A 14th Century Castle!

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Wasgij Back to #2 – A 14th Century Castle! by Bill Houston – Jumbo – 1000 pieces

When I was deciding what puzzle to do next I looked at my photos and realized I hadn’t done a Wasgij in over a month, it was definitely time! This was the first of the Back To.. series that I’ve done, the opposite of the Destiny puzzles – and it looks like I love them both! 🙂

As usual, I don’t show the entire finished puzzle. I don’t like to ruin the fun for anyone in figuring it out for themselves.

Jumbo quality is exceptional and right up there next to Ravensburger – for me anyway. I love the feel of the pieces and how they fit together, and the puzzles are gorgeous! If you can’t tell – I’m a fan. 😎

In this puzzle we see a 14th century castle as it is today, with tourists and souvenirs and tours being given. So what was it like in the 14th century when the Lord of the castle lived there? Today they’re selling hot dogs and ice cream, what was being sold back then? There’s an archaeological dig today, where did those bones come from? It’s a great image for puzzling and you’ll enjoy the finished puzzle – there’s so much to look at!

I really enjoy the added challenge of the Wasgij and What If puzzles, it’s nice to puzzle without an image to work from, it feels like more of an accomplishment when I’m done. Plus the added bonus is that each series is from a manufacturer with excellent quality.

As usual, I loved this puzzle – no big surprise! How boring,they’re always great – ho hum. 😉

Review: Mini Find It – Easter

This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse.

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Mini Find It – Easter is a game where you do what the name says, find it! In the game among all those beads are many items to be found. There is a list on the top to tell you what’s hidden inside and all you have to do is find it. Easy? Theoretically! Everything isn’t easy to find, but you’ll have a great time looking.

I don’t know what it says about me (in my late 40’s) and my mom (in her early 70’s), but we are having the best time with these kid’s games! Perhaps it says that we’re technically adults, but we also like to let our inner child out to play – A LOT. 😎

For this game, though, I didn’t just rely on two little old ladies and what they thought – I wanted to see what a child in this digital age thought and whether or not a non-electronic toy could hold his attention. Levi is 10 years old and a family friend, so I wanted his thoughts on this game and whether or not today’s tech savvy kids would enjoy it. He was excited to help out, and was so great I’ve hired him to be my product tester – luckily homemade baked goods are all the payment he requires. 😉

Levi had the game for a little over a week, and even took it on a weekend getaway with family. Here is his review…

He thought it was fun, but more fun to play with someone than by yourself. He also enjoyed that it wasn’t easy to find everything and that it provided lots of hours of play time. The objects were hidden very well, and you really had to work at moving the game around to try to find everything. He thinks the objects were very small and could be a tad bigger, but that overall he really enjoyed the game and thought it was good for just about everyone to play. (Well reviewed Levi! Let me know if I’m baking cookies or brownies for you. 😘)

Identity Games manufactures this game, and they make several versions. The Easter game I reviewed is a mini version; probably about 6 or 7 inches high. The regular Find It games look to be about twice as tall but perhaps a little thinner. They have many versions to choose from  – discover America, pirates, glitz & glamour, dinosaurs, even one called “Ew, Gross!” I wonder what they’ve hidden in that one! The regular editions come with playing cards and ways to play sheet. Click here to see all the Identity Games available at Puzzle Warehouse.

Like Levi, mom and I enjoyed this game very much. It’s perfect for car rides, in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, waiting at a restaurant, or just in the living room at home. Almost all ages can play, so the whole family can get involved in the search. It isn’t so easy that you find everything quickly and become bored – you know the items are there if you could just get the beads to fall the way you want them to! (They rarely do, you gotta work at it! 😉 )

Find It, any of the versions, would make a great gift, especially for someone who needs to unplug from everything for a while. It’s good for visual acuity, attention span, and just plain old fun! I personally would love to see exactly what they’ve hidden in the “Ew, Gross” Find It. I’m giving this game 3 thumbs up, one for each generation that had a great time playing it! 👍👍👍

 

I received this product at no charge in return for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own (or those of my product tester)

 

 

A Christmas Story Leg Lamp

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A Christmas Story Leg Lamp – USAopoly – 500 pieces

During one of my sleepless nights I was of course looking at puzzles online – you’re shocked aren’t you? Of course you are, I’m so level-headed I would never go on a late-night puzzle shopping extravaganza! 😇 I saw on Puzzle Warehouse that this puzzle was discontinued, they have a few left but I didn’t want to miss out so …. surprise! I ordered it!

I had so much fun assembling this puzzle, I smiled all day. We love A Christmas Story at our house, and especially love watching it on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day when the marathon is on tv. Pretty much the whole family says the dialog along with the movie and we all laugh and have a great time; it’s one of only a few movies that everyone in the family enjoys. Of course I had to get a leg lamp puzzle!

The assembly was quick and fun and I highly recommend this puzzle. The white border helped identify edge pieces so it was easy to start there and work inwards; that’s not always easy to do with a shaped puzzle. Not a lot of sorting necessary either – it was just a pleasure to assemble.

