The Best Days of our Lives! by Graham Thompson – Jumbo (Wasgij Destiny #1) – 1000 pieces
The very first Wasgij Destiny! This one was much more difficult for me, perhaps because I wasn’t feeling well, or just because it was more difficult. Who can tell? As usual, I don’t show the entire image because I don’t want to spoil the fun of figuring it out!
With this puzzle the box shows children at school in the cafeteria and you have to puzzle them at their class reunion many years later. Will the lovebirds still be in love? Will the best friends still be friends? How will the teachers have changed? As usual Graham Thompson’s image is fun and funny and excellent for puzzling!
It took me 3 days to finish this puzzle, partly because it was a little more challenging than usual, and partly because there were many things going on with family obligations. Still, when I could I worked on it and it was a pleasure. As usual the quality was excellent and makes for a great tactile experience. Every time I complete a Jumbo puzzle I want to immediately do another; the way the pieces feel and fit together makes for a wonderful assembly in every way.
If you haven’t tried a Wasgij or any other Jumbo puzzle I highly recommend it. They have a great selection of puzzles to choose from – photography, landscapes, collages, fine art, and some of the best cartoon puzzles around. There’s something for everyone!
Tsuki Hoshi by Haruyo Morita – Eurographics – 1000 pieces
When I received some puzzles and products to review, this puzzle jumped out at me immediately. It’s absolutely gorgeous and the colors are stunning; I knew right away that this puzzle would be the first one I assembled – and I wasn’t disappointed!
Tsuki Hoshi (which my oldest son tells me means Moon Star), is only the second or third puzzle from Eurographics that I’ve completed; they are a very good quality puzzle in my opinion. This puzzle took me 3 days to complete, which is about my average time for a 1000 piece puzzle.
There were no damaged pieces or pieces still attached to one another in the bag and there was little to no puzzle dust. The pieces feel thick and sturdy and fit together well, but not too tightly. This puzzle was a random cut so it was never boring and you don’t think a piece fits where it doesn’t belong. The image reproduction is very good with beautiful colors and a slightly glossy finish that can cause some glare when working under lights.
Besides the small amount of glare, my only issue with this puzzle is that the piece shape is very obvious in the lighter areas of the finished image. This isn’t a problem for the entire puzzle, the kimono itself and the darker areas of water do not show the piece shape nearly as much. I don’t believe this was an issue with the other Eurographics puzzles I’ve completed, so I may have gotten a puzzle from the end of the run. No matter, the obvious piece shape didn’t make it any less fun to put together, I still had a great time! 🙂
My daughter loves the image on this puzzle, so I’ll be gluing it together to frame for her. Sometimes when you glue a puzzle the glue helps to lessen the appearance of the piece shapes, so I’m hoping that holds true with this puzzle as well. But even if you can see the puzzle pieces, it’s still a beautiful image that will look great framed! I have some puzzle glue to review as well, so stay tuned in the next week or so and I’ll have pictures of the puzzle before and after gluing.
This was my first puzzle by Haruyo Morita, and I find her artwork amazingly beautiful and detailed – I will definitely be looking to work more puzzles with her artwork. Click here to see other puzzles from this artist available at Puzzle Warehouse.
The finished puzzle is 19.25 x 26.625 in. (48.89 x 67.63 cm), which makes a nice large image for framing. The box is on the smaller side for a 1000 piece puzzle, 8 inches (20.32 cm) square, but is well made and sturdy with the full image on the cover and the artist and title prominently displayed. One side has a smaller version of the entire image along with the company name, piece count, artist, and title which would be ideal for shelving either vertically or horizontally.
Tsuki Hoshi is a beautiful puzzle by Eurographics with an image that is excellent for puzzling; many shades of color, background items, and a random cut ensures an assembly experience that isn’t tedious or frustrating. I enjoyed this assembly from start to finish – the image is beautiful, the random cut kept my attention and the finished product will look lovely framed. The finish is slightly shiny so take care when working the darker areas at night under lights. If you are a fan of Asian art, Haruyo Morita, or just love this image I definitely recommend this puzzle! 👍
I received this product at no charge in return for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.
