Algorithm notation. The Floppy Cube has four bars, R L U D, and each move flips one of them 180 degrees, so R, R' and R2 are the same flip and are shown as R2. The Super Floppy folds instead: R and R' are 90-degree turns that lift the bar out of the plane, and R2 is the full flip. The Triangle and Penta floppies name their sides L D R, with DL and DR added on the pentagon, one flip each. Brackets repeat or invert a group: (R U)x3 or (R U)3 plays it three times and (R U)' plays its inverse. The second input loads an algorithm into the player under the puzzle, played on the puzzle as it stands (set up a scramble with the first input): step through it with the buttons, press play, or click a move to jump there.

Floppy Cube simulator: solved on the left, scrambled on the right

Online Floppy Cube Simulator

Play the Floppy Cube online: a free 3D 1x3x3 simulator with Super Floppy, Floppy Triangle and Penta Floppy modes, a solve timer and an easy two-step solution.

How to use this Floppy Cube simulator

The Floppy Cube is a single 1x3x3 slice of a Rubik's Cube: nine pieces in one flat layer, where each of the four sides can only be flipped over. It was invented by Katsuhiko Okamoto and first made by Gentosha Toys in Japan. Because the corners can only trade places and the edges can only flip, the classic puzzle has just 192 positions, and every one of them can be solved in at most 8 moves. That makes it a great first twisty puzzle, and a neat way to see what a half turn on a 3x3 really does to the pieces.

Two solved Floppy Cubes, one with round dot stickers and one with classic square stickers
The Floppy Cube is one flat 3x3 layer: nine pieces whose four sides can only be flipped.

What you can do here

  • Turn and look around. Drag a side to flip it, and drag the background to orbit the view. On a keyboard, R, L, U and D turn the four bars; in Super Floppy mode Shift gives the reverse quarter turn.
  • Pick a variant. The menu above the puzzle switches between the classic Floppy Cube, the Super Floppy (the page opens on this one), the three-sided Floppy Triangle and the five-sided Penta Floppy.
  • Scramble, Undo, Reset. Scramble mixes the puzzle with an animated random sequence, Undo takes back your last moves and Reset returns everything to solved.
  • Time yourself. The Start/Stop button or the Space bar runs the timer. Scramble sets it back to zero without starting it, so you can look before you go.
  • Try algorithms. Type an algorithm such as R U R U R U into the first input to apply it, or load one into the player under the puzzle and step through it move by move. The demo algorithms under the notation notes fill the input with one click, and the link and embed boxes let you share or embed the exact scramble and algorithm.

How to solve the Floppy Cube

Think of it in two short steps. First, fix the four edges: each one either matches the centre colours on the two large faces or it does not, and a single flip of that side corrects it. Second, place the corners. Find a corner that is already in its correct spot, hold it at the front right and repeat a short flip sequence on the other sides until the remaining corners drop into place. The demos Flip two edges and Swap the corners in pairs show both effects, and the illustrated Floppy Cube and Super Floppy tutorial walks through the exact moves.

Floppy Cube with the correctly placed corner at front right and arrows showing how the other three corners swap
Keep the correct corner at the front right and flip the other sides to swap the remaining corners.

The Super Floppy and the other shapes

The Super Floppy allows quarter turns, so a bar folds up out of the plane and the puzzle changes shape. The corners can then gather around a single edge, and the number of positions grows to 3,041,280. In cube notation, R and R' are the 90-degree folds and R2 is the full flip; if you only ever use half turns, it behaves exactly like the classic Floppy Cube. The Floppy Triangle and Penta Floppy keep the flat idea but name their sides L, D and R (plus DL and DR on the pentagon), each side flipping 180 degrees.

A scrambled Super Floppy folded out of shape next to a solved one
Quarter turns let the Super Floppy fold up out of its flat shape.

Is the Floppy Cube good for beginners?

Yes. It uses only a handful of moves, you can solve it by reasoning rather than memorising, and the ideas carry over to the 3x3. Once it feels easy, move on to the 2x2x3 tower cube or a full cube with the beginner's method for the 3x3.

Why does the move list show R2 when I typed R?

On the classic Floppy Cube every turn is the same 180-degree flip, so R, R' and R2 are one move and the simulator records it as R2. Switch to Super Floppy if you want R and R' to be quarter turns.

Does it work on a phone?

It runs in any modern browser with nothing to install, and touch drags work the same way as mouse drags, so you can practise on a phone or tablet.