How to Solve One Face of a Rubik's Cube: Every Case

Before you start

• The centre decides a face's colour. The centres never move relative to each other, so the face with the white centre is the white face (Wikipedia).
• The white face needs 8 pieces: 4 edges (2 colours, one of them white) and 4 corners (3 colours, one of them white). According to Wikipedia, a 3x3 cube has 12 edges and 8 corners in total.
• How to hold the cube: keep the white centre on top the whole time. The face pointing at you is the front face.
• Notation: R, L, U, D, F turn the right, left, up (top), down (bottom) and front face clockwise, as you look straight at that face; add ' to turn it the other way. If you are not used to this yet, read Rubik's Cube notation for beginners first.

How to read the pictures: each picture has two cubes. The left cube is the case you have in front of you, the right cube is the result after the move sequence. Only the white face pieces are coloured; everything else is grey. The pictures only show the top, front and right faces, so the caption tells you when a white sticker is on a face you cannot see.

The biggest tip: turn U as much as you like

For one face, all you need is for the white stickers to point up. The U move only turns the top face, so every white sticker already on top keeps pointing up. So before you bring each piece up, turn U to put an empty spot (a spot without a white sticker yet) right above that piece. The D move (bottom face) is also free to turn, because it never touches the top face.

This is what makes one face much easier than the first layer: you do not care where a white piece sits on the top face, as long as its white sticker points up.

Step 1: the four white edges

Find an edge with a white sticker that is not on the top face yet. Turn the whole cube (keeping white on top) so the edge is on the front face, then compare it with the cases below. In the pictures, the empty spot is at the top-front edge, or at the top-right or top-left edge when the caption says so.

Edge in the bottom layer, white sticker facing down

Turn U so the empty spot is at the top-front edge, turn D so the edge sits right below that spot, then F2.

1. You start with (input)
3. After the formula

The white sticker is on the bottom face, so you cannot see it. You only see the edge's other colour in the middle of the bottom row of the front face.

If the edge is under a different face, a D move brings it over. For example, if the edge is under the left face: D F2.

1. You start with (input)
3. After the formula

In the "before" cube, the edge is completely out of sight (on the left and bottom faces), so you only see the three white edges that are already done.

Edge in the middle layer, white sticker facing sideways

The edge sits next to the front face, with its white sticker facing a side face. Turn U so the empty spot is at the top-front edge, then turn the front face once to bring the white sticker up.

White sticker facing right: F'.

1. You start with (input)
3. After the formula

White sticker facing left: F.

1. You start with (input)
3. After the formula

In the second picture, the white sticker is on the left face, so you cannot see it. You only see the edge's other colour in the middle of the left column of the front face.

Edge in the middle layer, white sticker facing the front

This time you turn a side face. If the edge is on the right of the front face: turn U so the empty spot is at the top-right edge, then R.

1. You start with (input)
3. After the formula

If the edge is on the left of the front face: empty spot at the top-left edge, then L'.

1. You start with (input)
3. After the formula

Edge in the bottom layer, white sticker facing the front

Turn D so the edge sits right below the front face and U so the empty spot is at the top-front edge, then F' U' R U. F' brings the edge up to the middle layer, on the right, with the white sticker still facing the front. U' moves the empty spot to the top-right edge. R brings the white sticker up. The last U just puts the white pieces back where they were, so it is easy to compare with the picture; for one face, you can skip it.

1. You start with (input)
3. After the formula

Edge on the top face but flipped

The edge is already on the top face, but its white sticker faces the front instead of up. Do F U' R U. F pushes the edge down to the right of the front face, white sticker facing the front. The other three moves are exactly the same as the case above: U' moves the empty spot to the top-right edge, R brings the white sticker up, U puts the pieces back.

Do this for each edge until all four are in: you now have a white cross on the top face.

Step 2: the four white corners

Now find a corner with a white sticker in the bottom layer. Turn D so the corner sits at the bottom-front-right corner, then turn U so an empty spot is right above it (the top-front-right corner). Look at the corner's white sticker:

White sticker facing right

R' D' R: R' brings the empty spot down, D' tucks the corner in, R brings both back up.

1. You start with (input)
3. After the formula

White sticker facing the front

The mirror image of the case above, using the front face: F D F'.

1. You start with (input)
3. After the formula

White sticker facing down

This is the hardest case, because you need to twist the corner first: R' D2 R D R' D' R. The first four moves twist the corner so its white sticker faces right, and the last three are the R' D' R case.

1. You start with (input)
3. After the formula

The white sticker is on the bottom face, so you cannot see it. You only see the corner's other two colours, at the bottom-right of the front face and the bottom-left of the right face.

Corner on the top face but twisted

The corner is already on the top face, but its white sticker faces outwards. Turn U so it sits at the top-front-right corner, then do R' D' R D to push it down into the bottom layer. Then compare it with the three cases above again. In the picture, the white sticker faces right, so after pushing it down, the white sticker still faces right and you carry on with R' D' R.

Tip if you forget the algorithms

There is one trick that works for any corner at the front-right (top or bottom): just repeat R' D' R D until the white sticker points up at the top-front-right corner. It is slower, but you only need to remember four moves. We tried it on the simulator: for all four cases above, it takes fewer than 6 repeats, and the other white pieces on the top face are not disturbed.

The picture above is the case where the corner is twisted on the top face with its white sticker facing right: two repeats and you are done. If you keep going, the white sticker leaves the top face again, so stop as soon as it points up.

Once the four corners are in, you have solved one face of the Rubik's Cube.

How is one face different from the first layer?

Look at the side faces. In the first layer (steps 1 and 2 of the EasyRubic beginner guide), the top row of each side face must match the colour of that face's centre. A white face does not need this: white stickers pointing up is enough, and the side stickers can be all mixed up.

The luckiest case is when the whole top face is just one turn off. Then a single U turns the white face into the first layer:

But usually the white pieces are in the wrong places relative to each other, and no U turn can fix that. Ruwix notes that people often get stuck right after finishing the first face (Ruwix). The reason: the next steps need a fully correct first layer, not just one face.

So if your goal is to solve the whole cube, go for the first layer right from the start. It works almost the same way as this guide, with one extra job: before bringing each piece up, turn U so it goes into its own correct spot, not just any empty spot. J Perm also stresses checking both colours of each white edge, so the side colour matches the centre (J Perm).

The EasyRubic guide has a picture for every case of those two steps:

How to get faster

1. Go slowly and look ahead. Before each move, guess where the white piece will go. Ruwix calls the first two steps the fairly intuitive part, so they are worth understanding rather than memorising (Ruwix).
2. Do the short cases first. If several pieces are waiting, pick one that only needs a single move (F, F', R or L') first.
3. Time yourself. Use the EasyRubic 3x3 timer to see how long each one-face solve takes, then try to beat it.
4. Then move on to the first layer. Once one face feels easy, do it again but also match the side colours, then carry on with How to solve a 3x3 Rubik's Cube for beginners.

With the EasyRubic app, you can scan your real cube with the camera and follow the solution step by step on a 3D cube. Get EasyRubic and try it now.

Video

Prefer to see it in motion? The short video below from the Rubik Master channel on YouTube shows more of what this post covers. The video belongs to that channel and is embedded straight from YouTube.

Sources

• How To Solve The Rubik's Cube – Beginners Method (Ruwix)
• How To Solve The 3x3 Rubik's Cube – J Perm
• Rubik's Cube – Wikipedia