Category: Puzzle reviews

Review: Droids

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviewsLeave a comment
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Droids – Buffalo – 300 pieces

Droids was much more fun than I anticipated, I love Buffalo’s smaller piece count puzzles. The fit is excellent, and the pieces are the perfect size (for me). Great puzzle!

I don’t always like the 1000 piece puzzles by Buffalo, sometimes I have to be in just the right mood. I find the piece shapes are all too similar. Not so with their 300 and 500 piece puzzles; I find the pieces to be the perfect Goldilocks size – not too small and not too big. The shapes are less “boxy”, and they offer more variety in the size of the pieces as well. The image reproduction is stellar and the fit is wonderful. Their smaller piece count puzzles are my favorite. Click the link to check out Buffalo Games and see all of their available puzzles, they have some gorgeous images to choose from!

I’m not the world’s biggest Star Wars fan, but looking for some 300 and 500 piece puzzles to keep me entertained I decided I might as well give these droids a try. It didn’t look like a ton of fun, but fortunately looks can be deceiving and it was very entertaining. I had a great time putting it together, even more fun than making the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs! (That seemed kinda Star Wars nerdy – I know – but I have so much useless information and quotes in my brain and I can’t get them out!)

If you or someone you know is a Star Wars fan, I absolutely recommend this puzzle. It’s the right amount of difficulty and the right amount of fun. 🤖

Details:

  • Title:                  Droids
  • Artist:                None given
  • Brand:               Buffalo
  • Piece count:     300 pieces
  • Size:                  Approx. 21 x 15 in. (54 x 38 cm)
  • Purchased:      New

Quality:

  • Board:               Very good
  • Cutting:             Very good
  • Image:               Excellent
  • Box:                   Sturdy, glued shut
  • Fit:                     Excellent
  • Puzzle Dust:     Small amount
  • Piece cut:          Grid cut
  • Piece shapes:   Good variety
  • Finish:               Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating:      Very good, recommended

Review: Reese’s

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviewsLeave a comment
This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse.
Reese's
Reese’s – MasterPieces – 500 pieces

Reese’s was an excellent quality, entertaining to assemble puzzle that surprised me. It was better quality than I was expecting, and not nearly as difficult as I’d anticipated. It made for a fun couple of days, and for some reason it also made me extremely hungry for peanut butter cups. 😏

I enjoy MasterPieces puzzles, they have a great catalog of diverse images to choose from, with very good quality and even better value. They have both grid cut and random cut puzzles, so there’s something for everyone. The quality of the chipboard is very good with thick pieces that fit together extremely well. Sometimes the fit can be a bit loose, but with this puzzle the pieces fit together snugly – so much so that I could lift the puzzle by one piece and nothing came apart!

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I thought perhaps the image would end up being quite difficult with all the repetition of packages, but I found it to be much easier than I’d assumed. That doesn’t mean that it was an easy puzzle; it took just the right amount of concentration, but not so much that it became frustrating. I enjoyed diving in to all of that yummy chocolate and peanut butter!

The image reproduction was spot on, and the bright colors made it fun to work with. You just have to decide where you’re going to start and jump right in. After assembling the edge I started with the white packages (which I would NEVER do in real life, “white chocolate” isn’t chocolate!), but they were the easiest pieces to pick out. Then I went with the largest logo in the center, those pieces stood out as well…

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I had a great time with this puzzle, I find shaped puzzles to be a lot of fun and they end up looking amazing when you’re finished. Check out some of the amazing shaped puzzles at Puzzle Warehouse, there are so many to choose from!

If you’re looking for a yummy puzzle to get you revved up for Halloween (best candy holiday there is), I highly recommend Reese’s. It’s wonderful quality, a great image, and was extremely entertaining to assemble.

