Category Archives: Puzzle Review

Charles Wysocki’s Trick or Treat Hotel

October 18, 2018 PuzzlePaws 1 Comment

It’s definitely getting closer to Halloween! The store shelves are groaning under the weight of candy, SC is looking at scary makeup tutorials and I’m weighing the eternal adult question… Do I just buy my candy, or do I take a cut from the minions? It will most likely be a mix of the two, I’m hunting my favorite but hard to find candy, Trolli Watermelon Gummy Sharks and when I find them, I’ll buy tons! I’m also taking the minions (my godsons) out trick or treating, and will get a cut of the spoils.

Much like the childhood institution of trick or treating, I have fond memories of Buffalo Games’s puzzles. I grew up in a small town in Central New York, and Buffalo Games was one of 3 New York puzzle companies. Because of proximity, I put together a LOT of Buffalo puzzles. I learned to love the soft click of a piece snapping into place.

This is Charles Wysocki’s Trick or Treat Hotel. I’ll admit that it confused me to equate this puzzle with the usual hometown or cat paintings the artist is known for! How could someone who is called the Master Painter of Americana create such a creepy picture?

This 500 piece puzzle came with a fold out poster to help in assembly.

Zoomie, our very own PuzzlePaws, helped make sure the edge pieces didn’t disappear!

The edges went together just as I remembered, with that Perfect Snap™ that is a Buffalo puzzle signature.

Other than chasing off the cats, this puzzle came together rather quickly until I hit the sky. With the tree branches, cobwebs and odd scattered creatures, that section was quite the challenge!

As I assembled this puzzle, I kept finding all sorts of cute details that were mixed into the weird ones.

I love the black cat on this pumpkin witch’s head!

I’m not sure if that’s a stuffed demon or a ventriloquist’s dummy.

I think this is the best piggyback ride I’ve ever seen!

PUZZLE SPECS

Company: Buffalo Games
Title: Trick or Treat Hotel
Artist: Charles Wysocki
Year released: Unknown
Pieces: 500
Cut-Style: Random
Finished size: 21¼ in by 15 in
Bonus poster: Yes
Made in USA

QUALITY:

Box: Light and compact, 7.75″ by 7.75″ by 1.5″
Board: Medium weight chipboard, sturdy pieces
Cut: Steel-cut Die
Image Quality: Excellent, great color saturation
Finish: Semi-gloss
Puzzle Dust: Minimal
Piece shapes: A good mix of traditionally cut and irregular pieces
Piece Fit: Excellent. Some of the irregular pieces make it so that pieces can only be moved in small groups, but once assembled the whole puzzle is nearly solid!

Disability Notes: The slightly larger size pieces of the 500 piece puzzle are kinder to the hands while still being complex enough to challenge lovers of larger piece count puzzles. Honestly, I will be trying this brand’s 300, 750 and 1000 piece counts for later posts. I can recommend this for people with mild to moderate arthritis or hand/eye coordination.

Where to buy: Trick or Treat Hotel is available on the Buffalo games website for $10.95 usd.

Buffalo Games : Website / FaceBook

Disclosure: I received a complimentary puzzle from the manufacturer in exchange for review. The opinions are my own.

Thanks for reading, and please click the Follow Button under my profile on the right side of the page.To support posts like this in the future, consider joining my Patreon!

Puzzle Review

Laughter and Wooden Puzzles: A Computer Catastrophe Review

September 27, 2018 PuzzlePaws Leave a comment

SC says I’m stubborn. I claim it’s more being so determined that I ignore my limits. The end result is usually the same. I push too hard, and end up in bed staring at the ceiling. Not this time! Well….sort of this time. I spent the day in bed, but thanks to my incredible stubbornness/determination; I had this awesome puzzle to do.

I really love this box. Artifact Puzzles boxes are sturdy, covered in a ribbed blue cloth that helped my grip and has a little magnet in the lip of the lid for reusability.

Artifact Puzzles are made with environmentally friendly plywood and soy-based inks. The pieces are thick, about 1/2cm, which is great because unlike chipboard puzzles, these will last a really long time if you take care of them. SC still has the wooden puzzle his grandfather made back in the 1950s! (SC Edit: I can’t remember what it looks like, it has no reference image!)

