I like the Megaminx, and always have since I first found one in a toy store in 1984. Part of this is a love of the dodecahedron shape, but I've decided to focus on just this particular dodecahedron puzzle for this post.

I have a few different types of Megaminx and wanted to do a comparison of them for those who might not have seen their innards, as well as a review of cost and quality. I would love to get my hands on a white supernova at some point, and should probably get a new "speed megaminx" which looks almost assuredly to be the new stickered Megaminx with tiles instead of the cheap stickers. I don't have a "verision 1" of the Tiled Megaminx, and I have heard the "new" tiled megaminx that I have is an improvement. Finally I would like to get a stickered Meffert's, although I suppose I can presume it is the same as the Meffert's with tiles.

On to the review:

Here are five Megaminxes I have. From back to front (left to right):
Chinese Megminx, stickered megaminx
Meffert's tiled megaminx, Tomy Megaminx (Cubesmith stickers), Hungarian supernova

Most of them are closely related to the Meffert's. In fact, it would be nice to get a bit of history from anyone who knows about the exact timing of release to the market, and any licensing between manufacturers.

I'll start with the Tomy Megaminx.

This was my first, and for over 20 years I played with this puzzle without ever lubricating or cleaning it. Movement was so tight that many of the edge stickers came off from the sheer friction of my fingers moving the faces. I super glued them back, once messing up and permanently fixing an out of alignment sticker. Last year, when I found TwistyPuzzles.com, I saw the light and took it apart, cleaning it and lubricating it. I took off all the old stickers, including sanding down the super glued ones (blech!) and gave it some nice shiny Cubesmith stickers. Now it is a fine puzzle, although with new springs it will be better.
Note that the core is identical to the Meffert's, as is the center piece and cap. The screw is different, however, being two pieces instead of the one piece screw/washer in the Meffert's now. The spring is ever so slightly softer than the Meffert's, but not by much. Do springs get softer over 20 years? Perhaps it is the same with wear. Speaking of wear...

Note the grooves on the underside of the center piece. The Meffert's and Tomy centers are not arched, this is from decades of use
But the Tomy and Megaminx are not identical:

[Tomy on the left, Meffert's on the right]
Note that the edges are the same, even down to the pin mark on the side of the edge (not shown in this picture), but the corner of the Megaminx has a "foot" on it that as far as I can tell is completely unnecessary. Why waste the plastic I wonder?

Next we move to the new stickered Megaminx. It looks almost identical to the Meffert's, although the edges of the pieces are just a slight bit less rounded, and there are some holes in the edge and corner pieces. The corner has the same "foot" as the Meffert's:

[Stickered Megaminx left, Meffert's DIY Megaminx right]
The core is a direct copy, as is the center piece. The most immediate difference is the screw and spring. At first I thought it was riveted!


[Stickered Megaminx left, Meffert's DIY Megaminx right]
The screw of the stickered Megaminx fits inside the shaft of the center piece, and the spring is conical on both ends so it compresses down very short. Very nice design! The tension of the stickered Megaminx is softer than the Meffert's, and doesn't need replacing for speed. So far I have seen no indication of screws coming out on counterclockwise turns either, and don't expect any with this design.
The slight concave faces of the center piece are once again not arched centers, but depressions from the injection molding process. The Meffert's is in general much higher quality in terms of flat faces. Almost half of the faces of the corners on my stickered Megaminx show some sign of depressions, whereas I have seen only one on my Meffert's. For the centers this doesn't hurt, but on the corners this means very visible bubbles under the cheap stickers.

The Meffert's with stickers and Tomy had uniform sizes to their stickers, the new Stickered megaminx has stickers a bit too large, and often are misaligned and hang off the edge of the pieces. I recommend restickering with CubeSmith if you get one of these.

All of these very similar puzzles have almost exactly the same dimensions, although if I had to guess I would say the Tomy was a hair smaller (perhaps that is spring tension) than the Meffert's and the stickered Megaminx a hair larger (perhaps just the less rounded edges). All of the face cuts are such that adjoining faces do not meet in a point.

