Answer a couple of questions and I'll take you to the exact lesson that solves your case.
Every diagram shows the cube from the front, held in the home position (white center on the floor, green center facing you). Diagrams show a scrambled cube on purpose — you do not need a solved cube to learn or practice any move. The outlined stickers are the layer that turns; the arrow shows which way they travel. Once you put your own cube on screen, every diagram uses your exact colors.
Your reps and confidence, tracked per lesson — plus what to practice next.
Copy a summary of your progress to send to anyone, or copy an invite so a friend can learn alongside you.
Three symbols cover almost everything.
A plain letter = turn that face clockwise 90° (as if you were looking straight at that face).
An apostrophe ("prime") = counterclockwise 90°. The exact undo of the plain move.
A 2 = turn that face 180°. Direction doesn't matter — same result either way.
Lowercase or "w" = wide move: turn that face and the middle slice next to it together.
These six faces (each with a prime version) are the whole alphabet of basic solving. Each diagram pulls the rotating layer out of the cube so there is no doubt which pieces move — the gray square is that layer seen straight down its axis, and the circle shows exactly which way it rotates.
Slices turn only a middle layer. Rotations turn the whole cube in your hands — no stickers change relative to each other.
Short sequences that show up inside almost every method.
R U R' U'
The most-used trigger in cubing. Inserts/cycles a corner. Repeat it 6 times and the cube returns to where it started.L' U' L U
The mirror of the sexy move, done with the left hand. Classic beginner tutorials teach this for corners that belong on the left. If you once knew L moves, this is very likely the one you learned.R' F R F'
Another corner/edge insertion trigger, common in F2L.R U R' U R U2 R'
Orients last-layer corners. A pillar of every beginner method's final stage.R U2 R' U' R U' R'
The reverse of Sune — handles the mirrored corner case.F R U R' U' F'
Orients last-layer edges (dot → L → line → cross).R U R' U' R' F R2 U' R' U' R U R' F'
A last-layer permutation (PLL) — swaps two corners and two edges. Note: no L moves anywhere.Most modern beginner tutorials are right-hand only: instead of mirroring an algorithm to the left hand, you just rotate the whole cube (y / y') so the piece is always on your right, then do the same R U R' U'-based moves every time. Fewer algorithms to remember, faster to finger-trick. Older "classic" layer-by-layer tutorials taught both a righty (R U R' U') and a lefty (L' U' L U) insertion — so if you remember doing L and L', you almost certainly learned the classic two-handed Layer-By-Layer method first, then later absorbed a right-hand-only version of the same method.
Comparison view of the major solving methods. If a method has a full step-by-step walkthrough on this page, it's tagged walkthrough. Otherwise it's a reference summary — enough to know if it's for you before you go learn it elsewhere.
The modern beginner method — same six-stage plan as classic layer-by-layer, but every insertion uses right-hand triggers only. Rotate the cube instead of mirroring. This is what Lessons "Solve · Step 1" through "Solve · Step 8" above teach in full.
Same 8-stage plan as above, but insertions on the left use lefty triggers (L' U' L U) instead of rotating. Fewer cube rotations, more mirroring to memorize. Everything in the walkthrough works here too — just substitute the lefty insert (Solve Step 4 already shows both).
The most popular speedcubing method. Same cross start, but first two layers are solved together in corner-edge pairs (F2L intuitively — 41 cases if fully memorized). Last layer is Rung 2 below (full OLL + PLL, 78 algorithms).
Block-building method that finishes with only middle-slice + top-face moves. Very finger-trick friendly, no rotations. Doesn't share stages with LBL — a real Roux walkthrough would be its own page.
Orient every edge in step 1 (EOLine). After that, the entire cube can be finished without any F or B turns — only R, U, and L moves. Extremely ergonomic. Sets up beautifully for Rung 4 (ZBLL) because edges are already oriented before the last layer.
Solves both corner layers first, then the edges with slice moves. Historical method (used to win the 1982 championship), still the standard on 2×2. Rarely used on 3×3 today.
| Method | Walkthrough? | Uses L / L'? | Algs | Avg. moves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Right-Hand LBL | Yes, above | No — rotate | ~7 | ~110 |
| Classic LBL | Yes (via mirror inserts) | Yes | ~9 | ~110 |
| CFOP | Last layer only — see Rung 2 | Rarely | 78+ | ~55 |
| Roux | No | Yes + M | 42 | ~48 |
| ZZ | No | Yes — RUL only | varies | ~55 |
| Corners-First | No | Yes | few | ~100 |
Once you can solve the cube with the beginner walkthrough, everything faster comes from doing the last layer in fewer looks. Fewer looks = more algorithms to memorize. Four rungs below, each with real algorithms and case diagrams. Every algorithm is tap-trackable: hit "+1 drilled" every time you run one clean; hit "got it" when it's automatic.
Same finish as the beginner walkthrough, but the two corner steps shrink to one. Rung 1 starts after the yellow cross is done (see Step 5 above if it’s not). Below: all 7 OLL corner cases (yellow face), all 2 corner-PLL cases, and all 5 edge-PLL possibilities — 14 algorithms, complete for everything from cross-done to solved. You will not hit a case that isn’t on this page.
The complete OLL set (57 orientation cases) and PLL set (21 permutation cases) — both fully on this page. All 21 PLLs are shown first (learn these first, they're higher return per alg). All 57 OLLs are behind a Show button so the page stays fast; click when you're ready. Every case is tap-trackable with its own rep counter.
Requires edges already oriented before the last layer. Then finish corners (orient + permute) in one alg, and the 4 remaining edges finish in one of just 4 EPLL cases. The 40 COLL algs split across 7 corner-orientation families. Below: all 4 EPLL, all 7 family reps for recognition, and all 33 remaining COLL variants behind a Show button. All 44 algorithms are on this page.
Same setup as Rung 3 — edges pre-oriented — but the whole last layer finishes in a single algorithm. 493 cases, split across the same 7 corner families as COLL. This is where the world's best solvers live. Learning it takes 1–3 years and is not something you scroll through on a webpage — but the 7 sample algs below show what a ZBLL looks like case-by-case, one per family, so you know exactly what you'd be committing to.
| Rung | Algs on this page | Full set size | Looks | Time to learn (full) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · Two-Look Last Layer | 14 (complete post-cross) | 14 | 2 | 1–2 weeks |
| 2 · Full OLL + PLL | 78 (complete) | 78 | 2 | 3–9 months |
| 3 · COLL + EPLL | 44 (complete) | 44 | 2 | 2–4 months |
| 4 · ZBLL | 27 (5% — the rest need a trainer app) | 493 | 1 | 1–3 years |
If you just want faster solves without months of study: Rung 1 — everything you need is on this page. If speed matters and you're patient: work through Rung 2's 21 PLLs on this page, then find an OLL reference. If you want the best learning-to-speed ratio: Rung 3, using the reps here to build the scaffold. If cubing is your hobby: Rung 4, using a dedicated trainer for the full 493. Beyond Rung 4 exists (1LLL, 3915 algs) but no human learns it in full — it's a theoretical ceiling, not a practical goal.