f+
r+
f-
l+
f+
r-
f-
l-
This web page contains useful tricks for solving Rubik's Cube that were found by a computer program I wrote in June 2002. The computer program simulates a Rubik's Cube and tries millions of different combinations of moves, until it finds combinations that affect the corners and edges on only one of the 6 planes of the cube. The original document was a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. I optically scanned the diagrams from an old printout of that spreadsheet, hence the somewhat degraded image quality.
| word | definition |
| corner | One of the 8 pieces of the Rubik's Cube that has 3 tiles on it. |
| cost | The number of face rotations needed to perform a nugget. |
| cycle | To move 3 edges/corners from position A to position B, B to C, and C to A. |
| edge | One of the 12 pieces of the Rubik's Cube that has 2 tiles on it. |
| flip | To rotate the orientation of an edge (there are 2 possible orientations). |
| mirror | The mirror image of a nugget, with the mirror held parallel to the cube's right face. |
| nugget | A sequence of moves on the Rubik's Cube that performs a desired operation. |
| reverse | The inverse of a nugget, meaning the sequence of moves that would undo the nugget. |
| spin | To rotate the orientation of a corner (there are 3 possible orientations). |
| swap | To move 2 edges/corners from position A to B and B to A. |
| tile | One of the colored faces of either an edge or a corner. |
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| N1: Cycles 3 corners on the top face, spinning one clockwise and one anticlockwise. | |
f+
r+
f-
l+
f+
r-
f-
l-
|
|
| N2: Cycles 3 edges without flipping any of them. | |
f2
t+
x-
f2
x+
t+
f2
|
|
| N3: Cycles 3 edges, flipping 2. | |
x-
f+
x+
t2
x-
f+
x+
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|
| N4: Swaps 2 corners and 2 edges, with no flipping/spinning. | |
f2
r+
t+
r-
f2
l+
b-
l+
b+
l2
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|
| N5: Spins 3 corner cubes anticlockwise and cycles 3 edge cubes. | |
r-
t-
r+
t-
r-
t2
r+
t2
|
|
| N6: Cycles 3 edges, flipping 2 of them. | |
f-
t-
f+
x-
b-
f+
b+
x+
|
|
| N7: Swaps 2 pairs of opposite edges, flipping one in each pair. | |
f-
t-
l-
t2
l+
f+
t+
r+
t2
r-
|
|
| N8: Spins 3 corners anticlockwise, and flips 2 edges. | |
r+
t+
r2
f+
r+
f2
t+
f+
t2
|
|
| N9: Cycles 3 corners, spinning each clockwise. | |
f+
r-
t2
r+
f-
r-
f+
t2
f-
r+
|
|
| N10: Swaps both diagonally opposite corners, with no spinning of any. | |
f2
x2
p2
b-
f2
x2
p2
t-
|
|
| N11: Flips 2 adjacent edges. | |
t+
f+
t+
f2
b-
l-
t-
l+
t+
b+
f2
t2
f-
|
|
| N12: Flips 2 opposite edges. | |
t+
y+
r-
t+
f-
r+
t-
y-
l+
t-
f+
l-
|
|
| N13: Spins 2 opposite corners. | |
t2
r+
f-
b2
f+
r-
t2
r+
f-
b2
f+
r-
|
|
| N14: Flips all 4 edges on top face. | |
t+
x+
f2
r2
b2
r2
p+
r2
b2
r2
f2
x-
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