Road Trip! (Look out thrift shops.)

Road trip! 

It's that time of year again, and I can't wait to get started. Every summer possible for almost three decades now I've shifted my car into "wander" and hit the gas. Sometimes I have an ultimate destination in mind, and sometimes I don't. This is going to be one of those "let's see what happens trips."

I hope to head out Saturday morning in a general northwest direction, maybe heading toward Monument Valley (around the Arizona/Utah border), then perhaps toward the Wyoming Badlands, and finishing up with a stop at Mt. Rushmore before heading back to Houston. That's something like 4000 miles, so I may not get it all in before my hotel budget runs dry...and that's where the wandering comes in. I really hate packaged tours or even making hotel reservations before I'm ready to stop, so anything could happen. (I've been forced to drive several extra hours in search of shelter on more than one occasion, for instance.)

Anyway, this is all to say that my puzzle-building time is obviously going to be almost non-existent for well over a week beginning June 30 if things go as planned. I do plan to keep an eye out for thrift shops and museums that may add a puzzle or two to my collection, so I'll keep my hand in that way. Too, I'm bringing a laptop with me, and WiFi willing, I plan to post here a few times regarding my whereabouts and progress on the trip. I have a good friend in Phoenix and another in central Wyoming, and with a little bit of luck, I'll be able to check in with both of them along the way.

Road trip!

White Mountain Puzzles: "Fourth of July"

"Fourth of July," White Mountain, 1000 pieces, 24 x 30

This one from White Mountain took me a day longer than I expected it would, and that's entirely due to the trees that make up almost one-third of the puzzle. I wish I knew why it was, but trees give me more trouble than anything else I've ever encountered in a puzzle. It just seems as if my eyes glaze over when I see all those leaves and partial branches...and fitting pieces becomes near-impossible. And that was exactly what happened again.

As you can see from the cover, this is a representation of a Fourth of July celebration in a park setting of at least sixty or seventy years ago. It's the American ideal, of course, and I enjoyed watching all the little scenarios come to life as I began to piece things together. 
(But be warned...take a close look at the puzzle cover and you will notice that the puzzle has been blurred beneath the title "Fourth of July." Those words do not exist on the completed puzzle itself, and anyone building this one will be on her own for that section of the puzzle.

This one works almost as if it's one of the White Mountain collages in that it's best just to start fitting the various characters together without worrying too much where or when they are going to attach to the overall puzzle image. Then when you have enough of them completed, they start fitting to the frame and you can take it from there by either continuing with the separate little images or working the puzzle from the bottom up. I decided to keep doing what had already gotten me to this point by taking every separate scenario as its own little puzzle and worry about attaching all of them later.

And eventually they all start coming together...leaving all those pieces of trees and branches sitting around to laugh at what is to come when I dare pick one of them up for the first time. That's when things came to a streaking halt.

Finally, I got the trees started, but only because I could place some around the crashed kite and the balloons that had escaped earth to head toward the sun and their eventual doom.

Eventually, the trees began to fill in, but it would be another three hours or so before I would finally finish that last big section in the center of the puzzle. If you had asked me about the difficulty of this one before I started on the trees, I would have told you that it was pretty easy. But now? I would tell you that it's a pretty good challenge, and a whole lot of fun.

"Nice" by Hasbro

"Nice," Hasbro, 300 Easy Grasp pieces, 18 x 24 inches

Like so many puzzlers, I often work a "change of pace" puzzle after two or three difficult or large piece-count puzzles. It always seems to give me the jump-start I need to get back to the more difficult puzzles, and "Nice" was no exception. This is a puzzle that I picked up for next to nothing at a local thrift shop, and I failed to notice when I bought it that the puzzle pieces were what Hasbro calls "Easy Grasp" size. That means that I ended up with a relatively large finished puzzle of 18 by 24 inches, all built from only 300 pieces.

I began to get an idea of just how quickly this one was going to come together when I pulled all the "frame" pieces from the box on the first pass. Of course, that probably only happened because the frame itself has a uniform yellow border all the way around it,  because of all the puzzles I've ever worked, this is the first time I haven't had to go back into the box for a second or third pass at the border pieces. From there, the blue pieces really stood out from the rest, so that seemed like the logical place to go to next.

