Solution for solving the Rubik's Revenge (4x4x4 cube)

In this Terminology section you will be presented with all of the Movement Symbols and an
example of exactly what they accomplish. Although this looks like a huge list, all of the moves
will make sense - you should not need to refer to it again. Simply refer to the chart below:

BEFORE MOVE AFTER

 When you are ready, proceed to the Top Corners.

Okay, here we go, the first step in solving the Rubik's Revenge. When you finish this step your
cube will look like this:
 • NOTE: Gray stickers simply indicate that you need not be concerned with those pieces at this time.

STEP 1 - First Corner

Start by finding the Yellow/Orange/Blue corner and rotate the entire cube in your hands until
you match the cube below. Our goal for the 4 top corners is to place each of them into this front-
top-right position:

STEP 2 - Second Corner

Before looking for the next corner, spin the entire cube in your hands one turn to the left. This
will move the Just Finished piece out of its corner position so that we can put the next piece in
place. When we finish this step you will have these corners completed.
Since we are looking for the Blue/Orange/Green corner, rotate the bottom layer until you can
position it directly below where it belongs - in the front-bottom-right corner. If you can not find
the piece on the bottom layer skip to the THIRD corner and return to this step a little later.

If you did find a match, follow one of the three steps below to move the piece into its proper
place.
STEP 3 - Third Corner
Before looking for the next corner, spin the entire cube in your hands one turn to the left. This
will move the Just Finished piece out of its corner position so that we can put the next piece in
place. When we finish this step you will have these corners completed.

Since we are looking for the Orange/Green/White corner, rotate the bottom layer until you can
position it directly below where it belongs - in the front-bottom-right corner. If you can not find
the piece on the bottom layer skip to the FOURTH corner and return to this step a little later.

If you did find a match, follow one of the three steps below to move the piece into its proper
place.
STEP 4 - Fourth Corner
Before looking for the next corner, spin the entire cube in your hands one turn to the left. This
will move the Just Finished piece out of its corner position so that we can put the next piece in
place. When we finish this step you will have these corners completed.
Since we are looking for the Orange/White/Yellow corner, rotate the bottom layer until you can
position it directly below where it belongs - in the front-bottom-right corner. If you can not find
the piece on the bottom layer skip to FIXING PROBLEM CORNERS and return to this step a
little later.

If you did find a match, follow one of the three steps below to move the piece into its proper
place.
STEP 5 - Fixing Problem Corners
If the top 4 corners are now finished, you may proceed to Solving The Top Centers.

If not, you have possibly run into the situation where there are no more pieces to place on the
bottom layer but all of the top is not yet finished. This means that either:

• A piece is in the correct position, but the colors do not quite line up correctly.
• The needed pieces are already in the top corner positions, but not in the correct locations.

In either case, you need to move the incorrectly positioned piece to the bottom layer so that you
can use one of the step above to correctly put it back in place. Simply position the problem
corner in the standard front-top-right corner and perform the following move.

Now the piece is on the bottom layer and you can go back to a previous steps to correctly place
that piece:

• Second Corner
• Third Corner
• Fourth Corner

Now for the Top Centers. When you finish this process your cube should look like this:
 • NOTE: Gray stickers simply indicate that you need not be concerned with those pieces at this time.

STEP 1 - Center #1
In this step I want you to rotate the two highlighted rows until you are able to put at least one
Orange Center in place as shown. If you are not able to locate an Orange Center this way, spin
the entire cube to the left one turn and repeat this process. You should have at least one Orange
Center now in place.

STEP 2 - Centers #2 - #4
This same step will be used to solve the other 3 Center Orange pieces. Before looking for the
next Center, spin the entire cube in your hands one turn to the left. This will move the Just
Finished piece out of its position so that we can put the next piece in place.

Rotate your cube using or until you can position an Orange Center in one of the 5
possible scenarios below. By following the moves next to the appropriate match, you will be able
to correctly position that Orange Center.
 You are now ready to fix the Bottom Centers.

Next, the Bottom Centers will be completed. This will require you to flip your cube upside down
so that the semi-completed Orange side is facing down. When finished, all the Red Centers will
be in place as shown. The corners are only displayed here for clarity; you will not have the
corners completed at his time.

