Rubik's Solver

Learn with your cube · 3×3

What does a move actually change?

Try two sequences, see all six faces, and compare the results. Start with R U and U R: the same turns in a different order move different pieces. Use the diagrams to check each turn on a solved physical cube.

Compare two routes from solved

Hold white on top and green in front: red is right, orange left, blue back and yellow down. Keep these centre positions fixed throughout. Each sequence starts from a fresh solved cube.

Show the starting cube and how to read the diagrams Solved starting cube: white Up and green Front Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B UpDownRightLeftFrontBack

These are unfolded faces viewed from outside. Front is in the middle, with Up above it, Down below it, Left and Right alongside, and Back at the far right. Do not mirror the Back face as if you were looking through the cube. The face names stay fixed even when their sticker colours change.

The letters on stickers mean W white, Y yellow, G green, B blue, R red and O orange. They identify colours; the move letters below identify faces.

Separate moves with spaces. Use U D R L F B with an optional apostrophe (′) or 2. Up to 24 moves per sequence. A blank sequence leaves the cube solved.

Reset experiment

Works without JavaScript or a 3D graphics card. A connection is needed to draw a new experiment. Bookmark a result to keep its sequences.

Your result

Different final positions

22 sticker positions show different colours. The two routes do not have the same effect. Compare corresponding faces below.

Sequence A R R R' R'

4 face turns · 4 quarter turns · Solved

Final position for sequence A Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B UpDownRightLeftFrontBack

To undo this route from its final position: R R R' R'.

Test this route followed by its undo

Inspect all 4 moves, one at a time

  1. R

    Turn the Right face a quarter turn CLOCKWISE, looking straight at that face.

    Sequence A, step 1, after R Up: green G Up: white W Up: white W Up: green G Up: white W Up: green G Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Down: blue B Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: blue B Down: yellow Y Down: blue B Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Front: yellow Y Front: green G Front: yellow Y Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: yellow Y Front: green G Front: green G Back: blue B Back: white W Back: blue B Back: white W Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: white W Back: blue B Back: blue B UpDownRightLeftFrontBack

  2. R

    Turn the Right face a quarter turn CLOCKWISE, looking straight at that face.

    Sequence A, step 2, after R Up: yellow Y Up: white W Up: white W Up: yellow Y Up: white W Up: yellow Y Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Down: white W Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: white W Down: yellow Y Down: white W Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Front: blue B Front: green G Front: blue B Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: blue B Front: green G Front: green G Back: blue B Back: green G Back: blue B Back: green G Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: green G Back: blue B Back: blue B UpDownRightLeftFrontBack

  3. R'

    Turn the Right face a quarter turn COUNTER-CLOCKWISE, looking straight at that face.

    Sequence A, step 3, after R' Up: green G Up: white W Up: white W Up: green G Up: white W Up: green G Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Down: blue B Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: blue B Down: yellow Y Down: blue B Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Front: yellow Y Front: green G Front: yellow Y Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: yellow Y Front: green G Front: green G Back: blue B Back: white W Back: blue B Back: white W Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: white W Back: blue B Back: blue B UpDownRightLeftFrontBack

  4. R'

    Turn the Right face a quarter turn COUNTER-CLOCKWISE, looking straight at that face.

    Sequence A, step 4, after R' Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B UpDownRightLeftFrontBack

Sequence B U R

2 face turns · 2 quarter turns · Mixed colours

Final position for sequence B Up: green G Up: white W Up: white W Up: red R Up: white W Up: green G Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Down: blue B Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: orange O Down: yellow Y Down: blue B Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Right: red R Right: blue B Right: red R Right: blue B Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: blue B Right: red R Left: green G Left: green G Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: green G Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Front: yellow Y Front: red R Front: yellow Y Front: green G Front: red R Front: green G Front: yellow Y Front: green G Front: green G Back: orange O Back: white W Back: blue B Back: white W Back: orange O Back: blue B Back: white W Back: blue B Back: blue B UpDownRightLeftFrontBack

To undo this route from its final position: R' U'.

Test this route followed by its undo

Inspect all 2 moves, one at a time

  1. U

    Turn the Up face a quarter turn CLOCKWISE, looking straight at that face.

    Sequence B, step 1, after U Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Right: blue B Right: blue B Right: red R Right: red R Right: blue B Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Left: green G Left: green G Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: green G Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Front: red R Front: red R Front: green G Front: green G Front: red R Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Front: green G Back: orange O Back: orange O Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: orange O Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B Back: blue B UpDownRightLeftFrontBack

  2. R

    Turn the Right face a quarter turn CLOCKWISE, looking straight at that face.

