Megaminx

The Megaminx is a puzzle in the shape of a dodecahedron with a regular pentagon base. Despite of its appearance, it has a lot in common with the Rubik's cube. Both puzzles consist of one-colored centers, two-colored edges and three-colored corners.

On this page you will find:

Megaminx - notation
Megaminx - solving of layer without a (working) corner
Megaminx - solving of edges adjacent to the solved layer without a corner
Megaminx - solving of edges on faces adjacent to the solved layer without a corner
Megaminx - solving of all corners except those in the top layer and working corner
Megaminx - solving of remaining edges
Megaminx - solving of remaining corners
world record videos

Megaminx - notation

Megaminx - solving of layer without a (working) corner

Solve one layer without one corner in an analogous way to step 1 in the Rubik's cube tutorial.

Megaminx - solving of edges adjacent to the solved layer without a corner

Solve five more edges in the same way as shown in step 2 in the Rubik's cube tutorial.

Megaminx - solving of edges on faces adjacent to the solved layer without a corner

Solve all edges on the faces adjacent to the solved layer.

Solving order on video: violet-orange, violet-red, green-(dark)blue, green-red, turquoise-(dark)blue, turquoise-pink, brown-pink, (light)blue-orange and (light)blue-green edge.

Megaminx - solving of all corners except those in the top layer and working corner

Solve all corners except for those belonging to the top face. The working corner in the bottom layer doesn't have to be solved yet in this step. Basic principle: place a corner from the top face to its right position. By doing so, another corner will get into the top layer. Then just repeat the process - see a video below.

Solving order on video: green-blue-red, green-blue-turquoise, blue-green-orange, blue-brown-green, turquoise-blue-pink, violet-red-orange, brown-pink-green (LOOK OUT: only corners belonging to the top layer + the working corner are now in the top layer. A corner at the working corner position, i.e. violet-blue-orange one, needs to be placed to the top layer and then it needs to be inserted to the right place), violet-blue-orange and brown-turquoise-pink corner.

Megaminx - solving of remaining edges

Essentially, this step is a combination of the second step, in which the edges are being solved using the working corner (whose position will be relocated to a more advantageous place), and step 3 in the Rubik's cube tutorial.

Solving order of edges (with the help of the working corner) on video: pink-blue, red-blue, green-pink edge. (LOOK OUT: now, when the last edge (orange-red) is left to be solved, it is a good idea to place the working corner correctly.) Solving order of edges in the top layer: yellow-blue, yellow-green and yellow-pink edge.

In case two edges need to be oriented, we basically proceed in the same way as for a Rubik's cube. However, we must take into account that a Megaminx has five edges in the top layer, while a Rubik's cube has only four of them.

Megaminx - solving of remaining corners

The same way the corners are being solved in step 4 in the Rubik's cube tutorial can be used in the last step of solving a Megaminx.

Solving order of corners: yellow-orange-red, yellow-red-blue, yellow-green-orange and yellow-green-pink corner. In case only two corners need to be oriented, solve this problem similarly to step 4 in the Rubik's cube tutorial, i.e. use a commutator.

World record videos

As a football has FIFA and athletics has IAAF, also the Megaminx has some sort of board that organizes the competitions worldwide. It is WCA - World Cube Association. Thus it can be officially competed in a solving of the Megaminx. It is competed in two formats: single fastest solve of the puzzle and average solve. As an average, five consecutive times of one round are taken, the best and the worst time is not considered and from the remaining three times an arithmetic mean is calculated.

		event: Megaminx single solve
		name: Juan Pablo Huanqui (Peru)
		result: 27.22 s
		puzzle brand: QiYi MoFangGe X-Man Design Galaxy v2 Boron-22 M
		solving method: CFOP adapted to Megaminx
		personal opinion on used method: see below
		competition: La Tienda Cubera Christmas; 21-22. 12. 2019; Peru

		event: Megaminx average solve
		name: Juan Pablo Huanqui (Peru)
		result: 30.39 s
		puzzle brand: QiYi MoFangGe X-Man Design Galaxy V2 Boron-22 M Sculpted
		solving method: CFOP adapted to Megaminx
		personal opinion on used method: see below
		competition: Wuxi Open; 10-11. 8. 2019; China

If you find a so-called speedcubing interesting, check out an article about where to buy a Megaminx, what brand is the best and how to solve it faster.

Personal opinion on methods used in the world records

Megaminx:

As you can tell from an intuitive tutorial for a Megaminx, that puzzle has a lot in common with a 3x3x3 Rubik's cube. Therefore, solving methods for both puzzles will be the same in principle.

In fact, I know only one method for speedsolving and that is an adaptation to CFOP. 2-look OLL and 2-look PLL are standards for a Megaminx. Apparently 2-look OLL (orientation of edges at first, then orientation of corners), followed by only 1-look PLL (because Juan Pablo Huanqui knows all 151 PLL algorithms) have been used in the world record for a single solve.

The page was graphically improved by Jeremy Fleischman, Lucas Garron and Jiříček.