Twisting Puzzles
Puzzle Menus
Twisting Puzzles
Pocket Cube Solver
About The Program
The pocket cube solver program can be used to find algorithms to solve or generate particular states on the pocket cube puzzle.
The 2D cube at the top can be manipulated to produce the pattern you have on a real puzzle. You right mouse click on any of the corner positions 1-7 and have the option to swap them with another or twist them.
The sections marked Permutation and Orientation show how the program stores the state of the puzzle. The permutation represents the position of each piece in the puzzle. When the puzzle is solved, the permutation is 1234567, piece 1 is in position 1, piece 2 is in position 2 etc. 2134567 would be a permutation where pieces 1 and 2 have swapped places. The orientation shows the way the pieces in each position are twisted. A 0 means that the piece is oriented correctly, a 1 means that it is twisted clockwise, a 2 for anti-clockwise. If you enter a position manually, the interactive puzzle diagram will update to match.
The option to ignore the top layer permutations is useful when searching for ways to orient the pieces of the bottom layer. If you check this box, the program will look for the quickest way to orient the pieces on the top layer without worrying about their position. This is the second stage of the Ortega method.
Generators are the opposite of the solutions. They are useful to setup the positions so that you can test any algorithms that you find.
Piece 8 cannot be moved or twisted. It is always considered to be solved. Any algorithms produced by the program will not change this piece.
Get The Program
The program is a .NET 3.5 program written in Visual Basic. What you have here is just an executable file to download, unblock and run. If it won't run, you might need to download and install a recent version of the .NET framework.