Nothing fancy here. Just some notes for how I personally can solve a Rubik’s Cube with minimal memorization.
It is not hard to find a good site to teach you how to solve a Rubik’s Cube more graphically.
Terminology
- Center
-
a piece with 1 sticker.
- Edge
-
a piece with 2 stickers.
- Corner
-
a piece with 3 stickers.
- Orient
-
Make the puzzle piece point the right way.
- Position
-
Put the puzzle piece in the correct location.
- r
-
turn right face counter-clockwise
- t
-
turn top face counter-clockwise
- f
-
turn front face counter-clockwise
- R
-
turn right face clockwise
- T
-
turn top face clockwise
- F
-
turn front face clockwise
Start
Use your good sense to solve the following features in the following order.
First Edge
Find (or put) an edge correctly (position and orientation) between two centers.
Top Cross
Repeat that for 3 other edge pieces around one of the middle squares connected in the previous step. This middle will be the top. These 3 edge pieces should match the color of the top and the color of the other middle piece (on the sides) that they touch.
Top Face
Move the correct corners to complete the entire top face (9 of the same color) with the corners being in the correct location (adjacent edges will be same color on sides).
Side Edges
Look at the bottom for edges which are on the bottom but which do not have the bottom color in either of its two stickers. Move all of these into place. To do this move the edge to position under the center square whose color matches the part of the edge that is adjacent. Call that color A; the other color of this edge will be B. Turn the bottom 90deg away from the color B face. Turn the face with color B center so that the edge to fill is on the bottom. Put the source edge back where it just was by rotating the bottom. This will pick off one of the top color corners. Rotate the B color face back to where it was so the top is complete except for one corner. Move the target edge under the B color center by turning the bottom. Turn the A color face so the missing top color is on the bottom and then put the missing top color into place. The A-B edge will now be in place too. If you run out of these to move into place, then they are in place on the correct level but they are reversed. Dislodge one randomly, put it in the right place, and continue until they are all done.
Orient Final Edges
Turn over so the top is now the bottom. Get the 4 remaining edges to have the new top color on the top. Position is not critical at this point. This may take multiple rounds. Keep any "L" shaped patterns towards the back and left when orienting the cube for this pattern. The pattern is: rtfTFR
Position Final Corners
Try to find one corner piece that is in the right location (orientation is not important now). If there are two that are right, don’t use one of those. You need one that is right and 3 that all need to be moved (A to B, B to C, C to A). When you find such a set, keep the one which is in the correct corner on the top, back, left and do the following: FbtBTftbTB
Orient Final Corners
Now again, you need to find one corner piece that is correctly oriented and three which are not. If you have 2, pick one of the incorrect ones and do the pattern until you have just one oriented correctly. When you have just one oriented correctly, keep it in the top, back, left and do the following: rtRtrTTRTT
Position Final Edges
Finally put the correctly oriented edges in their correct positions. To do this repeat this pattern until you have 3 out of place and one correctly placed. Put the correctly placed one on the left and do the following: ftFtfTTFTFTfTFTTft