Because the pieces are laser-cut, there is a wide range in shapes available. This includes the themed whimsies! I’m not sure who liked the puzzle more, myself or SC!

Hurricane really wanted to help with this one! She smelled all the pieces and hid under the lap desk while I assembled.

This is one of the most delightful puzzles I’ve ever had the pleasure of assembling! Engagingly tricky to assemble, but not so much that it is disheartening; this puzzle brightened an otherwise deary day. I loved the interplay of whimsies and computer technician jokes! I found myself laughing so loudly I woke Hurricane when I found the ID10T ERROR!

Problem exists between keyboard and chair!

Also giggle-worthy were the computer bugs, test tubes of viruses and random mice!

Then there was this guy, my favorite of the whimsies, a three-part dragon.

All in all, it was a productive afternoon! I got to work this fantastic puzzle, SC got to keep me in bed and resting. CFS is no fun, but I hope that my blogging will help others see that not only are they not alone, but there are tons of fun things to do working around the fatigue.

PUZZLE SPECS

Company: Artifact Puzzles
Title: Computer Catastrophes
Artist: Randal Spangler
Designer: Jef Bambas
Year released: 2018
Pieces: 182
Cut-Style: Random
Finished size: 10″ by 10″ inches
Bonus poster: No
Made in USA

QUALITY:

Box: 6.5″ by 8.75″ by 1.75″ inches
Board: Thick and sturdy wooden pieces
Cut: Laser-cut
Image Quality: Excellent, great color saturation
Finish: Semi-gloss, with great color saturation
Puzzle Dust: Nonexistent!
Piece shapes: Irregular with plenty of themed whimsies
Piece Fit: Loose, but the addition of certain pieces will “lock” a section so that they can be moved in small and medium blocks

Disability Notes: Honestly, I think the review speaks for itself. I managed to assemble this on a lap desk in bed without losing any pieces! I did rely on the advice I’d received that to place the pieces together, they had to be put in from above and not the usual sideways motion.

Where to buy: Computer Catastrophes is available on the Artifact Puzzles website for $40 USD. No sticker shock, here guys! These are high quality, artisan puzzles that will last for decades if well cared for. These puzzles are a definite birthday/Christmas/Yule/I-messed-up present!

Artifact Puzzles : Website / FaceBook

Disclosure: I received a complimentary puzzle from the manufacturer in exchange for review. The opinions are my own.

Thanks for reading, and please click the Follow Button under my profile on the right side of the page. To support posts like this in the future, consider joining my Patreon!

Puzzle Review, Uncategorized

Eric Dowdle’s Harvest Festival: The Pumpkining!

September 20, 2018 PuzzlePaws 1 Comment

I love Fall. I was born in October, and the season has always been a favorite. There are days that it feels like summer is still in its height, and some where it cools just enough to need a hoodie. Ok, not so much for me….I live in Virginia now. But I grew up in Upstate NY right on the shores of Lake Ontario. Summers were short, “Winter Was Coming” and Fall meant apples, pumpkins, hayrides and giant leafpiles. I went shopping the other day with SC, and the stores are full of Halloween. I had wanted to wait until the First, but this puzzle really captures the memories and mood of Fall for me. What the heck, the Vernal Equinox is later this week, that’s close enough!

I really like Dowdle’s boxing. There is a heavy paper sleeve encasing a pretty little box.

The box is really well constructed, folding around itself and sealing with a Velcro button so that the box is reusable.

Better yet! All Dowdle puzzle come with a mini-poster of the image and a resealable plastic bag.

Now to assemble!

For a 500 piece puzzle, this was really tricky in places. the amazing amount of detail that artist Eric Dowdle puts into his art and the random piece shapes kept me busy all evening! SC even put a few pieces together, commenting that it was harder than it looked.

So many memories! My parents took a bunch of photos like this when I was growing up with my siblings!

SC had to take my finished picture, as I was having a horrible time getting my pictures to come out right. After finishing this puzzle, I have two thoughts. First, now I feel properly ready to Fall, and secondly…I need a pumpkin spice latte, stat!

IMG_4235 (Edited) — SC is a photography genius.

Pandemonium approves! Puzzles are cat-baths, don’tcha know?

