All events · Face-Turning Octahedron (FTO) · Practise · Algorithms
FTO · Beginner
An octahedron that turns on its faces: pieces, notation and a first-solve plan. A first solve.
Move sequences on this page are only checked to be legal moves for this puzzle in cubing.js. Treat them as demonstrations of the notation and the method, not as verified algorithm lists.
The puzzle
The Face-Turning Octahedron (FTO) is an eight-faced puzzle. Each face turns, and each face turn carries pieces around the points of the octahedron. It has six corner pieces, twelve edges and twenty-four centre pieces. FTO replaces Clock in this site's event list.
Face turns are named for the face they turn: U, F, D, R, L, BL, BR and B. A letter alone turns that face clockwise by a third of a turn, and an apostrophe turns it anticlockwise.
U F D L — four face turnsR U R' U' — a four-move triggerA first-solve plan
There is no single standard beginner method yet. A good plan is to solve it like a big cube by reduction: first group the centres on one face, then solve the edges, then the corners. Move one face at a time and take care not to undo the pieces you have placed.
Practice
Learn which pieces each face turn moves before you scramble. Do a few turns on a solved FTO and undo them. This builds the mental model faster than any algorithm.