Judge a corner by its three colors, regardless of which sticker faces upward.
By the end: locate a correct corner and cycle the other three without losing the solved edges.
A yellow-green-red corner belongs where the yellow, green, and red centers meet. It can be in that location while yellow faces sideways. That is correctly located but incorrectly twisted.
Inspect the color set on each of the four top corners. If all four belong where they are, skip this step. If one is correct, regrip around the vertical axis to put it at top-front-right. Keep the matched yellow edges aligned with their centers; do not substitute U for this regrip.
A corner's location is the meeting point of three faces. Its orientation is the direction its stickers face while it occupies that location. These are different questions. At this checkpoint, the yellow edges already match their side centers, and both lower layers are solved. Leave those achievements in place while inspecting the corners. A yellow sticker facing upward is neither necessary nor sufficient for a correct corner location. You need the corner's full set of three colors and the three centers surrounding its present slot.
Use the teaching grip as a concrete example. Yellow is above, green is front, and red is right. The top-front-right slot belongs to the yellow-green-red corner. Suppose that corner shows green above, yellow on the right, and red at the front. None of its stickers faces its final direction, yet its three colors identify the correct home. The next lesson will rotate those stickers within that home. This lesson should leave the piece there rather than exchange it for a corner whose yellow sticker happens to face upward.
Now contrast a yellow-green-orange corner sitting at top-front-right. Yellow and green both belong near that slot, so two colors can make the placement look plausible. Orange is decisive. Its center is left in this grip, not right, so this corner belongs at top-front-left. Do not judge the visible green sticker alone. A corner has one home defined by its complete color set. Compare sets without requiring the stickers to face their matching centers yet. Requiring all three directional matches would incorrectly reject a twisted but correctly located corner.
Inspect one physical corner at a time rather than collecting three nearby colored squares. Find the stickers that meet on that same small piece. On the solid simulator view, top-front-right exposes all three faces, but the back corners do not. Use the unfolded net to inspect their missing stickers. Each face grid is an outside view, so the back face is not a transparent view through the front. If a position seems ambiguous, use the centers and attached-piece identity instead of guessing a hidden sticker from its visible neighbor.
The diagrams outline the same yellow-green-red piece across its three visible faces. Purple outlines refer to stickers attached to that piece, not three independent targets. Read the letters inside them as colors. R inside a square means red; R in a face label means the right position. Likewise, B inside a square means blue, while the B face is the back position. This distinction matters after a vertical regrip, when red need not occupy the right face and blue need not occupy the back face.
Make a four-corner inspection before choosing a move. For each top slot, name its neighboring side centers, then ask whether the attached corner contains those colors plus yellow. Keep a mental count of correct homes, but retain which actual corner earned each match. If all four match, there is no location problem to solve. Stop this stage even if several yellow stickers face sideways. Applying a location cycle merely because the top looks unfinished would move correctly located corners away from the homes you have just verified.
Use U R U' L' U R' U' L. The top-front-right corner stays at its location while the other three exchange locations in a cycle. This is a location statement, not a promise about every corner’s twist.
If the cycle runs the other way from what you need, the same sequence twice gives the inverse cycle. Check after each complete sequence. If no top corner is correctly located, apply the sequence once from any front orientation, then locate the correct corner and prepare the usual case.
A cycle moves several pieces around a closed route. Here the complete eight-move group leaves the top-front-right location occupied by the same corner and cycles the other three top corners. In the teaching grip, a piece starting top-front-left finishes top-back-right. A piece starting top-back-right finishes top-back-left. A piece starting top-back-left finishes top-front-left. These names describe positions, not sticker directions. You need not memorize this route to execute the method, but it explains why repeating the same complete group can correct either possible direction of misplacement.
Read the group as U R U' L', followed by U R' U' L. Both halves contain a top turn, a side turn, the reverse top turn, and a turn of the other side. The second half reverses the side-turn directions used in the first half. This is a recall aid for the written order, not permission to interchange its moves. The right and left layers affect different pieces after a top turn. Keeping the correct letters but rearranging their order produces a different corner movement.
Track the corner that begins at top-front-left through an actual application. The first U takes it to top-back-left. R leaves it there. U' returns it to top-front-left, and L' takes it to top-back-left again. The next U brings it to top-back-right. R' sends it to top-front-right, U' sends it back to top-back-right, and L leaves it there. It has reached the destination stated above. Its yellow sticker can now face a side, which does not invalidate the location movement. Location and direction still remain separate.
The fixed corner is fixed only at the completed-group boundary. Starting at top-front-right, it moves to top-front-left under the first U. After U' it returns to top-front-right. The later U and U' repeat that departure and return. During the intervening side turns, that corner is outside the moving layer. Thus the corner may visibly leave the work slot while you execute the sequence. Do not interrupt the group to put it back yourself. The written top turns already perform the required return before the group ends.