About the Company: Dowdle Puzzles is a part of Dowdle Folk Arts. The artist and owner is Eric Dowdle, who has over 200 folk art paintings, mostly focusing on American cities and national parks. As well as selling paints, prints, and puzzles, Dowdle is now branching out into coloring books! (I’ll be wishlisting those!)

PUZZLE SPECS

Company: Dowdle Puzzles
Title: Harvest Festival
Artist: Eric Dowdle
Year released: Unknown
Pieces: 500
Cut-Style: Random
Finished size: 16″ by 20″
Bonus poster: Yes
Made in USA

QUALITY:

Box: Sturdy and compact, 7.5″ by 7.5″ by 3″, with paper sleeve
Board: Medium weight chipboard, sturdy pieces
Cut: Steel-cut Die
Image Quality: Excellent, great color saturation
Finish: Semi-gloss, with great color saturation
Puzzle Dust: Minimal
Piece shapes: A good mix of traditionally cut and irregular pieces
Piece Fit: Very Good. Some of the irregular pieces make it so that pieces can only be moved in small groups.

Disability Notes: The slightly larger size pieces of the 500 piece puzzle are kinder to the hands while still being complex enough to challenge lovers of larger piece count puzzles. Honestly, I want to try this brands 300 and 100 piece counts for this winter when my hands threaten to swell into claws. I can recommend this for people with mild to moderate arthritis or hand/eye coordination.

Where to buy: Harvest Festival is available on the Dowdle Puzzles website for $19.99 usd. At the time of this post, it is sold out.

Dowdle Puzzles : Website / FaceBook

Disclosure: I received a complimentary puzzle from the manufacturer in exchange for review. The opinions are my own.

Thanks for reading, and please click the Follow Button under my profile on the right side of the page.To support posts like this in the future, consider joining my Patreon!

Puzzle Review, Uncategorized

Basket Case Family Pieces Puzzle: A Review

September 3, 2018 PuzzlePaws Leave a comment

I know that most people with disabilities have families. Okay, all humans pretty much have families, but what I meant was; most of us have kids. My kids have fur, and do more damage to my projects than help…oh, wait, just like real kids. Nevermind that! Anyway, not having human children, I borrow my friend’s. I play auntie and Godmom to a small horde, who sometimes like to help out with my hobbies.

A few days ago, I “borrowed” Minion 1 and Minion 2 from their mom. Minion 1 is 8, and loves puzzles. Minion 2 has just turned 5 and while he likes puzzles, his attention span is hit & miss (SC Edit: He has the attention span of a ferret on speed!). Anyway, I’d gotten some of Cobble Hill’s new Family Pieces puzzles, and the boys were keen to do one.

Top-Minion 1, Far Left -Minion 2, Bottom Center- Me!

The Family Pieces Puzzles come with 3 distinct size pieces. Large for young children, Medium for older children, and small for adults.

Sorting didn’t take long with three pairs of hands! Minion 1 was a little miffed he had less medium pieces than his brother’s large ones, but once we started, he was helping everywhere!

Some of the edge pieces were tricky to find! We had a blast matching colors and seeing who could complete more kitten faces. At the end of the assembly, Minion 2 was starting to get a bit bored, as we were down to the small adult shapes. Still, he rallied to help place the last 4 pieces and complete the puzzle!

There was lemonades in celebration!

PUZZLE SPECS

Company: Cobble Hill
Title: Basket Case
Artist: © Braldt Bralds
Year released: 2018
Pieces: 350
Cut-Style: Random
Finished size: 24″ x 18″
Bonus poster: No
Made from recycled materials
Made in USA

QUALITY:

Box: Sturdy, Mediumweight, 10″x14’x2.5″ Matte-Linen Finish
Board: Thick and sturdy pieces, good for all 3 sizes of pieces
Cut: Steel-cut Die
Image Quality: Excellent, great color saturation
Finish: Satin, with great color saturation
Puzzle Dust: Minimal
Piece shapes: A good mix of traditionally cut and irregular pieces
Piece Fit: Very Good, but loose. You cannot pick up multiple large or medium pieces and move them, but the small pieces could lock together and be moved in small batches.

