Introduction to Fridrich

Introduction to Fridrich (Level 3)
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This page is meant to prepare you to learn the Fridrich method, invented by Jessica Fridrich, but you could still use this page as a method because it is faster than the previous page. This method has new material at every step, so if you've learned the novice solution, you should read the whole thing. Keep in mind that it is possible to "get lucky" and skip any of the five steps (if they are already done). There are quicker methods than this, but this one is pretty respectable. If you would like to learn to solve the rubik's cube very quickly (easily under a minute), you could start here and then go on to the full Fridrich page, or just go there now.
Step 1
Form a cross on one of the faces, like this:

Whatever color you choose for the cross will be your bottom color. I recommend using white, because the edge pieces you'll need will be easier to spot on the cube. You want your cube to look like this:

If the cube looks like this, it is wrong:

Practice making a cross while paying attention to most of the four pieces at the same time. Try to learn how to deal with flipped edges (edges that won't go into the cross correctly in one turn). One technique for flipped edges is this: If you have an edge that you are bringing down into the bottom layer, and there's a flipped edge in the top layer, put the first edge so it is a quarter turn away from the bottom, and put the flipped edge on the same face, so it rides with the first edge as you solve it. This works if the two edges are on consecutive faces. Also, try to learn to place the pieces in the bottom layer so they are correct with respect to each other, i.e. they are in the right order, then fix them with a turn of the D face. Doing this instead of turning D back and forth a lot saves time. Mainly, just practice, and you will learn for yourself what to do.

Step 2
You may have noticed that when you put the corners in during step 2 of the easy and novice solutions, that you just end up taking them back out again to pair them up with their edge and put them back in. It is much more efficient to just find a corner and the edge that goes with it, and make a pair ("corner edge pair" or "c/e pair") and put them in one of the four slots formed by the cross in the first two layers. You will do this four times. Below are a few examples of situations you could run into, and what you might do in each case. If you want to try out one of the cases to see how the sequence I gave works, scramble your top layer and then undo the sequence. To undo a sequence, you read right to left and change clockwise turns into counterclockwise turns. Half turns (turns of 180 degrees) stay the same.

R U R' U2 F' U F

U2 R U2 R' U2 R U' R' U' R U' R' Or, if you are smart enough, you might realize that you can do this: U2 R U2 R' U2 R U R'

U F' U F U2 R U2 R' U2 R U' R'

U2 R U' R' U' F' U F U F' U F Or, if you saw the same thing as in the second example, U2 R U' R' U' F' U' F

U2 R U' R' F' U2 F

R U' R' U' R U' R' U2 R U R'

Now you have finished the first two layers.

Step 3
The goal of this step is to create a cross on the top face (orient the edges). It will be different than the cross we made on the bottom, in that it doesn't have to match up to the faces on the sides. In other words, it would be fine if, when done this step, your cube looked like this:

Now, look at the top face, and identify which of the following cases you have, then perform the sequence of moves that is next to it.

F U R U' R' F'

F R U R' U' F'

F R B U2 B' U R' F' L' U2 L

When you are done this step, your cube should look like this:

Step 4
Now, finish orienting the top layer. Only corners are left, and there are seven possibilities. Figure out which one you need to do by identifying where all of your top-color stickers are. A line next to the cube means that there is a top color sticker there. A filled in square means that there is a top color sticker there, already oriented correctly. For example, the picture below on the left refers to the picture below on the right.

Now, find your case and do the appropriate sequence.

R U2 R' U' R U R' U' R U' R'

U' L' F R' F' L' F R F'

R2 D' R U2 R' D R U2 R

U2 R' F R B' R' F' R B

R U2 R2 U' R2 U' R2 U2 R

U' R U' L' U R' U'

R U2 R' U' R U' R'

Now, your top layer is entirely the right color, like this:

Step 5
This is the last step. You will learn how to solve the cube from any position where the first two layers are solved and the last layer color is showing on the top face, i.e. the last layer is oriented. This step is exactly the same as how you would do it in a real Fridrich solve. If, after one of the sequences, you see "reflection L/R", that means that this sequence is a reflection of the previous one, and you probably won't have to memorize it, because you will see that the two sequences are very similar. The L/R means that it is a reflection from left to right, or a horizontal reflection. F/B would be a vertical reflection.