• NOTE: Gray stickers simply indicate that you need not be concerned with those pieces at this time.
Bottom Centers
This step will work for all 4 of the Red Centers that you need to place. Simply repeat the steps
below up to four times to complete the Bottom Centers. Your goals is top put a piece in the Top
Back Left Corner of the cube, so you may need to spin the entire cube in your hands until you
can provide an open slot in which to transfer the piece into.

Rotate your cube using or until you can position a Red Center in one of the 4 possible
scenarios below. By following the moves next to the appropriate match, you will be able to
correctly position that Red Center.
 Now that you are finished with the Bottom Centers, proceed to the Bottom Corners.

Next, the Bottom Corners will be completed. This will require you to flip your cube upside down
so that the semi-completed Orange side is facing up right, once again.

This is a two step process.

• First we need to get the four corners in their proper positions

• Second we need to rotate them, if necessary, to get their colors all oriented

Positioning: First Pair

First, locate the two corners on the bottom layer that have Yellow on them. If they are next to
each other, simply rotate the bottom until those two yellow corners are on the front side. If they
are in their proper positions, you can proceed to the back two corners. If they need to be
swapped, follow the steps below:

• If, however, the two yellow pieces are diagonally across from each other you will need to perform the
Diagonal Procedure.

The Diagonal Match

In the event that your yellow pieces were diagonally across from each other, position the
Yellow/Red/White corner in the front lower left corner. This way we can move the other corner
into its correct position

The Other Two Corners

Once the two Yellow corners have been placed, we need to work on the two Green Corners. Start
by spinning your cube until the two Yellow corners that you have just completed are on the back
side of the cube.
The two Green Corners will either be properly positioned or they will be in each other's position.
If they are indeed backwards, perform the following step. If they are already in place, proceed to
the next step.

Finishing the Bottom Corners

At this point, all 4 corners are in place but they probably are not properly rotated yet. This next
step will require you to flip your cube over again, so that the Orange Side is on the bottom.

Fortunately there is only one procedure to remember when orienting the Bottom Corners.
Unfortunately you will have to remember 7 different configurations if you intend to commit this
entire process to memory.

Match your cube to one of the 7 patterns below and then follow the accompanying procedure.
After finishing the procedure you will either have completed the Bottom Corners or you will
have produced one of the other 7 patterns. You may need to perform this step up to a maximum
of 3 times to solve the Bottom Corners.

• The only layer you need to be concerned with at this point is just the Red Layer. The colors on the other
layers, indicated in the images below, are only for clarity and will not necessarily match your cube.
 <>

The next step is to put the Bottom and Top Edges in place.
TOP/BOTTOM EDGES: RED FACE
Let's start by completing the Red Edges. The premise for this step is to find and move all
appropriate edges, from the two center rows, up onto the Red Side of the cube.

Use the 5 images below to assist you in solving the entire Red Face of the cube. If you run out of
pieces on the two center rows:

1. You will most likely find more on the bottom layer. If so, the fifth step below will move
bottom pieces up into the two center rows so that you can use steps 1 through 4 to
properly place the pieces.
2. It is also possible that all the Red Edges are actually on the top but in the wrong
positions. If so, use one of the steps (1-4) to put a bogus piece in it's place, thus forcing it
out of the top position.

STEP 1
STEP 2

STEP 3

STEP 4
 STEP 5

ORANGE FACE:
Now that the Red Face of the cube is finished, lets flip the cube over and finish the Orange Side.

Unfortunately fixing the Orange Side will actually temporarily mess up two of your completed
Red Edges that you just finished placing. That's okay though, because we will soon put them
back.

When you used steps 1 - 4 above the process successfully moved your piece into place, but it had
another, probably unnoticed effect. It actually messed up the pieces in the Dark Gray positions
(see images below). We didn't really care before, since we were not concerned with the Orange
Edges yet.

We need to sacrifice a pair of finished Red Edges. This will allow us to finish the entire Orange
side of the cube at which time we will put the Red Pair back in place.

Use the 5 images below to assist you in solving the entire Orange Face of the cube. If you run
out of pieces on the two center rows:
1. You may find that one of the pieces in the Gray Positions need to be placed on the
Orange Side. If so, the fifth step below will move bottom Gray pieces up into the two
center rows so that you can use steps 1 through 4 to properly place the pieces.
2. It is also possible that all the Orange Edges are actually on the Orange Face but in the
wrong positions. If so, use one of the steps (1-4) to put a bogus piece in it's place, thus
forcing the Orange piece out of the top position.

