What is CFOP
Goal: Understand the plan of the method and read any speedcubing 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 and M, Shift = prime). Rw is R + M'.
Almost every speedcuber uses CFOP, also called the Fridrich method. It has four steps: Cross, F2L (the first two layers at once), OLL (orient the last layer: the whole yellow face on top) and PLL (permute the last layer: every piece to its spot).
It looks like the layer-by-layer method, but each step does more at once. Instead of placing the white corners and then the middle edges, F2L places them in pairs. And the last layer takes 2 algorithms instead of 4.
The plan: two-look CFOP
- The cross straight on the bottom, planned before you start: 8 moves or fewer.
- Intuitive F2L: four corner-edge pairs, nothing to memorize.
- Two-look OLL: first the edges (3 cases), then the corners (7 cases).
- Two-look PLL: first the corners (2 cases), then the edges (4 cases).
That's 16 algorithms, and with them you get under a minute. The Master level turns OLL and PLL into a single look each.
The notation you will see
Rw moves two layers at once: the right face and the middle one (often written r). Fw does the same with the front. M is the middle layer, turning like L. Try them:
On other sites you will also see x, y and z: they rotate the whole cube (like R, U and F). You won't need them here: whenever you have to rotate the cube, we'll tell you.