Extremely simple solution for 2x2 Rubik's Cube - just one algorithm

Introduction

It is not fake. It really works!

 

Recently I tried to solve Rubik's Cube by myself and I found it very complicated. After 30 minutes I could not solve it and I found beginner's solution on the internet like this or this. It is very complicated for a normal person and it is almost not possible to remember it. Why this solution so complicated? Why I need to remember a lot of algorithms? Hopefully, there are some automatic solution finders on the internet :)

I decided to find my own solution, but it should be very simple, that everyone can repeat it and remember. Of course, I read about God and Devil algorithms and that nobody could find a very simple solution so far. But really, for 2x2 Rubik's cube, they offer the solution from 3 steps and you need to memorize at least 8 algorithms. For 3x3 Rubik's Cube, beginner's solution has 7 steps and 9 algorithms have to be memorized. Who can remember this? Only some real geeks or nerds.

Note: Please do not expect to use the solution mentioned in this post for very fast solving/speedcubing. It will not work. This solution is simple but relatively long. It was designed to solve Rubik's Cube with simple and easy to remember algorithm without time limitation.

What is needed to apply this simple solution?

In a few weeks, I found a simple algorithm, which can solve any 2x2 Rubik's Cube. I called it Russian Flag Solution or Z-Solution. Only 2 things have to be memorized, in order to solve it.

1. How to solve one face properly, as shown in the picture below. If you have difficulties to make one face, please watch this video.

It is one state of the cube shown from different sides.

It is one state of the cube shown from different sides.

2. This Color Sequence: White, Blue, Red, Yellow, Green, Orange.




Optionally it is good to remember which color is opposite to which, like White-Yellow, Blue-Green, Red-Orange, but it is not necessary. It will just make it a little bit faster.

This color sequence is easier to remember because the first 3 colors make Russian Flag and the rest are the colors opposite to Russian Flag colors.

What is the trick?

The good question is: how this color sequence and making one face can help?
The whole trick is to make one face properly, white first, then forget about it and make the next one (blue). Then just continue making one face after another in the sequence mentioned above. Of course, while making a blue face, white will be broken, but this is the nice thing about this solution, that there is no need to care about the previous state. Just stupidly make one face after another and that it. No need to think at all. This is demonstrated in the pictures below:

Iteration 1.

Iteration 2.

 

Iteration 3.

Iteration 4.

Iteration 5.

 Iteration 6.

 

and after orange color (Iteration 6) everything should be repeated again from white color (Iteration 1).
This video shows the whole process.

Most probably other sequences will work as well (most probably opposite direction like Orange, Green, Yellow, Red, Blue, White), but for me, Russian Flag is easier to remember and I did not try other sequences. This color sequence is chosen because these are colors in one of the corners if I go through them clockwise. I believe any other color sequence will work if they are from the corner and make a clockwise or counterclockwise sequence.

How much time will it take?

Another interesting question, how much time it will take? Maybe it will take years to go through all possible combinations?
Actually, I did it many times for 2x2 Rubik's cube and I always manage to solve it in maximum 10 minutes. The best time was 30 seconds. In the video above I manage to solve it in 5 minutes. And in terms of how many times it is required to make different faces, I can tell that from my statistics after 10 to 30 iterations it will be solved.

Why does it work?

Do not ask me why it works, I have no clue :) I found this solution accidentally, by just playing with 2x2 Rubik's cube with the thoughts "Let's do one face after another and see what will happen". The only explanation I have is about entropy reduction. Every step I decrease entropy a little bit and in the end, it leads to full order and zero entropy.

Does it work for 3x3 Rubik's cube and other cubes?

The answer is Yes and No. I tried to apply the same algorithm for the 3x3 cube, and sometimes it works, but sometimes not. In the worse case, I made 300 faces (iterations) and could not solve it. It was almost done, just a few parts were in the wrong place, but it did not work. Sometimes, maybe 50% of cases when I was lucky it worked. Read my another post how to solve 3x3 cube with Russian Flag Solution, where I modified a little bit this solution an it always works for 3x3 cube. It has 2 steps for 3x3 cube instead of 1 steps for 2x2 cube.

It works fine for Pyraminx puzzle (Pyramide or mathematically correctly tetrahedron). Just by solving vertical faces in clockwise order first and then bottom face. It becomes solved after a just a few solved faces (3-5), which is very quickly.

It works for this one as well.

I spent some time and make another similar solution for the 3x3 cube with the same color sequence but 2 steps, instead of 1. But it is a different story and I described it in my next post.

Extremely simple solution for 3x3 Rubik's Cube - just two steps

Introduction

It is not fake. It really works!

Recently I tried to solve Rubik's Cube by myself and I found it very complicated. After 30 minutes I could not solve it and I found beginner's solution on the internet like this. It is very complicated for a normal person and it is almost not possible to remember it. Why this solution so complicated? Why do I need to remember a lot of algorithms? Hopefully, there are some automatic solution finders on the internet :)

I decided to find my own solution, but it should be very simple, that everyone can repeat it and remember. Of course, I read about God and Devil algorithms and that nobody could find a very simple solution so far. But really, 3x3 Rubik's Cube beginner's solution has 7 steps and 9 algorithms which have to be memorized. Some of the algorithms look like this R U R' U R U2 R' U (8 moves of the cube). Who can remember this? Only some real geeks or nerds.

