back to Phase 5 or
How to solve a Rubik's Cube

Move for this phase:
V1 T2 V-1 T2

(see How to solve a Rubik's Cube for a description of the move notation)

What this move does:
Hold the cube with the 2 solved faces on the left and right. This move changes the position of 3 of the remaining edge pieces. The bottom-front edge piece moves to the front-top edge, the front-top edge piece moves to the back-top, and the back-top edge piece moves to the bottom-front. The bottom-back edge is unchanged.

How to use it:
At this point, you have two opposite sides solved. I'm using the white and yellow sides in my example. For this phase, you want to hold your cube with the solved sides facing left and right. Rotate the vertical slice until the center block of each unsolved side (red, green, orange, and blue) matches the edges. All you have left is the 4 edge pieces. In this phase, we're only concerned with their position. You want the red-green edge on the corner of the red and green sides, the blue-orange edge on the corner of the blue and orange sides, and so on.

yet another allegedly spiffy ASCII diagram

                ____________
               /   /   /   /^|
              / R / 3 / R /  |      
             /   /   /   / W/|    w
y           /^^^/^^^/^^^/| / |    h
e          /   /   /   / |/  |    i
l         / R / R / R /  | W/|    t
l        /___/___/___/ W/| / |    e
o       /   /   /   /| / |/  |     
w      / R / 2 / R / |/  | W/     s
      /   /   /   /  | W/| /      i
s    |^^^|^^^|^^^| W/| / |/       d
i    | G | 2 | G | / |/  |        e
d    |___|___|___|/  | W/ 
e    |   |   |   | W/| / 
     | G | G | G | / |/  
     |___|___|___|/  |   
     |   |   |   | W/
     | G | 1 | G | /
     |___|___|___|/

When you do this move, Block 1, 2, and 3 move clockwise (1->2, 2->3, 3->1). Everything else stays the same.

Examine the cube. If you're lucky, you'll find that one (or more) of the edges is already in place. Hold the cube with the correctly positioned block on the bottom rear edge. When you perform this move, that block stays in place. If none of them are in position, well, just pick a side and do the move.

If you do the move and all 4 edges are in position, you're ready to move on to the final phase. Otherwise, just do it again - hold the cube with a correctly-positioned piece at the back-bottom edge (if you can find one), and do the move. Eventually, like magic, everything will fall into place.

Move on to Phase 7 or
go back to How to solve a Rubik's Cube

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