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VirtualCube 5x5x5 Demo

Learn to Solve Rubik's Cube 5x5x5

•This software teaches you how to solve the Rubik's Cube with 5 simple tricks with step-by-step animation accompanied by detailed explanation of every move.

•Take your time to complete the structured learning path and your success is guaranteed.

•You can fix up your scrambled Rubik's cube by painting the VirtualCube with colors to match your scrambled cube then follow the step-by-step animation (with very slow speed). It really really works!

•You can learn to do many pretty Rubik's cube patterns, turn by turn in slow-motion animation.

•Experience the dynamic highlights and then yell "wow!".

•This amazing java applet will appear shortly. It is well worth the wait. If not, fire off an angry email to cheong@ganpuzzle.com.

Please for java applet to appear....
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Learn to Solve Rubik's Cube 5x5x5

|Instructions|Learn|Animate|Group Theory|Buy|About|FAQ|
 
   
If nothing happens when you press the key, click on the applet background to get its attention, then try the key again.
Provided of course you know the 99 turns. But why?

We know that this 99-turn has a magic-number which we do not know beforehand. But if we repeat this 99-turn repeatedly, we will reach this magic-number (and a restored Rubik's Cube).

In Group Theory (a university Math course), this magic-number is called the order for this 99-turn. This 99-turn and all its repeats together form a cyclic group of order=magic-number. Interestingly, the 198-turn (consisting of two 99-turns) has a different order which is a divisor of the 99-turn order.

This theory is useful because it re-assures us that the repeat-until-done trick is possible.

But honestly, if you know the 99-turn, you could just do the reversed turns in reversed order.

You can enter a move in DBLFUR notation:
-  Each turn is [DBLFUR]['-i"2]
-  Example 1: FUB2U-F' (5 turns)
-  Example 2: D,L,R",D',L' (5 turns)
-  [DBLFUR]::Down,Back,Left,Front,Up,Right face.
-  By itself, each means clockwise 90° turn.
-  ' or - or i means anticlockwise 90° turn.
-  " or 2 means 180° turn.

or BFR (GANPuzzle) notation:
-  Each turn is [BFR][slice#][#slice][<,>,>>]
-  Example 1: F1>BN<FN>>BN>F1< (5 turns)
-  Example 2: FM>>,B22>,RM<,F*> (4 turns)
-  [BFR]::B (bottom), F (front), R (right) slice.
-  [slice#]::1,2,N(last),M (middle slices),*(all slices)
-  [#slice]::none,2,3,..
-  [<,>,>>]::left 90°,right 90°,180° turn

Send a quick email regarding this step if you have a comment or question.

If you are not clear about this step or wish to know why, we encourage you to seek clarification via instant email, anonymously if you so wished.

Send a quick webmail if you have a comment or question.

You can send instant email, anonymously if you so wished.

Please provide a valid email address if you desire a reply.

Every cube state in the step by step dialog has a link that leads you to a wiki webpage that provide details on that state, including discussions and questions from other users.

You can also contribute your insights or ask or discuss a point pertaining to this state.

There shall be no shortage of detail or discussion on every cube state, thanks to the power of wiki.

Internet connection is required to access this VirtualCubeWiki which is the collection of all these wiki pages, one for each cube state.

Refund Procedure
1.  Please use your email address that was used during payment.
2.  If paid by ClickBank, simply return the ClickBank-payment-email back, as guaranteed by terms of ClickBank. The full amount will be credited by ClickBank.
3.  If paid by PayPal, please email refund@ganpuzzle.com. The full amount will be sent to you as a PayPal payment.
4.  Please delete the software.
5.  If you choose to keep it, may we ask that you keep it within your immediate household only. Thank you.

You can slow the animation speed to observe the moves or you can speed it up.

You can even change the speed in the middle of a animation.

You can save/restore a rubik's cube state to/from a file in your computer or memory in the sandBox panel (in [Option]-tab). Here is a valuable learning tip:
1.  Scramble a cube then save it to file.
2.  Restore the saved scrambled cube from file.
3.  Study the step-by-step solution.
4.  Repeat step 2 as often as you wish.
This allows you to be familiar with the same moves over and over again.
Key-1 to Key-5 are for Trick1 to Trick5.

You can assign key-6,key-7 and key-8 to execute your favourite moves:

1.  Click [Option]-tab in the cube applet.
2.  In cannedMove6, type in your moves (click ? for help).
3.  Go back to cube applet (click applet tab).
4.  Click on the applet background to get its attention. Then press key-6.

