Cubeathon

How to practise OLL online

Cubeathon guide · Reviewed October 2026

OLL makes the top face one colour. Full OLL has 57 cases, so most cubers start with 2-look OLL: make the yellow cross, then orient the corners. That's ten algorithms, and Cubeathon has all of them with a 3D player and a recognition drill.

This guide is about practising them. If you still finish the last layer by repeating Sune, start with the beginner OLL lesson.

2-look OLL in two steps

  1. Make the yellow cross— three cases, named by the yellow edges you see on top: Line, L shape and Dot. They're on the 2-look page.
  2. Finish the yellow face— seven corner cases (OLL 21 to 27): Sune, Antisune, H, Pi, Headlights, T and Bowtie. They're on both the 2-look page and the OLL page.

Every algorithm is checked on Cubeathon's cube simulator, and each case says how to hold the cube before you start.

Recognise the corner cases

With the cross done, count the corners already showing yellow on top:

  • One corner — the “fish”: Sune or Antisune.
  • No corners — H or Pi. Look at where the yellow side stickers point.
  • Two corners — Headlights, T or Bowtie. On the Bowtie the two yellow corners sit diagonally.

Each case card's Hold it line says which way to face the case before you start, and its diagram shows the pattern to look for.

Drill with self-check

Press Start drill on the OLL page (or use the drill of all 16 cases on the 2-look page). The cases come up shuffled as diagrams:

  1. Name the case and say or finger-trick the algorithm before revealing.
  2. Press Reveal (or Space) to check.
  3. Be honest: Knew it (1) or Again (2). Cases marked Again come back until you have them.

Why self-check works

Recognition is the slow part of OLL in real solves: you know the algorithm but take a second to see which case it is. Short, shuffled rounds train exactly that.

Watch, copy and print

  • Play on the cube runs any case on the 3D cube; switch to Slow to follow each turn.
  • Every algorithm has a copy button.
  • The page has a Print sheet button for a paper reference sheet (your browser can save it as a PDF).

Notation questions, such as what f means in the Dot case? See cube notation.

When to move on

Once all ten 2-look OLL cases come without thinking, the bigger win is usually PLL and F2L, not more OLL. Cubeathon covers 2-look OLL; the full 57-case set isn't on the site.

To see whether the drill carries over, time full 3×3 solves and watch your Ao12. A session set to the Algorithm drill training mode keeps those solves separate from your normal ones.