With the help of this online Rubik's Cube solver program you can easily calculate the solution for a classic 3x3x3 Magic Cube from any valid initial position.
What can you do with this program?
- Solve your scrambled Rubik's Cube -if you have a cube you couldn't solve in years just input its color scheme press the Solve button and follow the steps leading to the solution.
- Play online -if you don't have a physical Magic Cube then hit the scramble button and try to solve it online with the allocated buttons or your keyboard.
- Generate Rubik's images -with a new feature you can save the scrambled cube as a picture clicking on the 'Generate image'
- Discover -learn notation, try patterns etc.
The best Rubik's algorithm today finds the solution in maximum 20 steps (God's algorithm). Being an online program the resources are limited and the solution is far from the optimal and will give you the result in approximately 70 steps demonstrating how a layer-by-layer method works (similar to the beginner's method). So the program helps those who can't solve their Rubik's Cubes, perhaps some well trained speedcubers can perform even better than this online application.
The solver uses JavaScript and is functional in most web browsers without any additional extensions. But if you have installed the Java plugin then you can also use the 4th cube view to play back the solution. If the program doesn't respond please make sure that scripts are enabled on your browser. For iPhone or other mobile device users with a small screen resolution I recommend to switch to the Mobile Rubik's Cube Solver, which is an earlier version of the software so not all the latest features are available and the solution is much longer, around 120 steps. However the mobile version is not using so much of your processor and other hardware resources.
How to use the Rubik's Cube Solver?
To use the program all you have to do is to set the colors of your scrambled cube, press the Solve button and the program will show you the steps to solve your puzzle. There are three different views you can see the cube on your screen, choose whichever you like the most. While you play the solution you can select a fourth view which uses Java TM. This interactive presentation allows you to drag and rotate the whole cube the way you want.
The program is using the standard Western Rubik's Cube color scheme (not the Japanese). Your cube must have white facing yellow, orange facing red and green facing blue sides the way you can see on the initial position of the solver. I recommend to hold the cube in your hands so the yellow center is up and the orange is facing you while you input the colors because this way you don't have to worry about the colors of the center pieces.
There are many ways to to set up the scrambled cube. You can pick a color on the palette, then paste it on one of the fields. You can also do multiple clicks on one field to change its color. Or generate a random scramble, and reset the cube to the solved position with one click. Apply any basic rotation by clicking on one of the permutation buttons or by pressing the corresponding buttons on your keyboard. Under the permutation buttons you can see the descriptions of every button to help you understand what these permutations mean if you're not familiar with them. For an interactive help please click on the paperclip man on the right.
After you set a valid scramble you can try to solve it online using the rotation buttons or click the Solve button and the program will show you the solution. Please be patient if this takes a while. After the program finds the solution probably it will ask you to reorient the puzzle in your hands, it will tell you which face (center piece) should be oriented upwards and which has to be facing you. Orient the cube the way the program is asking you on the bottom of the solver area.
After the orientation is right go ahead and apply the rotations given by the online Rubik's Cube solver. It is very important to respect the initial orientation, and to make all the rotations right because if you miss one or make a wrong turn then you end up with a scrambled cube. Be careful with the double turns which mean a 180 degree turn of a face. You can play back the solution with a desired speed or click through the steps one by one any time you want. If you don't understand what the letters mean then click on them to see the illustration. For this to work you have to activate the Animate rotations function with the allocated checkbox. You also might find useful the Rubik's Cube Notation page where you can find a detailed explication about all the used rotation types. There's also available a youtube video to demonstrate how the Rubik's Cube Solver program works.
After you successfully solved your puzzle go back to scramble a new cube.
A new feature of this online application is that you can save the scrambled cube as an image in three different formats with a few clicks: .jpg, .gif and .png. The saved picture is customizable, you can select the background color, the color scheme, the size of the image, the view angle, the thickness of the sticker borders and how far the stickers are from the body of the cube. To give this new feature a try click the 'Generate Image' button when the scrambled cube is set.
If you want to embed a Rubik's Cube Widget on your website or blog, you can do it for free using one of the embed codes.