By editing a simple text-file in your computer, you can change your start up options such as:

1.  playAudio = true, playAudioIntro = false
2.  showSandBox = true
3.  animationSpeed = "6" (0 to 10).
4.  cannedMove6 = "R1> B3< R1< B3>"

Look for a text file in your installed folder with extension ".cfg".

Other benefits such as

†  No need for internet connection.
†  Faster load time.
†  Browser window resize.
†  Define and animate your cube pattern.
†  Product support and updates.

You can record your favourite move and assign it to key-6, key-7 or key-8.

Play back your move by pressing key-6, key-7 or key-8.

This is a great feature when you use a move over and over again to solve the puzzle.

Please rate this Demo software from

1 (very bad) to 10 (very good).

Thank you for your input.

powered by AbookReader  (Never Having To Scroll) Updated Mar 24, 2008

Playing Instructions

  1. Click an arrow to turn a slice of the cube.
  2. Keyboard shortcuts:
    ← → ↑ ↓: rotate Cube by 90°.
    1 to 5: Trick1 to Trick5.
    Keystroke does not work
  3. Start solving the cube by clicking on the arrows. A surprise awaits you when you solve the puzzle starting from .
  4. Use to watch how Computer solves the cube with detailed step by step animation.
  5. To fix up your real scrambled cube, use Paint VirtualCube to look like your cube to paint the scrambled colors, then click Solve step by step and follow the solution step by step in slow motion.
  6. To change animation speed: click [Option] tab, move speed control slider, click [5x5x5] tab.
  7. To show sandbox panel with icons for Save, Restore, Record a move, etc. click:
      [Option] tab → sandbox button → [5x5x5] tab.
  8. For playing tips, click vcube5Tips.htm.

Learn the Secrets

You can solve 5x5x5 by learning just 5 simple Tricks. Guaranteed. First, install the software in your computer as you'd need to slow the animation speed to observe the moves.

Solving the Rubik's Cube is difficult, very. The reward is a life-time of immense pride and joy that you can share with people around you. So slow down and learn, it is that worth it.

Take your time to follow through this learning path:

  1. Step1: ► Learn how to fix up 4 TOP corners
  2. Step2: ► Learn how to fix the other 4 corners
  3. Step3: ► Learn how to make 12 nice edges
  4. Step4: ► Learn how to make 6 nice faceCenters
  5. Step5: ► Learn how to fix up 12 good edges
  6. Study real live situations, many times:
    ► Learn from step by step animation

Step1: Fix up 4 TOPCorners (← back)

Step1 (to fix TOPCorners) does not require any trick, but you need to be familiar with some basic moves.
  • At this stage, you are free to mess up the 4 BOTTOMCorners, making the task easy.
  • You can learn these basic moves by observing how the computer does them in live situations:
    Tip: Before you click, adjust animation speed to slow. Understand the detailed descriptions of each computer move. Repeat as often as you like. Come back here when Step1 is done.
    Click then click .
  • Or you can learn these basic moves by going through online demo(internet access required) Tutorial1 in a separate window.

Step2: Fix the other 4 corners (← back)

Step2 assumes that the 4 TOPCorners are done: having same top color and matching side colors.
  • To fix up the 4 BOTTOMCorners without disturbing the TOPCorners, you need to apply Trick3 then Trick2.
    Note: TOPCorners become BOTTOMCorners when you rotate the cube upside down, so TOP can be BOTTOM and vise versa.
  • You use Trick3 to swap corners so that all 4 corners are in their correct locations.
    ► Learn Trick3
  • You use Trick2 to flip them into their correct orientations (color facing the correct way).
    ► Learn Trick2
  • You may also learn these tricks by observing how computer does them step by step: click

Step2: Learn Trick3 (← back)

Trick3 is used to swap locations of 2 corners. It may be used 0, 1 or 2 times in Step2.
  • Start with a simple 2-turn move consisting of a turn on the right and top slice.
    Try doing it 105 times from a solved cube. It will bring joy to a 4 year-old or a 80 year-old.
  • Combine that with reversed turns on the same 2 slices, we get a 4-turn move named RightTopX. Repeat it 6 times restores the cube.
    Click or
  • Trick3 uses RightTopX as part of the trick. It exchanges 2 top front corners and flips a third at LEFT-TOP-BACK. Click
  • Often, you need to do a pre-move before doing Trick3 so that the desired corners are swapped and good corner is not disturbed. Example: swap LEFT-TOP-BACK to RIGHT-TOP-FRONT location.
    :  → →

Step2: Learn Trick2 (← back)