Next we move to the Tiled Megaminx, often called the Chinese Megaminx because of the location of its manufacture. Silly, as almost all puzzles are made in China these days (not the Elemental:Neon or V-Cubes though!). This has a completely different mechanism than the Meffert's, and is much closer to the Hungarian Supernova (see below). In general this is a very cheap (in price and quality) puzzle, with poor movement:

[Tiled Megaminx or "Chinese Megaminx"]
The core is a sphere with very short arms. Unlike the Meffert's style, the faces on this Megaminx meet at a point like the Supernova design. Edge and center pieces have grooves in them and corners have nubs to lock into these grooves to align the face after each turn. For a novice this is a nice "click" to help alignment, but for speed cubing it is horrible. I have heard of people removing the nubs and having good results, but haven't ever finished doing so myself.
In addition to the locking mechanism, the edges of all the pieces not rounded, and can even be sharp. This means lots of lock ups. Aside from a good price, one of the best parts of this puzzle is the soft springs. Great for stealing to improve a Meffert's Megaminx The soft springs and sharp edges lead to pops though.
The centers of this puzzle are the only arched centers I have found in the Megaminx family. The mechanism feet are deeper in the center of the puzzle as well. With better execution on the molding and tolerances, I imagine this might lead to a superior puzzle, but these little flaws override that advantage of the design.

[Arched center of the Tiled Megaminx]
The pieces of the Tiled Megaminx are hollow, with the colored tile capping the gap. Often this is not so cleanly done, but not too bad. The colors are also not quite as bright as the Meffert's, and these tiles are flush with the puzzle face (which I prefer).
Also, this puzzle is quite a bit larger than any other in the megaminx family (about a centimeter taller). I should take proper measurements and edit this post, I don't have a caliper handy.
It comes lubricated with oil, which can be a bit messy, particularly if you open it up.

Finally we have the Hungarian Supernova. A beautiful puzzle, and hard to find, this came out the same time the Meffert's did in the early or mid 1980s. See here for a number of good pictures.

[Core of the Hungarian Supernova]
The core is quite different from other puzzles, and the centers have arms that reach into the core. They are sprung, but I don't have the heart to remove a sticker to see the screw and spring under the center piece. It has no visible cap, so I'd have to remove the sticker to find out. I have seen some supernova's sell with poor stickering, any chance someone owns one and can take a peek for us?

Note that one corner of each center is cut off. I wonder if this was to allow a final corner to be placed easier when assembling with three adjoining cut center corners are aligned. I can't see any other reason.

This puzzle moves quite well and I have never lubricated it. I'll clean it up and try one of these days. The spring tension is good, although perhaps a tiny loose for speed solving, I would worry about too many pops if it was lubricated.

What makes this puzzle truly impressive is the incredible design of the pieces. Each corner and edge piece is actually comprised of two interlocking molded pieces. They fit together lightly but precisely and form a hollow piece that holds firm by the pressures of the puzzle:


[two piece Supernova edge and corner]
The walls are thin but the pieces strong and light. The precision of the molding for his must have been very, very good and the result holds up great after two decades (compare this with another hungarian puzzle of the same era). When I first took it apart it was some time before one of the free pieces fell into two pieces, and I was quite surprised to discover this nice feature.

Oh yeah, the stickers are awesome. Only the orange has degraded over time, which is common for puzzles of the early 80's. Something about lead in the pigment I think. But it is a bright orange

Here I am at the end and I realize I haven't actually given the Meffert's any direct attention, just by way of comparison. Oh well, I'll have to add that later. But here is a picture with a tiled and DIY (unstickered) Meffert's as well unstickered replicas:


Now some comparisons on price and quality:

The cheapest is the Tiled Megaminx (about $6 before shipping) and you get what you pay for, it is the poorest of the lot.

Next up is the "stickered" Megaminx at about $8 or $9. It is a huge improvement over the Tiled Megaminx, and with only a bit of lubricant is ready for speed solving. You won't need to replace the springs but you will want to ditch those terrible stickers.

