Corner Orientation

Edge Orientation

Corner Permutation

Edge Permutation

Square-1

A three-layer, shapeshifting puzzle solved by returning it to a cube before arranging the pieces.

Before starting, make sure you know the Square-1 move notation:

Grip: Always hold the Square-1 with the smaller part of the front middle layer (equator) on the left side.

Slash (/): A 180° rotation of the right side.

Bracket Notation (Top, Bottom):

Positive numbers = clockwise turn; negative numbers = counter-clockwise turn.
Edges = value of 1 (15° per edge).
Corners = value of 2 (30° per corner).
3 = standard 90° layer turn (equivalent to a U or D move on 3x3).

Step 1 — Cube Shape

The goal is to shape-shift the puzzle back into a square shape by reducing it through key intermediate shapes

Group Edges

Group all 8 small edge pieces together into even pairs to reach the Millennium Falcon shape or Scallop-Scallop (2 groups of 4 adjacent edges on top and bottom).

Scallop → Barrel

Align both scallops so the edges are on the same side, then slice (/)

Barrel → Kite

Orient the top and bottom barrels 90° relative to each other and slice (/)

Kite → Cube Shape

Align the seam through the middle of both kites and slice (/)

Step 2 — Corner Orientation

Orient all top-color (yellow) corners on the top layer and bottom-color (white) corners on the bottom layer intuitively.

Crucial Rule: To keep the puzzle in cubic shape while moving pieces around, always misalign top or bottom layer by 1 notch before making vertical slice turns.

Pair up yellow corners 2-by-2, move them into position, and bring all 4 to the top layer.

Step 3 — Edge Orientation

Orient all top-color edges to the top layer and bottom-color edges to the bottom layer using standard edge swap algorithms.

Single Edge Swap

(0,-1)/(-3,0)/(4,1)/(-4,-1)/(3,0)/(0,-1)

Double Edge Swap

(1,0)/(-3,0)/(-1,-1)/(4,1)/(-1,0)

M2 Edge Swap

(0,-1)/(1,1)/(-1,0)

Step 4 — Corner Permutation

Move all top and bottom corners into their correct positions relative to each other.

Diagonal Swap

/(3,-3)/(3,0)/(-3,0)/(0,3)/(-3,0)/

Adjacent Swap

/(3,3)/(-3,0)/(3,3)/(-3,0)/(3,3)/

Step 5 — Edge Permutation

Permute edges on both top and bottom layers simultaneously

Opposite Swap

M2 U2 M2

Adjacent Swap

(1,0)/(3,0)/(-1,-1)/(-2,1)/

Edge Parity (If 1 odd swap remains)

/ (-3, 0) / (0, 3) / (0, -3) / (0, 3) / (2, 0) / (2, -2) / (-2, 0) / (4, 0) / (-2, 0) / (2, 0) / (-1, 4) / (0, -3) / (0, 3)