Cube Solver 3×3

How to play Speed Cube 3×3

Speed Cube 3×3 is a browser version of the world’s most famous twisty puzzle: a cube of twenty-six smaller blocks whose six faces each start as a single solid colour. Every face can be twisted a quarter turn, which scrambles the colours around the cube, and your job is to twist it back until each of the six sides is once again one pure colour. The puzzle is rendered as a real, rotatable 3-D cube you can spin with your finger or mouse, and there is a flat “unfolded” net beside it so you can always read all six faces at once. A timer, a move counter, a best-time memory and a ranked score turn each solve into a race against yourself.

The goal

Return the scrambled cube to its solved state, where all nine stickers on every face share the same colour, using as few moves and as little time as possible. The clock starts the instant you make your first turn after scrambling and stops the moment the cube is solved. Fewer moves and fewer seconds mean a higher score, so calm, efficient turning beats frantic spinning.

Colours and scrambling

The cube uses the standard Western colour scheme, in which opposite faces are always paired: white opposite yellow, red opposite orange, and blue opposite green. The centre sticker of each face never moves, so a centre always tells you what colour that whole face must become. Pressing Scramble applies a fresh sequence of twenty-five random quarter turns, arranged so that no two consecutive turns act on the same axis (which would trivially cancel or stack), guaranteeing a genuine mix. The scramble is seeded, so a given scramble is reproducible, and the Daily button gives everyone the same scramble each calendar day for a shared challenge.

Move notation

Twisty-cube moves are written with single letters that each name one face of the cube, exactly as printed on the button pad. Learning them lets you follow any solving guide in the world.

• U (Up), D (Down), L (Left), R (Right), F (Front) and B (Back) each turn that one face a quarter turn clockwise, as seen looking straight at it.
• A prime mark ( ′ ) means turn that face anticlockwise instead — so R turns the right face clockwise and R′ turns it back the other way.
• Opposite faces share a turning axis (U/D, L/R, F/B). The scrambler never places two same-axis turns in a row, so a mix never wastes moves on itself.

Controls

• Button pad: the twelve buttons (U U′ D D′ L L′ R R′ F F′ B B′) each perform one exact quarter turn with a smooth animation. This is the precise way to turn and works on every device.
• On-cube swipe: flick across any sticker to twist that face. A short horizontal flick turns the face one way, a short vertical flick the other; the buttons remain the exact reference if a flick reads ambiguously.
• Orbit: drag anywhere on the cube background to spin the whole puzzle in 3-D so you can see the back, top and bottom. Orbiting is view-only and never changes the solve.
• Net view: the flat cross beside (or below) the cube shows all six faces unfolded at once, so you can check colours you cannot currently see. On phones a toggle switches between the 3-D cube, the net, or both.
• Scramble / Daily / Reset: Scramble mixes the cube for a new solve, Daily loads the shared puzzle of the day, and Reset returns the cube to solved so you can practise turns freely.

Beginner solving tips (layer by layer)

If you have never solved a cube, use the beginner “layer-by-layer” method: build the cube one horizontal layer at a time from the top down. It needs only a couple of short sequences, and every full guide online uses the notation above.

• First layer cross: pick a colour (say white) and make a plus sign of that colour on its face, making sure each edge’s side colour also matches the centre of the neighbouring face.
• First layer corners: put the four matching corners under their home spots and lift each into place with a short repeated turn, finishing one complete face plus a matching band around the top layer.
• Middle layer edges: turn the solved layer to the bottom, then insert the four side edges of the middle layer using a left or right insertion sequence, choosing the direction the edge needs to go.
• Last layer cross: flip the top edges to form a cross of the final colour, repeating a single short algorithm until the plus sign appears.
• Orient the last face: turn the last corners so the whole top face becomes one colour, repeating a corner-twisting sequence and turning only the top between repeats.
• Permute the last layer: finally cycle the last edges and corners into their correct positions with two short swap sequences, and the cube is solved.

Speed tips

• Look ahead: while finishing one piece, let your eyes hunt for the next one, so your hands never stop between turns.
• Turn gently and accurately. Over-spinning past a quarter turn is the most common cause of a locked or mis-turned cube; a clean quarter turn every time is faster overall.
• Use the net view to plan. Because it shows hidden faces, you can spot the piece you need without orbiting, which saves both time and moves.
• Favour fewer moves. Each move costs a point and each second costs ten, so a short, thought-out solution scores better than fast but wasteful spinning.

Winning and scoring

The cube is solved the moment all six faces are single colours, and the timer stops automatically. Your score is calculated as 10000 − seconds × 10 − moves, never dropping below 1 and capped within the leaderboard’s limit, so a faster, tighter solve scores higher. Your best score on this device is remembered, and when you are signed in your scores are submitted to the global leaderboard.

Frequently asked questions