Starminx Puzzle and Solution
The Starminx is a dodecahedron shaped twisty puzzle, just like the Megaminx, but the cuts on each of its 12 faces form a five-pointed star, a pentagram. That's where the name comes from. There are two very different Starminx puzzles, and it's easy to mix them up because they look almost the same.
The Starminx: a star on each of the 12 faces
Two different models of this puzzle have been made and mass-produced by mf8. The Starminx I is also called the Dino Dodecahedron, which reveals that it is a corner turning 12 faced puzzle.
The Starminx II is a face-turning deep-cut puzzle where you turn a lot of pieces at once, not just 6 pieces.
At first sight they seem to be exactly the same, but if you look closer you realize that the Starminx ll has bigger edges. Both puzzles are huge, about the size of the Megaminx, maybe this is the reason why they come in a Megaminx package from the mf8 factory. The same package was used for other dodecahedron puzzles too, like the Gigaminx, the Master Kilominx and the Helicopter Dodecahedron.
Starminx 1 vs Starminx 2
| Starminx 1 | Starminx 2 | |
| Turning | Corners (vertices) | Faces |
| Cuts | Shallow | Deep |
| One turn moves | A few pieces | Almost half of the puzzle |
| Works like | Dino Cube | Megaminx with deeper cuts |
| Difficulty | Easy | Hard |
Starminx 1
This is the corner turning version where you move just 6 pieces at once, 3 corners and 3 edges. The turning is not so smooth as expected and you can't find a good grip on the puzzle. It works the same way as the Dino Cube: when you twist a corner, the pieces around it travel in a circle, but the shape of the puzzle never changes.
The Starminx solution is not so complicated, you just have to know 3 algorithms to get it solved. To execute the following algorithms rotate the corresponding corners clockwise and counterclockwise when you see the apostrophe.
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Case 1
 Rotate 3 edge pieces clockwise around a face:
B' A B A'
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Case 2
 Rotate the 3 edge pieces clockwise around a corner:
B A B' A B A B'
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Case 3
 To orient 2 edge pieces first do this algorithm to get case 1:
A' B' C' D C B A D'
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Solving tips:
- Pick a color and solve that face first. Most of the pieces can be placed intuitively, just like on the Dino Cube.
- Continue with the faces around it, and use the algorithms above only when a piece can't be moved without breaking the solved part.
- Leave the opposite face for last. Here you will need Case 1 and Case 2 to cycle the last pieces, and Case 3 if two pieces are flipped.
Starminx 2
Originally the Starminx 2 was designed first but mf8 named this to be the second. This may cause confusion.
This is the face turning version, where you move almost the half of the cube at once. This makes it so hard to solve. Because the cuts are so deep, it behaves more like the Skewb than the Megaminx: every turn moves pieces all over the puzzle, so it's hard to keep the solved parts in place.
The mechanism is similar to the classic Megaminx. The puzzle turns pretty good and it gets looser and looser if you use it much. The only annoying thing about it is that the center pieces fell off all the time. The stickers are pretty good quality and you have to apply them.
A scrambled Starminx: every face is a mess
mf8 released an improved Starminx II in 2021 that turns much better than the original. There is also a Curvy Starminx with curved star points, which is face turning like the Starminx II. Both are about 9 cm wide and come unstickered with two sets of stickers. The Starminx II is available with a black or a white body.
How to approach it: learn the Megaminx and the Skewb first. From the Megaminx you know how to work around a dodecahedron face by face, and from the Skewb you learn how to handle turns that move half of the puzzle. Short commutators (sequences like A B A' B') are your best friends: they move only a few pieces and leave the rest untouched. You can practice the turns on our online Megaminx simulator.
Similar Dodecahedron Puzzles
The dodecahedron is one of the most popular shapes after the cube. If you like the Starminx, check out thse puzzles too:
- Megaminx, Gigaminx, Teraminx and Petaminx: the face turning classics with more and more layers.
- Kilominx: the 2x2x2 of the dodecahedrons, a great first step.
- Dino Cube: the cube shaped cousin of the Starminx 1.
- Helicopter Cube: an edge turning puzzle, which also has a dodecahedron version.
Find more puzzles sorted by difficulty in our list from easy to hard.