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Guest Writer Puzzler Reviews by Roberta
We invite you to read Roberta Shore's review on the following jigsaw puzzle. Since she has discovered the advantages of jigsaw puzzling, she has reviewed/journaled several that will be available on this website.
First up - Ice Cream Pop Art Amazon Link
Ice Cream Pop Art Puzzle
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Buffalo Games |
My Confident Newbie Difficulty Rating: Deliciously Easy
“I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!”
Quality: This was an absolutely perfect puzzling experience! The illustration is so colorfully cheerful, piece fit was pick up off the table tight, not one piece was damaged, they were all separated in the box, there was no puzzle dust, no pieces were missing. A full size poster with great color match is included. Okay — about the sturdy little box, no shrink wrap, the top and bottom sides are glued together. In the process of splitting them apart some of the cardboard is damaged. It does not show when the box is closed, but if a pristine box is important, that is the only minus you will read in this review.
Getting started: Find the edge pieces and sort by color. Easy enough with only 300 pieces. I sorted by dominant color including lights and darks for each, the cone, and the ice cream. I didn’t bother to sort by shape.
Construction: I built the frame and filled it in from the edges. That left the ice cream cone for last. It all went together effortlessly. The whole thing was just so much fun!
I don’t think a puzzle has to be challenging to be rewarding. A 300 piece puzzle is perfect for limited down time. Or something as simple and sweet as this one might feel like a reward after finishing a particularly challenging 1000 piece one. (That was my reason.) No matter the puzzle choice, the peaceful puzzling process is always the same.
I strongly recommend this perfect, calorie free puzzle. Of course when completed there might be a craving for ice cream. Enjoy!
My grades: Quality A+ (no points off for the box), Fun Factor A++
NASA Photography Solar System Jigsaw Puzzle
My confident newbie difficulty rating: easy(ish)
Buffalo Games
Ribbon Cut
300 Pieces
Finished Dimension: 18” Square
Easy(ish) you ask? Well, that’s a lot of black, but with only 300 pieces, it truly is a just a delightful, fun filled build.
Quality: Almost perfect. There was one black piece with a very broken tab — a little glue and a black Sharpie repaired it. The box is small. No shrink wrap, but the top and bottom sides are glued shut. The subsequent ripped cardboard areas don’t show when the box is closed, but if you want pristine, that’s another quality minus. Otherwise, inside the box the pieces are loose and there is a good sized poster included. There was just a small amount of puzzle dust. The piece fit was pick up off the table tight, and 299 of them were perfect, sturdy and pretty thick. They do have a glossy finish. None were together uncut, and none were missing.
Getting started: Find the edge pieces and sort by color. Those are really simple tasks for this little gem. I sorted each of the planets, the NASA logo, the asteroids, the shooting star, the sun, black with stars, and black without stars. No sub-sorting required.
Construction: Other than doing the corner with the NASA logo, I did not build the frame. I pieced together the planets, asteroids and shooting star, then attached frame pieces where possible. Next, I laid out the interior black pieces by shape, and filled in around the planets. I did enough to do the frame without the chance for false fits, then filled in the last of the black pieces. Done and dusted, as they say, in just a few relaxing, fun filled hours. (I don’t watch the clock, I took a few breaks.)
Conclusion: I enjoy the puzzling process - clearing my mind, getting lost in the activity, the calmness of it all. So, taking just a little while to enjoy the simple pleasure, it’s a good thing. I recommend putting a couple 300 piece puzzles in your stash for a quick fix, or a reward after finishing a really challenging puzzle (like my first 1500 piece one I completed a few days ago).
My grades: Quality A-, Fun factor A+
Sweet Ride Jigsaw Puzzle
My confident newbie difficulty rating: Medium
Sweet Ride jigsaw puzzle
White Mountain Puzzles
Ribbon Cut
1000 Pieces
Finished Dimensions: 24” x 30”
Could be that I live in Arizona and drive a red convertible added to my attraction, but the perspective in this illustration is quite eye catching.. Sweet Ride is definitely a sweet puzzle! With thoughtful sorting everything will fall into place. Admittedly, the left side foliage was the trickiest part, but even that was loads of fun to piece together.
