SOLVE MY CUBE GUIDE

Your first layer, one piece at a time

A face full of one colour feels like a win. To make the next part of the puzzle easier, you also want the pieces around its sides to line up. That is what turns a matching face into a solved first layer.

A face and a layer are different

Imagine you are solving white. All nine tiles on the white face should be white, but there is one more check: the coloured strip along each adjoining face should match that face’s centre. A white-and-green edge belongs beside the green centre. A white, green and red corner belongs where those three faces meet.

If the white tiles match but those side colours do not, some pieces are in the wrong places. You have made a face, but you have not finished the layer yet.

Start with the cross

Find the four edge pieces containing your chosen colour. An edge has two coloured tiles. Bring those pieces around the matching centre so they form a plus sign. Each edge’s second colour should line up with the neighbouring centre.

Take a moment to look at the side colours before moving on. Getting the cross right gives you four useful reference points for the corners.

Add the four corners

A corner has three coloured tiles, so all three matter. For example, the white, green and red corner belongs between the white, green and red centres. Putting it in that position is only half the task: it must also be turned the right way.

The first-layer lesson works through the corners in small sequences. Some turns may briefly disturb the cross or a corner you have already placed. That can be normal. At the end of each lesson stage, the cross and the earlier corners will be restored.

Try it with your own cube

1. Open the solver and enter all six faces, following the orientation markers.
2. Choose Solve 1 side and select the colour you want to work on.
3. Return to white centre on top, green centre in front and red centre on the right. Keep this orientation even if you chose a different lesson colour.
4. Follow the cross stage, then each corner stage. Check your physical cube at each checkpoint.

The lesson calculates moves for your particular cube. It is guided practice rather than one fixed algorithm to memorise. Watch which piece moves and where it belongs as you follow along.

What comes after the first layer?

In a common beginner method, the next task is the middle-layer edges, followed by the last layer. Solving a second face independently can undo the first one, so it is better to think in layers.

This app currently teaches the first layer. To finish the rest with a checked move sequence, choose a new goal from your completed lesson and select Solve cube. That continuation is a full solution, not a middle-layer teaching course.

If the move letters feel unfamiliar, keep the move notation guide handy. If your entry gets stuck, the cube troubleshooting guide can help.