The Meffert's is the gold standard for speed solving, if tuned. This means spring replacements and some lubricant, and getting rid of all the flash. At $30 it is a better puzzle than the stickered clone, but not that much and probably more work for a novice to get moving smoothly. The recent problems with tiles coming off and screws coming unscrewed on counterclockwise turns (see here for details) are unfortunate and diminish a very nice puzzle. The tiles of the Meffert's are vibrant and quite tall. Some like this, I am not sure it is my taste. Finally, the Meffert's was out of stock for years and so the true cost was in $50-$100 on eBay for quite some time. It was briefly in stock again recently but now out again [Edit: And now available again...]. So for many the clone stickered Megaminx is not only a good deal for price vs. quality, but may now be the only realistic option.

The Tomy is quite similar to the Meffert's in quality. I'd rate mine better on springs and obviously no tile or unscrewing problems. But they are quite hard to find and command a high price on eBay ($75-$100?). As a collector's item it wouldn't make much sense to use for speedsolving, but you certainly could.

The Hungarian Supernova is quite rare and a fine puzzle. Great movement, superior design and very nice stickers. Prices on eBay have fluctuated quite a bit, with one selling for $67 and another selling for $200 within a few months last year. I would expect over $100 to be the norm.

I love all these puzzles (even the Chinese Megaminx, for making the Megaminx available to so many), and if anyone has more info on ones I don't profile or aspects I haven't covered, please post here!

Dave

P.S. I would have submited this as an article, but with Sandy out of communication I don't know when it might get posted

====================

I finally received some of the new tiled megaminxes and figured I would add to this all in the same place. I know it was reviewed in another post, but I figured I would give my impressions as well as pictures in comparison to the Mefferts.

The new tiled Megaminx comes in both black and white. These are nice puzzles, particularly for the relatively low price ($15 or so). The movement is good, and they come lubricated with an oil (from http://www.9spuzzles at least). They are a bit loose and easy to pop. They are also not as precise as the Mefferts or stickered Megaminx (Meffert's clone). I have gaps and inconsistencies in spacing on my puzzles. But still a good step better than the previous tiled clone of the Hungarian Supernova.
The tiles are good, and quite bright. They are shiny and smooth instead of textured like Mefferts.

The size of the puzzle is larger than the Mefferts by quite a bit, almost as large as the older Supernova cut tiled megaminx. Like this older megaminx the centers are arched and the mechanism is "deeper" in the puzzle than the Mefferts. Unlike the older megaminx with Supernova style cuts (edges meet in a point) the cuts of this megaminx are even shallower than the Megaminx, meaning a wider edge piece.
A major difference from the Mefferts and stickered (Meffert's clone) is that the pieces a hollow, making for a lighter puzzle.

I haven't yet popped the center cap to look at the screw and spring structure.

Mefferts (left) and new tiled Megaminx (right)

Arched centers:

Size difference (corners swapped):

Hollow pieces (shown from a white puzzle):


==========================================
I recently received a white stickered megaminx. Here are pictures, they confirm this is just a white plastic version of the clone stickered megaminx above. This is a good puzzle for the price.

Very nice writeup, Dave. I too have most of those variants laying around except for the tiled Mefferts. Unfortunately my one retail packaged megaminx had the misfortune of having one screw glued to the center hub, and upon giving it a twist it was immediately apparent that this puzzle was destined to fall apart. I tried to fix the screw but unfortunately it was clear that this puzzle would never be whole. Truly a shame.

What a great post - very clear photography too.

I have only the Meffert's Tiled Megaminx. What a great puzzle. A little stiff out of the package but soon fixed with some lubricant and fine tuning as you say. Definitely a quality puzzle though.

Some other Megaminx variants to explore
White Hungarian Supernova - likely same mech as shown here (?). Seeing as it is on Georges' want list and the one pictured has terrible sticker condition, I can gather this is exceedingly rare.

Puzl.co.uk Speed Megaminx - likely a based on Meffert

IQ King Megaminx - ?

'Chinese' Megaminx Version 1 - ?

