So you want to learn the ZZ method for speedsolving a Rubik's Cube? Good, you've come to the right
place! [Logo Scene] "This is, Problem Solved"
Before we begin, please note that this video assumes you are comfortable solving a Rubik's
Cube, that means you can solve one in about a minute or faster. If you are not yet to
this level I recommend learning the techniques in this playlist, before continuing with this
video. Let's get started! This video will teach you
the ZZ Method with a few simplifications for beginners. Make sure to check out the description
for a link to a printable guide that you will NEED to reference as you learn this method,
particularly the last layer. Lastly, feel free to back up and watch any section of this
video over again. The first step of the ZZ Method is the distinctive
EOLine. This is the most difficult part of the method, and I encourage you to push through
this cool, but tricky section. In this step all the edges on the cube are oriented and
a line is simultaneously formed across the bottom. For beginners this step will be simplified
by orienting the edges separately from forming the line. To complete this step, you first
need to know some cube theory. An "oriented" or "good" edge can be solved without using
a F or B turn. By contrast, a "bad" or "unoriented" edge requires that you do a F or B turn in
order to make it oriented or good. So by definition, F and B turns change edge orientation. Any
edge that was in this layer that was good, after a F turn becomes bad. Any edge that
was previously bad becomes good after doing that F turn. Furthermore, when you rotate
the cube the F and B layers are no longer F and B but something else, in this case right
and left. This means that some of the edges that were good in this position are now bad
in this position. We will use all of these facts to our advantage as we strive to orient
every edge on the cube. Now we need to learn how to recognize which edges are bad. Since
edge orientation depends on how the cube is held, we need to choose one position to be
used for the duration of the solve. This can be any position, but for simplicity's sake
let's choose yellow on top and green on the front. Now we can apply two rules as we check
every edge on the cube to see which are bad and which are good. Let's start by checking
these four in the top layer. Rule number 1: If you see the R or L color, in this case
Orange and Red, facing up then the edge is automatically considered bad. So this one
has Orange facing up, so this one is bad. Rule number 2: If the top (U) or D color is
on the side then the edge is also bad. So this edge, because it has yellow, the top
color, on the side, this edge is bad. All other edges are good. So on this top layer
we have two that are bad, and two that are good. We will then apply those same rules
as we check the D layer, followed by these two in the Front, and these two in the Back.
Once you know how many bad edges you have, you are ready to move on to the next phase
of solving the EOLine. Now that we know which edges are bad, we need
to learn how to make them good or oriented. Remember, F and B turns change an edge's orientation.
Since there are four edges in each layer we just need to fill those four slots with bad
edges so we can eliminate them four at a time with a F or B turn. This strategy works pretty
well when there are 4, 8 or 12 bad edges because those are multiples of four. But what about
cases that have 2, 6, or 10 bad edges? For cases that only have 2 bad edges, like
this one, we have a bad edge here and a bad edge here, position one in the F or B layer
and do a F [or B] turn. That will orient this edge, and create 3 new bad edges. These three,
plus the one remaining from before makes a new total of four bad edges that can be oriented
with another F [or B] turn. For cases that have 10 bad edges it's best to first eliminate
two groups of four. For example we have four bad edges here in the Front that will be eliminated
followed by four bad edges in the back that will be eliminated with a Back turn. Now we
have gotten rid of 8 bad edges. So 10 - 8 = 2, and I just showed you how to take care
of 2 bad edges. Cases with 6 bad edges are a little more versatile. One option is to
start by eliminating a group of four which then only leaves two bad edges that can be
solved as I showed you earlier. However, you can also take another strategy. You can start
by eliminating three bad edges, such as this case where we have one, two, three in the
F layer, when we eliminate those three we create one new one that with the three that
were left over from before create a new group of four that can be eliminated all together.
Now that you have eliminated all your bad edges it's fairly simple to create your line.
Notice, the line will be composed of this edge right here, in this case the green/white
and this edge back here white/blue. Those two edges are right here, now note the green
center is opposite the blue. So we will want the white/green edge to be opposite the white/blue
edge. Since the white/blue is currently in the R layer, let's move this one over to the
L layer so it's opposite blue. So now when we bring those edges down to the bottom the
green is opposite the blue. So we can match it up to form our line.
You have successfully made it through the most difficult part of the ZZ Method! High
Five!! Oh wait, that doesn't work to well here...
Let's keep going. Now we can talk about solving the first two layers using blockbuilding.