USAopoly has some great pop culture puzzles; and their quality isn’t bad either. There are a nice variety of piece shapes, the pieces are on the thin side but they are sturdy and fit together very well. The image reproduction is good, with a shiny finish, and they have some very fun images to choose from.

It’s pretty tall, 3 feet high (91cm) so make sure you’ve got a big enough work space. After I let mom assemble it I’m going to glue it and turn it into a Christmas decoration. Wouldn’t it be great to drive down the street during the holidays and see leg lamps or leg lamp puzzles in people’s windows? It’s putting a smile on my face right now. 😁

I know, I’m weird – but weird is awesome, and I embrace it!

If you would like to make an awesome window piece for your holiday decorations this year (or just think this would be a fun puzzle) you can find it at Puzzle Warehouse by clicking here. (I don’t get anything if you click or buy from them, they’re just my favorite puzzle store) They even have another leg lamp puzzle from a different company that’s double-sided, it has scenes from the movie on the back of it, 600 pieces. Too much fun – and it’s a major award! 😉

Train Station, Eden Central

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Train Station, Eden Central by Thelma Winter – Milton Bradley – 1000 pieces

This puzzle was excellent! The image is perfect for puzzling, the quality was amazing and it even came with a couple of extras – a resealable bag for the pieces and a box easel to set the lid on so you can easily see the picture. I don’t normally get all worked up over extras in the box, but I have to say the easel is the best quality one I have ever seen. It’s made from much thicker cardboard than the ones you get from other companies. Unfortunately for mom it lives at my house now. 😊

It went together pretty quickly, it was easy to pull out all the pieces for a section and assemble them without having to look at the box top for guidance – roof, building, train, etc. I enjoyed it immensely, although there was quite a bit of sky and that took more concentration. If nothing else, at least my brain cells are getting exercise.

This was one of those puzzles that was easy and fun and goes together well without too much checking the box top. Now and then it’s nice to puzzle a lovely, calm scene in the middle of our sometimes hectic lives.

The quality of this Milton Bradley puzzle was great, I’d love to find more of them. The pieces are thick with a nice variety of shapes and they fit together well. They feel almost soft, with a matte finish to prevent glare. They have a whole line of these puzzles with amazing artwork by Dominic Davison, Joseph Burgess, Royce B. McClure, Thelma Winter, and Bob Fair – 3 puzzles from each artist! The quality was exceptional, and the images are lovely; thumbs up to this line of puzzles. 👍

 

Review: Spirit of Coca Cola

This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse.
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Spirit of Coca Cola by Pamela Renfroe – Springbok – 1000 pieces

Spirit of Coca Cola was a fun but quite challenging puzzle. I like the image, it makes me think of my dad who always has and always will drink Coca Cola!

Springbok puzzles are good quality with nice thick pieces that fit together very snugly and excellent image reproduction. I’m not sure if you would call the cut random or semi-random, but it did make for an interesting assembly. If you read this blog regularly you know I’m not a fan of the super tight fit, but many people are; to each his own. It does make it easy to assemble a smaller section and then pick it up and move it – that’s one good thing about a very tight fit. There’s always a positive to be found, so I always try to find it. 🙂 Springbok has a varied catalog; there are so many interesting puzzles to choose from – nature, animals, sweets, holidays, and many others including more Coca Cola images! Click the link above to see all the puzzles from Springbok available at Puzzle Warehouse.

There was a fair amount of puzzle dust in the bag, but the pieces were all separated and undamaged; the fit was tight and required some effort to connect pieces. The image reproduction was beautiful with a slightly shiny finish. It was a bit difficult to work the darker areas of the puzzle for me, my puzzle area only has artificial lights so there was glare to deal with. The finished puzzle is on the large side for 1000 pieces 24 x 30 inches (61 x 76 cm) so be sure you have a large enough work space. The box has the name of the puzzle, manufacturer and piece count along with a small image on 3 sides so that you could store it vertically or horizontally.

The assembly was relatively easy at first, the bottom half of the puzzle was easy to pick out pieces to assemble the plane, all the people and signs, etc. Once the building and everything below it was complete the challenge was turned up a notch! There is a fair amount of blue sky to put together and an even larger amount of tree line. This section was more time consuming and slightly tedious for me; the trees were more difficult than the sky and took the most time. This wasn’t my favorite assembly, but it wasn’t too bad and I sure was proud when I finished it. 🙂

The artwork by Pamela Renfroe feels retro/nostalgic and makes me think of “simpler times”. I love the feeling of family in this image, and it made me look through the vintage puzzles at Puzzle Warehouse and add several of them to my ever growing, insanely long wish list. 😮 There are a bunch of wonderful collage puzzles that I would love to get my hands on!

Spirit of Coca Cola is no longer available at Puzzle Warehouse, but don’t worry, Coca Cola is a popular theme for puzzles and there are a surprising number of them to choose from. Click here to see all the Coca Cola puzzles available from Puzzle Warehouse from several different puzzle manufacturers. I especially love Santa’s Coca Cola Christmas – such beautiful artwork! The Coca Cola puzzles make me smile and some of them definitely seem like a fun challenge to take on!

 

I received this product at no charge in return for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.