Its basically the same as the PVC megaminx, but with much better lexan tiles (ie cubesmith smooth tiles) and a slightly different screw/spring structure. I would be happy to post some mechanism pics, if anyone wants them. But not today, tis too late/early.

Given how different the PVC ("Stickered") Megaminx screw/spring is from the Mefferts (given the same core and center piece) I am curious to hear that the tiled version changes it yet again. Yes, pictures would be very appreciated when you have time

Dave

I just took it apart, and it appears to be that it has the same exact screws and springs as the PVC megaminx. For some reason I thought they were different.

I guess there's no need for pics, then.

I just want to say thank you for such a brilliant article! I have only the tiled megaminx (cheapest), and I have been wondering about all the other variants. I will now likely buy the PVC megaminx. Now if only someone would do a similar analysis of the various versions of square-1!

Would washers between the center pieces and springs on a megaminx be a good idea?

I know that the DIY A 3x3x3 cubes come with two washers for each screw/spring. One washer between the spring and screw head, and a smaller washer between the spring and the plastic lip inside the center piece? I really like believing that this extra washer between the spring and center piece prolongs the life of the puzzle.

Has anyone noticed the edge of a spring wearing down the inner lip on a megaminx center piece?

I have boughten an Edison Megaminx here in Korea, which is exactly as the PVC Megaminx shown in this post.
It too had crappy misaligned stickers and dimples from a half@ss mold that show up under the stickers, but as a whole, is a great megaminx. I've removed the stickers and sanded each pieces imperfections, but have been curious about putting washers inside under the springs, and if anyone else has done this.

Thanks

Nice comparisons. Those Supernova edges are really interesting. I'll be on the look out for the right springs and washers for my Meffert's.

It was a bit lost in the middle of the post, but if you haven't already seen this thread, it will save you time searching through the hardware store.

Dave

It certainly wouldn't hurt. I'm not sure it is that important though. If the spring catches on bottom of the center piece it will likely twist with the center piece, but the spring against the top washer shoudn't have much friction. Adding the bottom washer might prevent this, but I don't know if it helps much. I suppose if the spring stuck to the top washer it could tear up the center piece bottom without a washer but again, probably not a likely situation.

Another Megaminx I need to add to my list

Dave

For the record, original tiled Meffert's Megaminxs had tiles the same size as the current tiled minx, however, they had textured grooves, very similar to those on the vinyl on his Skewbs, except in the actual plastic of the tiles. They were also a separate color scheme.

Do the center caps on the speed megaminx happen to fit onto a meffert's megaminx?

Probably, judging by Stefan Pochmann's disassembly tutorial. I don't have a mefferts minx to compare to, though.

They sure look like it. I'll try tomorrow (puzzles at work...) and report back.

Dave

Thank you for your post, Dave. I just got a Megaminx for my birthday (Chinese). As I love background information this was very interesting to me.

Celia

I was wrong. The PVC stickered Megaminx (likely the same as the speed megaminx) center cap is about 1mm larger than the Meffert's. It's cap is too large for the Meffert's and the Meffert's cap just rattles around on the stickered Megaminx center.

I have exchanged a few edge and corner pieces from the puzzles and they are close enough not to notice the change, but the centers confirm these puzzles do not have exactly the same dimensions.

Dave

Hello all, first post here on TP. Please excuse me if three days is too far back to bump a topic just to comment.

Thank you DLitwin for a fantastic review and comparison of the megaminxes you have. I ordered a Stickered Megaminx from eBay a few days ago after reading through this topic and i appear to have made the best decision in regards to cost-to-quality ratio without spending more than i wanted to. These types of reviews are always helpful for a relatively new puzzler and your efforts have helped me to make a good decision in regards to my small(but growing!) collection.

I do have a question though. Since the meffert's and stickered megaminx variations are extremely similar, would it be possible to use a set of meffert's tiles for my stickered megaminx? I've heard the stickers on the "stickered" version are fairly woeful and don't always align, and i'd like to make the puzzle last as long as possible and look great too(i love the appearance of meffert's tiles). I hope to hear from you soon regarding this inquiry.