I’m hungry for some reason…maybe some peanut butter and chocolate…🥜🍫

Details:

  • Title:                  Reese’s
  • Artist:                MasterPieces
  • Brand:               MasterPieces
  • Piece count:     500 pieces
  • Size:                  Approx. 22 x 22 in. (56 x 56 cm)
  • Purchased:      N/A, sent for review

Quality:

  • Board:               Very good
  • Cutting:             Very good
  • Image:               Excellent
  • Box:                   Rounded box with flat bottom
  • Fit:                     Excellent
  • Puzzle Dust:     Very small amount
  • Piece cut:          Random/rounded grid cut
  • Piece shapes:   Very good variety
  • Finish:               Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating:      Very good, 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.

Review: World War I Posters

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviewsLeave a comment
This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse.
World War I Posters
World War I Posters by Mark Karvon – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

World War I Posters was great fun; I love a good collage, and this is definitely a good one! There’s something about the look of these vintage posters, it was as much fun as I’d hoped, and it’s one I highly recommend.

White Mountain puzzles have, in my opinion, the best catalog of collages around. From candy and toys to books and games, beer and wine, and much, much more they have a collage for just about any taste. Their puzzles are grid cut, with thick pieces that have a good variety of shapes. A finished 1000 piece White Mountain puzzle is larger than average so make sure you have enough work space before you begin. I enjoy the bigger puzzles, it seems almost like a more impressive accomplishment when you’re done. Click the link above to see all their puzzles currently in stock at Puzzle Warehouse. (I like to check out the out of stock puzzles as well, if they’ve got an awesome collage or two that I like I can enter my email and be notified when they’re back in stock.)

This puzzle in particular was a lot of fun to assemble, I think partly because many of the posters are less well known. A couple of my favorites are shown below…

The daylight savings poster had me doing research – I had no idea the bill was passed to save on fuel during the war! The liberty poster is just beautiful, there’s something about her face that’s captivating. I wanted to assemble her first, and found my eye always returning to look at her as I was completing other sections of the puzzle, she always had my attention for some reason.

I very much enjoyed assembling and reading each of the posters in this collage; having so many small sections to assemble made the 1000 pieces seem less intimidating to me. And if you only have 10 or 15 minutes to sit and puzzle you can find and complete an entire poster or two and feel like you’ve made progress, I love that about collages!

From the first 2 edge pieces I clicked together, to pressing down on the final piece, I had more fun with this puzzle that I’ve had in a long time. The quality was very good, the image is perfect for puzzling, and it’s one I definitely recommend. Two lady liberties way up!🗽🗽

Details:

  • Title:                  World War I Posters
  • Artist:                Mark Karvon
  • Brand:               White Mountain
  • Piece count:     1000 pieces
  • Size:                  Approx. 24 x 30 in. (61 x 76 cm)
  • Purchased:      N/A, sent for review

Quality:

  • Board:               Very good
  • Cutting:             Very good
  • Image:               Very good
  • Box:                   Average
  • Fit:                     Very good
  • Puzzle Dust:     Moderate amount
  • Piece cut:          Grid cut
  • Piece shapes:   Good variety
  • Finish:               Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating:      Very good, 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.

Review: Donut

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews1 Comment
This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse.
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Donut – Ceaco – 300 pieces

Technically this puzzle doesn’t have a name, according to the box – I have named it Donut. It came in a multipack called Sweet & Salty. I think this is without a doubt the most challenging 300 piece puzzle I have ever assembled. It looks amazing though, doesn’t it? I’m not one for sprinkles, but a chocolate frosted donut sounds so good right now! 🍩

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this puzzle, especially since it was in a multipack. My experience with many puzzles in one box has been that the quality was quite poor. This is the first one from this box that I’ve assembled, but the quality of this particular puzzle was better than expected.

The pieces were thicker than I remember from other Ceaco puzzles I’ve assembled, and the fit was excellent. There was a good variety of piece shapes, and the image reproduction was very good as well. The cutting leaves a bit to be desired, as all the pieces weren’t cut completely through; and although the thickness was better than I remember there was still some fanning of the chipboard on some pieces. Still, overall, I found the quality to be good. Click the link above to see all the Ceaco puzzles currently in stock at Puzzle Warehouse.

The obvious place to start was with the edges and the center, and they went together pretty quickly. I don’t normally work this way, but I separated the pieces by shape and worked from center to edge all the way around. The image is pretty challenging, but I enjoyed it anyway and the finished product is very cool looking!

