Puzzle, Megaminx
date: label: Date made
content: 1982
name: label: maker
content: TOMY
notes: label: Description
content: This puzzle is in the shape of a regular dodecahedron, a twelve sided solid with each face a regular pentagon. The puzzle was known as the "Megaminx" or magic dodecahedron. It was distributed by the Japanese firm TOMY in 1982, for the puzzle maker Uwe Meffert.
label: Description
content: Each pentagonal face of the Megaminx is divided into eleven pieces: a pentagon at the center, five rhombuses at the corners, and five trapezoids in the center of the edges. The faces are colored using two shades of blue, two shades of orange, two shades of green, two shades of purple and one shade of pink, yellow, brown, and white. The twisting mechanism for this puzzle differs from that of the Rubik’s Cube.
label: Description
content: This puzzle was originally called a Pyraminx Dodecahedron. The Pyraminx is a variant on the Rubik’s Cube that was invented by Uwe Meffert and is shaped as a regular tetrahedron, a pyramid with four faces that are all equilateral triangles. Some of Meffert’s twisting puzzles are discussed in a 1982 article in <I>Scientific American</I>.
label: Description
content: For more information about the Rubik’s Cube and other twisting puzzles that use the same or similar mechanisms see 1987.0805.01.
label: Description
content: Reference:
label: Description
content: Douglas R. Hofstadter, “METAMAGICAL THEMAS: Beyond Rubik’s Cube: spheres, pyramids, dodecahedrons and God knows what else,” <I>Scientific American</I>, vol. 247, #1, July, 1982, pp. 16-31.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematical Recreations
label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Twisting Puzzles
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Cecil Smith
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2006.0061.14
label: catalog number
content: 2006.0061.14
label: accession number
content: 2006.0061
objectType: label: Object Name
content: puzzle
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 cm x 8 cm x 8 cm; 3 1/8 in x 3 1/8 in x 3 1/8 in