Your Goal for Step 1:

Your goal is to get four white pieces around the yellow piece in the center. Can you do it? Cube with a yellow middle and 4 white sides surrounding it. Next to that, a daisy flower.

 

 

 

1. Find the “yellow side.”

Which side is the “yellow side”, you ask? We already covered this. You weren’t paying attention!!!?? No big deal. The cube has six sides. The “yellow side” is the side of the cube where the center piece is yellow.Cube showing the white side on top, Red side on front-left, Blue side on front-right.

 

2. Point “yellow side” towards the ceiling.

This is as easy as it sounds. Put the cube on a table or on the palm of your hand. You should see the yellow side on top.

A cube with the yellow center oriented with the yellow middle piece on top of the cube. This is correct. The yellow side is on top.

 

3. Imagine there are roads on TOP and FRONT of Cube

Focus your attention on the TOP of the cube and the FRONT. Ignore everything else. On the top, there is a center piece that is yellow. Imagine that the yellow piece is a house. Keep the yellow house on top!  Cars can drive all around the house. Cars can also drive down the front of the cube. (crazy, right?). But then there’s a median where no cars can drive.Cube showing that the part that faces the ceiling is labeled the 'top'. The part facing you is labeled the 'front'. Face the cube so you can only see top and front. Cube that has a yellow house in the middle-top surrounded by roads. The roads continue down the front, but the 3 squares in the middle front are labeled 'median'.

 

4. Are there any cars on the road?

Imagine that white pieces are cars. Ask yourself, “Are there any cars on the road?” Take a look.

  • Cars on the Road: If its on the road, drive the car home!
  • Cars in the Median: Cars don’t go on medians! If it’s on the median, move the car onto the road where it belongs.
  • Cars on a Corner: Ignore any cars on the corner. (Those corner cars are trouble.)
  • No Cars: Look on a different side of the cube. (Always keep yellow pointing up.)

Cube with yellow house on top and no white squares in road path. In this case there are no cars(white pieces) on the road. Let's look at a new side... Now we are looking at a different side. See any cars, now? Are they on the road? Pointing to white square on road, but in corner. Technically this one is on your road, but we are going to ignore cars on any corners. Pointing to white square on road on right side of front. Found a car! It's on the road! Ready to drive! Pointing to white square on middle-bottom. Found a car! But it's in the median! Can't drive!

 

5. Drive the cars home – 4 cars total

Your first move. Up to this point you haven’t tried to change the cube. Now it’s time. When you find a car on the road, simply drive it home. Twist that side upward until the car is parked comfortably next to the yellow house. If you see another car ready to drive home, then get on with it. If there are no cars on the road, look on another side. (No matter what side you are looking at, always keep the yellow house on the top!)Drive the car up! Yellow house on top of cube. White car on right side on top of square on right side. Arrow pointing up for car to drive. Twist the right side of the cube to drive the car up. Identical cube, but car/square has been moved up to be next to the house. Arrow pointing to car. Now the car is safely parked next to the yellow house!

What if my car is in the median?

If you see a car in the median, rotate the front of the cube (the side facing you.) Then your car will end up in the road where it belongs.Cube showing a white car/square on bottom of front cube. A curved arrow indicates a counter-clockwise motion for the car/square to move. This car is in the median. Twist the front side to get the car on the road. Identical cube showing that the car/square has moved to another location on the front/right side. Now the car is on the road and ready to drive!

Don’t let the cars crash!!!

Before driving a car upward, make sure there isn’t a car already in that parking spot! If it is, simply twist the yellow side. (In other words, twist the top of your cube). Twist the top as many times as it takes until a free parking space is made available.A cube showing the yellow house/square on top. The white/car square on right/middle of front is saying, 'Going Up! Wait. What?' The car on top of the cube is shouting 'No!!!!'If we drove this car straight up, it would crash into the parked car. Identical cube showing that top car can spin counter-clockwise to avoid the crash. Spin the top until a free parking spot is made available. Below that 2 more cubes. The left cube with yellow house on top. Behind the house the white car/square is saying,'I'm not in the way now. Go ahead.' The area to the right of the yellow house has an arrow saying 'this is a free spot'. The white car on front of cube is saying, 'Going up!' An arrow indicates an upward direction for that car. Now we can drive the car up! Right cube showing that the new car is successfully parked next to yellow house. Now we have two cars parked around the house!

I’m still missing a car!

If you checked all sides and you are still missing a car… that’s fine. In fact it’s better than fine. It means your missing car is special. The missing car doesn’t drive–it teleports. Cool right? Glance on the bottom of your cube. That’s where it will be. See if there is a parking spot on the top of the cube in the exact opposite position. In other words, the car is in the right spot, but just upside down. Once again, to solve the problem, we spin the top. (The top is the yellow side.) Don’t be afraid to spin the top as much as you want. You want your free parking spot on the top to be lined up with your car that’s hidden underneath. To teleport, you just flip one side in a complete 180.A cube with only three white square/cars on top. A text bubble from underneath saying,'I'm under here!' Sometimes your car might be hiding on the bottom. A sequence of cubes showing to spin the top and front until the white piece can safely be flipped. Spin the top until the free parking spot is above the car. Flip the front side of the cube completely upside-down. Yellow in the center surrounded by 4 whites is a completed daisy.

 

 

That’s it! After all 4 cars are on the road, you’ll see that you created a daisy pattern.

A sequence of cubes illustrating that despite a random pattern of colors, the only colors that matter are daisy colors on top. The yellow in the center surrounded by 4 whites is a completed daisy.Creating the “Daisy” Pattern is actually pretty easy once you do it a couple of times. Practice this step over and over again. Get really good at it. Mess up the cube and set a timer.

 

*Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links. That means that I am awarded a small commission for purchases made through them, at no added cost for you.

What Cube Do You Use?

Some have wondered what cube i’m using. Happy to help. I’m using the Classic Rubik’s Cube https://amzn.to/3xiB64y If that is too old-school, here is the AP-enabled cube, which is pretty cool looking. https://amzn.to/3GYXy7d

 

Your 1 minute Challenge!

A 1 minute timer formed using cubes.

Don’t proceed until you can complete the Daisy in under 1 minute! Can you do it? Are you sure? Get out the timer. Lets see your skills. Post below what your first few times are. Really curious how quickly your time will improve. After you get good, I’ll see you on the next step.

“I can solve the Daisy in under a minute and am ready for the next step.”

4 thoughts on “Step 1 – The Daisy

    1. Edie,
      on the daisy page, scroll down to step 4. It will tell you to ignore corner cars (aka corner whites). You will deal with corner whites later on. So just ignore the corner cars for now.

    1. Great Question! I’m surprised you are the first to ask this. Thanks for bringing this up. The reason is explained on the first page of the site. I teach like you are an 8-year-old. I don’t teach the fastest method. I don’t teach the most efficient method. I definitely don’t teach the best method.

      From this site you will learn the EASIEST method of solving a cube.
      If you want to upgrade to speed-solving there are tons of sites and YouTube channels that will cover that very well.

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