Although Ceaco isn’t a premium brand, getting 8 puzzles for $16.99 is a pretty good bargain in my opinion. And even though the chipboard isn’t the thickest around, they have beautiful images and an excellent fit. I enjoyed this first puzzle very much – keep an eye out for the remaining 7 puzzles, I hope they’re as much fun as this one was.

Details:

  • Title:                  Donut
  • Artist:                iStock
  • Brand:               Ceaco
  • Piece count:     300 pieces
  • Size:                  Approx. 14 in. (36 cm)
  • Purchased:      N/A, sent for review

Quality:

  • Board:               Good
  • Cutting:             Good
  • Image:               Very good
  • Box:                   Average, 8 puzzles in 1 box
  • Fit:                     Excellent
  • Puzzle Dust:     Small amount
  • Piece cut:          Grid cut
  • Piece shapes:   Good variety
  • Finish:               Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating:      Good, 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.

 

Review: Bombs Away!

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviewsLeave a comment
This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse.
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Bombs Away! by Tom Wood – SunsOut – 550 pieces

Bombs Away! by SunsOut is an adorable puzzle that was great fun to assemble, and an excellent way to unofficially kick off autumn. It’s still pretty warm and humid here, and it doesn’t feel much like fall; but it’s my favorite season so I wanted to get myself in the mood with a seasonal puzzle. This one was a great choice!

SunsOut puzzles are usually good quality, with thick pieces that have an excellent variety of shapes. Normally their puzzles are randomly cut, but this puzzle was more what I would call semi-random; the edges of each piece don’t line up exactly, but the pieces are cut in lines as opposed to completely randomly. The image reproduction is very good, with beautiful fall colors and a slightly shiny finish. The fit of SunsOut can sometimes be extremely tight, but this one was more a normal snugness. The fit itself seemed a bit “spongy” rather than snapping into place, but I didn’t find it distracting. All in all, the quality of this puzzle was very good. Click the link above to check out all their puzzles currently in stock at Puzzle Warehouse.

After assembling the edges, I started with the sign – words are some of the most entertaining things to assemble for me. The sky and grass were next, and they went together more quickly than I anticipated. The face of the jack-o-lantern was next and then it was on to the naughty cat atop the wheelbarrow. The dogs took a bit more concentration than I thought they would, but they were still lots of fun to put together. Interestingly I found the pumpkins less difficult than the wheelbarrow, although I’m not sure I could say why that was. Overall the assembly was challenging (the brush strokes added to the difficulty) but loads of fun and the finished puzzle is just too darned cute!

This was my first puzzle by Tom Wood, and I very much enjoyed the artwork. The brush strokes made for a little more of a challenge, but the finished image is beautiful and perfect for kick-starting the fall (even if it isn’t official until September 22). He’s known for his playful portraits of cats and dogs, and I think he captures their personalities extremely well…

Look at those faces! One is so sweet and non-confrontational, the other is naughty and looking to make trouble – typical dog and cat if you ask me. I’m looking forward to working more images by this artist, and his puzzles have plenty of cuteness to choose from. Click here to see all the puzzles available by Tom Wood at Puzzle Warehouse – and if you’re looking for other cute autumn/Halloween puzzles, check out Boo Cat – it’s so sweet!

Bombs Away! was an entertaining puzzle that I had a great time assembling. Unfortunately it’s discontinued and there are only a few left so if you’re wanting to put together this fall themed puzzle you should order very soon.

Details:

  • Title:                  Bombs Away!
  • Artist:                Tom Wood
  • Brand:               Sunsout
  • Piece count:     550 pieces
  • Size:                  Approx. 15 x 24 in. (38 x 61 cm)
  • Purchased:      N/A, sent for review

Quality:

  • Board:               Very good
  • Cutting:             Very good
  • Image:               Very good
  • Box:                   Average
  • Fit:                     Good, slightly spongy
  • Puzzle Dust:     Moderate amount
  • Piece cut:          Semi-random cut
  • Piece shapes:   Very good variety
  • Finish:               Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating:      Very good, 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.