Five Beautiful Patterns
First: what counts as winning?
There is no opponent. The goal is a solved cube: all six faces each have one colour and every piece matches the adjacent centres in position and orientation. Solving one face is not solving the cube.
A white face with mixed side colours is only partial progress. The first turning exercise simply asks you to return to its solved starting state.
Each exercise has a limited goal; playing an algorithm does not solve every scramble.
Optional branch after Basic Notation: create patterns from solved, then undo them manually. CFOP is not a prerequisite.
Complete Basic Notation and start with a solved cube. This optional pattern branch is not an arbitrary-scramble solving course and does not require the CFOP lessons.
Select a pattern to prepare a solved cube without moving it. Each press of Next step executes exactly one notation token. Observe the changed layer before clicking again. After the last move, the finished pattern stays visible; it does not turn back to solved. Use Restart only when you want to start over.
Follow along on a real cube: one misread turn and the pattern loses its symmetry — instant feedback on whether notation has sunk in.
Half-turn all six faces and every face becomes a checkerboard of opposite colours. The algorithm is its own inverse — repeat it to return to solved. It's also the clearest illustration of opposite-face swaps: U2 D2 only affects side faces, and F2 B2 and L2 R2 likewise.
Algorithm
U2 D2 F2 B2 L2 R2
Centers do not change color or move to another face. The surrounding eight stickers become one different color, making the unchanged center look like a dot. The standard version uses slice moves (M E S); this is an equivalent face-turn version. Repeating it doesn't undo it — its order is 3, so three repetitions return to solved, or apply the inverse.
Algorithm
U D' R L' F B' U D'
Each face has a same-color cross formed by its center and four edge stickers, with four corners of another color; that color is not necessarily the opposite face color. Longer than the first two — good practice for chunking; notice symmetric structures like L2 U2 L2.
Algorithm
U F B' L2 U2 L2 F' B U2 L2 U
A 2×2×2 cube appears embedded in one corner of the big cube. One of the most popular patterns, 15 moves. Before undoing it, rotate the view and see how the three faces line up.
Algorithm
F L F U' R U F2 L2 U' L' B D' B' L2 U
Every edge is in place but flipped; corners and centres untouched. The superflip was the first position proven to need 20 face turns — and in 2010 it was shown that no position needs more. That number is called God's Number.
This 20-move algorithm is itself an optimal solution. Its inverse is also 20 moves; there is no shorter path.
Algorithm
U R2 F B R B2 R U2 L B2 R U' D' R2 F R' L B2 U2 F2