Disability Notes: I can definitely recommend this for any multi-age family, or for a person whose hands have good and bad days. The boys had fun and the full assembly only took about 2 hours. My hands didn’t ache after assembly, and the difficulty level was certainly up to adult standard. I can happily recommend a large piece puzzle for people with fine motor skill issues, or arthritis.

Where to buy: Basket Case is available on the Cobble Hill website for $15.99 usd.

Cobble Hill Puzzle Company : Website / FaceBook

Disclosure: I received a complimentary puzzle from the manufacturer in exchange for review. The opinions are my own.

Thanks for reading, and please click the Follow Button under my profile on the right side of the page. To support posts like this in the future, consider joining my Patreon!

Puzzle Review

Whiskers At The Window: A Large Piece Puzzle Review

August 27, 2018 PuzzlePaws Leave a comment

I’ll be the first to admit that I have issues accepting all the changes that my disability has forced upon me. Some are easier to accept than others; it is easier for me to ask my husband to tie my shoes, for example, than to deliberately reach for the large piece puzzles. I really hate the fact that my hands have problems with both sensation and grip on bad days. Thus, when my representative at The Jigsaw Puzzle Factory offered a 300 Large piece puzzle, I balked. I’m not that bad yet, really! My mind protested, but I know that while this blog is about my reviews and opinions; it is mainly about discovering things to make hobbies accessible.

So I waited for a day when my hands were sore and swollen, which after last week’s brick kit, wasn’t hard.

Whiskers At The Window reminds me of the puzzles I used to do as a kid. Not in a juvenile sense, but a fond nostalgia. I love the fact that the back of the box was given to the artist, Jane Maday.

The size of the pieces where certainly large! Better yet, each side has a different texture, glossy and smooth on the front, and matte and pebbled on the back.

On to the puzzling! The sorting went quickly enough, as this is only a 300 piece, and I’ve been doing 500-1000 pieces for a while now.

I forgot an important fact! This puzzle is ROUND! My normal boards are rectangular! I ended up having to have the Spouse-Critter set up the full-size card table and help me move my setup.

So big! The diameter of the puzzle is 24 inches!

Amazingly, none of my cats were interested in this puzzle. My only interruptions were SC wanting my opinion on his current project.

All in all, I think I managed to assemble this in about three hours, which is a new record.

PUZZLE SPECS

Company: The Jigsaw Puzzle Factory
Title: Whiskers At The Window
Artist: Jane Maday
Year released: 2017
Pieces: 300
Cut-Style: Grid-cut puzzle
Finished size: 24″ round
Bonus poster: Yes
Made from recycled materials
Made in USA

QUALITY:

Box: Sturdy medium weight, 8 x 8 inches
Board: Medium thickness, recycled chipboard
Cut: Cut with a steel-cut die, all pieces fully separated
Image Quality: Excellent, great color saturation
Finish: Slightly glossy
Puzzle Dust: None!
Piece shapes: A good mix of traditionally cut and irregular pieces
Piece Fit: Good, but loose. You cannot pick up multiple pieces and move them

Disability Notes: I have to give my rep credit, this a wonderful puzzle. My hands didn’t ache after assembly, and the difficulty level was certainly up to adult standard. I can happily recommend a large piece puzzle for people with fine motor skill issues, or arthritis.

Where to buy: Whiskers At The Window is available on the The Jigsaw Puzzle Factory website for $14.99 USD.

The Jigsaw Puzzle Factory: Website / FaceBook

Disclosure: I received a complimentary puzzle from the manufacturer in exchange for review. The opinions are my own.

Thanks for reading, and please click the Follow Button under my profile on the right side of the page. To support posts like this in the future, consider joining my Patreon!

Puzzle Review

Hidden Images Glow in the Dark Jungle Pride : A Puzzle Review

August 9, 2018 PuzzlePaws Leave a comment

I normally wouldn’t have chosen this puzzle for myself. It’s a 500 piece, which is within my current ability, and the subject matter is cat-based…But Spouse-Critter (SC) fell in love with both the tigers and the idea of hidden images. I tend to shy away from both hidden images (the Magic Eye™ images give me vertigo) and glow in the dark ones. That being said, how could I tell SC no? He rarely steers me wrong.

I love how well protected the puzzle pieces are!

