Upstairs, Downstairs by Art Poulin – Ravensburger – 1000 pieces
I enjoyed this puzzle so much more than I anticipated – it’s always great when that happens. Looking at the box of pieces, they all seemed to be shades of brown for the most part, and I didn’t think it would be as entertaining to assemble as it actually was. Once I picked out some wallpaper from one room, it lead to another wallpaper, and seeing which rooms went where; and before I knew it out of the chaos came the whole house and all it’s fabulous rooms. It really was wonderfully engrossing. 🙂
Only one room was colorful, the kid’s playroom at the top of the house…
It doesn’t look very big, but perhaps to a child it would be perfect. I wonder what’s up with the big chicken on the floor?
If you ask me, the more interesting rooms are downstairs. More people, more camaraderie – more goings on. Yes, I know, they’re “the help”, but to me they’re much more fascinating. The rooms upstairs may be pretty, but they’re boring. People standing around in attractive rooms doing very little… Yawn. Don’t get me wrong, it was pretty, and one of the wallpapers that was easy to pick out; but nothing’s really happening in there – it’s just a pretty room. I’m much more interested in what’s happening downstairs. (All only my opinions of course 🙂 )
The quality was lovely, the assembly was completely absorbing, and all in all I had a fabulous time with this puzzle. If it’s in your to do pile, I definitely recommend it.
Michigan State University – R & R Imports – 500 pieces
I received this puzzle as a gift from my favorite sister-in-law. She works for the school, and is always sending us MSU things – this time it was a puzzle, yay!
It was very challenging, but the puzzle goddess hasn’t lost her touch – I still got it. The edge was difficult, the crowd was difficult, and overall it was quite demanding. It isn’t the easiest image, but I thought the challenge was fun.
This puzzle wasn’t the best quality, but that’s par for the course with a company that doesn’t specifically produce jigsaw puzzles. The pieces were quite thin, and the cutting was sub-par as well. A few of the tabs were broken off, and some were close to breaking. But it was a gift, and I very much appreciate the thought behind it.
The whole time I was assembling the crowds I was thinking “I would hate to be there in the midst of all those people”. Rather than being in the middle of a throng of people making too much noise (according to a little old lady), I would much prefer to be home in front of a puzzle. But that shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. 😉
This is a gorgeous image that was a little challenging too – it needed just the right amount of brain power. It’s a great little puzzle that I think looks amazing. The name of the puzzle makes me wonder what the other 16 Winged Things look like, and I also wonder if they were made into puzzles.
Normally there isn’t much discussion about the boxes puzzles come in, but this one was was something worth talking about. The box was so enormously difficult to open that I had to have one of my sons help me. It’s just a round-ish box with one flat side (easier to put on the shelves I’m assuming). Seriously, it was so difficult to open it took two grown people working together, and we had to use a butter knife to pry the pieces apart. We must have looked like a couple of world class mindless idiots – we couldn’t open a cardboard box! (Thank goodness there is no video evidence of this to add to my humiliation)
Once we finally got the box open I had a fabulous time putting this together. The piece shapes were interesting, and the colorful image made for such entertaining puzzling. This puzzle had a somewhat loose fit but it wasn’t too bad, and the image reproduction was absolutely beautiful.
The center was very unusual; most circular puzzles have 3 pieces that form a small circle, but this one had eight pizza shaped pieces – very interesting – and it added to the difficulty as well.
It isn’t often that you see circular 300 piece puzzles, but I was very happy to find this at the store. I only bought two of them, but there were more; I might have to go back and get another one. 😉
100 Aussie Icons by Jim Tsinganos – Mr. Bob Puzzles – 515 pieces
100 Aussie Icons is a fantastic image, and made for a wonderfully interesting puzzle. This is one of two wooden puzzles sent to me for review, and I had an absolutely great time with the assembly. I’m so looking forward to the next one!
Mr. Bob Puzzles is an Australian puzzle company that has switched over from producing cardboard puzzles to making wooden ones. They primarily focus on the artwork of Australian artists, and are trying to avoid the well-worn path of puzzle images; I think that pitfall has been avoided, their catalog is full of interesting and not seen before images to choose from. The quality is excellent, with thick wooden pieces that feel good in your hands, and a cut that looks easy, but offers more of a challenge than you think.