• Each time you perform a move, ensure the sacrificed pair are in the Front Bottom
position.

STEP 1

STEP 2

STEP 3
 STEP 4

STEP 5

THOSE TWO GRAY PIECES

Finally, the Orange side is now complete, and the Red Side is missing two Edges. One more step
and we can put those two Red Pieces in place.

If you find that the two remaining Red Edges are in BOTH the Second and Third Layer, match
your cube to the samples in Step 1 and Step 2 and follow the appropriate step to finish the Red
Side. Again, the colors shown are not relevant, just the move itself is important.

• If the two remaining Red Edges are on the Same Layer you will need to use another procedure first.
• If one or two of the Red Edges are actually on the Bottom Layer (in the gray positions) then you will need
to perform another step first.

STEP 1
 STEP 2

If your Red Side is complete, you can proceed to the Side Edges.

LAST TWO RED EDGES ARE ON THE SAME LAYER

Our goal here is to move the last two Red Edges onto two separate layers. Position one of the
Red/Yellow Edges on the Left Side of the Face of the cube so that the other Red/Yellow Edge is
in one of the two light-red positions as shown. Match your cube up to the following two
scenarios and perform whichever process needs completing.

STEP 1
 STEP 2

Now the Red Edges are on two separate rows. Go back the start of The Last Pair to finish.

A RED EDGE IS ALREADY ON THE BOTTOM

• If both pieces are already on the bottom but the colors are flipped, perform the step
below.
• If one is on the Second or Third layer but the other is on the Bottom, spin the Second or
Third layer until the piece is on the Back side of the cube, and then perform this step
below.

Now the Red Edges are out of the Bottom Row.

Go back the start of The Last Pair to finish.

SIDE EDGES
We will start with Row Two and then complete Row Three.

Before we start, rotate your cube sideways so that it matches the image below. You will probably
need to spin the second row (now seen as column two) so that you can position the first edge
piece - the Green/Blue Edge.

• All pieces with dimmed colors are shown for reference only. The normal dark colors represent the pieces
we will be immediately concerned with.
ONE DOWN, THREE TO GO...
Spin the third column until you can position the next piece (Green/White) next to the Green/Blue
piece as shown. This piece actually belongs below the Green/Blue piece (also shown) and this
following procedure will move it there.

PROBLEMS? - If you can not find the second piece on Row Three, perform this move, and look
again.

TWO DOWN, TWO TO GO...

Spin the third column until you can position the next piece (White/Yellow) next to the
White/Green piece as shown. This piece actually belongs below the White/Green piece (also
shown) and this following procedure will move it there.
PROBLEMS? - If you can not find the third piece on Row Three, perform this move, and look
again.

THREE DOWN, ONE TO GO...

Spin the third column until you can position the last piece (Yellow/Blue) next to the
Yellow/White piece as shown. This piece actually belongs below the Yellow/Blue piece (also
shown) and this following procedure will move it there.

That's it, the Edges on the Second Row are complete!

THIRD ROW EDGES

To start the Third Row, position your cube as shown and line up the White/Yellow edge so it is
in place.
 Now rotate the entire cube backwards until the Blue Side is up.

If you examine the three remaining edges you will find that:

• Everything is in place - Great, you can proceed to the Centers.

• Two are still out of place
• All three are out of place

IF TWO ARE OUT OF PLACE

Match your situation to the two samples below. The procedure following each will complete all
of the edges for you.

You should now be done and can proceed to the Centers.

 You should now be done and can proceed to the Centers.

IF THREE ARE OUT OF PLACE

Match your situation to the sample below. The following procedure will complete all of the
edges for you.

• Note: You may need to perform this step twice in some cases.

You should now be done and can proceed to the Centers.

SIDE CENTERS
Ahhhh, the last step. In these final moves, we will be constructing the rest of the cube piece by
piece. There is a common theme to all of these possible moves below. They all share the same
core move, but all are preceded and finished with a few Preparation/Finishing Moves.

Simply find a piece that is out of place, and if it belongs on an adjacent (not opposite) face, you
will be able to use one of the images below to put that piece in place.

• The only pieces that are of any importance in the illustrations below are the pieces you are moving. Any
other color or piece shown is for reference only.

GROUP 1
GROUP 2
GROUP 3

GROUP 4
You should now be done with the entire Rubik's Revenge, Congratulations!!!