There were only a few hanging chads, and it’s obvious that the die stamp had gotten dull rather than a design flaw. The chipboard is made of recycled materials, and the pieces are of medium thickness.

I had a bit of trouble keeping the cats off my tigers! We did find that one of the images on the side of the box is meant to be seen when upside down, so you can use the box to store puzzle pieces and still see the image!

Once I had my frame in place, the assembly only took me a few hours, spaced out over some rainy days. The mix of standard and irregular pieces made for a great mental exercise. Matching stripes took what felt like forever!

It took some experimenting to get the glow to pop, those rainy overcast days hadn’t given off enough light. I got limited results with a led lantern, so SC went out and bought a black light bulb. Look at the glowy awesome!! The box says there are 16 tigers in the puzzle. I could only find 14, but as I mentioned before, I suck at finding hidden images. The ones I did find look amazing.

PUZZLE SPECS

Company: MasterPieces® Inc.
Title: Hidden Images Glow in the Dark Jungle Pride
Artist: Steve Read
Year released: 2017
Pieces: 500
Cut-Style: Grid-cut puzzle
Finished size: 15 x 21 in
Bonus poster: No
Made from recycled materials
Made in China

QUALITY:

Box: Sturdy but lightweight, 8 x 8 inches
Board: Medium thickness, recycled chipboard
Cut: Cut with a steelcut die, very few pieces were not fully separated
Image Quality: Excellent, great color saturation
Finish: Slightly glossy with sandy texture where the glow in the dark ink is
Puzzle Dust: Minimal
Piece shapes: A good mix of traditionally cut and irregular pieces
Piece Fit: Very good, small clusters of pieces could be moved without falling apart

Where to buy: “Hidden Images Glow in the Dark Jungle Pride” has been re-issued as a 550 piece puzzle and is available on the MasterPieces website for $12.99 USD.

MasterPieces Puzzles: Website / FaceBook

Disclosure: I received a complimentary puzzle from the manufacturer in exchange for review. The opinions are my own.

Thanks for reading, and please click the Follow Button under my profile on the right side of the page. To support posts like this in the future, consider joining my Patreon!

Puzzle Review

Puzzle Preservation: MasterPieces Peel & Stick

August 7, 2018 PuzzlePaws Leave a comment

I finished assembling a puzzle today and the Spouse-Critter(SC) liked it enough to request it be glued. As I had received both the puzzle and a package of puzzle glue sheets from MasterPieces; I figured why not? This turned into an adventure!

I’ve never used glue sheets before, so I was rather excited. Would it be easier than the liquid glue I normally use? It had to be faster, right? So I flipped my puzzle upside down and got to work.

Hmm….this can’t be right. The puzzle is a 500 piece measuring 15″ by 21″. The packaging states that it will cover two (2) 500 piece puzzles and that with eleven sheets out of the twelve in the package to cover my puzzle certainly isn’t happening here.

I stopped and did a little research. The packaging says the glue sheets are 7″ by 7.5″. My measurements,with Hurricane for scale, say they are 6.5″ by 6.5″. Now, the company’s website states the sheets are 6.75″ by 6.75″. OK, maybe I got new product in older packaging. It sucks, but I do have enough to cover my puzzle. (SC Edit: Turns out, the packaging is 7″ by 7.5″. The issue seems to be a communication error between designer and manufacturer.)

The hardest part is getting the backing to peel. I did this on a good hand day, where I had sensation in my fingers and it was difficult. I honestly couldn’t imagine how hard it would be for my friends with major hand mobility issues. Maybe an easy-peel corner? Other than some wrinkles, my first piece went on really well. Color me impressed, these glue sheets are super sticky! All the other main sheets(6) went down easily. I laid full sheets across the top and bottom of my puzzle, thinking that those would be the areas needing the most support. This left a strip down one side and one down the center that still needed glue sheets. The uncovered areas were all under 2″ wide, so I cut 2″strips from two additional glue sheets. Ha! I was able to cover my puzzle completely using only eight sheets instead of the estimated eleven. I still have four sheets to use if I want to save one of my micro puzzles.