Simply completing the blue sky and and the rest of the horizon meant that about 40% of the puzzle was done, so it was on to the main figure in the image, along with all the supporting characters, and the cars. This would prove to be the slowest part of the puzzle, but would not really be any great challenge either. Instead, the fun from working "Nice" comes from its good variety in puzzle-piece shapes, something that Hasbro does a  very good job on. Even that, though, doesn't add a tremendous amount of difficulty to a puzzle with pieces this large, but it certainly helped to hold my interest.

"Nice" may not be much of a challenge for experienced puzzlers (it took me only a couple of hours, all told, and I'm not tremendously experienced), but the finished product is really quite an eye-catcher. And it did it's job...I'm ready for a new challenge now.

Twelve Puzzle Companies Ranked by Overall Quality

I am adding reviews of two puzzle producers today to my ranking list of ten companies previously posted: The Jigsaw Puzzle Factory and Hasbro.

I use a point-system to rank the companies, and there is surprisingly little difference in point-totals in many cases. It seems that most companies are strong in some qualities and just average in others, so it's all boils down to one or two category "misses" on the parts of the companies as to where they will rank. Some companies produce too many damaged pieces, some produce poor colors, or too loose a fit, etc., but it seems that they all have at least one major weakness.

I rate eight separate categories from 1-4 points each, and offer up to three possible bonus points for exceptional quality in any of the rating-categories. That means that a perfect score would be 35 points (and no company has approached that number yet). This ten-company ranking is based on total points (with the percentage of a perfect score also shown for informational purposes}. 

More reviews and list adjustments will follow as I gain more experience with the puzzles of other companies.

Puzzle Company Ranking List:

1. White Mountain -   29 points, 83%
2. SunsOut -   29 points, 83%
3. Aquarius -   28 points, 80%
4. Ravensburger - 28 points, 80%
5. The Jigsaw Puzzle Factory - 28 points, 80%
6. Dowdle Folk Art -   27 points, 77%
7. Cobble Hill - 27 points, 77%
8. Hogan's Harbor - 25 points, 71%
9. Eurographics - 24 points, 69%
10. Ceaco -  23 points, 66%
11. Hasbro - 23 points, 66%
12. Puzz3D (MB) - 15 points, 43%

Detailed Reviews for Each Company Ranked - Click Here

Goodwill Store Finds: Amish Country, San Francisco, a European Castle, Pencils, Shoes, and a Mystery

"Lancaster County," Milton Bradley, 1000 pieces, 26 x 20 inches

The puzzle pickings at my local Goodwill Stores were a little bit below par last week, but I still managed to pick up a half-a-dozen interesting puzzles, including this Amish scene produced by the Milton Bradley people. The puzzle is a little dark, meaning that it will probably drive me nuts when I get to that dirt area in the foreground. I always seem to have a real problem fitting together large sections of dark pieces, something that doesn't seem to be getting much better with experience.

"Shoes, Shoes, Shoes!," Springbok, 500 pieces, 24 x 30 inches

This Springbok image is not of a subject that I have a whole lot of interest in, but I got the feeling that I was rescuing this one from a certain date with the trash bin if I didn't buy it. The Goodwill folks had failed to tape the box together and I found three loose pieces  on the shelf alongside the puzzle. That means I'm taking a huge chance that other pieces were separated from the box somewhere along the line too, but for a buck, I decided to risk it. (Too, I really like Springbok puzzles.)

"Along for the Ride," Bits & Pieces, 1000 pieces, 20 x 27 inches

I don't see a whole lot of Bits & Pieces puzzles in the shops, so this nice San Francisco image was too good to pass up.  Not a whole lot of color variation in this one, and that generally translates into a tougher than normal puzzle.  We'll see.

"Neuschwanstein Castle," Buffalo, 1000 pieces

I probably should have left this one on the shelf because I have the identical puzzle in 2000-piece size that I haven't worked yet, but for 79 cents I decided to take it home with me. I've been told that the 2000-piece version is really, really difficult, but honestly, this looks like it would be tough no matter what the piece-count.

"Pencil Pushers," Springbok, 500 pieces, 18 x 24 inches

This older Springbok is the companion to the Springbok shoes puzzle shown earlier. They sat side-by-side on the shelf, but this box was taped together as used-puzzle boxes always should be. I like the colors of this one, and I expect that it will be a nice change-of-pace puzzle one of these days.

