An Overview of the Fridrich Method

Invented by Jessica Fridrich in the early 1980s, the Fridrich Method gained popularity among the second generation of speedcubers when it was published online in 1997. By far today's most popular speedcubing method, it is used by most world-class speedcubers with minor modifications.

Cross: Solve the four edges of one layer (bottom layer shown).

~8 moves, ~2 seconds
F2L (First Two Layers): Complete the first two layers by solving the four corner-edge pairs between the cross edges in four steps, one slot at a time. 41 standard patterns counting mirrors for corner-edge pairs. Also see Advanced F2L.

~7 x 4 = 28 moves, ~6 seconds
OLL (Orientation of Last Layer) (printable): Correct the orientation (flip) of all last layer pieces in one step so that every piece has the last layer color on top. 57 patterns counting mirrors and inverses.

~9 moves, ~2 seconds
PLL (Permutation of Last Layer) (printable): Correct the permutation (placement) of all last layer pieces in one step. 21 patterns counting mirrors and inverses.

~11 moves, ~2.5 seconds
Total: 41 F2L and 78 last layer algorithms to memorize

~56 moves, ~13 seconds