DISCLAIMER: This is not in any way a paid for promotion of this product.
Now this is my first toy review, well I say toy but its more of a puzzle. I don't know how many of these I am likely to do but at least lets get started with the first one.
This little beauty is called a Megaminx. It is a dodecahedral Puzzle Cube, meaning 12 different coloured pentagon faces. Not the easiest puzzle to solve once randomised. Having a love of puzzles and to be honest being a bit of a fidgeter (not a real word I know), I found this on Amazon for £8.99 and though it would give me quite the challenge. Oh boy was I right!
So a little background first. During my last year working at summer camp I took on the challenge of learning to solve the infamous Rubix Cube!! I'd had one for years and never been able to solve it and so it had sat on my shelf gathering dust ever since. Now seeing as solving the cube was always a thing at camp with the kids and counselors I went out to the local Target and bought myself a new one to try again.
Now it took me a a good 2-3 weeks playing with it every chance I could and attempting to memorise the algorithms taught to me by a great teacher until finally one day everything slotted into place. I was ecstatic! I'd finally solved a puzzle that had frustrated me for years. With a little practice I managed to get my time solving down to 1 minute 40 seconds, not a record breaker by any means but I am extremely please with myself. Now for the big challenge, hello Megaminx!
Well the day it arrived I opened it up and left on the table while I looked up some starter algorithms just to get me going. While I was doing this every couple of minutes or so my 6 year old niece would pick it up and twist a couple of sides and I would fix it. Now bear in mind she knows I can do the cube and will happily spend about 30 mins making me solve it over and over. I bet you can guess what happened.... Yes thats right, I look away for a couple of seconds and the entire puzzle has been randomised. Cue slightly sad and frustrated face.
So while we sat and watched a movie before bedtime I started my marathon attempt to solve it. I discovered that the first layer was exactly the same as solving a 3x3 cube and that was pretty straight forward. Pick a colour and then get the cross; or in this case the star, and then fill in the corners. Simple enough. You just had to imagine it as a 3x3 when you held it and as long as the positions where right the same movements would work.
Then came the second layer and again this too was pretty much the same as a 3x3 cube. So again it was just geting the the appropriate pieces into the right place so the next algorithm could be used. And it worked I managed to get the second layer completed.
From now on things started to get different, while the some of the movements were similar to the 3x3 there are whole new ones to work through. At this point on a normal cube you'd be solving the bottom face and then tiding the edges and done. This was a lot more difficult than that, once I had these edges done, there was still another 6 faces to go.
With time and admittedly following an algorithm guide, I managed to end up with the bottom face complete and and only the bottom edge left to do. This took me forever and even following a guide I'd get so far and then have to go back a few steps to get back to where I'd been. Incredible frustration! As it turned out everytime I was trying the final algorithm I was missing out a single twist. I was turning the whole cube instead of just the one face. D'oh! In the end I realised my mistake and finally......
5 hours later!!
As of now the Megaminx is sat on a shelf well out of reach of prying hands and I haven't touched it since. But I will, the aim is to get it down to maybe an hour to begin with and then 20 minutes and then 5 IF I can. So now my chronicle is over so the actual product itself.
The Puzzle Cube itself is a little bigger than a 3x3 cube and the faces are coloured stickers rather than inlaid plastic like you can get with other models. The movement is good and pretty smooth though it can lock up a little if the sides aren't perfectly aligned. I believe if I'd got a speed cube version (which I still might yet) , I think the movement would have been a lot smoother. The construction seems reasonably solid and would be unlikely to break unless a lot of force was applied.
Here is the link if you would like to look it over for yourself or see the other available models to play with.
Overall for the price I think if I'd spent a couple more pounds I'd probably have gone for the speed cube first. But I am happy with the purchase I made.
I'd give this Puzzle Cube a 3 out 5 mainly due to the stickers and the sticky movement if not aligned properly.
Catch you soon!
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