"Last Chill & Testament," Bepuzzled, 1000 pieces

This is the second of Bepuzzled's mystery puzzles that I've picked up in the past couple of weeks but I still haven't worked one of them. The image on this cover photo is said not to be what the actual puzzle will show...that's part of the mystery to be solved...so I have no real idea what all I'm getting into here. I just hope it's not quite all as dark brown as this image. The puzzle comes also with a 75-page book to read before building the puzzle and solving the book's mystery.

All in all, I suppose this was not a terrible week of puzzle-hunting at the Goodwill shops. I've certainly had better weeks, but I've also had whole weeks where not a single usable puzzle turned up at the three shops I visit regularly. So I'll take it. (And the new week is already shaping up to be a pretty good one.) 

The Jigsaw Puzzle Factory: "Venetian View" Is a Winner

"Venetian View," The Jigsaw Puzzle Factory, 1000 pieces, 19.125 x 26.625 inches

"Venetian View" is my first experience with a puzzle from The Jigsaw Puzzle Factory, but I can confidently say that it will not be my last. This one caught my eye a while back because of the uncommon perspective of its image. Building "Venetian View" is almost like building two puzzles at once, one being the interior of a beautiful Venetian room (encompassing about two-thirds of the overall puzzle) and the other being the exterior view seen from the room itself (the remaining one-third of the puzzle).

I have to admit that, right out of the box, this one proved to be more of a challenge than I ever expected it would be. A closer look at the image on the cover shows why that is: lots of similar patterns and colors throughout the image, multiple doors and windows made from the same building materials, and a large carpet very similar to the fabric used on the several chairs spread throughout the room being the main culprits. 

In the spirit of "taking what the puzzle gives you," I started with the columns in the room and some of the picture frames on the room's wall. As you can see from the picture, I did try to get the room's big carpet done, but I stalled there pretty quickly - because it was not easy to tell pieces of the carpet from pieces of the chair upholstery. This resulted in me pretty much working the puzzle from the top down.

At this point, I was approximately half-way through the puzzle and it was starting to look good. I particularly enjoyed watching the view through the windows take shape as some of the buildings started to come together. Even some of the framed pictures were starting to fill in.

Soon enough, the top-to-bottom approach brought me to the realization that the toughest part of the puzzle was all that was left to me...and for the first time, I began to be certain that the piece almost in the center of the puzzle that I had still not found was truly going to be missing. (More on that later.)

Another few hours in, and I was left with about 50 pieces that all looked very much alike. The bottom thirty percent or so of the puzzle would turn out to take as much time as the first seventy percent took me. But don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about that because I love a good puzzle challenge and I never come anywhere near to giving up on a puzzle in frustration. "Venetian View" was great fun and I am very pleased with the finished product.

I will be doing a formal review of the The Jigsaw Puzzle Factory for my Company Reviews page soon, but I want to mention a couple of highlights right now. I absolutely love the way the company's puzzle pieces fit together so cleanly and obviously, never leaving a doubt about whether or not a piece has been placed correctly. The image's colors are sharp and accurate to the image on the poster included with the puzzle, and because this is one I would have hated to tackle without a poster, that was very helpful. And best of all, The Jigsaw Puzzle Factory produces a puzzle that can actually be lifted off the puzzle board and carried around without it becoming a jumbled mess of loose pieces that need to be reworked. That is extremely important to puzzle-tapers like me who prefer to avoid glue.

And finally, about that missing piece. After looking everywhere in the room, checking pockets, etc., I gave up and figured that I had most likely lost it forever. Then, in the process of putting everything away, there it was...safe and sound in the little plastic bag it was shipped in. (Now THAT'S a good feeling.)

Bottom Line: Fun building experience offering an above-average challenge and a great finished product.

("Venetian View" was provided for review purposes by The Jigsaw Puzzle Factory.)

Happy Father's Day, Guys! (Kids and Puzzles)

As the father of two girls and the grandfather of three teens, Father's Day has become my favorite day of the year. I hope everyone out there spends the day with family and enjoys it as much as I do.

