Tag Archives: MasterPieces

Puzzle Review

Sunny May Days and Baseball!

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Tonight my baseball team, the Boston Red Sox will play against the Seattle Mariners.

Team loyalty is a strong human trait. Most people “choose” their sports teams early in childhood and rarely switch them. I’m no different. My first baseball memory is my Grandpa Roy (maternal grandfather) taking my brother and I to a game when I was around 8 or 9. That was 30 years ago. Grandpa Roy was a diehard Mets fan, and while he failed to give me a love of the Mets, he did teach me to love baseball.  At the time, I was living in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Naturally, I was a Red Sox girl. When we moved to Upstate NY, I found myself in enemy territory. The dread Yankees merchandise was everywhere!  I clung to my beloved Sox fandom, throughout the long years of no Pennants or World Series wins. I celebrated with the rest of the Red Sox Nation when in 2004 we broke the Bambino’s Curse at last!

When I saw the new puzzles that MasterPieces  and Major League Baseball had created, I knew I needed to do one! This is the Boston Red Sox 500 Piece Home Plate Shaped Jigsaw Puzzle, which is a mouthful to say! Thankfully, the title tells you all the pertinent details; it’s 500 pieces, is shaped like home plate, and features the Red Sox! This puzzle is officially licensed by the MLB.

I don’t have my usual frame picture, because I started to assemble the puzzle on my new puzzle board, not having checked to see if it would fit first! Ooops! I ended up having to slide my frame onto the puzzle board SC made me. Shaped puzzles can be tricky, as the nonstandard dimensions may not fit on your puzzling surface.

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This was a really fun, and challenging puzzle. Not only is it a shaped puzzle, but it has 5 shaped pieces, known as whimsies. The whimsies are larger than all the other pieces, and added to the difficulty. That being said, this is a random cut puzzle and the pieces fit together amazingly well.

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Home plate, cleat, glove, cap, and jersey

I haven’t been to Fenway Park since I was a little girl. I live in Virginia now, but visit family and friends outside Boston often. Eventually, I’ll get a chance to cheer my Sox in their home stadium like I did as a kid. In the meantime, I watch from home and wear my colors proudly!

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PUZZLE SPECS

  • Company: MasterPieces® Inc.
  • Title: Boston Red Sox 500 Piece Home Plate Shaped Jigsaw Puzzle
  • Artist: Not listed
  • Year released: Unknown
  • Pieces: 500
  • Cut-Style: Random
  • Finished size: 22x 22 in
  • Bonus poster: No
  • Made from recycled materials
  • Made in China

QUALITY: 

  • Box: Sturdy but lightweight, 10.5 x 10.5 x 2 inches
  • Board: Medium thickness, recycled chipboard
  • Cut: Cut with a steelcut die
  • Image Quality: Excellent, great color saturation
  • Finish: Semi-gloss
  • Puzzle Dust: Minimal
  • Piece shapes: Irregular pieces and 5 whimsy pieces
  • Piece Fit: Very good, small clusters of pieces could be moved without falling apart

Where to buy: Boston Red Sox 500 Piece Home Plate Shaped Jigsaw Puzzle is available on the MasterPieces website for $19.99 USD.

MasterPieces Puzzles: Website / FaceBook

Disclosure: I received a complimentary puzzle from the manufacturer in exchange for review. The opinions are my own. All links are direct, I do not make money from them.

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!

Accessories

Reviewing Sort and Save – Puzzle Piece Trays

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I’m not always the most organized person. My life, house and project desk are always in some sort of chaos. Mind you, it’s a chaos that I have down to a science, so heaven help you if you touch it or god forbid CLEAN it. That being said, as my puzzles grow in difficulty, so does the amount of sheer space I need for all the pieces.

I’d been recommended puzzle trays before, but hadn’t had any real reason to try them. Until now. SC has told me that I’m getting an upgraded puzzle board for my birthday. Something that will take both 2000+piece and panoramic puzzles! I’ve been dying to try both of these, but not had a large enough work surface unless I wanted to use the floor of the office while exiling both the cats and the Spouse-critter. Not exactly feasible.

So when I reached out to MasterPieces, I made sure to request a set of their Sort & Save Puzzle Piece Trays. I kind of love that alliteration! 51695_box__66336-1519180977

Okay, so the package is pretty, but what about the actual trays?

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Not just for puzzle pieces! These were great when working a large brick kit!

Check these out! You get 6 trays of pink,yellow and blue(2 of each) made of a nicely sturdy plastic! I wouldn’t risk them in a dishwasher, but if necessary, these can be hand-washed with no problem! Don’t ask why I had to find this out, I have CATS!

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This is the best part other than the trays stackability, the trays interconnect! Really well, too! I could move the whole lot of them by just pushing or pulling the one nearest to me, or rotate them to work a different color.

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The unexpected good side I found to these was that I was able to keep my puzzling momentum even when I had to stack up the trays and half-done puzzle because of an evacuation. When we came home, I was able to pick up right where I’d left off. (In the words of Paul Harvy…”that’s another story”).

I’m pretty sure that when I order my first 2000 piece puzzle I’ll be ordering a second set of these awesome trays!

Rating: 5/5

Pros:

  • Great for organizing/separating puzzle pieces
  • Multiple craft uses
  • Interconnecting and stackable!

Cons:

  • I really wish these were just a little deeper, they barely fit a 1000 piece puzzle
  • For puzzles over 1000 pieces you will need 2 sets

Cost Analysis:

I know I’m not the only disabled person on a limited budget. At $14.99 a package, MasterPieces Sort and Save – Puzzle Piece Trays are a great deal. They’re reuseable, and as you can see from my pictures can lend themselves to many projects with small pieces.

Overall:

I solidly rate this product a 5 out of 5 and do recommend it for puzzlers who prefer to work in sections or have to maintain a tidy workspace, either due to kids, furkids or space restraints.

MasterPieces Sort and Save – Puzzle Piece Trays 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!