WCA notation

The World Cube Association (WCA) uses standard notation for Rubik's Cube moves:

Notation	Meaning
R, L, U, D, F, B	Right, Left, Up, Down, Front, Back face (clockwise 90°)
R', L', U', D', F', B'	Counter-clockwise 90°
R2, U2, etc.	180° turn
M, E, S	Middle, Equatorial, Standing slice layers
x, y, z	Whole cube rotations on R, U, F axes

World records (3×3)

Single solve: 3.13 seconds (Max Park, 2023)
Average of 5: 4.09 seconds (Yiheng Wang, 2024)
Beginner's target: under 2 minutes; intermediate: under 1 minute; advanced: sub-20 seconds

Beginner solving methods

Layer-by-Layer (LBL) is the most common beginner method. The steps:

Cross: Solve the four edge pieces on one face (typically white).
First layer corners: Insert the four corners to complete the first layer.
Second layer: Solve the four middle-layer edges.
OLL (Orient Last Layer): Orient all pieces on the last layer to show the correct face color (typically yellow).
PLL (Permute Last Layer): Permute the pieces into their correct positions.

LBL typically takes 1–2 minutes for beginners. With practice and learning full OLL/PLL algorithms, solve times drop to under 30 seconds.

Advanced speedcubing methods

CFOP (Fridrich Method): Cross -> F2L (First Two Layers) -> OLL -> PLL. The most popular advanced method; world-class cubers average 5–7 seconds using CFOP with ~78 algorithms.
Roux: Block-building method with fewer algorithms (~42). More intuitive than CFOP; top Roux solvers average 6–8 seconds.
ZZ: Edge orientation -> F2L -> LL. Reduces cube rotations; advanced ZZ solvers average 8–10 seconds.

Inspection time rule

In official WCA competitions, you get 15 seconds of inspection time before starting the solve. You can pick up and examine the cube but cannot make any moves. Inspection time is used to plan your cross solution. This tool supports inspection mode: enable it in settings to practice competition conditions.