Types of Rubik's Cubes

Types of Rubik’s cubes with names

Most twisty puzzles have a nickname as well as a size. The table lists the seven you can play here, the pieces that move, and how many positions each can reach.

Center pieces that never leave their place, like the six on a 3x3, are not counted as moving. Each row has its own page: the 2x2 Rubik’s cube online, the virtual Rubik’s cube, the 4x4 Rubik’s cube online and the 5x5 Rubik’s cube online, then Pyraminx online, Megaminx online and Skewb online.

Cubes and other shapes: how the seven are built

The four cubes are one family. Each is an N by N by N grid, and every layer parallel to a face can turn. Add a layer and the puzzle gains a new kind of piece: the 3x3 adds edges and fixed centers to the corners of the 2x2, and the 4x4 splits both into pieces that can wander, which is why it has no fixed center to tell you a face’s color.

The other three change the shape. The Pyraminx is a tetrahedron: four faces, four corners that twist, and four loose tips that turn on their own. The Megaminx is a dodecahedron with twelve pentagon faces, each turning like the face of a 3x3. The Skewb looks like a cube but turns around its corners, and every twist moves half the puzzle along a diagonal cut.

The Mirror Cube is a fourth idea again: a 3x3 inside, with pieces of different sizes instead of colors. You cannot play it here, but the mirror cube solver takes it in by marking how deep each piece reaches.

What makes one cube harder than another

Size alone does not decide it. Four things do.

The first is how many kinds of piece you have to place. A 2x2 has one, a 3x3 two, a 5x5 four. Each new kind needs its own stage and usually its own algorithms.

The second is whether the centers are fixed. On odd cubes the middle of each face never moves, so you always know which color a face must become. On the 2x2 and 4x4 nothing tells you, and a wrong guess costs a lot of work.

The third is parity. On the 4x4 you can reach positions that a 3x3 never shows, such as a single flipped edge pair, and they need extra algorithms. The 5x5 has them too, on its edges.

The last is length. The Megaminx needs no idea the 3x3 does not already teach, yet a solve takes several times as many moves.

An order to learn them in

Start with the 2x2. With only corners to think about, you learn how layers move and what an algorithm does, and the guide to solving a 2x2 needs just three stages. The 3x3 comes next, because almost every other puzzle borrows from it: its beginner method adds a cross and edge pairs to the corner skills you already have.

After the 3x3 the paths split. The Pyraminx and Skewb are short side trips, each a new way of turning that takes an afternoon rather than a month. The 4x4 teaches reduction: build the centers, pair up the edges, then finish it like a 3x3 and fix parity at the end. The 5x5 is the same plan with more pieces and the comfort of fixed centers. The Megaminx fits whenever you want a long, calm solve that uses what you already know.

The hardest Rubik’s cubes beyond these seven

Among the seven here, the Megaminx and the 5x5 take the longest, and the 4x4 has the most surprises. Collectors mean something else by the hardest cube in the world, though, and there are three kinds of candidate.

Big cubes are the first. Sizes up to 21x21x21 are sold, and a 33x33x33 has been built by hand. The methods are the same as for the 4x4 and 5x5, but a solve can take hours.

Shape-shifters are the second. Puzzles such as the Ghost Cube or the Axis Cube turn like a 3x3 but lose their cube shape once scrambled, so you can no longer tell where a piece belongs by looking at it.

Bandaged puzzles are the third: some pieces are fused together, which blocks certain turns and forces long detours. None of these can be played on this site.

Solvers for six of the seven

If you would rather see a solution than work one out, six of these puzzles have a solver here. Paint your puzzle or type its scramble and you get the moves for that exact position: the 2x2 Rubik’s cube solver finds the shortest one, the 3x3 Rubik’s cube solver offers a short answer or a seven-stage beginner method, and the 4x4 Rubik’s cube solver works by reduction. The Pyraminx solver, Megaminx solver and Skewb solver cover the other shapes. From any of the simulators, the Solve this state button sends your current position there directly.