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CFOP Introduction

An overview of the CFOP speedcubing method — Cross, F2L, OLL, PLL. This is the most popular advanced method used by world-class speedcubers.

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1

What is CFOP?

CFOP (also called the Fridrich Method) is the most widely used speedcubing method. It stands for:

  • Cross — Solve the cross on the bottom
  • F2L — First Two Layers (pair corners and edges intuitively)
  • OLL — Orient Last Layer (make the top face all one colour)
  • PLL — Permute Last Layer (move the top pieces to their correct positions)

Why learn CFOP?

The beginner method solves in ~7 steps. CFOP reduces this to 4 stages with far fewer moves overall, making sub-30-second solves achievable.

Prerequisites

You should be comfortable with the beginner method before learning CFOP. The cross step is similar, and understanding how pieces move will help with F2L.

How to approach it

  1. Start with cross on bottom (you may already do this)
  2. Learn intuitive F2L (the biggest speed gain)
  3. Learn 2-look OLL (7 algorithms instead of 57)
  4. Learn 2-look PLL (6 algorithms instead of 21)
  5. Gradually learn full OLL and PLL as you get faster
Final Step