In the One correct corner preset, the yellow-green-red corner begins correctly at top-front-right. The yellow-red-blue corner begins at top-front-left, the yellow-orange-blue corner at top-back-right, and the yellow-green-orange corner at top-back-left. Apply the route to each identity. Yellow-red-blue goes to top-back-right, yellow-orange-blue goes to top-back-left, and yellow-green-orange goes to top-front-left. Each reaches its home in one complete application. This prepared example also finishes their sticker directions, but a general scramble may still leave twists for the next lesson. Check the complete three-color homes before checking yellow.
| Move completed | Tracked piece location | Why it moves or stays |
|---|---|---|
| Start | Top-front-left | The original physical corner |
| U | Top-back-left | Upper layer turns |
| R | Top-back-left | Outside right layer |
| U' | Top-front-left | Upper layer reverses |
| L' | Top-back-left | Left layer turns |
| U | Top-back-right | Upper layer turns |
| R' | Top-front-right | Right layer turns |
| U' | Top-back-right | Upper layer reverses |
| L | Top-back-right | Outside left layer |
The Reverse cycle preset needs the other direction. After one complete group, its locations become the One correct corner arrangement rather than the finished arrangement. A second identical group then finishes the homes. Think of three objects circulating around three positions. Two forward steps have the same final locations as one backward step; three forward steps return to their starting locations. That explains why the same remembered sequence covers both directions. Inspect after the first group instead of automatically doing two, because an already completed case would be disturbed again.
Stop when all four corners have the correct three-color homes. Yellow stickers need not face up. The final lesson on turns will handle their twists using a different sequence and a fixed grip.
With solved edges on a legal cube, exactly two correctly located corners is not a normal case for this stage. Recheck all three colors on each corner and confirm edge alignment before concluding anything about the hardware. This course does not diagnose reassembled or modified cubes.
A setup is the preparation that makes a sequence's stated effect useful. Here the useful setup has one correctly located corner at top-front-right. You may choose a new front by rotating the whole cube around its vertical axis while yellow remains above white. This changes position names together for centers and pieces. A correctly located corner stays correctly located, and matched edges stay beside their centers. The sequence can then preserve that corner's location and cycle the other three. Finish the regrip before beginning the eight face turns.
For example, suppose the only correct corner is at top-back-right. A y regrip brings the old right face to the front and the old back face to the right. That corner therefore becomes top-front-right. Its three neighboring centers travel with it, so its color-set match remains true. Check those centers again in the new grip rather than continuing to call green front out of habit. The regrip changes which physical side receives R or L during the sequence. It does not change the definition of a correct home.
A U turn is the contrasting wrong setup. It changes the top corners' positions relative to the side centers, and it also moves the four matched yellow edges away from their matching centers. The corner you selected may now be above the wrong pair of centers. If you made exactly one unintended U and have not continued, undo it with U' before regripping. Do not try to compensate by interpreting the cycle as if the centers had moved. The lower layers and side centers did not accompany that top-layer turn.
Sometimes no corner is in its home. There is then no correct corner to preserve, so do one complete cycle from the current front and inspect again. In the No correct corner preset, the first cycle creates a correct yellow-red-blue corner at top-back-right. Regrip with y to bring it to top-front-right, then inspect the other three homes before continuing. The first cycle creates a usable setup. Do not repeat indefinitely with the same arbitrarily chosen work corner afterward. Inspect the new homes and regrip as needed.
The number of correct homes is a useful error check once the edges and lower layers really are solved. The normal possibilities here are none, one, or all four. Three correct corners would force the remaining corner into its own home because there is no other top corner left to occupy it. Exactly two is also inconsistent with this stage on a legal ordinary cube. Do not turn that observation into an immediate hardware diagnosis. Reinspect the full color sets and all four edge-center matches before drawing any conclusion.
Keep the inspection separate from the algorithm's temporary motion. A corner count halfway through the eight turns has no useful case meaning for this procedure. Side turns can temporarily displace lower pieces and top corners, so the starting assumptions do not hold there. Only after the final L should you ask which corners occupy their homes and whether the protected edges and lower layers have returned. This distinction prevents a common false alarm: observing a transient mismatch, stopping early, and then treating that incomplete state as a fresh prepared case.
U R U' L' U R' U' L
Begin with the demonstration's One correct corner preset and pause playback before copying anything. Inspect its starting net and identify the three colors of every top corner. Predict which corner will stay in its home and where each other identity will finish. Use Next step to follow the eight turns, checking your prediction after the final L. The starting and current diagrams remain available together. Compare your prediction with the completed move group. You need not follow the automatic animation's pace on your physical cube.