    Sequence B, step 2, after R Up: green G Up: white W Up: white W Up: red R Up: white W Up: green G Up: white W Up: white W Up: white W Down: blue B Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: orange O Down: yellow Y Down: blue B Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Down: yellow Y Right: red R Right: blue B Right: red R Right: blue B Right: red R Right: red R Right: red R Right: blue B Right: red R Left: green G Left: green G Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: green G Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Left: orange O Front: yellow Y Front: red R Front: yellow Y Front: green G Front: red R Front: green G Front: yellow Y Front: green G Front: green G Back: orange O Back: white W Back: blue B Back: white W Back: orange O Back: blue B Back: white W Back: blue B Back: blue B UpDownRightLeftFrontBack

01 · A face, a direction, a grip

Read a turn before making it

U and D are the upper and lower faces; R and L are right and left; F faces you and B faces away. A letter refers to a position, not a colour. On this lab's starting cube R happens to have a red centre, but R still means the right face on a cube with a different colour scheme.

Three ways to turn the Right face
NotationActionUndo it with
ROne clockwise quarter turn, looking straight at the Right face.R′
R′One counterclockwise quarter turn from that same viewpoint.R
R2A half turn; either direction reaches the same resting position.R2

Clockwise belongs to the face you turn. For B, imagine looking directly at the back from behind the cube. For D, look at the underside. You may tilt the toy to inspect a face, but return to your original grip before reading the next letter. Turning the whole cube and silently changing which face counts as Front changes the meaning of the remaining moves.

A half turn counts as one face turn but two quarter turns in the counters above. These counters measure the sequence you typed, not the shortest solution. The lab accepts single outer-layer face turns only: no x/y/z rotations, M/E/S slices, wide turns or repeated groups in brackets. Expand repeated moves yourself.

Notation reference: WCA Article 12a. The diagrams, experiments and explanations here are generated for this site's own cube model.

02 · Predict, turn, compare

Four experiments with different lessons

Begin each route solved. Before opening the answer, predict whether the two final positions will match. You can compare the diagrams without owning a physical cube.

1. Can two quarter turns replace a half turn?

Compare R R with R2. Then change the first sequence to R R R and the second to R′. Count how far the right layer has travelled.

Run the half-turn experiment
Explanation

Both comparisons end in the same position. Four quarter turns return a layer to where it started; three clockwise quarters reach the same position as one counterclockwise quarter. A longer written route can therefore have the same effect as a shorter one.

2. When does changing the order matter?

Compare R U with U R. Follow the corner initially between Up, Front and Right. Both turns can move it, so the first turn changes which pieces the second turn reaches. Then compare R L and L R: those layers do not overlap.

Run the overlapping-layer experiment · Try opposite layers
Explanation

R U and U R differ; R L and L R match. You may swap independent opposite-face turns, but you cannot freely rearrange a solution's letters. The final-colour comparison reveals the difference even when the route lengths are equal.

3. Why doesn't reversing every direction undo a route?

Start with R U F2. A tempting undo is R′ U′ F2. The correct undo is F2 U′ R′: undo the last action first. Compare the two complete routes, including their setup.

Compare the two undo attempts
Explanation

The correct route contains neighbouring pairs F2 F2, then U U′, then R R′; removing them restores solved. The tempting route tries to undo R after other turns have moved its pieces elsewhere. Inverting directions is only half the job: reverse the order too.

4. Can a wrong turn be repaired without restarting?

You meant to do R but made R′. If that was your last move, another R2 puts the layer where R would have put it. Compare R′ R2 and R. This repair depends on knowing exactly which turn was wrong.

Test the wrong-direction repair
Explanation

Both end in the same position: a quarter turn backwards and a half turn forwards have the same effect as one quarter forwards. If you have made other moves since the mistake, pause and retrace them in reverse first; inserting R2 later is not a general repair.

03 · Make it useful on a real solve

Find the first checkpoint that differs

Open a route's checkpoints and compare after each complete turn, including the back and bottom. If the first mismatch appears after U′, check that turn's direction and your grip before continuing. A correct final face on one side does not prove that the hidden faces match.

If your cube starts scrambled, these solved-start diagrams will not match it. Use the 3×3 solver to enter your actual stickers and receive moves for that position. Use this lab to practise reading the moves, not to prescribe a solution for an unknown scramble. For a rejected entry, see the illustrated impossible-position guide.

What a matching result proves

With a fixed grip, the lab compares all corner and edge positions and orientations, not just one attractive face. The six centres are fixed. It models an ordinary six-colour 3×3, not the orientation of pictures or logos on a supercube's centres. The inverse shown reverses the route you typed; it is not a search for the shortest solution.

Published 2 October 2026 · Maintained by Rubik's Solver / AeroLambda. Every diagram is calculated from the site's integer-rotation piece model. The published experiments and their inverses are checked against that model. Found a mismatch? Send the two sequences and the first differing face.