So, why medium difficulty? Well, it is 1000 pieces with large areas of similar color. It’s my favorite kind of puzzle illustrations, but it still takes patience and concentration.
Quality: Excellent! The piece fit was looser than White Mountain’s usual pick up off the table tight, but not really very annoying. Otherwise, no complaints. The sturdy, if large, box has a full illustration on the top. Inside there is a sealed bag of pieces and a letter size poster. Color match pics to pieces was great. There was virtually no puzzle dust. Because the puzzle dimensions are larger than most other 1000 piece brands, the pieces are somewhat bigger and very easy to handle. The pieces are sturdy. They have some sheen. None were together uncut, none were damaged, and none were missing.
Getting started: Find the edge pieces and sort by color. I sub-sorted out the road signs, the red flowers, the Route 66 printed on the street, the cactus, the road dashed lines, the windshield reflection and frame, the grille, the Airstream, the water tower, the row of buildings, the people and the guitar. Sorting by color took care of the rest.
Construction: While I was sorting, I thought for certain I would start with the sky. What a surprise it was when I built the frame, declared the job ahead tiresome, reassessed, started from the bottom and pretty much worked my way up through the whole thing. The frame offered a lot of color information to work from. Not long into it, I had a way to connect the red car to other pieces connected to the frame, so I decided to go for it. It was so nice to see that large part of the puzzle complete. If I had started with the sky it would have been an arduous chore; I never would have enjoyed this puzzle as much. But, with everything including the mountains in place, there were plenty of clues for fitting the sky pieces.
I’m slow, I take a lot of breaks, so I don’t even look at time spent. Relatively speaking, this puzzle was done in no time! Nothing about it was frustrating. I can only repeat, this virtual road trip was so much fun!
My grades: Quality A+, Fun Factor A+
Pizza Pie Jigsaw Puzzle
Pizza Pie jigsaw puzzle
Bits and Pieces
Random Cut
1000 pieces
Finished dimension; 26.6” Round
My confident newbie difficulty rating: Beyond description!
Obviously this can be completed but be prepared to spend days working on it. Individual pieces are near unrecognizable relative to the illustration. I traveled to visit my family. Three of us worked on it for a week. When I left we had completed the frame, green pepper, olives, and some other pieces here and there. It is over two weeks later — they completed it tonight and sent this picture. After all that work, it’s a good thing there were no missing pieces!
Quality — well, a poorly reproduced picture is a pretty big deal. Otherwise there was nothing wrong with the pieces, none were damaged or together uncut. The box is small and contained a sealed bag of pieces.
Getting started: Find edge pieces and sort by color. I did the sort from home, well sort of. I did find all the edge pieces. I made an attempt to sort by slice, but it was a guess.
The only fun was sharing this miserable puzzle with my daughter and grown granddaughter. They are both avid puzzlers. Clearly they also have superior determination.
My review reflects others I have read written some time ago. This is an older Bits and Pieces Puzzle. My copy was purchased a year ago. Perhaps it has been improved. Or, it also comes in 300 pieces for a quicker, possibly less aggravating experience.
My grades: Quality C-, Fun Factor F unless you share the experience.
Donut Club Jigsaw Puzzle
My Confident Newbie Difficulty rating: Easy
This was a delightful puzzle to put together, but now I want a donut!
Quality: Excellent! Pick up off the table tight piece fit! The sturdy box is small and contains a sealed bag of pieces and a small poster. Color match to box pic and poster are both perfect. The pieces are also sturdy; none were damaged or together uncut, none were missing.
Getting started: Find the edge pieces and sort by color. While finding the edge pieces I sorted out the green and blue background as well as each donut design. Then I built the frame. No other sorting was necessary.
Construction: The frame offered a lot of color information, so I started by adding my sorted pieces there. For the most part, I didn’t even bother to layout pieces by shape. I only remember doing that for the last donut — the big green one at lower left.
I’m sorry this review is so short, this was just a perfect little puzzle. I think it took me longer to do the sorting than to put it together. It would be so cute framed and hung in the kitchen! I totally recommended it. It was, as they say, a piece of cake (or in this case, donut)!
Special thanks to Roberta for sharing her story on Valentine's Day
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