Note: Please do not expect to use the solution mentioned in this post for very fast solving/speedcubing. It will not work. This solution is simple but relatively long. It was designed to solve Rubik's Cube with simple and easy to remember algorithm without time limitation.

What is needed to apply this simple solution?

After I found a simple solution for 2x2 Cube like explained here, I started working on a simple solution for 3x3 Rubik's Cube. Unfortunately, the same solution as for 2x2 cube does not work in some cases, sometimes I manage to solve 3x3 by the same solution as 2x2, but not always. In a 1 month, I finally found a simple algorithm, which can solve any 3x3 Rubik's Cube. I called it Russian Flag Solution or Z-Solution. It consists of 2 steps and only 2 things have to be memorized, in order to solve it.

What has to be remembered?

1. How to solve one face properly.

2. This Color Sequence: White, Blue, Red, Yellow, Green, Orange. (let's call it "Russian Flag Sequence").



Optionally it is good to remember which color is opposite to which, like White-Yellow, Blue-Green, Red-Orange, but it is not necessary. It will just make it a little bit faster.

"Russian Flag Sequence" is easier to remember because the first 3 colors make Russian Flag and the rest are the colors opposite to Russian Flag colors.

What are the steps (brief description)?

Step 1. Solve all the corners and middles.
Solve corners and middles only on one face in the order defined by "Russian Flag Sequence" and after some time all the corners and middles will be solved by themselves. Of course, after solving corners in one face, the previous face will be broken, but it is expected, in the end, all corners will be fine. To solve corners in one face, the same algorithm "how to solve one face properly" (explained in this video) can be used. It is even easier to solve only corners and just skip what is in between the corners. Detailed description.

Step 2. "Around the White".
Solve only one face which is close to white, then solve next face close to white in clockwise or counterclockwise order. This is why I call it "Around the White" algorithm. But do not break the corners. Usually, it is very easy. In other words, it is making faces one by one following the color sequence Blue, Orange, Green, Red or opposite.


After some time full cube will be solved. Detailed description.

Note: Solved corners and middles state is very stable and robust structure, it is very difficult to break it.

Detailed explanation.

How to solve one face properly.

First, I want to put some pictures and explain what does it mean "How to solve one face properly". It should look like shown in the pictures below. If there are some difficulties to solve cube to this state, this video can help.

It is one state of the cube shown from different sides.

It is one state of the cube shown from different sides.

How to solve all corners with the detailed illustrations (Step 1).

Here as I mentioned above the Russian Flag algorithm will help. Only corners on one face have to be solved in a specific order. And again, it has to be solved properly. Below are the pictures showing what is "properly solved corners for one face" and what is "wrong".

It is one state of the cube shown from different sides.

It is one state of the cube shown from different sides.

To achieve this, the same algorithm as to making one face can be followed. And again, if there are some difficulties to make this cube state, this video can be helpful.

Now corners have to be solved in the "Russian Flag Sequence" like shown in the pictures below.

Iteration 1 (white corners).

 Iteration 2 (blue corners).

 Iteration 3 (red corners).

 Iteration 4 (yellow corners).

 

Iteration 5 (green corners).

 Iteration 6 (orange corners).

and after orange color (Iteration 6) everything should be repeated again from white color (Iteration 1). Of course, if white corners are solved, while solving blue corners white will be broken, but it is ok. And after some time all the corners will be solved automatically.

Most probably other sequences will work as well (most probably opposite direction like Orange, Green, Yellow, Red, Blue, White), but for me, Russian Flag is easier to remember and I did not try other sequences. This color sequence is chosen because these are colors in one of the corners if I go through them clockwise. I believe any other color sequence will work if they are from the corner and make a clockwise or counterclockwise sequence.

How to solve faces "Around the White" with the detailed illustrations (Step 2).

Now one full face has to be solved which is attached to a white and then next face attached to white in counterclockwise order. It is shown in the pictures below. And again while solving one face, previous will be broken, but it is ok. Also after each face, it has to be checked, that corners are not broken. If corners become broken, everything should be restarted from the beginning.

Iteration 1 (blue face).

Iteration 2 (orange face).

Iteration 3 (green face).

Iteration 4 (red face).

and after red color (Iteration 4) everything should be repeated again from blue color (Iteration 1).
This video shows the whole process.

How much time will it take?

Interesting question, how much time it will take? Maybe it will take years to go through all possible combinations?
Actually, I did it many times for 3x3 Rubik's cube and it takes from 5 to 20 minutes. It is approximately the same time for Step 1 (all corners) and for Step 2 "Around the White". For example, 5 minutes for Step 1 and 5 minutes for Step 2. In terms of how many times it is required to make different faces, I can tell that from my statistics after 10 to 30 iterations corners will be solved and similar for step 2 "Around the White".

