Hello all! Sorry I haven’t updated all week, but I’m showing you now what has taken up all of my free blogging time.

I got this puzzle in the mail on Monday. Just as the title of this post says, it’s a Gigaminx puzzle. If a Megaminx is equal to a 3×3x3 Rubik’s cube, then this bad boy is equivalent to a 5×5x5 Rubik’s Professor cube. So, it’s essentially a cube that’s been expanded out to a 12-sided dodecahedron. And, wow, it’s a pain to solve!

Not so much as far as difficulty, but the process involved is time-consuming and will test anyone’s patience. Plus, by it’s very nature, the layers are hard to turn without them catching on each other. After the first scramble and solve, I had to take it apart (risky business, that!) and spray each piece down with silicone lubricant. This helped some, but the tension screws also needed to be set exactly to preferred tolerances. Trying to set twelve screws and springs to be evenly matched in tension is a little maddening, but it was done today. It turns well, but still a bit stiff, so more breaking-in time is required.

I ordered it from a third-party on eBay because the manufacturer’s site only works with Internet Explorer. It came pre-assembled but, with my experience in disassembling/reassembling the puzzle, in hindsight I should have ordered the DIY kit. More control over the initial assembly probably would have turned out a better Gigaminx.

Is there any puzzle enthusiast that wants a new challenge? Order one of these monsters, and see if you have the courage to scramble it in the first place! Even through my initial troubles with trying to turn the layers, it’s still very recommended. Cheers!

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 7:55 pm and is filed under Personal Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.