Solving Rubik's Cube

Back to Helaman's Academy

4x4x4 Solution

WARNING! My complete solution for the 4x4x4 cube (Rubik's Revenge) is on this page. If you haven't already solved it yourself then I recommend that you skip this page.

The steps for solving the 4x4x4 cube are basically the same as the steps for solving the 5x5x5 cube, but you're going to need to be able to solve a couple of additional nasty problems along the way.

Step 1: Solve the centers.

Solving the centers is actually pretty simple. In fact, it's easier than solving the centers on a 5x5x5 cube (just because there are fewer sub-cubes in a 4x4x4 center). However, you do have to be careful to put the centers in their proper locations. Without a center sub-cube to act as a guide, you need to rely on something else. I find that the easiest thing to do is use the corners as references. Each corner will give you the orientation of three faces and from there it's an easy thing to figure out where the other three belong.

You probably don't actually need any special moves to solve the centers but just for the sake of being complete, here is one. Notice that it's the same move that I use to solve the 5x5x5 centers.

3 face shuttle

l’ b’ l b U
b’ l’ b l U’

Step 2: Match up edge pairs.

Once all the centers are solved, the next step is to get all of the edges paired up so that the cube resembles a 3x3x3 cube. The following move will do the trick. Note once again that it's the same move that we used on the 5x5x5 cube.

3 piece shuttle

Full: l’ U R U’ l U R’ U’
Simplified: L’l’ U R U’ Ll

Just keep matching up the edges and eventually you'll end up with all of them mated.

Use the simplified form since we don't care where the pieces end up so long as they're matched up correctly.

Step 3: Solve as a 3x3x3 cube.

So now all you have to do is solve it just like a 3x3x3 cube right? Well almost. The problem is that because the 4x4x4 cube has no center rows (or one could say because it has an evenly split center row) you will find that only 25% of the time it will be solvable at this point.

There are two configurations that you could be left with which would be impossible in a normal 3x3x3 cube: either a single edge could be rotated 180° or two edges could be swapped.

To solve the case where a single edge is rotated 180° use this move:

Single edge rotation

B2 r F2 r F2 r’ B2 l’ U2 l2 U2 l’
+
U2 F2 U f’ U’ F2 U f U

And yes, that's a doozy of a move. I've simplified it as far as I know how. If anybody knows of a better sequence (particularly one that's easier to memorize) then I'd sure love to hear of it.

Pay attention to what the cube looks like at the +. At that point you've already solved the mess and all that's left is a variation of the three piece shuttle.

To solve the case where two edges are swapped use this move:

Edge swap

l D’ l D l’ D’ l’ U2
l D l D’ l’ D l2 f l f’ U2
+
f l’ f’ l

Again, not the easiest of sequences to remember. I sure wish I knew of a better one.

At the + in this move, you're only a simple center swapping maneuver away from victory.

So there you have it! Now you should be able to always solve the Rubik's Revenge.

I have consolidated all of these 4x4x4 moves onto a single sheet. Click here to see it.