Beginner Roux

Roux (pronounced "roo", after Gilles Roux) builds a 1×2×3 block on each side, solves the four top corners, and finishes the last six edges using only M and U moves. This beginner version solves the corners in two short looks: 9 algorithms instead of the 42 of full CMLL (most of which you may already know from two-look OLL), and the last six edges with a handful of short triggers instead of 65 algorithms.

Holding the cube

Pictures hold the cube with white on the bottom, yellow on top, blue on the right and orange at the front. So the first block is the green block on the left, and the second block is the blue block on the right. Notation is the same as Beginner CFOP. Roux uses M a lot: the middle slice, turning like L (the front goes down). It also uses r, a wide right turn that moves the right face and the middle slice together.

Step 1: First block

Build a 1×2×3 block on the left: the white–green edge on the bottom beside the green centre, and the two green corner–edge pairs above it at the front and back.

1. Place the edge. Put the white–green edge under the green centre, white facing down. The white and yellow centres don't matter yet: the middle slice can be turned freely with M.
2. Make a pair. Find the white–green–orange corner and the green–orange edge, and join them in the top layer or on the right side, where they won't disturb the edge you placed.
3. Insert it beside the edge at the front, then do the same for the back pair (white–green–red corner, green–red edge).

Take your time, and look for a pair that's nearly made. It's fine to use F, B and L turns here: nothing else is solved yet.

Step 2: Second block

Build the matching blue block on the right. Now the first block has to stay intact, so use only moves that don't touch the left side: R, r, U and M.

1. Place the white–blue edge under the blue centre. Get it to the top right with white facing up, then R2. If it's at the top front with white facing the front instead, M' U turns it the right way up and moves it across first, so M' U R2 does the whole job. If it's in the bottom or middle of the right side, a turn of R brings it up to the top.
2. Pair and insert the front and back corner–edge pairs, much like F2L, but with R, r, U and M only. Simple inserts like R U R' and R' U' R keep the first block safe.

Step 3: Orient the corners

Make the four top corners show yellow on top. The edges and the middle slice can be left however they fall. There are seven cases, the same shapes as the corner cases in two-look OLL.

Count the yellow corners on top. None: H or Pi. One: Sune or Antisune. Two: U, T or L. Then use the side stickers to tell cases with the same count apart. If you only learn one, learn Sune: repeating it (turning the top between goes) eventually orients any case.

CMLL Orientation7 cases →

Step 4: Permute the corners

Swap the corners into place. Look around the sides of the top layer for headlights, two corners on the same side showing the same colour. Headlights on one side means an adjacent swap: hold them on the left. No headlights anywhere means a diagonal swap. If every side has headlights, there's nothing to do.

CMLL Permutation2 cases →

Step 5: Last six edges

Everything else uses only M and U turns. Full Roux has a separate algorithm for every case (65 in all). This beginner version gets by with two short triggers per step. Each case shows which trigger to use and the case it turns into, and you carry on from there. Cases are listed by how many triggers they take, so cases that finish straight away come first. By the time you reach a longer case, the case it leads to is one you've already seen.

a. Edge orientation, triggers M' and M' U' M. An edge is bad if its yellow or white sticker isn't facing up or down. Check the six edges (four on top, two at the front and back of the bottom) and whether the yellow and white centres are on the top and bottom. Using the two triggers, with a turn of the top before each, every case is done in at most four. Many chains finish with M*: turning the middle slice either way leaves the centres on the top and bottom.

LSE Orientation23 cases →

b. UL and UR, triggers M2 and M' U2 M. The idea is to bring the yellow–green and yellow–blue edges both to the bottom, then turn the top so they come up in the right places with one M2.

• Both on top: start with M2.
• One on top, one on the bottom: usually start with a turn of the top and M' U2 M, which brings the top one down beside the other.
• Both on the bottom: turn the top as the case shows, then M2 brings them up into place. Every case finishes with this M2.

LSE UL/UR29 cases →

c. The M slice, triggers M2 and M U2 M. Only the four middle-slice edges and the centres are left. Using the triggers, turning the top between them, every case is done in at most four. Finish by lining up the top layer.

LSE M Slice13 cases →

What next

When two-look corners and the triggers feel easy, move on to the full Roux Method. CMLL solves orientation and permutation together with one of 42 algorithms, learnt one orientation set at a time: the case you'd orient first tells you which CMLL group to look in. Its last six edge pages give one algorithm per case, so no looking again.