Blockbuilding involves taking individual pieces and connecting them together to form blocks,
that when combined with other blocks make...bigger blocks! The smallest and simplest of these
is an edge matched up with a center called a "Buckle." The next size up is a corner "Paired"
with and edge. A "Pair" combined with a "Buckle" forms a "Shield", and a "Shield" combined
with one last "Pair" forms a "Wall". Once a "Wall' has been constructed on both sides
of the line, the F2L stage is complete. This is most commonly approached by either building
one complete wall followed by the other, or building a shield on both sides of the line
and then expanding both of those shields into walls.
At this point let's talk about building pairs as this is the most complex part of the block
building process. As I mentioned earlier, a pair is formed with one corner and one edge.
The edge matches up with two of the colors on the corner. Now there are two really easy
cases for building pairs. One of them is this one, where it's already built for you. The
second one is where the corner is a single turn away from being paired up with the edge.
Unfortunately, most of the time you will not end up with one of the two easy cases. In
these more complex examples you will have to first reduce them, or make them look like the
two easy cases. For this example we have these two pieces, the corner and the edge, that
are together, but they are joined incorrectly. Since they are together, let's separate them.
The way that we'll do this is a practice that will become very common as you work on building
pairs. It is the idea of hiding, moving the top layer, and un-hiding. Let me show
you what I mean. This corner, let's put it right here, so we can hide it by putting it
down into the bottom (D layer) like that. This allows us to turn the top layer freely
and re-position this edge to wherever we wish. If we move it here, when we pull the corner
back up we can see that we have this really easy case that took only one move to create
the pair. In other cases, the corner and the edge will be separated, which means they need
to be brought together. In this case, we can hide the edge, by taking it out of the top
layer, which again lets us rotate this freely. If we turn this top layer right here, when
we bring it back down we can see that a pair has been formed. Sometimes you'll have the
corner stuck here in the first layer. In many case, you can pull this out at the same time
that you hide the edge. Now you can turn the top layer and create the pair. There are some
cases that require multiple sub-steps before you can get back to one of the really easy
cases. This is one of those examples. In this case we can't take it directly to one of the
easy cases, so let's instead work elsewhere. Let's hide this corner. Now we have a corner
stuck in the first layer and the edge is here up top, which we recognize from one of the
examples I showed you earlier. We can hide the edge, move the corner over, and bring
it back down to see our pair that we have created. These examples that I have shown
you are just the beginning of all the cases you can come across as you work on learning
to build pairs. In order to learn more I first recommend that you "play around" with the
cube and see what you can figure out [on your own]. That is after all, in my opinion, the
most exciting part about learning to solve the Rubik's Cube! If you do wish for more
help, I will put some links to other guides in the description.
From here on it's fairly simple to create your two walls and finish your F2L. Just make
sure to start with a buckle, and add a pair to make a shield, and then add one last pair
to make your two walls and finish up F2L. Now we are on the last layer! And from here
on, it's just memorizing new algorithms, all of which are on the printable guide down in
the description. The first part of solving the last layer, is Orienting the Last Layer,
in which all the colors are turned to get one solid face up top. Since the edges are
already oriented we just need to orient the corners, which leaves us with the seven cases
you see popping up across the top right now. Your job is to figure out which of the seven
case you have. Anytime you see a line on the side [in the diagram] it indicates a yellow
sticker that is not oriented. In this case we have two that are on the left side, one
on the bottom right facing towards me. And one on the top right facing away from me,
which matches this case right here. We can then do the algorithm for that case to orient
the last layer. For the rest of the cases, go ahead and look at the printable guide.
To finish up the solve. we need to Permute the Last Layer, or move all the pieces around
to their solved positions. For beginners, this will be broken up into two sub-steps
which will be called 2-Look PLL. First we will solve all of the edges so we will have
all four of them solved like this. To do this we will use one of the four cases you see coming
up across the top. Each arrow represents an edge that needs to be moved to a new location
to be solved. This time we have this case because this yellow/green edge needs to go
right here; yellow green. This yellow/orange needs to go right here: yellow orange. And
this Red/Yellow needs to go right here. So we have a pattern where this one needs to
go here, this one needs to go here, and this one needs to go here making a counter-clockwise
[anti-clockwise] triangle across the top. So we'll do the algorithm to solve all of
the edges. Now we can move on to solving the corners.
After permuting the corners on the cube it will be solved! So there are three cases for
moving corners around. In this case we have this one, where this corner needs to come
up here, this one needs to come over here, and this one needs to come down here forming
a clockwise triangle. Do the algorithm for that to solve the cube. Again, for the rest
of these case, look at the printable guide in the description.
And there you go! Your cube has been solved using the ZZ Method. As you can see there
is a lot to learn and practice, but as you work on it, you WILL get faster. Go ahead
and look right here to see some example solves using this beginner's variation of ZZ. Lastly,
subscribe to my channel, to be notified as I release new videos. Thanks again for watching!
This has been Problem Solved, over and out!