"Tis the Season" (Cobble Hill) - But, Baby, It's Hot Outside

"Tis the Season," Cobble Hill, 500 pieces, 24 x 18 inches

I suppose it's a little strange of me to be doing a Christmas puzzle when it's almost 100 degrees outside, but I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this one. I'm not overly familiar with the cut of Cobble Hill puzzles, so this little 500-piece gem turned out to be a good bit more of a challenge than I expected it would be. Take, for instance, the picture shown just below in which I show the effort it took for me to finally find the "missing" piece of the puzzle's frame.

For the longest, I thought that a piece was missing in the bottom part of the puzzle's frame - and then I decided to try something different. As you can see from that little four-piece cluster in the center of the picture, it did all finally come together, leaving me with the makings of a complete frame (the last couple of pieces turned up in regular sorting).

Right out of the box, this one didn't really look too tough...I mean, it's only 500 pieces, right? But Cobble Hill's cut made this one as much fun as I've had with a puzzle in a while.

I pretty much decided to work this one from the bottom up early on because of the way my sorting evolved into several distinguishable stacks of pieces.

Bottom-to-top worked out pretty well from the start, and I really got a kick out of matching all the tiny faces and clothing together to  capture the spirit of "Tis the Season."

It was when the buildings began to show up that the challenge changed in difficulty because the architecture of the buildings is similar throughout the puzzle. That meant lots of very similar windows, doors, and roof tops - but bottom to top was still the plan.

Speaking of the faces of all those shoppers, I've taken a few closeups to show the intricacy of all the distinct little scenes captured in this relatively small puzzle of 24 x 18 inches:

side-street shoppers

window-shopping at the antique store

Santa doing his thing for excited kids at the toy store

kids building a snowman on the sidewalk

"Tis the Season" left me impressed with the Cobble Hill brand because of the way the company designed the cut and presentation of the puzzle. 500-piece puzzles seldom offer all that much of a challenge, but this one did - and I loved it.

Goodwill Store Finds: Sure-Lox "Art Gallery" Comes in at 6750 Pieces in Total

"Art Gallery" puzzles, Sure-Lox, 6750 total pieces

I got up early this morning to drive my granddaughter to Texas A&M University to meet with her advisor so that she could set her fall 2018 schedule (she's one class short of being a junior). That's a drive of almost 80 miles each way, so I was surprised to be back in town by 10:20 this morning - still with time for my usual breakfast stop. And, as I've mentioned before, in the same parking lot is a Goodwill Store, so why not pop in there while I was at it?

I was about to leave the store when it finally clicked that the big green box on the end of the toy counter was actually a collection of ten puzzles rather than the large game that I had been assuming it was. Needless to say, the box didn't stay on the shelf much longer because I truly like many of the images on the cover and the three dollar price was just about perfect. As you can see from the cover, there are five 500-piece puzzles, three 750-piece ones, and two 1000-pieces ones in the box. If my historical odds concerning missing pieces from thrift shop puzzles hold up, that means that roughly two of the puzzles probably have a missing piece or two. 

As you can see from this picture, the puzzles are separately packed in resealable plastic bags - always a good sign as to completeness - and there is a fairly large poster to help puzzlers in their work. Maybe the best thing about this "art collection" is that all of the images are identified by artist - and two of my puzzle favorites are included (a 500-piece Susan Brabeau and a 750-piece Ann Stookey). Other artists contributing to the collection are: Loren Blackburn, Ginger Cook, Alan Giana, Bill Bell, James Coleman, Michael Jackson, and Schaefer/Miles. 

I'm posting several of the puzzle images (despite the wear on the poster that shows up in the photos) so that everyone can get a better idea of what the puzzles in this collection are like - and why I like at least half of them. I'll list the artist name below each image:

Schaefer/Miles, 1000 pieces

Loren Blackburn, 500 pieces

Ann Stookey, 750 pieces

Alan Giana, 500 pieces

Ginger Cook, 500 pieces

Susan Brabeau, 500 pieces

This will be my first experience with the Sure-Lox company. Sure-Lox is a Canadian puzzle company that, I assume, exports puzzles into the U.S. market. A quick glance at the puzzle pieces indicates that Sure-Lox quality is most likely somewhere near the middle of the pack of companies I've experienced in the last few months (this puzzle was produced and sold in 2007).