There’s one thing I can’t show you with a picture – the smell. Mr. Bob Puzzles uses aromatherapy essential oils to give their wooden puzzles a wonderful smell. I can’t tell you what it is, because I have no idea the exact scent; all I can tell you is they smell amazing! Mr. Bob Puzzles believes in the health benefits of puzzling (there are 10 health benefits listed on the back of their boxes), and they are adding aromatherapy oils to their puzzles to enhance the assembly experience and add to the health benefits. It’s something I’d never heard of before, but I think it’s great and the scent in my puzzle room was truly lovely.
The first picture is after one day’s assembly. The second is when it is almost complete, all that’s left is the sky. The cut is seeming a simple one, with regular “puzzle” shaped pieces, but it’s quite deceptive. There are many straight edges on the inside of the puzzle, and it makes for a much more challenging assembly than I thought. I loved the added difficulty and it went together much more slowly than a 500 piece puzzle usually does for me. In my book that’s a plus!
According to the box, all Mr. Bob puzzles have Australia themed whimsy pieces, I love the kangaroo inside the shape of the country – very cool. Of course my favorite has to be the Sydney Opera House with my initials inside! 😍 I’m not sure if that’s something they do for everyone, but I loved it.
I’m sure a good Aussie could tell you exactly who all these people are. I was almost positive that the flag bearer was Ian Thorpe (Olympic swimmer), but of course I was wrong; he’s one of the surf lifesavers. Other than that I have to confess to being an uninformed American who had no idea who the rest of these people were until Mr. Bob sent me a legend with most of the icons. I would suggest that perhaps there be a page on their website with a legend of them all so that we could see the ones we missed. This image is one of their bestsellers, and I’m sure a list would be appreciated by those of us who aren’t up to date on our Australian history.
Also, you can see in the top right of the picture that Mr. Bob has put his logo into the puzzle, very clever!
The artwork is so detailed and full of interesting people and things and it made for a most entertaining assembly. The puzzle is quite large, about the size of the average 1000 piece cardboard puzzle, and I found the large pieces are quite nice to work with. I was impressed with the quality of this puzzle, and it is most definitely recommended. I will add that I was equally impressed with their very quick shipping – this puzzle was at my door 5 days after it left Australia. Amazing!
Details:
Title: 100 Aussie Icons
Artist: Jim Tsinganos
Brand: Mr. Bob Puzzles
Piece count: 515 pieces
Size: Approx. 23 x 17 in. (54 x 43 cm)
Purchased: N/A, sent for review
Quality:
Board: 4.5mm wood
Cutting: Excellent
Image: Excellent
Box: Excellent
Fit: Excellent
Puzzle Dust: None
Piece cut: Grid cut, whimsy pieces
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat
Overall Rating: Excellent, highly recommended
I received this product at no cost in order to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.
50 Scents of Grey by Lucia Heffernan – Eurographics – 500 pieces
My daughter fell in love with this image when we were shopping, so obviously I had to get it. (I wanted to interject here to tell you what a good mom I am for purchasing this puzzle to make my daughter happy, but the truth is I probably would have gotten it anyway. I am afflicted with a severe and non-treatable case of PADS. 😎)
It was fun to assemble, and I was thrilled to see that there was more than one piece shape. The previous Eurographics puzzle that I assembled only had the one shape, luckily this one had some variation. The box says it’s a “family puzzle”, which I thought meant several different sizes of the pieces, but that wasn’t the case. I’m not certain what makes it a family puzzle, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t the image.
My daughter says I should frame this puzzle, she tells me she would love to hang it in her house – it makes her laugh. Unfortunately I had already disassembled it by the time she replied to my text, so it looks like I’ll be putting it together one more time for my baby girl. I hope she likes it.
After the “easy” parts, all that was left was all blue and all red pieces. Thankfully there were several piece shapes and shades of color to help put these sections together.
The scratch and sniff part was my favorite – how silly and cute/gross is that? This is a great little puzzle with interesting shapes and very good quality; it’s fairly easy and quick to put together, but still enjoyable.
I’ll be reassembling this puzzle for my beautiful daughter so she can display it in her house. I hope it makes her smile and think of me whenever she looks at it; and I hope it doesn’t get her dogs too worked up. 😉
Yawn. Don’t get me wrong, it was pretty, and one of the wallpapers that was easy to pick out; but nothing’s really happening in there – it’s just a pretty room. I’m much more interested in what’s happening downstairs. (All only my opinions of course 🙂 )
The scratch and sniff part was my favorite – how silly and cute/gross is that? This is a great little puzzle with interesting shapes and very good quality; it’s fairly easy and quick to put together, but still enjoyable.
My Jigsaw Journal 