A 2×2 cube has just eight corner pieces. We will solve one layer, put the remaining corners in their homes, then turn their yellow stickers upwards. You will choose the moves yourself.
Keep the guide beside your cube and work through one step at a time. You do not need to be fast, and you do not need to memorise the moves before you begin. This lesson works with a standard 2×2 Rubik’s Cube and compatible puzzle cubes.
Looking for help entering colours into our tool instead? Use the separate 2×2 solver walkthrough. This page teaches a hands-on method that does not need the solver.
Each corner has three stickers that always travel together. A white-green-orange corner stays that same piece however you turn the cube.
A 2×2 has no centre pieces and no edge pieces. That means there is no white cross to make. The white cross is a 3×3 step. On a 2×2, we go straight to the corners.
Our pictures use white opposite yellow, green opposite blue, and red opposite orange. We start with white underneath, green at the front and orange on the right. Later pictures clearly label a change of front when we turn the whole cube. A face colour means the colour we are building there, not that every sticker already matches. Check your cube’s colour scheme or maker’s picture if it uses different colours. You can apply the same moves with the corresponding colours.
Four white stickers together are a good start. But their side colours must match too. Along the white layer, you need a pair of greens on one side, a pair of oranges on the next, and matching pairs on the other two sides.
A face turn moves four corners. A short move sequence lets us move our target and return the other important corners. So a solved corner may leave its place briefly. Finish the whole sequence before checking the protected pieces.
We will use the top layer as our working space while building the bottom layer. You may change pieces on top because they are not solved yet.
| Move | What to do |
|---|---|
| R | Turn the right face a quarter-turn clockwise. |
| U | Turn the top face a quarter-turn clockwise. |
| L | Turn the left face a quarter-turn clockwise. |
| D | Turn the bottom face a quarter-turn clockwise. |
| A prime, such as R' | Turn that face a quarter-turn anticlockwise. |
| A 2, such as U2 | Turn that face halfway round. |
Judge clockwise as though you are looking straight at the face you are turning. For D, imagine looking up at the underside. Keep the whole cube still during each sequence, even when you turn the bottom face.
To change which side faces you, rotate the whole cube. That is different from turning just one layer. We will name it clearly when you need it.
Do R U R' U' slowly. Then undo it with U R U' R'. You should be back where you started. An undo reverses both the order of the moves and their direction.
Each arrow shows the turning direction. Turn the whole face, with all four stickers.
We will start with one white corner, then add its three neighbours. A corner means the whole little block with three stickers, not just one square.
That is your first solved corner. The rest of the cube can be mixed up. You are using this one piece to decide where the other colours will go.
The next piece will be white-orange-blue. It shares orange with your starting corner, so their orange stickers will sit side by side.
If it is already in its correct home with white down, leave it alone. Otherwise:
R U R' U' once, all four moves. That corner moves into the top layer. The other bottom corners return to their places.Do not lift out a correctly solved corner just to make space.
Keep the cube facing the same way. Do these four quarter-turns:
R U R' U'From your front view: right column up, top row left, right column down, top row right.
Those directions describe the stickers you see at the front. Each turn moves a whole layer, not just the two visible stickers.
After all four moves, check bottom-front-right. Is your white-orange-blue corner there, with white down, orange towards you and blue to the right?
Do not turn U separately between these repeats. The target will move away and come back as you repeat. Also, do not stop just because a white sticker appears underneath: it must be the correct three-colour corner.
Use the same idea twice more. Before each new corner, turn the whole cube so the next empty home is at bottom-front-right. Keep the white stickers underneath.
For each target, bring it to top-front-right, then repeat R U R' U' until it is solved underneath. Use the help box if it is trapped in the bottom layer. Skip a target if it is already solved.
You can use this method with any starting corner once you feel comfortable. The useful question is: which side colour does this new corner share with its solved neighbour? Those two stickers need to sit together.
To match the next picture, rotate the whole cube until the green bottom pair faces you and the orange bottom pair is on your right. Keep white underneath. This changes your viewpoint, not which pieces are solved.
Keep the white layer underneath. The colours of its matching pairs tell you the colours of the side faces, like centres do on a 3×3.
A yellow corner is in its home when its other two colours match the two sides below it. Yellow does not have to point up yet. For example, yellow-green-orange belongs above the place where your green pair meets your orange pair.
That last case is normal on a 2×2. Two correct corners can look promising, but this particular sequence needs one correct corner to use as its fixed point.
U R U' L' U R' U' LThe top-front-right corner stays put. The other three trade places.
Read it in two small groups: U R U' L', then U R' U' L. A brief pause between the groups is fine, but finish all eight moves before checking.
We will twist the yellow corners one at a time. The white layer will look broken while you work. That is expected. The moves for the later corners bring it back. Do not try to repair it halfway through.
From now on, “top” and “bottom” mean positions in your hands. Do not turn the whole cube to put white underneath again when the white stickers move during the sequence.
R' D' R DFrom your front view: right column down, bottom row left, right column up, bottom row right.
Say “down, left, up, right” and finish all four. Even if yellow seems to reach the top during a group, do the last move before checking.
Look at the upward-facing sticker of the top-front-right corner. If it is not yellow, do another complete group. A yellow corner that needs twisting takes two or four groups. Keep repeating on this same working position until yellow faces up there.
The rest of the cube can look worse after the first group. Keep going. Do not switch to another corner after just one group, and do not use the first-layer sequence here: this step is R' D' R D, with bottom turns.
You can count the positions on your fingers: first corner, U, second corner, U, third corner, U, fourth corner, U. Some corners need no twisting moves, but you still visit them.
That is not the intended finishing state. Do not keep applying the twisting sequence to yellow-up corners to try to fix it.
If you know exactly which move you missed, undo the later moves in reverse order and correct it. If you have lost your place, use the 2×2 solver to get back to a solved cube, then try the small practice below. You do not need to take the cube apart.
Keep the same front throughout. This deliberately creates two twisted top corners while leaving the white layer solved:
R' D' R D twice.R' D' R D four times.Check that white and its side pairs are still solved, and that the yellow corners are in their homes. Now follow step 3 from the start. This gives you a repeatable way to practise without rebuilding the first layer every time.
If you know which move was wrong, undo it before carrying on. If you have lost your place, pause. Do not restart step 3 with a disturbed white layer: first restore the earlier checkpoints, or use the solver for a fresh start.
Try this once you have a solved cube:
R U R' U' once. Watch the bottom-front-right corner move up.This is a small, repeatable exercise in protecting your work. You are not learning to move one corner alone. You are learning which other corners the full sequence restores.
Once this feels comfortable, try the complete 3×3 beginner guide. The corner ideas carry over; the 3×3 also has edges to solve. If you want a helping hand on a particular scramble, our 2×2 solver can supply a checked solution.
An original lesson and original diagrams by Solve My Cube. The corner sequences are checked against all 24 top-corner orders and all 27 legal twist combinations with the first layer solved. Prefer seeing hands as well as diagrams? J Perm’s beginner 2×2 video demonstrates a similar first-layer method. His final stage flips the cube and uses a different hold. Follow one complete set of final-stage instructions rather than mixing its moves with ours. You can also explore the official Rubik’s learning resources for another teaching style.