Rating: 4/5

Pros:

Much less messy than glue
Fast application
Zero drying time
No chemical scent for people with Chemical Sensitivities

Cons:

Hard to open
No way to reposition-once it’s down, it’s down!
Measurement discrepancy-measure your puzzle first!
Cost. See Cost Analysis

Cost Analysis:

I know I’m not the only disabled person on a limited budget. At $5.99 a package, MasterPieces Peel & Stick Puzzle Glue Sheets are great if you only need to save one or two puzzles. If you are like me, and save a good number of puzzles; then the same cost covers a small bottle of liquid puzzle glue that will do four or more puzzles.

Overall:

I’ll email Masterpieces regarding the size discrepancy, and recommend an easy peel corner or perforation to make opening the glue sheets easier. They have an awesome guarantee system and I’ll post an update about what I hear. I solidly rate this product a 4 out of 5 and do recommend it for puzzlers who either hate glue or have a Chemical Sensitivity.

MasterPieces Peel & Stick Puzzle Glue Sheets can be bought here.

MasterPieces: Website/FaceBook

Disclosure: I received a complimentary puzzle and glue sheets from the manufacturer in exchange for review. The opinions are my own.

Thanks for reading, and please click the Follow Button under my profile on the right side of the page. To support posts like this in the future, consider joining my Patreon!

Puzzle Review

Sharks! A Puzzle Review

July 28, 2018 PuzzlePaws 1 Comment

Early last February, I got to go to the New York Toy Fair. This was an awesome weekend where I got to see the new toys, games, and hobby kits that companies would be selling over the upcoming year. While there, I was gifted a veritable plethora of swag. Swag is great, it’s the free stuff that companies give out in the hopes you’ll spread the news and buy more stuff. At the time, I had no real plans for the swag, which included puzzles, micro-brick kits, and bath bomb kits. Then winter hit me, and hit me hard. I spent the better part of two months staring at the ceiling, too ill to leave to bed. I watched a lot of Netflix. Honestly, I watched so much that I became bored with boredom. It’s summer now, but nothing, especially good health doesn’t last long. My spouse-critter (SC) recommended I start a blog, talk about the things I love. My body may have bad days/weeks, but my brain still craves stimulation, and I certainly can’t be the only one!

Back on topic, one of those Toy Fair Puzzles was this:

1000 piece Shark Chart Puzzle by EuroGraphics Puzzles

My family and friends will agree…I’m obsessed with sharks. Discovery Channel’s Shark Week is sacred holiday in my house. What better way to build this puzzle than to marathon watching Shark Week’s 30th Anniversary season?

So I set up my work station, AKA the couch and bought a season pass on Amazon. The cats decided this was to be a family project. Zane tests the box for sits as Teedle warms my spot.

This is a new brand to me, and I was really impressed. While there were a few pieces that weren’t fully separated during the cutting process, the overall quality of this puzzle is excellent. The irregularly cut pieces, mixed with traditional ones, made for a fiendishly clever puzzle. Featuring nearly 30 sharks from over 25 different species; this puzzle is almost more educational than Shark Week! Better yet, my FAVORITE shark is on it. Spotted Wobbegong FTW!All finished, and beautiful!Hurricane gave it the Cat Seal™ of approval as Zoomie supervises.

Okay, enough cat photos. Here’s the details!

PUZZLE SPECS

Company: Eurographics Puzzles
Title: Sharks
Artist: Unknown
Year released: Unknown
Pieces: 1000
Cut-Style: Grid-cut puzzle
Finished size: 26.5 x 19.25 in
Bonus poster: No
Made from recycled board and printed with vegetable based ink.
Made in USA

QUALITY:

Box: sturdy, sized 14 x 10 in
Board: Very sturdy and rigid
Cut: Cut with a steelcut die, very few pieces were not fully separated
Image Quality: Excellent
Finish: Slightly glossy
Puzzle Dust: Minimal
Piece shapes: A good mix of traditionally cut and irregular pieces
Piece Fit: Very good, small clusters of pieces could be moved without falling apart

Where to buy: At the time of this post, “Sharks” is listed for sale on the Eurographics website for $17.99 usd.

Eurographics Puzzles: website / FaceBook

Disclosure: I received a complimentary puzzle from the manufacturer in exchange for review. The opinions are my own.

Thanks for reading, and please click the Follow Button under my profile on the right side of the page. To support posts like this in the future, consider joining my Patreon!

Little pieces make a bigger picture