-CC10

Welcome to the forum! Your post asks a relevant question so I can't see anyone complaining

They could work just fine. They puzzles really are very, very close to the same size, and since the stickers don't go to the edge, you wouldn't ever notice the difference. Look at the difference in size between the Rubik's, V-Cubes and East Sheen 5x5x5s, and all can fit the same size sticker and still look good. And the size difference there is huge compared to that of the Megaminxes you are asking about.

The only problem you might have is the depressions in the corners. With stickers you will get a bit of a bubble under the sticker and with tiles it will reduce the surface area of adhesion. So make sure you use decent glue and if you have one that just won't work you may have to fill it with an epoxy putty.

You should do fine though.

Dave

Thank you for the prompt response (and the response is favorable!). I'll certainly invest in the tiles and I do believe i have some really good super glue, as my dad has some loctite which is supposedly amazing if all else fails.

-CC10

FYI: The Megaminx tiles have hollow backsides, as illustrated in the picture here, so the depressions in the faces won't really have much effect. They'll only be attached at the edges unless you use a bulk/filler glue.

I updated the top post with information from the new tiled Megaminx.

Dave

I'm hoping I didn't miss it in my read, but what about Drew's Pro-minx? Could we get a review on this in comparison to the others?

Assuredly, as soon as I can get a Pro-Minx

Dave

yes, I'm bumping a semi old thread instead of posting a new one.
I was out hunting last week and came across a 'WEN SHENG' megaminx. Here it is boxed

The enclosed instruction sheet as seen through the box

The stand it is sitting on

And here it is next to some others:

Top Row
Mf8 DIY that Marco posted about here 156 grams 66.5 mm w/o tiles
Mf8 white: 158 grams 69 mm with tiles 66 mm without tiles
Mf8 gift from Uwe: (this one has the v-cube snapping action when you cut corners. you can twist it so the corner is lined up with the center and it will still turn without popping pieces ) 150 grams 68.5 mm with tiles. 66 mm w/o tiles
China Minx: 162 grams 68 mm with tiles 67.5 mm w/o tiles

Bottom Row
Original Meffert's Stickers 166 grams 63 1/2 mm
Original Meffert's Tiled 176 grams 66 mm w/tiles 63 mm w/o tiles
Wen Shen 172 grams 64 mm

There is still one missing. Must be in that last box
More interesting useless information for you Georges.

You're welcome!
Are you missing a Supernova?
Or did it fall off the balcony?
Can't wait for Saturday to come!

I want an email on Saturday Georges with a brief description if you don't mind!

It might be a super nova. I honesty don't remember, and trolling through pictures, I see there are lots of puzzles that I haven't photographed yet!

The biggest problem with having a small home and a large collection is there is no room to display everything.

That new minx looks awfully similar to the ones on DX right now - can anyone confirm whether it's the same one?

Black: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.16334
White: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.17507

And those look very similar to the PVC Megaminx ("stickered Megaminx") which David posted about in this thread already. Rox, care to compare the two?

I actually appreciate having it all in one place.

Saying "V-Cube snapping action" here is a bit misleading. Spring loaded centers and cutting corners is nothing new with the V-Cubes, you get this same action on pretty much any modern DIY cube. Although for higher level cubes the V-Cubes do this exceptionally well, you can get the same behavior to a degree from a Rubik's 5x5x5, and a bit more on a Bandelow 5x5x5 (it has springs and adjustable tension).

What you are describing with the MF8 is their relatively light springs and loose tension. This, combined with the fact that they are oiled, means that out of the box they move much nicer than a Meffert's or stickered megaminx. For a speed cuber this can be great, but I find the MF8 to be a bit loose, and easy to pop. Adjusting this tighter will make it more like the megaminx you are used to, and adjusting another looser (and changing out the springs) will make it work like the Mf8.

The only V-Cube like Megaminx is the Pro-Minx, which I hope to have in my greedy hands one of these days. You'll know when I do, because I'll update this post with pictures and a review

While I can't say 100% for sure I agree they look identical, particularly the sticker colors and shapes (too big for the pieces...)

Dave