Rubik's Cube Solutions (3x3 and 4x4)

3x3 Cube

Solve top layer

Solve top, middle cross, then outer corner cubes.

Solve middle layer

Line up cube desired to go into the right middle outer slot. Do the left or right algorithm depending on where that cube falls from where you want it to go (on the left or right side of it?)

From left

B- R- B+ R+ B+ F+ B- F-


From RIGHT

B+ F+ B- F- B- R- B+ R+


Flip and solve bottom


Cross

F+ R+ T+ R- T- F-


Cross Lined Up

R+ T+ R- T+ R+ T+ T+ R- T


Corners Correct Location

T+ R+ T- L- T+ R- T- L+


Corners Lined Up

R- B- R+ B+

4x4 Cube

Solve centers

Solve all centers; 4 middle cubes. Must be in proper alignment.

(Blue – opp. - Green) (Yellow under Blue (Red to the left of Yellow) (White to the left of Red)


Do this by spinning 2 of the 4 in at a time by placing 2 pair underneath the other two pair, taking it up to the face you want it on; rotating that face 180 degrees; and moving what you took up back down. (You cannot get the 4th piece into place when 3 or sitting on the designated face; use pairs).

Solve top face



Pick a face and solve all middle layers on top. It doesn’t matter which ones are there. Pick pairs to match up from the middle layer. You can take pairs to the top by using:


L’ U’ L (with the pair you are taking up on the left middle and no good pairs lined up on the back of the top face.


Solve bottom face



Flip the cube over and now let the bottom become your top face. Solve the same as the top face. You have to be careful to not mess up what you have already done previously. You can get more options on the middle layer by moving bad pairs up to the new top just like you would move good pairs: L’ U’ L



Solve middle face



Now you need to get all the middle layer edges. You accomplish this with two algorithms.



To move Opposites to the same level in the middle

L' F U' L F'

To put in place on same level with that level on the bottom of the middle layer

d R F’ U R' F d'

Solve cube

Once all the edges on the entire cube are paired, you can solve the cube via the 3x3 method.



Problems on bottom with parity


Sometimes the cube will solve perfectly and other times you may end up with a parity problem.


Fix middle edge parity

r2 B2 U2 l U2 r’ U2 r U2 F2 r F2 l’ B2 r2

Fix adjacent or diagonal corner parity (may have to repeat part of bottom finish moves; start with corner in front upper right for opposites; facing you for others.

r2 U2 r2 U2 u2 r2 u2

Flip Adjacent Corners

(Uu)2 (Ll)2 U2 l2 U2 (Ll)2 (Uu)2

F’ U’ F U F R’ F2 U F U F’ U’ F R

Flip Opposite Corners

(Uu)2 (Ll)2 U2 l2 U2 (Ll)2 (Uu)2

R U’ L U2 R’ U R L’ U’ L U2 R’ U L’ U