Step Three: Solve the First Layer
Time to learn your first algorithms. The following “trigger moves” are the most basic of the bunch:
- Right Trigger = R U R’
- Left Trigger = L’ U’ L
Look for white stickers on the top layer that face the sides. (If you find a white sticker on the top face of the cube, or on the bottom layer of the cube pointing outward, we’ll deal with it later.) Each white sticker should be on a corner piece with three stickers. Rotate the top face of the cube so that the sticker beside the white sticker that is also outward facing (i.e., not the sticker on the top) diagonally matches the center of the same color.
Once you’ve paired them, face the color-matched stickers toward you. If the matched sticker in the top layer is right of the center, perform the Right Trigger. If the matched sticker is left of center, perform the Left Trigger.
If you have a white sticker facing the top, position the white sticker over something that is not white (because it will disrupt whatever is underneath), and, depending on if the piece is on the right or on the left, perform the following algorithm:
R, U, R’, R, U, R’
Or
L’, U, L, L’, U, L
If you have an outward facing white sticker in the bottom layer, face it toward you and position the cube so that it is either in the bottom left or bottom right corner of the side facing you, and perform either the left or right trigger, respectively, to relocate it to the top face of the cube.
Step Four: Solve the Middle Layer
Identify edge pieces on the top layer that do not have yellow stickers. (If it has a yellow sticker, it belongs on the top and not in the middle.) Once you find an edge without a yellow sticker, rotate the top face of the cube until the outward facing sticker on that edge piece is directly over the center piece of the same color.
Once it matches, look at the upward-facing sticker on that edge piece. That sticker will match the center on either the left or the right.
If it matches on the right, perform the following algorithm:
U + Right Trigger
Doing so will disturb the first layer. Fix the displaced white corner sticker as you did in step three.
If it matches on the left, perform the following algorithm:
U’ + Left Trigger
Doing so will disturb the first layer. Fix the displaced white corner sticker as you did in step three.
Occasionally you will find no edge pieces in the top layer without yellow stickers but the middle layer is not solved. In such cases, displace them is-matched middle-layer edge piece by performing the left or right trigger. There should now be an edge piece in the top layer without a yellow sticker. Solve for it as described above.
