Megaminx
Solution
by Kurt Endl.

Fast Forward to:
Section 1: (current)
Section 2: The Elementary Operations
Section 3: Construction of the North Pole Cap
Section 4: Setting the Northern Equatorial Edges
Section 5: Setting the Northern Equatorial Corners
Section 6: Setting the Middle Equatorial Edges
Section 7: Setting the Southern Equatorial Edges
Section 8: Setting the South Pole Edges
Section 9: Placing the Southern Equatorial Corners
Section 10: Placement of the South Pole Corners
Section 11: Orientation of the Southern Equatorial and South Pole Corners

1. Objective:

To put all 12 sides back into solid colors create your own beautiful patterns. challenge your friends to reproduce them

Let us first take a close look at this amazing creation. There are three different types of moveable parts:

1 In the middle of each of the twelve pentagons forming the surface of MEGAMINX, there is a little pentagon which we shall call a "center".

2 There are thirty "edges", each showing two little "triangles" in different colors.

3. There are twenty "corners" - looking in perspective like little cubes - each showing three little "squares" in different colors.

Edges

Corners

Centers

Hence, adding up, we have a total number of sixty-two moveable parts!! This sounds terrific and, by God, it is! However, there is always a bit of consolation: The centers don't really move around, they stay in place and are just turned.

What we really turn are "caps" consisting of one center, five edges and five corners. Turning a cap, you move three parts in each of the neighboring pentagons, one edge and two corners. Here is the delicate point of this beautiful game: You cannot move edges by themselves, and you cannot move corners by themselves. These different parts move together!

When you, dear reader, and I now want to communicate abeut this fascinating puzzle, we shall have to agree about the terms and the description of the different caps and their turns. To this end, before we ever start an operation, keep MEGAMINX in your left hand so that your left thumb is on two corners and the edge in between. (Of course, if you are lefthanded, use your right hand.) Now we can clearfy define and
easily turn a left cap, a right cap and a front cap.

Put your thumb here

Center of the left cap

Center of the front cap

Center of the right cap

Since there are so many moveable parts, it is of great advantage to have a simple intuitive picture of MEGAMINX. I shall use the same picture as I used for IMPOSSIBALL, namely the picture of the earth:


On your MEGAMINX, ther are two little yellow pentagora. Turn MEGAMINX so that one little yellow pentagon is up. It will play the role of the North Pole. Thus we can talk of the North Pole cap and the South Pole cap. The part in between, we shall call the equatorial belt. It is alan clear then, what we mean by North Pole edges and corners, and by South Pole edges and corners. In the equatorial bolt we must distinguish between five different parts, which will play different roles in the strategy we are going to develop.


There are three kinds of equatorial edges, namely:

Five northern equatorial edges, neighboring the North Pole cap.

Ten middle equatorial edges, in the "middle" of the equatorial belt.

Five southern equatorial edges, neighboring the South Pole cap.



There are two kinds of equatorial comers, namely:

Five northern equatorial corners, neighboring a northern equatorial edge.

Five southern equatorial corners, neighboring a southern equatorial edge.



North Pole center

northern equatorial edges northern equatorial corners middle equatorial edges

North Pole Cap Equatorial belt South Pole cap

Don't blame me, I did not invent this beautiful brain-wracker! But. dear reader, this earth analogy is so suggestive and simple, you will not be able to get mixed up! Just look once more at the illuatration please!

The centers play a dominating role for MEGAMINX. They determine the position of the edges and the corners!

These three edges detemine this corner

These two centers detemine this edge

The North & South Pole colors will be yellow

A turn will be described by an arrow, where an arrow always means a turn by one click (72°) unless otherwise specified For the turns of the left, right and front caps, the arrow will be in the corresponding discs.

The arrow shows a turn of the left cap upwards by one click

The arrow shows a turn of the front cap to the left by two clicks

The arrow shows a turn of the right cap downwards by one click

For the other caps, the arrows will be in their side boundaries.

The arrow shows a turn of the North Pole cap to the left by one click

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