Move to the independent practice cube and select One correct corner there. The demonstration's turns have not changed this practice state. Leave Show a recall cue closed and name the setup before pressing the face-turn buttons. Enter all eight moves in order, waiting for each animated turn to finish. After the last L, inspect all corner homes and the four edge matches. Then use Check my progress. The check reports whether the checkpoint is reached; it neither moves a corner nor supplies the next sequence for you to copy.
| Correct homes | Action | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Four | Stop location work | Only twists may remain |
| One | Regrip it to top-front-right | Preserve it while the others cycle |
| None | One complete cycle, inspect again | Create a usable fixed corner |
| Apparently two | Recheck colors and edges | Not a normal legal case under these prerequisites |
Select Reverse cycle in practice to test the stopping decision. Predict that one application will not finish the locations. Complete it anyway, then inspect the resulting three-color sets rather than treating an unfinished result as a failed algorithm. The correctly located work corner should still be at top-front-right, so no new U setup is needed. Execute the same group again and inspect. If one application unexpectedly seems finished, recheck the preset and color sets before continuing. The point is to use the observed checkpoint, not a memorized repetition count.
Use No correct corner to test recognition and regripping together. Before moving, establish that each top corner contains a color belonging to a different side-center pair. After one complete cycle, find the newly correct corner by its three colors. Use the available whole-cube y or y' practice controls to put that corner at top-front-right. Recheck that the yellow edges remain matched after the regrip. Only then continue with the cycle. This trial distinguishes knowing the move list from knowing when its special fixed-corner setup has become available.
If the protected edges or lower layers remain wrong after a complete group, investigate a move or setup error rather than starting the final twist stage. Undo last turn can retrace known practice moves. Restart this attempt restores the selected prepared state and clears the attempt's history. A changed preset also replaces the whole attempt; it is not an extra algorithm on the current cube. On a physical cube, reverse only a known error. Otherwise identify the earliest checkpoint that is still genuinely satisfied before continuing the method.
Your stopping statement should be specific: every yellow corner contains the three colors of its present home, all yellow edges match their side centers, and both lower layers remain solved. Yellow corners need not face upward yet. To check retrieval, use another prepared case with the recall cue closed and explain why you regrip or stop before executing anything. A simulator checkpoint establishes an arrangement, not whether you used instructions or can repeat the decision later. Keep that distinction when adding this stage to a full solve.
Prepared states isolate one task. Some examples happen to finish the whole cube; on a general scramble, stop at the stated checkpoint and continue with the next unfinished step.
The top-front-right corner is in the correct place, regardless of its twist.
Next: U. top face: clockwise quarter turn, viewed directly from outside that face. Completed 0 of 8 moves.
URU'L'UR'U'L
Sticker letters are colors: W white, Y yellow, G green, B blue, R red, O orange. Face names are positions: U top, D bottom, F front, B back, R right, L left. Read B and R in context.
The net shows the last completed turn; the solid view shows the turn in progress. Presets replace the starting state and reset playback. Reset keeps the selected example. Do not copy an autoplay demonstration onto your cube unless your starting state and grip match. Use manual steps for following along.
Start from a prepared state. These controls change this practice cube only. They do not control the demonstration above or your physical cube. Goal: Put all yellow corners in the correct places, with yellow edges still matched.
0 moves in this attempt. Limit 500; undo or restart if reached.
U R U' L' U R' U' L
A cue is help, not a failure. After using it, restart the prepared state and attempt the same task without reopening it.
Sticker letters are colors: W white, Y yellow, G green, B blue, R red, O orange. Face names are positions: U top, D bottom, F front, B back, R right, L left. Read B and R in context.
Face turns and whole-cube regrips animate in the solid view; the net updates when the turn finishes. Reduced motion shows the result immediately. Wait for a turn to finish before starting another. Undo can cancel the current turn. A new preset or Restart cancels motion, replaces the entire attempt and clears its history. Undo reverses only the last practice turn. Check does not move pieces or reveal an automatic solution. State is local to this page and is not saved after reload.
A corner’s three colors match the three centers around its current position, but yellow faces right. Is its location wrong?
Ignore sticker direction for this checkpoint.
Its location is correct. Its twist remains to be fixed later. Moving it away just because yellow is sideways confuses two different goals. You may use it as the fixed top-front-right corner for the cycle.
All four top corners have incorrect homes, but the edges are solved. What is the first action?
The special setup becomes available after one cycle.
Keep yellow up and perform the eight-move corner cycle once from any front orientation. Inspect again, find the correctly located corner, and regrip to put it at top-front-right before continuing.
The explanations, simulator, and diagrams are original. These references support standard notation and beginner procedures. The course keeps white down, including the final twisting stage. Do not mix its final sequence with a tutorial that flips the cube over.
These examples use states produced by legal turns. The simulator has no sticker-painting input and does not diagnose physically twisted, reassembled, or damaged cubes. Successful model checks do not establish physical-device usability or long-term recall.