YuXin 20-Axis Soccer Cube

YuXin 20-Axis Soccer Cube

YuXin 20-Axis Soccer Cube is a twisty puzzle shaped like a soccer ball. Geometrically, it is a truncated icosahedron, a solid with 32 faces: 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons. The key detail is the number in the name. This puzzle turns around 20 axes, and each of them passes through the center of one of the hexagons. As a result, the mechanism works differently from the classic Megaminx and other puzzles that turn on their pentagonal faces.

20-Axis or 12-Axis?

YuXin offers two ball-shaped puzzles, and they are easy to mix up because they look similar from the outside. The 12-Axis version (Soccer Megaminx) turns around the pentagons. You solve it the same way as a Megaminx, so if you know the Megaminx, you will know what to do right away. In the 20-Axis version, the layers turn around the hexagons, and the pentagons change position along with them. This changes the way the pieces travel around the puzzle. Megaminx methods do not carry over directly, so you have to find your own approach. If you already have the 12-axis "ball" in your collection, this is a second, clearly different puzzle.

Who is it for?

This puzzle is for collectors and anyone who enjoys figuring out unusual puzzles outside the list of WCA events. It is not a puzzle for chasing times, but for relaxed solving and working out a solution. It will be most rewarding for those who have already solved a Megaminx or other dodecahedral puzzles. For complete beginners, it is probably too hard a start. For your first non-cube puzzle, a Pyraminx, Skewb or Megaminx is a better choice.

Once solved, it also looks great on a shelf or desk, as its shape clearly resembles a ball.

Specifications

• Type: truncated icosahedron puzzle (soccer / football)
• Manufacturer: YuXin
• Number of faces: 32 (12 pentagons and 20 hexagons)
• Rotation axes: 20, through the centers of the hexagonal faces
• Weight: 147 g
• Variant: Black
• Official WCA event: no