Step 8 of 8 · Beginner method

Yellow Corners — Orient

Twist each yellow corner until it faces up. Run one short set over and over, and the cube is solved.

  1. 1The Daisy
  2. 2White Cross
  3. 3First-Layer Corners
  4. 4Second-Layer Edges
  5. 5Yellow Cross
  6. 6Yellow Edges
  7. 7Yellow Corners — Position
  8. 8Yellow Corners — Orient

How to hold the cube

Yellow up. Pick a front face NOW and keep it facing you until the cube is solved. Between corners you turn ONLY the top. This step uses the bottom layer, which feels odd at first. Let the cube turn in your hands instead of re-gripping. A re-grip is how people turn the whole cube by accident. Once you start a corner, finish it. If you have to put the cube down, stop between corners, never inside a set.

The last step. Every corner is already in its slot. Each one just needs twisting until yellow faces up.

Bring a twisted corner to the FRONT-RIGHT of the top with top turns. Do not turn the whole cube to get it there.

The moves are R′ D′ R D. Look closely, because that is your trigger in a mirror. Every R becomes R′ and every U becomes D′. Same shape, same rhythm, using the bottom instead of the top. Run it as a whole set, over and over, until this corner shows yellow on top. Look between sets, never inside one. Yellow pointing right takes 2 sets. Yellow pointing at you takes 4.

The bottom two layers will look wrecked while you work. They are meant to. Everything comes back exactly when the last corner is done.

Check after every corner. Is the yellow on the corner you just did now facing up? Good. Only then turn the top to fetch the next one.

Turn ONLY the top between corners. Never turn the whole cube, and never turn the bottom on its own.

When every yellow faces up, turn the top until the sides line up. That is a solved cube. Well done. You did the whole thing.

Ended up in a mess instead? Then the cube got turned round part way, or a set of four was cut short. Nothing is broken, and nothing is your fault. Whole sets can never wreck the cube: six of them in a row bring it back to exactly where it was. So if you lost count, keep going in whole sets and watch that one corner. Its yellow comes up on set 2 or set 4, never in between. If it is worse than that, go back to step 1. It goes much faster the second time, and this is the only step that can undo your work.

The last step is the trigger, upside down

R' D' R D is your trigger stood on its head: every R becomes R', and every U becomes D' — the same shape and the same rhythm, played on the bottom layer instead of the top. That is why the bottom looks wrecked while you work and heals on the last turn, exactly as it does in the drill. Run the drill first and count the six sets: the same six-set safety net is what makes a miscount here cost turns, not the solve.

Open this drill on its own page →

Watch it happen

See the states

Two corners still twisted. Everything else is done.
Two twisted corners: 2 sets, fetch with a top turn, 4 sets, line up. Watch the bottom break and heal.

Try it yourself

Twist each yellow corner until it faces up. Run one short set over and over, and the cube is solved.

You get a cube with everything before this step already done — only this step is left.

The algorithm

Corner twist

A twisted corner sits at the front-right of the top. Run the whole four-move set over and over: two sets when yellow points right, four when it points at you. Then turn only the top to fetch the next corner.

Tips

Common mistakes

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