The Portrait by Geoff Tristam – Ravensburger (What If #7) – 1000 pieces
What if Leonardo Da Vinci never painted the Mona Lisa? Would he still have become a famous artist? What would he be famous for? I don’t show the entire image for these types of puzzles because I don’t want to spoil the fun of solving the puzzle for anyone else. When I was just starting to find and order these puzzles I Googled one of them and clicked on a link and was presented with the finished image – I didn’t want to see that!
As usual, I completely enjoyed working this puzzle; Geoff Tristam’s artwork and sense of humor are on display here and make for an excellent puzzle. I love the added difficulty of not having a reference image to work from, it makes me pay attention even more than normal to the pieces and where they might connect. The What If collection by Ravensburger hits the mark every time and I always find myself happy with the end result.
I’m going to have to make sure I type up my post for a completed puzzle on the day I complete it! I finished this puzzle almost 2 weeks ago and I’m just writing it up now. It’s been so long, and I don’t take a picture of the entire puzzle – I’ve almost forgotten the finished image! 😮
This was one of the slightly more difficult What If puzzles I’ve completed. Usually you can tell what the background might look like or what people are wearing from the image on the box, but not so with this one. The box image shows Da Vinci painting portraits on the street long ago, and the finished image is in a more modern setting – not even close to the same background or people. Still, I was up to the challenge and enjoyed it thoroughly!
I love Ravensburger puzzles, the quality of the puzzles themselves is stellar, and they have an excellent catalog of puzzles to choose from. They are one of the companies I never hesitate to purchase if I like an image because I know I’ll be getting a quality product.
The What If puzzles are completely entertaining with an extra challenge to keep you puzzling. I highly recommend them!
In the mood for a puzzle that’s a bit of a challenge? Puzzleworld! I thought this puzzle would be interesting and fun, and it was – but I had no idea how challenging it would be! All the puzzle shapes obscuring other puzzle shapes, wow. It was a challenge but I did it. 🙂
This image caught my eye while I was putting together an order and needed to be sure I was spending enough money to get free shipping. Heye quality is excellent and the image was so different and compelling that I added it to my shopping cart without much thought at all. Super entertaining purchase!
It took me 4 or 5 days to finish this one, a bit longer than normal for a 1000 piece puzzle, but not too much. The background of puzzle shapes makes for an interesting assembly and makes you pay attention. I enjoyed it very much and was proud of myself when I finished it! You can see especially in the top right corner the puzzle shapes in the background, it looks like a jumble of squiggly lines – it’ll definitely keep you on your toes.
Heye puzzles have great quality in my experience, although I think this particular puzzle may have been at the end of a run. The piece shapes are a bit more obvious than normal (although with this image that actually seems pretty cool) and several pieces were not cut all the way through. It didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the puzzle much, and I’ve had enough experience with this brand to know that it’s not the norm. They still have an excellent catalog, the pieces are sturdy with a nice variety of piece shapes, they fit together well and have beautiful image reproduction. It’s gonna take more than one slightly sub-par puzzle to make me change my mind about this brand – I’m a fan!
Paying the Price! by James Alexander – Jumbo (Wasgij Destiny #17) – 1000 pieces
Another fun Wasgij, haven’t found one yet that wasn’t fun to assemble. They’re different and challenging and funny, and I have enjoyed the assembly of every single Wasgij that I’ve done.
This was a Destiny puzzle, the box shows a scene from a certain time, and you have to puzzle what the scene would look like now. The box for this puzzle shows a gas (petrol) station back in the good old days when there were attendants that pumped the gas, checked your oil, cleaned the windows, etc. So what would that same place look like today with our newfangled cars and automated pumps? Is the mechanic’s garage different? And how about the small convenience store?
As usual, things are very different, and pretty funny. It’s always entertaining for me to start assembling and try to figure out what will be different and what remains the same. How does that young man on the box look now – will he be balding with a paunch? The results are usually even better than my imagination.
The usual excellent Jumbo quality, and an it always makes me want to do another Wasgij right away. The feel of the pieces and the way they fit together makes for a great tactile experience and I always find myself running my hands across the puzzle, especially when I’m concentrating.
It’s the 20th anniversary of the Wasgij puzzles this year, and I have barely put a dent in the catalog of available puzzles. I still have a stack about 5 feet tall in my closet of Wasgij puzzles yet to be assembled. I’m working on them one at a time and thoroughly enjoying every single one! 🙂
