Online 2x2 Rubik's Cube Solver - Pocket Cube

Calculate the solution of your scrambled 2x2 Rubik's Cube with this free online solver. Set the colors of your Pocket Cube, press Solve and follow the shortest possible solution on the screen: 11 moves at most. No download required.

The 2x2x2 Pocket Cube is the little brother of the Rubik's Cube: it has only the eight corner pieces, no edges and no centers. That makes it easier to solve by hand, and it also means a computer can search through all of its 3,674,160 positions and always find the shortest solution. This program does exactly that, so you get an optimal answer in a fraction of a second.

How To Use The 2x2 Solver?

1. Pick A View

Use the tabs above the cube to switch between the 3D view and the unfolded Flat view, which shows all six faces at once. In the 3D view you can rotate the cube with the arrow buttons under it (or the arrow keys), make the front faces transparent or lift the hidden faces up with the Float button.

2. Set Up The Scrambled Cube

Hold your cube in any orientation you like, then copy the colors to the screen:

• 🎨 Pick a color on the palette and click the stickers one by one.
• 🖱️ Or click a sticker repeatedly, without a color selected, to cycle through the six colors.
• ⌨️ Or type a scramble algorithm into the box and press the checkmark.

A 2x2 has no fixed centers, so the program does not care which color is on top: it reads the color scheme from the corner pieces themselves and works with any scheme, as long as the stickers describe a real cube. If two stickers are swapped or a color is used too many times, it tells you what looks wrong.

D turn: Down clockwise

You can also turn the faces with the buttons or with your keyboard:
FRULBD
Capital letters mean a clockwise turn of the Front, Right, Up, Left, Back and Down face.
  🔄 Counterclockwise turns are marked by an apostrophe ' (hold Shift on the keyboard)
  ✌️ Double turns (180°) are marked by 2.

R R' R2

Hit Scramble to let the program mix the cube randomly, Reset to go back to the solved position, or Blank to erase the colors and start over.

3. Calculate The Solution

When the colors on the screen match your cube, press Solve. The solution appears right under the cube. Play it with the ▶ button and set the speed with the slider, or click through the moves one by one. The stickers of the layer that turns are marked with little arrows and the 2× sign means a double turn.

Below the cube you'll also find a picture of every step from the start to the solved cube, with the moving layer highlighted. Click a picture to show that step on the big cube.

The solution uses only the U, R and F faces. On a 2x2 that is enough: turning the left face is the same as turning the right face the other way and rotating the whole cube, so the piece at the bottom-back-left corner can stay in your hand the whole time.

How Does It Find The Solution?

The program describes the cube with two numbers, the arrangement of the seven moving corners and their twist, and searches through the possible move sequences one length at a time: first every 1-move sequence, then every 2-move sequence and so on. Two precomputed tables tell it how far each arrangement and each twist is from solved, so it can skip almost every branch that cannot work. The first solution it finds is therefore a shortest one. No scramble of the 2x2 needs more than 11 moves, which is God's Number for the Pocket Cube in the half-turn metric; most random scrambles take 8 or 9.

Impossible Scramble Error

If the program says that your scramble is impossible, go back and check the colors. The most common mistakes are two stickers swapped between neighboring corners, a corner entered with the wrong colors, and a mirrored corner. If every sticker is right and the error stays, your cube was taken apart and reassembled in an unsolvable state. On a 2x2 that always means a twisted corner: pop out one corner, turn it in place and put it back, then try again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the shortest solution?

Yes. The solver tries every shorter length before it accepts a solution, so the number of moves you get is the smallest possible for your scramble (counting a double turn as one move).

Why does the solution not turn the left, back or down face?

Because they are not needed. Every 2x2 position can be solved with U, R and F alone while the bottom-back-left corner stays in place. Hold that corner between your fingers and follow the moves.

Does it work with other color schemes?

Yes. The program reads which colors sit together on the corners, so Japanese and other color schemes work as long as all eight corners come from the same cube.

Learn To Solve The 2x2 Yourself

The Pocket Cube is a good first puzzle. If you'd rather solve it with your own hands, read the 2x2 Rubik's Cube tutorial: it is solved like a 3x3 with corners only, and you can learn it in an afternoon. You can also play with the online 2x2 simulator.

Other Puzzle Solvers

Beside the 2x2 we have online solvers for the 3x3 Rubik's Cube, the 4x4 Rubik's Revenge and the Pyraminx.

Thank you for using our online tool! Leave a message below if you have any question or suggestion.