Rubik's cube

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• Rubik F2L

Notations and acronyms

Official notation [1]:

F B U D L R	Front, Back, Up, Down, Left, Right (one-layer move)
f b u d l r	Front, Back, Up, Down, Left, Right (two-layer move, aka. wide move)
Fw Bw Uw Dw Lw Rw
M E S	Middle (LR), Equator (UD), Standing (LR) (middle layer move, aka slice move)
x y z	R, U, F (whole cube move)

• R means 90° clockwise, R' mean 90° counter-clockwise, R2 means 180° clockwise, and R2' 180° counter-clockwise.

Acronyms:

LH

Left-hand

RH

Right-hand

SH

Sledgehammer

Triggers

We call a move a permutation on the cube that can be done in a single movement. This can be the rotation of a face by 90° or 180°, but also rotation of a middle layer, two layers, or the whole cube. Each move has a dedicated letter, with a prime indicating the reverse movement.

A trigger is a small squence of moves that is frequently used to build up more complete algorithms. Typically these sequences are done very rapidly. Fast algorithms are those that link several triggers with an easy transition (no re-gripping, cube rotation, etc).

The inverse of a trigger is the sequence that cancel the effect of that sequence. We use prime to denote that trigger.

A mirror trigger is the L-R symmetric trigger (i.e. F changes to F', R changes to L', etc)

List of triggers:

S	Sexy move	R U R' U'
Sp	Sexy move prime	U R U' R'
SL	sledgehammer	R' F R F'	F' with right thumb!
SLp	sledgehammer prime	F R' F' R
LSL	left sledgehammer	L F' L' F	Same as y' SLp y.
LSLp	left sledgehammer prime	F' L F L'	Same as y' SL y.
O	Overshoot	U' R' F R		) Tutorials F2L See Rubik F2L. Fridrich simplified Source: Rubik's cube : Méthode intermédiaire (fridrich simplifiée) 4 steps: Cross F2L 2-look OLL 2-look PLL For F2L, see tutorial above. For 2-look OLL, first do the cross: Line shape: F sexy F' (F' with the thumb) L shape: f sexy f' (f' with the thumb) no shape: do 1st then 2nd algorithm Then we do one of the 7 OLL "cross" algorithms. The cases are denoted by the position of yellow sticker for each corner, starting from FL, the FR, BR and BL corner. So UFRB means the yellow sticker facing upward for the left-front corner, facing front for the right-front corner, facing right for the right-back corner, and facing back for the left-back corner. UFRB: R U R' U R U2 R' FRUL: R U2 R' U' R U' R' (inverse of UFRB) FFUU: R2 D R' U2 R D' R' U2 R' (D and D' ideally by pulling then pushing with left-hand finger) LRUU: x' R U R' D R U' R' D' (idem) (x' R → l, so l U R' D R U' R' D') (or variant UFBR: l' U' L U R U' r' F) URUB: x' R U' R' D R U R' D' (idem) (x' R → l, so l U' R' D R U R' D') FFBB: F sexy sexy sexy F' LFBL: R U2 R2' U' R2 U' R2 U2 R For 2-look PLL, like for the 2-OLL, we first do the cross, then the corners. For the cross, turn the U face until 1 edge is good, and place it at F slot, and look how the other edges must be permuted. All edges are ok: congratulations ;-) clockwise: R' U R' U' R' U' R' U R U R2' (R' U R' U' with right index under BRD corner, then R' U' R' U with right index next to FRD corner) anti-clockwise: R2' U' R' U' R U R U R U' R (right thumb on B face, right index on FRD corner, ready for 1st U, then R U' R with RH, U' with right thumb) 2 edge ok: do either of algorithm above, and retry. Then look at the corners. If one corner is good, turn the cube such that it is at FL slot, and look how the other corners must be permuted 1 good corner (FL), clockwise: x R' U R' D2 R U' R' D2 R2 or l' U R' D2 R U' R' D2 R2 (using x R' → l'). My old fingertrick was left thumb on F center, left index/middle/ring fingers on back, right thumb on U face, right index under RBD corner. First U done with right index, then D2 done with left ring+middle or left little+ring, then U' done with right thumb, like for the sledgehammer. This fingertrick is not adviced, instead train on using the left index to do the U' move [2]. 1 good corner (FL), anti-clockwise: x R2' D2 R U R' D2 R U' R l' R' D2 R U R' D2 R U' R (best grip: left thumb on D face, right thumb on F face, left ring finger to prepare the D2 / D2, right index to prepare the U. no good corner: do either of algorithm above, then you will have a good corner Fridrich - OLL TBC Fridrich - PLL Source: http://www.cubewhiz.com/pll.php Cycling Three Corners & Three Edges - Detecting Ga, Gb, Gc, Gd perm - Put the good corner & edge at its position - Turn the cube such that to have the "head lights" (the corners with same side color) on the L face - Ga: good corner on F face Gb: good corner on R/back face Gc: good corner on B face Gd: good corner on R/front face Ga: (R2' Uw) (R' U R' U' R Uw') R2' y' (R' U R) R2 R' R' R Uw U U' Uw' Gb: (R' U' R) y (R2' Uw R' U) (R U' R Uw' R2') R2 R' R R Uw U U' Uw' Gc: (R2' Uw' R U') (R U R' Uw R2) (Fw R' Fw') right thumb U face R2' R R R' Uw' U' U Uw Gd: (R U R') y' (R2' Uw' R U') (R' U R' Uw R2) R2' R R' R' Uw' U' U Uw Ja permutation Ja z (D' R U') R2 (D R' D') R2 (U D R') Na / Nb permutations From Finger Trick - How to Execute the N Perms Like a Pro (cyotheking) Na z U _(R' D)_ (R2 U' R U D') _(R' D)_ (R2 U' R D' [R]) Use normal grip after z RH sexy regrip during the first and second U' Last R assumes following start position (X means cube at correct position) (B) . . X (L) X X X (R) X . . (F) After z U face must have the following pattern: X X . X X X X X X Nb z U' (R D') (R2 U R' D U') (R D') R2 U R' D [R] Use normal LH grip, RH sexy grip after z RH sexy regrip for both R2. All U, D' done with RH. Last R assumes following start position (X means cube at correct position) (B) . X X (L) . X . (R) X X . (F) After z U face must have the following pattern: X X . X X . X X X Algorithms PLL - swap 2 edges R U R' U R U2 R' U Finger Tricks D2 move Use the ring and major finger. To work well, hold the cube with index and thumb such that ring and major hits the left (or right) side of the D face almost vertically. For instance, using the left hand, the index must hold both the LBU corner and LB edge, and possibly a bit the center back face and BU edge. See this video.