This is where I would usually show you a picture of the completed puzzle, but as you can see I’ve taken a picture of the box instead. Why? Because this puzzle had terrible quality, and once I’d put together six pieces of the edge that was all I needed. Life is too short to waste on crappy puzzles.
The entire time I was sorting my brain was telling me to really think about whether or not this was a puzzle I wanted to assemble. There were MANY pieces still attached, not because they just didn’t get broken up, but because they weren’t cut all the way through – not even close to all the way through. There were groups of 2, 3, and even 4 pieces still together, and to separate them without damaging them would have required a sharp craft knife and lots of time. 😐
The thinness of the pieces was a concern as well, I don’t ever remember a Eurographics puzzle having such thin, bendable pieces before – and there have been many a puzzle from this brand on my table through the years. If I hadn’t purchased it new myself, the quality would lead me to believe this was a dollar store puzzle.
Once I started putting the edge together I knew this puzzle was going to be horrid to assemble and that it just wasn’t worth it. The looseness of the fit was crazy, there was way too much play in the pieces.
This is the pieces pushed together tightly.
This is how much play there is within the fit. You couldn’t lift two assembled pieces.
I’m not sure exactly when Eurographics quality went downhill, but the last few puzzles of theirs that I’ve assembled have been quite disappointing. They used to have nice, thick pieces with a random cut that made for an interesting assembly. The newer puzzles I’ve assembled have had thinner pieces with only one piece shape. This puzzle just put them on my naughty list, because I absolutely cannot recommend this brand anymore.
It may seem odd to review a puzzle I haven’t completely assembled, but there were so many quality issues that I felt a responsibility to let my readers know – a review seemed to be the best way to do that. It isn’t coming as a shock, I’ve expressed disappointment with the last few Eurographics puzzles that I’ve assembled; but this was by far the worst quality puzzle of theirs I’ve ever seen.
Once I decided to review this puzzle I gathered the pieces for the two yellow butterflies and put them together to be sure about the quality of the whole puzzle. Absolutely awful. Perhaps my puzzle was just one from the very end of the run when the die is dullest, but when you put this disappointing quality together with the problems of the previous ones it all adds up to a brand that has major problems, in my opinion.
Please remember, all reviews are only one person’s opinion. I do my best to be objective, but in the end this review is only about my puzzle and my experience; take it with a grain of salt. Far be it from me to tell you what to buy or not to buy; but for myself I know there won’t be any more Eurographics puzzles in my shopping cart anytime soon. It’s such a shame too, they used to be such nice puzzles. 😥
Details:
- Title: Butterflies * Vintage Stamps
- Artist: Unknown
- Brand: Eurographics
- Piece count: 500 pieces
- Size: Approx. 19 x 13 in. (48 x 33 cm)
- Purchased: New
Quality:
- Board: Poor, very thin
- Cutting: Poor
- Image: Very good
- Box: Average
- Fit: Poor, very loose
- Puzzle Dust: Moderate amount
- Piece cut: Grid cut
- Piece shapes: No variety, all one shape
- Finish: Slightly shiny finish
Overall Rating: Poor quality, not recommended
My Jigsaw Journal 
Wow – that was one of the puzzles on my wish list that is now no longer available. Turns out to be a good thing I guess!
I do appreciate your reviews. I may not always have the same experience you do but it’s always interesting and informative and I really never thought of things like the die dulling so you don’t have a crisp cut.
A side note, my friends used to roll their eyes at my love of puzzling – with all this isolation guess who’s getting into it now!
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Thank you Deb, I try to be as impartial as I can, but ultimately everything is just my opinion. I do hope my reviews help people make good puzzle buying decisions.
If your friends are getting into it too, perhaps you can set up a swap group and share puzzles to keep costs down. 🙂
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That is certainly disapointing to hear. This is a cute image too. Not to defend Eurographics, but the looseness of the border pieces you showed in your comparison pucs is not much better honestly than Educa’s fit. It is almost impossible to get those pieces to stay together. It is something that annoys the crap (pardon my English) out of me with their puzzles. However, the image quality and quality of the pieces themselves is so great that I’m willing to overlook it. And there is almost never two pieces with Educa that are not cut all the way through.
How disappointing on yours though.
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I’ve assembled quite a few Educa puzzles too, and I know what you’re talking about. This was way beyond that though, the fit was so loose that you couldn’t tell if you had the right piece, even with the image matching.
It was extremely disappointing.
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What a shame to read that this puzzle had such poor quality. But I was surprised as well, because I have this puzzle too from Eurographics and it was totally different. Same image, but good quality pieces and it seems to be a different cut, more variety in pieces.
I made it with a group at my volunteer work and had great fun with it.
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I’m glad your puzzle was lots of fun and better quality than mine. Like I said, this review is only for MY puzzle and MY experience with it.
It’s interesting though that your puzzle had a variety of shapes and mine did not. Perhaps overseas they use a different manufacturer than in North America.
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I took a look at the box again, it is manufactured in the US. But I see now that mine is a large pieces family version. 500 pieces but twice the size.
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I did a family version of a Eurographics puzzle last year, and you’re right, it was nice quality with a good variety of shapes.
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Oh no, that’s really too bad. I had one where all the pieces were the same shape, but otherwise, it was good. Eurographics is going downhill fast.
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I agree, downhill, fast as lightning.
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Thank you! We started a new Eurographics puzzle (The Periodic Table) and found it was hardly better than the Puzzlebug one that taught us that quality is paramount. Eurographics is rated highly. Do you have a list of ratings or rankings? I always consult your blog and have discovered that your taste in puzzles is similar to mine.
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Thanks Gubbinal. I don’t have a list of ratings or rankings, I find puzzles and puzzle quality are quite subjective; what annoys the crap out of me may be perfectly fine for someone else. My favorites are Ravensburger, Pomegranate, Schmidt, and Heye for qualilty. I have others that I love mainly for their catalog of images and will forgive poorer quality.
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