Meet the cube
Goal: Understand the pieces and read any algorithm.
Hold your cube like the one on screen (yellow on top) and repeat the moves of each case.
Use the cube on the page: watch the cases, then practice. Turn layers by dragging a piece or with the keyboard (U D R L F B, Shift = prime).
The Rubik's cube has 6 colored faces. Before solving it, it helps to know its pieces and how moves are written: that way you can follow any algorithm.
The pieces
- Centers (one per face): they never move relative to each other and set the color of each face. The face with the blue center is the blue face.
- Edges (12): two-colored pieces, between two centers.
- Corners (8): three-colored pieces.
Opposite colors are always the same: white ↔ yellow, blue ↔ green and red ↔ orange.
Notation
Each face has a letter: R right, L left, U up, D down, F front and B back.
A single letter is a quarter turn clockwise, as if you were looking straight at that face. With an apostrophe (R') it goes the other way, and with a 2 (R2) it is a half turn. Try them:
Throughout the academy you hold the cube with yellow on top (and white at the bottom). Any face can be in front: algorithms are written for how you are looking at it.
Practice on the cube: when you succeed, the lesson will be marked as done.