Solve the 3x3 cube in seven steps

Before you start

The centre pieces never move relative to each other, so they tell you each face's colour: white is opposite yellow, and the centre you see is the colour that face will be. Edge pieces have two colours, corner pieces three.

Step 1: the white cross

Hold the cube with yellow on top. Bring the four white edges up around the yellow centre, white facing up, to make a "daisy". Then, for each white edge, turn the top until its side colour matches the centre below it, and turn that face twice to send the edge down to the white face. When all four are down, flip the cube over: you have a white cross whose edges match the side centres.

Step 2: the white corners

Hold the cube with white on the bottom. Find a corner in the top layer that has white on it. Turn the top until that corner sits directly above the spot it belongs in, between the two centres that match its other colours, and hold the cube so that spot is at the front right. Repeat R U R' U' until the corner drops in with white facing down (it takes one to five repeats). Do the same for all four corners.

Step 3: the middle layer

Keep white on the bottom. Find an edge in the top layer with no yellow on it. Turn the top until its front colour matches the front centre, making an upside-down T. If the edge's top colour matches the right centre, it goes right:

U R U' R' U' F' U F

If it matches the left centre, it goes left:

U' L' U L U F U' F'

If an edge is stuck in the middle layer the wrong way round, put any top edge into that spot with the same algorithm to pop it out, then insert it properly.

Step 4: the yellow cross

Turn the cube so yellow is on top. Look at the yellow edges on the top face: you see a dot, an L, a line or the cross. Do this algorithm until you have the cross:

F R U R' U' F'

Hold an L with its arms pointing to the back and the left, and a line horizontally, from left to right, before you start.

Step 5: match the yellow edges

Turn the top until two yellow edges match their side centres. If the two matching edges are next to each other, hold them at the back and the right. If they are opposite, do the algorithm once from any side and look again.

R U R' U R U2 R' U

Step 6: place the yellow corners

Find a top corner that is in its right place, between the right three centres, even if it is twisted. Hold it at the front right and do:

U R U' L' U R' U' L

Repeat until all four corners are in place. If none is in place yet, do it once from any side first.

Step 7: twist the yellow corners

Hold the cube with an unsolved corner at the front right of the top. Repeat R' D' R D until that corner shows yellow on top (two or four times). The rest of the cube looks scrambled while you do this; that is expected. Then turn only the top layer to bring the next unsolved corner to the front right, and repeat. When every corner is yellow on top, turn the top once more to line it up. The cube is solved.

What next

Time your solves with a competition-style timer, then learn faster methods that solve the first two layers together. Turnsmith's timer keeps averages of 5 and 12, as in competitions.