Why does it work?

Do not ask me why it works, I have no clue :) I found this solution accidentally, by just playing with 2x2 Rubik's cube with the thoughts "Let's do one face after another and see what will happen". And after this, I made a similar solution for 3x3 cube.
The only explanation I have is about entropy reduction. Every step I decrease entropy a little bit and in the end, it leads to full order and zero entropy. Maybe it will lead to some new development in the Group Theory or even Solid-state Physics.

Does it work for other Rubik's cubes?

So far (based on 19 May 2019) I could not manage to find a similar algorithm for the 4x4 cube. All corners algorithm works fine for the 4x4 cube, but step 2 does not work. I will put an update here or new post if I will find a simple solution for the 4x4 and bigger cubes.

Forest inhabitants

This is a translation of an old Russian story appeared in Russian Internet around 2000.

The Bear was an ugly, clumsy and dirty beast. However, there was no one kinder and nicer in the whole forest. But the animals notice only his appearance, and because of this, Bear felt terribly offended, caught them and brutally beat them with his feet. Therefore, the animals did not like him. Although, he was very kind and cheerful. He loved funny jokes. For these jokes, animals started to terribly hate him soon and beat him often. Yes, it's hard to be kind and cheerful in the world.

The Wolf was ugly and dirty too. And he was very evil and cruel. But the animals did not hate him and did not beat him. Because Wolf died in early childhood. Because the Bear was born before the Wolf. Yes, it is nice, when Good overcomes Evil.

The Hare was also evil and cruel. And dirty. And he was cowardly. The Hare has never done bad things to anyone. Because he was afraid. But he still had been severely beaten. Because Evil must always be punished.

And the Woodpecker was also evil and cruel. He did not beat the animals, because he had no hands. Therefore, he took out his anger in the trees. He was not beaten. Because they could not reach him. Once he was crushed to death by a fallen tree. It was rumored that it took revenge. After that, the animals were afraid for a month to pee on the trees. They peed on Hare. Hare caught a cold and died. It was clear to everyone that the Woodpecker was guilty of everything. But he was not touched. Because they could not pick him out from under the fallen tree. Yes, Evil sometimes goes unpunished.

The Mole was small and blind. He was not evil. He just did his job well. It was he who undercut a tree that fell on a Woodpecker. No one found out about this, and therefore he was not beaten. He was rarely beaten. More often frightened. But it was very difficult to frighten him because he was blind and did not see that he was frightened. When it was not possible to frighten Mole, the animals were very upset. And they beat the Bear. Because it was very disappointing. One day, the Bear also wanted to scare Mole. But Mole was not afraid. Because the Bear killed him. Unintentionally and accidentally. Just because Bear was very clumsy. And the animals beat him very badly. Even despite the fact that Bear said he was joking. It's bad when no one understands your jokes.

Fox was very sly and dodgy. She could easily trick anyone. When she succeeded, she was not beaten. But sometimes she was not lucky. And they beat her. All animals together beat her. And she could not trick anyone. Because it is very difficult to trick someone when they beat you. Once she was beaten to death. Yes, the truth always comes out.

The Boar was big, strong and scary. Everyone was very afraid of him. And therefore he was beaten only by all forest animals together. Or they simply threw stones at him. Boar did not like this very much. And one night he hid all the stones in the forest. For this, he was beaten very badly. Boar never hid stones again. Truly saying - time to gather stones together and time not to touch them ever.

The Rat was neither evil nor good. He was just a Rat. He often was ratting. And they were afraid to beat him. And everyone was tired of his ratting at some point. And then he was beaten to death. Because otherwise, he would have died of old age. Someday. When the Rat died, Bear cried heavily. Because he secretly loved the Rat. Yes, love is blind.

The Hedgehog was small and prickly. He prickled. He was not evil, he was prickled by nature. Because of this, he was beaten only in the stomach. Hedgehog did not like this and began to shave bald. And then they began to beat him like everyone else. Yes, it is very difficult to be different from others.

The Skunk was almost like the Hare. But only very smelly. He smelled bad. He was beaten only in a plastic bag. Then the smell was not so strong. Once Skunk had a birthday. He invited all the animals because he was greedy and loved gifts. And the animals gave him a new plastic bag. And they beat him badly until he lost consciousness. And Skunk choked in the plastic bag. So he was buried as is. In the plastic bag. In a Very Far Forest. Because the dead Skunk was stinking even more. Then came the inhabitants of the Very Far Forest and severely beat everyone. They did not like the smell of a dead Skunk. Yes, we must live in peace with our neighbors.

The Hamster was also very greedy. And rich. If he shared his wealth, he would not be beaten so much. But he was very greedy. For this, he was beaten hard. And he still had to share. And he cried bitterly. Yes, the rich are crying too.

The Lion was the king of beasts. He ruled the forest. Kings are not supposed to be beaten. This is the law. But the animals bump that law long time back. The animals beat the Lion too. For nothing. Because it has become a tradition here.

In case of repost, please keep link to this post.
Original Russian text can be found here.