Come to Switzerland By Plane by Michael Crampton – Eurographics – 1000 pieces
I had high hopes for this puzzle. Mom thought it would be as difficult as Chat Noir with all the sameness in color in the top portion. I didn’t think it would be that bad as the sky was 2 different colors, blah blah blah. Long story short, she was partly right. The top portion was quite difficult and tedious. I should have listened to her. Sorry mom.
Eurographics puzzles are usually random cut, and this one is a grid cut. I thought that would make the assembly of the sky easier. Nope. There’s something about the way this puzzle was cut, the pieces didn’t seem to fit together well. In my opinion it made it more difficult to complete the sky, not easier. In addition there are several pieces near the top that have the image scratched off, they look like white specks of color. I’ve never come across this problem with Eurographics before, but it was disappointing. This puzzle was a thrift store purchase, but it was unopened. The outer plastic wrapping was still intact, so it wasn’t an issue with it having been done before.
All in all, I love the image but it didn’t make for the most enjoyable puzzling; and the quality issues didn’t help matters. You’d think we would learn by now, even if we love the image that doesn’t mean it’s the best for puzzling. Even just a few more clouds in the sky would have helped immensely.
Still, I definitely got our 99 cents worth out of this puzzle, it had me working for almost 4 days! Hopefully I’ll listen to my mother next time. (You know, I won’t because I’m super stubborn and opinionated, but I’ll try – that’s the best I can do 😁)
Walt Disney World – Disney Theme Park Merchandise – 500 pieces
I had high hopes for this puzzle, but it was a letdown. I was thinking there’d be better quality from the Disney company. 😐 This was the first puzzle I’ve done from them, so I’m interested to find another to compare it with. Perhaps this was one that got by quality control?
I like the image, but the pieces were very thin and easily bent and did not fit together well in some places. The image reproduction was blurry and fuzzy in some places, but crisp and clear in others. There was image lift on several pieces, and lots of hanging paper on the back of many pieces as well. In addition to the quality issues, some fool donated this to a thrift store with 6 missing pieces! Annoying!
On the positive side, the colors were bright and beautiful and there was a nice variety of piece shapes. It was fun to count the number of Disney movies, short films, and tv shows represented – there were a lot! Even if there were pieces missing and it had less than optimal quality, I still enjoyed the image itself.
The Victory of Alexander the Great by Albrecht Altdorfer – Pomegranate – 1000 pieces
This puzzle was an unopened thrift store find. Who in the world would give away a Pomegranate unopened? I guess I shouldn’t judge, you never know the circumstances. I’m thrilled we were able to find a brand new puzzle for $1.99 though.
The image is not one I would choose for a puzzle, but cheapskates can’t always be choosy. 😁 I considered starting this puzzle at least 5 times before I actually jumped in and went for it. I would pick it up, open the box, look at all the pieces, and eventually decide I wasn’t in the mood for that much of a challenge. I’m not sure why I decided it was time now, but I don’t always know what in the world is going on in my slightly off-kilter brain.
The top of the puzzle was the easy part, and it didn’t take me too long. The sky wasn’t overly difficult, in fact I was surprised how easy it seemed. The bottom half of the puzzle, oh my. There is so much detail! Numerous horses, soldiers, flags, spears and tents – it boggles the mind! It was so dark and busy that it took much longer than normal. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t the most fun either. I was pretty proud when I finished, and still am. It definitely gave me $1.99 worth of puzzle enjoyment!
This was a bit challenging for a kid’s puzzle, but I liked that. If they’re all too easy it becomes boring to assemble puzzles, and I think puzzles are great for training your brain. We should keep kid’s interested in puzzles!
This puzzle was of excellent quality with very thick pieces that fit together well. The background with all the roadway was a little tough but not too much. I enjoyed assembling this puzzle even though it was only 100 pieces, after all the kid’s puzzles we had put together that day this one was a nice change from the super easy ones.
Pressman Toys seems to have wonderful quality puzzles for kids. They’re definitely recommended. 👍
Winter Aspen by Henry Holdsworth – MasterPieces (World’s Smallest) – 1000 piecesThis is as far as I got 😦
Winter Aspen is a “world’s smallest” puzzle with VERY small pieces that comes in a collectible tin. The finished puzzle is 16.5 x 11.7 inches (42 x 30 cm) which is quite small for 1000 pieces. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this puzzle for the average puzzler, as you can see I didn’t finish it. 😦
I’ve done quite a few MasterPieces puzzles lately, and I haven’t had a problem with the quality. They have an excellent catalog, the quality is quite good and they are very reasonably priced. Many of their puzzles are a random cut which gives a great variety in piece shapes, and they fit together very well. Even though this puzzle didn’t float my boat I don’t have a problem with MasterPieces; I think they’re great quality at a great price.
I guess everyone who reviews a product has to deal with their first bad review. You must be tactful, but truthful and let people know specifically what the problems you found were. With puzzles, so much of the like or dislike of an image or puzzle itself can be subjective; I may not care for photographic puzzles, but many people do. Therefore, I must put aside my own personal preference as much as I can and review it, keeping in mind that the review should take into account what others may like or be looking for in a puzzle.
I find it hard to separate my feelings here, this puzzle was maddeningly frustrating and tedious for me. The image would make for an extremely challenging averaged size puzzle, but when you add in the small pieces it really ramps up the difficulty level in my opinion. For someone in their late 40’s or older as I am, it was a difficult puzzle to work with, irregardless of the image. The pieces are so small it was sometimes difficult to hold them, and it’s even more challenging to see the detail to compare shade and colors.
I can’t speak for everyone my age, but it was difficult for my aging eyes to work with this puzzle, and the sameness of the entire image was mind numbing. There are quite a few of the puzzles in the “world’s smallest” series that perhaps wouldn’t be so difficult, this wasn’t one of them. The image is just too challenging for such small pieces, it needs colors and shapes – at least for me.
The quality of this puzzle was good/fair. The pieces were a good thickness and sturdy; all the pieces were ballerinas which added to the difficulty. (2 prong/2 hole) The fit was ok; because all the pieces were the same shape it was easy to put in a wrong piece and not know until surrounding pieces were inserted. The image itself was most to blame for this in my opinion, everything looks so similar. The image reproduction was good, even with such a small image. There was a poster enclosed that was almost as big as the puzzle itself, which was extremely helpful and a must when working with such small pieces.
I’ve never not finished a puzzle for review, but I just couldn’t continue with this one. I put just over 400 pieces of the 1000 together. It was too difficult to see and handle and made me feel quite inadequate. I’m not really a fan of monochromatic puzzles, or overly challenging images. I found that I was bargaining with myself while I worked on it – to make myself keep going; once I get x number of pieces put in I can do something else. For me puzzles are a way to relax and de-stress, if the image is so challenging that it feels like work it isn’t worth it for me. Puzzles are supposed to be fun!
If you enjoy a challenge, check out the World’s Smallest Puzzle series by MasterPieces. Literally any one of those would have been easier for me to do than these trees! I’d be interested in working one of the less challenging images to see how it compares, but don’t ask me now – I need a little time to cool off. 😉
If you are one of those people who enjoy a super-challenging puzzle, Winter Aspen may be the puzzle for you! If you are like me and use your puzzling time to relax and relieve stress then perhaps you should pass right on by this puzzle.
I received this product at no cost to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions are truthful and 100% my own.
