Contents
- Intro to cubing notation
- Standard NxNxN cube notation.
Intro to Cubing Notation
Cubing notation is something that cubers can read, and it tells them what moves to do on the cube. It is used for scrambling, memorizing algorithms, FMC, and many other uses, so it important that you can read it, especially to understand a lot of the content on this site. Here is a quick guide on how to read standard cubing notation...
Standard NxNxN Cube Notation
When scrambling an NxNxN cube, always hold the cube with green in front and white on top.
There are 6 outer faces on general cubes, R (right face), U (upper face), F (front face), L (left face), D (bottom face), and B (back face).
There are 6 outer faces on general cubes, R (right face), U (upper face), F (front face), L (left face), D (bottom face), and B (back face).
If the letter is shown in an algorithm, such as a U then turn the corresponding face 90° clockwise. If the letter has an apostrophe after it, such as a F', then turn the corresponding face 90 degrees counter clockwise. If a 2 is show after the letter, such as a L2, then turn the corresponding face 180°, it doesn't matter what direction.
Now, try this practice scramble:
R F D' U B2 L2 B' U2 D F2 R' U' F2 D
You should get a cube that looks like this:
Now, try this practice scramble:
R F D' U B2 L2 B' U2 D F2 R' U' F2 D
You should get a cube that looks like this:
If you ever need any help, I would highly recommend using this site, as it can simulate a variety of moves on a lot of different orders of cubes.
Those are all of the moves that you need to know to scramble a 2x2 or 3x3, but for learning algorithms or using bigger cubes, keep reading for more info.
Cube rotations are moves that rotate the entire in a certain way, and here they are. They are always expressed with lower case letters, while the standard moves above are always upper case. I would recommend using the site above for these moves, as they can be tricky to learn.
x, turn the entire cube as if it were an R move, putting the front face on top.
x', turn the entire cube as if it were an R' move, putting the front face on bottom.
y, turn the entire cube as if it were a U move, putting the front face on the left.
y', turn the entire cube as if it were an U' move, putting the front face on the right.
z, turn the entire cube as if it were an F move, putting the top face on the right.
z', turn the entire cube as if it were an F' move, putting the top face on the left.
x', turn the entire cube as if it were an R' move, putting the front face on bottom.
y, turn the entire cube as if it were a U move, putting the front face on the left.
y', turn the entire cube as if it were an U' move, putting the front face on the right.
z, turn the entire cube as if it were an F move, putting the top face on the right.
z', turn the entire cube as if it were an F' move, putting the top face on the left.
If you understand these moves, you are on the right track. Next, you should know wide moves and slice moves.
Wide moves is usually expressed as a normal letter with a letter "w" after it, such as Rw', or Lw2. This means that you should turn the first two layers in from that side, instead of just the outer face. On a 3x3, this will result in moving the centers around, so it counts as two moves in FMC. It can also be expressed as a standard letter, but lowercase instead of uppercase, such as d2. On bigger cubes, they will use a number before the letter, and that will be how many faces you will turn, so on a 6x6 scramble you could see the term 3f', and that would mean to turn the three layers closest to the front 90°counter clockwise. You could aIso see 3F', and because it is a capital letter, you only turn the third layer in from the front 90° counter clockwise. I would recommend going to the notation site above, and changing the cube to a 7x7, and playing around with this type of notation to get the feel for it.
Wide moves is usually expressed as a normal letter with a letter "w" after it, such as Rw', or Lw2. This means that you should turn the first two layers in from that side, instead of just the outer face. On a 3x3, this will result in moving the centers around, so it counts as two moves in FMC. It can also be expressed as a standard letter, but lowercase instead of uppercase, such as d2. On bigger cubes, they will use a number before the letter, and that will be how many faces you will turn, so on a 6x6 scramble you could see the term 3f', and that would mean to turn the three layers closest to the front 90°counter clockwise. You could aIso see 3F', and because it is a capital letter, you only turn the third layer in from the front 90° counter clockwise. I would recommend going to the notation site above, and changing the cube to a 7x7, and playing around with this type of notation to get the feel for it.
Slice moves are also very common in scrambles, especially M moves. Slice moves are where you turn the middle layer of a cube, usually a 3x3. Because they turn the cube and two outer layers, they count as three moves in FMC. Here they are:
- M, turn the layer in between the R and L layers so that the front center goes on the bottom. M' moves the same layer the opposite direction, and M2 is pretty self explanatory. M stands for middle.
- S, turn the layer in between the F and B layers so that the top center goes to the right. You can guess what S' and S2 do. S stands for slice.
- E, turn the layer in between the U and D layers so that the front center goes to the right. You can guess what E' and E2 so. E stands for equatorial.
There is just one more thing that you need to know about notation in NxNxN cubes to learn algorithms effectively, and that is groups of moves. You cannot use these in FMC, but they are often used in algorithms.
For example, instead of doing the moves R U R U R U F R U R U R U R U, they would simply show (R U)3 F (R U)4.
It is pretty easy to tell what the groupings mean, but they basically just repeat the mvoes inside of the parenthesis the however many times the number afterwards indicates.
If you have made it to here, congratulations! You can now read NxNxN cube notation. As a final test, try doing this algorithm on a 3x3 cube:
y' (z2 d' R' E)2 Uw' F2 U2 S (L D' (M U' D')2 Rw l2 F2 U2)3
Good luck! If you did it right you will get this as your result:
For example, instead of doing the moves R U R U R U F R U R U R U R U, they would simply show (R U)3 F (R U)4.
It is pretty easy to tell what the groupings mean, but they basically just repeat the mvoes inside of the parenthesis the however many times the number afterwards indicates.
If you have made it to here, congratulations! You can now read NxNxN cube notation. As a final test, try doing this algorithm on a 3x3 cube:
y' (z2 d' R' E)2 Uw' F2 U2 S (L D' (M U' D')2 Rw l2 F2 U2)3
Good luck! If you did it right you will get this as your result: