Intermediate Solution to the 4x4x4 Rubik's Cube

Intermediate Solution to the 4x4x4 Rubik's Cube

Hold your 4x4x4 Rubik's Cube and get ready to solve it.The sides of the cube will be called as follows:

Now that the side are named, let me cover the names of the second layer slices. If you look at your cube you will see it has two layers per side. This layer will be called by the side it is dirrectly under. This means that r is a second layer twist, not both layers at once. Here is an example:
r L U2 R' (Ll)
This means to turn the second layer on the R side one clock wise, turn the firat layer on the L side one clockwise, the first layer on the U side twice, the first layer on the R side once counter clockwise, and both layers on the L side once clockwise. Notice that I put paratheses around the last turn. This is to remind you turn them as one. If they were to be turned twice or counter clockwise, I will put the move after the paratheses.

Now that all this has been covered, lets get down to solving.

Step 1: U Centers

In this step, you will be solving the U centers. The centers are the pieces that are in the center of each face, For this website, I am solving with white as the U side. The picture to the left is what your cube will look like when finished with this step.

There are two moves which will help you to do this. Turn outer layer of the cube until one of theses two cases comes up.

Move 1a

If one center is in the d slice, use this move

(Dd)' (Rr)' (Dd) (Rr)

Move 1b

If one center piece is in the D face, use this move

(Rr)' (Dd) L' (Dd) (Rr)

By now, the U centers should be finished. On to the next step.

Step 2: D Centers

In this step, you wil solve the centers on the opposite side of the cube There are again only two moves. These moves will not mess up the centers on the top.

Move 2a

If one center is on the F face, use this move

(Rr)' D' (Rr)

Move 2b

If two centers are on the F face use this move.

(Rr)' D2 (Rr)

Now the U and D centers should be solved. On to step 3.

Step 3: All Other Centers

In this step, you will finish solving the other centers. It is important that you do this step correct, because if these centers are out of place, you will have to redo this step later.

To start off with this step, first solve two centers on each face:

Now we will solve the rest of the centers. Turn (Dd) until one side has at least three correct centers. From there, use these moves:

Move 3a

Use if two centers need to switched.

(Dd) R (Dd)'

Move 3b

Use if four centers need to be switched

(Dd) R2 (Dd)'

All the center on your cube should be solved. Onto step 4.

Step 4: Pairing the edges

This is the longest step of this solution. When finished, your cube will behave like a 3x3x3 cube. For this step there are two moves.

Move 4a

This move will cycle three edges. To name these edges, I first name them like on a 3x3x3, then tell which one on the two edges it is. See if you can figure it out:

Left Back Up -> Up Back Left -> Front Up Left
        ^                                                     |
        |                                                      |
        --------------------------------------------

(Ll) F' L F (Ll)'

Continue pairing edges until either they are all paired, or a case like the following comes up where two edges are left to be paired:

Move 4b

This move is actually two parts:
Part 1: ((Rr) U2)*5
This makes three pairs of edges need to be cycled.
Part 2: D F' R' B U R' (Dd) R' D R (Dd)'
This cycles the edges. If you look at what you are doing, you will see that the moves: D F' R' B U R' set up the cycle, and (Dd) R' D R (Dd)' is the same cycle that you used before, but at a different angle.

((Rr) U2)*5 D F' R' B U R' (Dd) R' D R (Dd)'

Step 5: Solve like a 3x3x3x

Easy step, just solve like a 3x3x3 rubiks cube. Any solution will work. Try my solution here. While solving, you may see two parity errors come up. These will be covered in the next step.

Step 6: Fix any parity errors

While solving like a 3x3x3, there is a possiblity of four parity errors coming up. These are as follows:

Move 6a: Flipped edge

d2 B2 R2 u R2 d' R2 d R2 F2 d F2 u' B2 d2

Move 6b: Double edge switch

r2 U2 r2 (Uu)2 r2 u2

Move 6c: Adjacent corner switch

(Bb)2 B2 U2 (Bb)2 B2 (Uu)2 (Bb)2 B2 (Uu)2 U2 R U R' U' R' F R2 U' R' U' R U R' F

Move 6d: Opposite corner switch

r2 U2 r2 (Uu)2 r2 (Uu)2 L' U R' U2 L U' R L' U R' U2 L U' R U

Your cube should now be solved! Congratulations!

Thanks to Werner Randelshofer for the Rubik Player interactive cubes. http://www.randelshofer.ch/
POWERED BY LESTER SANTOS