Rubik's Cube Patterns: 5 Easy Designs with Algorithms

Before you start

Every algorithm in this post starts from a solved cube, held with the white face on top and the green face towards you. If you hold the cube a different way, the pattern still appears, but the colours will not match the pictures.

A quick reminder of the notation:

• R, L, U, D, F, B: turn the right, left, top, bottom, front or back face a quarter turn clockwise (as if you were looking straight at that face).
• An apostrophe (R') means turn it anticlockwise.
• A 2 (R2) means a half turn.

If these letters are new to you, read Rubik's Cube notation for beginners or the notation page first.

How to read the pictures in this post: each picture has two cubes. The cube on the left is the pattern you will see after doing the algorithm. The cube on the right is the solved cube you get back after doing the algorithm written under the picture (the "undo" algorithm). Every algorithm in this post has been checked by EasyRubic on the site's 3x3 cube simulator.

1. Checkerboard

The most famous pattern, and the easiest. Every face turns into a checkerboard: the centre and the four corners keep the colour of that face, and the four edge stickers change to the colour of the opposite face (white with yellow, red with orange, green with blue).

The algorithm uses only half turns:

R2 L2 U2 D2 F2 B2

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

Want to undo it? Just do the same algorithm one more time. The checkerboard has a handy property: "do it twice and you are back where you started".

Experienced cubers often write the checkerboard with the three middle slices: M2 E2 S2, which means a half turn of the vertical middle slice, the horizontal middle slice and the standing middle slice. The Speedsolving Wiki calls this pattern "Pons Asinorum" (Speedsolving Wiki). On the simulator, this gives exactly the same pattern as the six-face algorithm above, just shorter. If you are a beginner, stick with the six-face algorithm, because you do not have to grip the middle slices.

2. Cross

Every face shows a plus sign in its own colour, and the four corners take the colour of the opposite face. The algorithm comes from the German Wikibooks book about the Rubik's Cube, in the section "Kreuzmuster" (Wikibooks):

U F B' L2 U2 L2 F' B U2 L2 U

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

Just like the checkerboard, doing the algorithm one more time brings the cube back to solved.

Tip: the cross looks a bit like an "upside-down" checkerboard. On the checkerboard, the four corners keep their colour; on the cross, the four edges keep their colour.

3. Six Ts

Every face shows a letter T in that face's colour: one row across the edge and one column down the middle. This algorithm also comes from Wikibooks, in the section "T-Muster":

F2 R2 U2 F' B D2 L2 F B

This time, doing the algorithm again does not bring the cube back. To undo it, do the reverse algorithm (read it from the end to the start and turn each move the other way):

B' F' L2 D2 B' F U2 R2 F2

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

In the picture above, the left cube shows the six Ts you get after the pattern algorithm, and the right cube shows the solved cube after the undo algorithm.

4. Cube in a cube

This pattern creates the illusion of a small 2x2x2 cube sitting in one corner of the big cube. Each of the three faces around that corner has a 2x2 square in a different colour, and so do the other three faces. The algorithm is longer, 15 moves, and comes from Wikibooks, in the section "Cube in a cube":

F L F U' R U F2 L2 U' L' B D' B' L2 U

The undo algorithm:

U' L2 B D B' L U L2 F2 U' R' U F' L' F'

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

With a long algorithm, split it into groups of three moves and say them out loud as you go. One wrong move ruins the pattern. If that happens, the quickest fix is to solve the cube again with the beginner method and start over.

5. Superflip: the "hardest" pattern

At first glance, the superflip looks like the cross: every face has its centre and four corners in the right colour, but all 12 edges are flipped in place. So each edge sticker shows the colour of the face next to it.

This 20-move algorithm is on Wikipedia and the Speedsolving Wiki (Wikipedia, Speedsolving Wiki):

U R2 F B R B2 R U2 L B2 R U' D' R2 F R' L B2 U2 F2

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

According to the Speedsolving Wiki, the superflip is its own inverse: do the algorithm one more time and the cube is back to how it was.

Why call it the "hardest"? The site cube20.org says that in 1995 Michael Reid proved the superflip needs at least 20 moves to solve (counting every turn of one face, including half turns, as one move), and it was the first position proven to need that many. In July 2010, Tomas Rokicki, Herbert Kociemba, Morley Davidson and John Dethridge proved that every position of the Rubik's Cube can be solved in 20 moves or fewer; this number is called "God's Number" (cube20.org). That means the 20-move algorithm above is already as short as it can be. Wikipedia points out that the superflip is not the only one: many other positions also need exactly 20 moves.

Rubik's Cube pattern algorithms at a glance

Checkerboard:

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

Cross:

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

Six Ts:

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

Cube in a cube:

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

Superflip:

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

Tips for making patterns

• Start with the checkerboard. It only has half turns, so it is hard to turn the wrong way, and doing it again brings the cube back.
• Always start from a solved cube and hold it with the right colours. Most "I followed it but the pattern did not appear" mistakes come from this.
• Get the hang of reversing an algorithm. Read the algorithm from the end to the start: take the apostrophe off moves that have one, add an apostrophe to moves that do not, and leave moves with a 2 as they are. That is how this post worked out the undo algorithms.
• Go slowly. Patterns are not about speed; one wrong move in the middle of a long algorithm means solving the whole cube again.
• Want to get really good at solving the cube first? Try the step-by-step guides on EasyRubic.

Video

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