5x5 Rubik's Cube Solver

How to Use the 5x5 Solver

1. Hold the cube with the white center on top and the green center facing you. On a 5x5 the middle sticker of each face never moves, just like on a 3x3, so it tells you which side is which: red on the right, orange on the left, blue at the back and yellow on the bottom. The net shows those six centers already filled in.
2. Enter the colors. Pick a color, then click each sticker of that color on the matching side of the net. On a phone, you paint one face at a time in the large grid: tap a face on the net (or use Next face) to choose it. Look at the top face as if the green side is at the bottom of it, and at the bottom face as if green is at the top. Each color appears exactly 25 times, and the palette counts down.
3. Press Solve. The solver checks that your cube is possible, then works out a solution in stages.
4. Follow the moves one at a time, keeping white on top and green in front. Use ◀ and ▶ to step back and forth, press Play to watch the whole solve, or click a stage name to jump to it.

No cube in your hand? Press Random scramble to try it, or type a scramble like Rw U2 2R' F Uw' 3Rw R2 3Rw' under Or type a scramble. Typed scrambles start from a solved cube with white on top and green in front, so a scramble may not move the fixed centers.

What the Moves Mean

The solution uses the same notation as WCA scrambles, plus one extra kind of move for a single inner layer. A letter on its own turns one outer face a quarter turn clockwise, as you look straight at that face. An apostrophe means counterclockwise, and a 2 means turn it twice.

The middle layer is the only one that moves the fixed centers. When a solution turns it, a later move turns it back, so the centers end where they started. The step-by-step player says every move in words too, and the 3D cube shows which layers turn. The Rubik's Cube notation guide explains the 3x3 letters in more detail.

How the Solver Works: Reduction

The solver uses the reduction method, the same plan most people use to solve big cubes by hand. It turns the 5x5 into something that behaves like a 3x3, then solves that 3x3. The solution is split into these stages, and the player marks where each one starts:

1. Centers. Each face has nine center stickers: the fixed one in the middle and eight that move. The solver gives every face its color, starting with plain turns while they bring several center pieces home at once, then finishing with short move sequences that swap three center pieces and leave every other center piece alone.
2. Edges. Each of the 12 edges of a 5x5 is made of three pieces: a middle piece and two outer pieces. This stage puts the right outer pieces next to each middle piece, so each edge acts like one 3x3 edge. It uses 3-cycles that move three outer edge pieces and nothing else except corners.
3. 3x3 stage. Now only the outer faces turn, so the centers and the finished edges stay together. The solver from our 3x3 solver finishes the cube.

Before showing a solution, the solver replays every move on a model of your cube and checks that it ends solved. If it didn't, you would see an error instead of a wrong answer.

We tested the solver on 1,000 scrambles of 80 random moves each, counting every move, including each Rw, 3Rw and 2R, as one. Every solution was checked by replaying it. The solutions averaged 195 moves, and the longest was 223. Per stage, the averages were: centers about 88 moves, edges about 88 and 3x3 stage about 20. On the laptop that ran the tests, half took under 0.3 seconds and all of them under 0.3 seconds. A phone is usually slower.

Why the Solution Is Long

A solution of about two hundred moves is not the shortest one: it is built from repeated patterns, not searched for the fewest moves. This solver aims for something else: a solution that is right every time and comes in clear stages you can follow. Each 3-cycle is a short, repeatable pattern of 8 to 14 moves, so the solution has a rhythm you can check against your cube. If a stage goes wrong in your hands, use ◀ to step back, or jump to the start of the stage.

Does a 5x5 Have Parity?

A 4x4 can end up with an edge that looks flipped or two edges swapped after reduction, which no 3x3 can have. That is called parity, and it needs special algorithms; see the 4x4 parity algorithms. A 5x5 can't end up that way, because each edge has a middle piece that fixes which way round it goes. Our tests check this: after the edges stage, every one of the test cubes was a normal, solvable 3x3.

A 5x5 has a different problem instead, often called edge parity: near the end of pairing, two outer pieces of one edge can be in each other's places, and no 3-cycle can swap just two pieces. The solver checks for this while it builds the centers, and when it would happen it adds one extra turn of a second layer, such as 2R, during the centers stage. That turn changes the edge pieces so the problem can't come up. In our tests, 449 of the 1,000 scrambles needed it.

"This Cube Can't Be Solved": What It Means

A 5x5 that was only ever scrambled by turning can always be solved. If the solver says yours can't, a color was most likely entered wrong. The message says what it found, and the pieces involved are outlined in red:

• Wrong color count. Some color appears more or fewer than 25 times. The palette shows "too many" under it.
• Wrong center colors. Each face has four center stickers next to its corners and four next to its edges. Across the cube, each kind must hold each color exactly four times.
• Impossible, mirrored or repeated corner, or a twisted corner. A corner shows colors from opposite sides, in the wrong order, twice, or rotated in place.
• Impossible or repeated edge piece. Each outer edge piece exists once, and its mirror image is a different piece.
• Middle edge problems. The middle edge pieces follow the same rules as 3x3 edges: none can be flipped on its own, and two pieces can't be swapped on their own.

The check can't catch every mistake. Almost any arrangement of the moving center colors is possible, so if two center stickers are swapped while entering, the cube still looks possible, and the solver solves the cube you entered, not the one in your hand. If the moves stop matching your cube, check the centers first.

Everything runs in your browser. Your cube's colors are never sent anywhere.

Want to Solve It Yourself?

The same stages work by hand: centers, edges, then 3x3 moves. The 4x4 is the usual place to learn them first; see how to solve a 4x4. When you can solve it, time your solves with the cube timer.

5x5 Solver FAQ