Trick2 is used to flip the colors of 2 BOTTOM-FRONT-cornersi. It may be used 0, 1 or 2 times in Step2.
  • Learn Trick2. It uses RightTopX a total of 6 times. It flips the 2 BOTTOM colors to FRONT.
    To see it in action, click
  • It looks complicated but is very simple. After some practice, you intuitively count the turns as 8,1,16,1 and amazingly the fingers remember them. It is such a joy!
  • Learn Trick2a. It uses RightTopX a total of 6 times. It flips 2 FRONT colors to BOTTOM.
    To see it in action, click
    For this, you count the turns as 16,1,8,1.
  • Often, you need to do a pre-move before doing Trick2 or Trick2a so that the 2 target corners are at BOTTOM-FRONT.
    :  → →
    :  → →

Step3: Make 12 nice edges (← back)

An edge consists of 3 two-color cubelets between 2 corners. When its cubelets all have same TOP and SIDE colors, we call it a niceEdge. In addition, if it also has same matching colors as the 2 corners, then it is a goodEdge.
  • Click to see example of a badEdge, niceEdge, goodEdge.
    In Example1, it is easy to make a niceEdge out of 3 cubeletsi.
  • The idea is to move the 3 cubelets of an edge to FRONTmiddleslices then turn the middle slices so that the 3 cubelets line up.
  • But in , you need a small trick to make a niceEdge out of these 3 cubeletsi without disturbing the FRONTslice.
  • When there are only 2 or 3 badEdges left, we require tricks that will make a new niceEdge without destroying other niceEdges.
    ► Learn Trick4 & Trick5

Step3: Make niceEdges - Trick4,5 (← back)

  • Trick4 can be used when we have 3 badEdges left. In Example3 we want to pair up these 2 edgeCubelets by moving top cubelet to down location while preserving BOTTOM-BACK-edge. It requires a pre-move before doing .
    :  →
  • When we have 2 badEdges left, we can use Trick4Swap2Edges to make them into niceEdges. It is a variation of Trick4 and it exchanges a pair of FRONT-BOTTOM edge cubelets with a pair of FRONT-TOP edge cubelets.
    : 
  • In Example5 with 2 badEdges, we need to use Trick5 to exchange among 3 inner edges hilighted (after doing a pre-move). .
    :  → →
  • Learn more of how to make niceEdges in real live situations: Click . Speed up the animation. When you see Step3, slow the animation and observe the step by step carefully.

Step4: Make 6 nice faceCenters(← back)

Each of the 6 faceCenters has 3x3 1-color faceLets. A nice faceCenter has all 9 faceLets the same color.
  • Study Trick1t. Similar to Trick1 and is used many, many times in this Step. .
  • Study Trick1Swap2Columns. It uses Trick1t and is used many, many times.
  • You may need Trick1Swap2ColumnsFRO when other TOP faceLets are not to be disturbed. .
  • To make nice TOPfaceCenter requires a carefully planned pre-move to line up the target column.
    :  → →
    :  → →
  • Learn to form a color column at FRONT by joining up 3 colors using a clever pre-move.
    :  → →
    :  → →
  • Learn more of how to make nice faceCenters in real live situations: Click .

Step5: Learn to fix up 12 edges(← back)

Step5 requires the use of Trick1 many, many times to fix up the edges. It is simple to learn but you would need to learn how to use it in many varied situations.
  • Learn Trick1. sends top face color to bottom face.
  • These examples require pre-move to line up the 3 intended edges before doing Trick1.
    :  → →
    :  → →
  • Learn Trick1a , a useful variation of Trick1.
    sends top face color to left face.
  • Trick1a is actually an extreme example of pre-move to flip the LEFT-BOTTOM-edge cubelet before doing Trick1.
    :  → →
  • Learn more of how Trick1 is used to fix up the edges from

Learn from step by step animation

To gain more insights into solving the cube, take your time to study the step by step solution by using slow animation speed and repeat a step repeatedly.

You can click on a wiki link to read more or discuss on a step.

Here is a learning Tip. Scramble cube and save to file.

  1. Start with the same scrambled cube using "Restore from file" icon.
  2. Try to accomplish Step1 by yourself.
  3. For help, use Solve step by step to see how the computer does the next step. Then you click [UNDO], [STOP], and try to do it yourself.
  4. Repeat from (1) every time, until Step1 is achieved.
  5. In a similar manner, try to accomplish other steps.

Solve step by step

Click [START] to see how the computer solve the cube step by step.

To enter "Solve step by step" mode, click [START].
To exit "Solve step by step" mode, click [STOP].

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To exit Solve step by step mode, click