly at it. * F = Front face clockwise, 90 degrees* B' = Back face counter-clockwise, 90 degrees * D2 = Down face, 180 degrees
Piece/Square Positions: Sometimes the instructions will refer to a specific piece or square on the cube. The notation is the same, so whether we are talking about a piece or a square needs to be taken from context. Some examples of piece positions:* UFR = the corner piece between the Upper, Front, and Right faces * BD = the edge piece that lies between the Back and Down facesSome examples of square positions:* LFD = the square on the Left Face that is near the Front and Down faces* DB = the square on the Down Face that is near the Back faceEnough talk. Let's get started. Steps
Form a plus sign: Turn the cube so the white centre is on the U face, it will stay this way until Step 5. The goal is to put the white edge pieces around the white centre, so it forms a 'plus sign' on the white face. There are so many ways for the cube to be scrambled that it's nearly impossible to write detailed instructions. Here are some hints instead: Find a white edge first, and then find a way to get it to the top. Don't just rotate faces randomly and hope for it to happen. White edges in the middle layer can be brought to the top in one 90-degree rotation. Just make sure it doesn't take the place of a white edge already in place. White edges on the D face can be brought to the top in one 180-degree rotation. Rotate the D face until the edge piece is directly under an empty edge slot in the U face. Keep white on the U face. This is the most common mistake on this and subsequent steps. Don't give up on step 1! Extend the plus sign to the middle layer centres: Rotate the U face until two of the white edge pieces (two arms of the cross) line up with the colours of the centres in the middle layer. Two should be correct, two should be incorrect. If they are all correct, move on to Step 3. Turn the whole cube so one of the incorrect edges is on the front face, and then apply F2. One white edge should now be on the D face (look at it). Note the other colour of that white edge; this colour is X (it could be red, green, orange, or blue). Now rotate the D face until the X part of the edge piece is directly beneath the X centre; then rotate the X face 180 degrees. Now the white/X edge should have returned to the U face and another edge piece should be on the D face (look at it). The edge piece should have white on the bottom, then the colour connected to it is called colour Y. Now rotate the D face until the Y edge piece is directly beneath the Y centre, and then rotate the Y face 180 degrees. You should now have a white plus sign on the top, and all the edge pieces are above centres of the same colour. Don't forget to keep white on the U face. Complete the top layer: Find a corner piece on the bottom layer that has white in it. Note the three colours of the corner piece. They should be white, then two other colours, colours X and Y. Now rotate the D face until the white/X/Y corner piece is between the X and Y centre pieces (note that we move it between the X and Y centres because the colours of the piece are X and Y). Turn the cube so the white/X/Y corner piece is in the DFR position. From here there are three possibilities for the corner piece: The white square is in the FRD position, apply F D F'. The white square is in the RFD position, apply R' D' R. The white square is in the DFR position, apply F D2 F' D' F D F'. Repeat 4x. If a white corner happens to be in the U face, turn the cube so the corner is in the UFR position, then apply F D F'. Now it is in the D face so you can put it in using the combinations above. After you have put in all four corners, the first layer of the cube should be complete and the colours should match up with the middle layer centres. Complete the middle layer: Find an edge piece in the D face that does NOT have yellow in it. Look at the square on this edge piece that is on the D face; this is colour X. Note the other colour of the edge piece and label it colour Y. Turn the cube so the X face is the F face. Rotate the D face until the edge piece is in the DB position. From here there are two possibilities: If colour Y matches the centre of the R face, apply F D F' D' R' D' R. If colour Y matches the centre of the L face, apply F' D' F D L D L'. If an edge is in the right place but flip-flopped, turn the cube so the edge piece is in the FR position while still keeping the white face on top; apply F D F' D' R' D' R (this is the same as the first possibility above). Now you can put it in using the above combinations. Repeat this step until the top two layers look completely restored. Make a plus sign on the yellow face: First, turn the cube over so yellow is on the U face; it will stay this way until the cube is solved. Note the number of yellow edges on the U face. From here there are four possibilities: Two opposite edges. Rotate the U face until the two edges are in the UL and UR positions, making a horizontal line. Apply B L U L' U' B'. Two adjacent edges. Rotate the U face until the two edges are in the UR and UF positions, making an arrow that points to the back-left. Apply B U L U' L' B'. No edges. Apply one of the above combinations to kick two edges to the top, and then use the other combination to put the other two edges in place. Four edges. You're done. Go to the next step. At the end of this step, you should have a yellow plus sign, just like the white one made in the first step. Complete the yellow face: For this step, blue is going to be your front face. A finished corner is one with yellow already on the U face; unfinished is one without yellow on the U face. Rotate the U face until an unfinished corner comes to the UFR position. There are two possibilities for the corner: It needs to be rotated clockwise (yellow is on the F face), apply F D F' D' F D F' D'. It needs to be rotated counter-clockwise (yellow is on the right side), apply D F D' F' D F D' F'. After you've corrected one corner, the cube is going to look screwed up, but this is okay. It'll fix itself. Keeping blue as your front face, rotate the U face to bring another unfinished corner to the UFR position, then repeat as many times as necessary. After this step is over, the entire yellow face will be finished. Position the remaining edge pieces: Rotate the U face until exactly one edge piece matches the colour of the centre it touches. (If this is not possible, apply R2 D' R' L F2 L' R U2 D R2 and try again. Note that this is the same combination as below.) Turn the cube so this matching edge is on the left face. Now make sure the front edge matches the right centre. If it doesn't, then apply U2 and turn the whole cube counter-clockwise 90 degrees. Double check that the left edge matches the left centre and the front edge matches the right centre. Apply R2 D' R' L F2 L' R U2 D R2. At this point, the cube should be finished except for the corners. Complete the cube: Usually there is already one corner in the correct spot If there are no correct corners, apply the below combination randomly then you should have one correct corner. Turn the cube so this correct corner is in the UFR position. Apply L2 B2 L' F' L B2 L' F L' . This combination may need to be applied twice. You're done. Throw a party.

OR…Get a knife, pick off coloured squares and glue them back on in order!