Introduction: How to Solve a Rubik's Cube
There are different ways that you can solve a Rubik's cube. This will teach you the simplest way without having to memorize a lot. You will have to memorize somethings but it will not be very hard. There are also different variations of the Rubik's cubes, this will be going over how to solve the original 3x3x3 cube.
Supplies
The first and only supply that you will need is a 3x3x3 Rubik's cube.
One thing you need to know are the notation of each side.
R=right side
L=left side
U= the top
B= the back
M=Middle
You should always rotate the side clockwise except for when there is a (') mark after the letter. If that mark is there you should move the side counterclockwise.
Step 1: The White Cross
The first step is creating the white cross.
To do this you first need find the middle side pieces.
Once you find the middle side pieces for the white side you want to match them up with the other color. So orange with orange, green with green, red with red, and blue with blue.
Step 2: First Two Layers
This part can be kind of tricky so pay close attention.
This will solve the bottom half of the cube when finished.
The first thing you need to do is find a white corner piece. When you find that piece you need to find the corresponding middle piece.
Once you do that you need to match them up. This is where it gets tricky because the pieces can be in different positions.
You want to try and get the white side of the corner piece pointing to the side and not the top.
You need to do this for every side.
Step 3: The Yellow Cross
You are almost there, you only need one ore layer.
First we need to solve the yellow side.
To do this we need to solve the yellow cross.
There are a couple different looking patterns you could get.
If you get the first pattern then you need to make sure it is pointing the same direction as the picture.
The move to solve it is (F U R U' R' F')
If you get the second pattern you want to make sure the line is horizontal.
The move for this pattern is (F R U R' U' F')
And if you get the last pattern you just have to do one of the moves above. And then you will get one of the patterns. From there you should do the move for that pattern.
Step 4: The Yellow Corners
In the last step you solved the yellow cross. Now we need to solve for the corners.
There are several different patterns you could get for this as well.
For this step though you will go through the same moves, but depending on the pattern the top will have to be oriented in a certain way.
The move you have to do is ( R U R' U R U2 R') You may have to go through this several times.
These are all of the patterns you could get and how they should be oriented to solve the yellow side.
Step 5: Finishing the Cube Pt. 1
After finishing the yellow corners there are four patterns you could get.
The first one is the cube being completed, and if you get that then great you have completed the Rubik's cube.
The second one is where you have three of the same color all in a row. If you get this you want to match it up to the correct side and make sure that side is facing to the back. If you have this pattern then you need to do the move (R' F R' B2 R F' R' B2 R2 ).
The Third one is where you have same color corners. If you have that match them up and then make sure they are facing the back. You want to do the same move as above (R' F R' B2 R F' R' B2 R2).
The last pattern is nothing matches up. For this all you have to do is the same move as above (R' F R' B2 R F' R' B2 R2).
Step 6: Finishing the Cube Pt. 2
You should now have all the corners matched up. There are a couple different patterns for this as well.
The first one is where the middle need to be switched directly opposite of where they are. To do this do (M2 U M2 U2 M2 U M2).
The next pattern is when the side pieces are adjacent to where they need to be. When you do this make sure the adjacent side is on the right side and do the move (M2 U M2 U M' U2 M2 U2 M' U2).
The next pattern is where you have one completed side while the others have the corners matching up. When you get this make sure the completed side is pointing to the back and do the move (R2 U R U R' U' R' U' R' U R'). You may have to do this move more than once.
Step 7: Finished
Congratulations you have completed the Rubik's cube.
Here is a link to Pictures of other designs that you can try to create.