Thirteen Puzzle Companies Ranked by Overall Quality

I have added a formal review of Buffalo puzzles to the "Company Reviews" page and revised (as a result of more exposure to their puzzles) the numeric totals of a couple of others. I have broken point-ties strictly by a gut feel for which for which company's product I would likely reach for first.

That said, I do use a point-system to rank the companies, and there is still surprisingly little difference along that 35-point scale in many cases. It seems that most companies are strong in some qualities and just average or even weak in others, so the overall ranking can boil down to only one or two category "misses" on the parts of the companies. Some companies produce too many damaged pieces, some produce poor colors, or too loose a fit, etc., but whatever it is, they almost all have one or two weak areas.

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 thirteen-company ranking is based on total points (with the percentage of a perfect score also shown strictly 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. Aquarius -   28 points, 80%
3. The Jigsaw Puzzle Factory - 28 points, 80%
4. Ravensburger - 28 points, 80%
5. Cobble Hill - 27 points, 77%
6. Buffalo - 26 points, 74%
7. SunsOut -   26 points, 74%
8. Dowdle Folk Art -   26 points, 74%
9. Hogan's Harbor - 25 points, 71%
10. Eurographics - 24 points, 69%
11. Ceaco -  23 points, 66%
12. Hasbro - 23 points, 66%
13. Puzz3D (MB) - 15 points, 43%

Detailed Reviews for Each Company Ranked - Click Here


I invite your comments and/or mini-reviews on any of the puzzle companies I've ranked to this point. Just attach your thoughts below in the comments section and I will copy them to my review of the same company. Your words will appear here in the original post AND as an attachment to my review. 

Thoughts, folks?

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

"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.

Ten Puzzle Companies Ranked by Overall Quality

I am adding reviews of two puzzle producers today to my ranking list of eight companies previously posted: Eurographics and Cobble Hill.

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 their parts as to where they will rank. 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 -   31 points, 89%
2. SunsOut -   31 points, 89%
3. Dowdle Folk Art -   30 points, 86%
4. Aquarius -   29 points, 83%
5. Ravensburger - 28 points, 80%
6. Cobble Hill - 27 points, 77%
7. Hogan's Harbor - 25 points, 71%
8. Eurographics - 24 points, 69%
9. Ceaco -   24 points, 69%
10. Puzz3D (MB) - 15 points, 43%

Detailed Reviews for Each Company Ranked - Click Here

Goodwill Store Finds: Two from Springbok, One each from Ravensburger and Cobble Hill

"Roving Rascals," Springbok/Hallmark, over 500 pieces, 20 x 20 inches

I went to an estate sale on Saturday morning that turned out to be a complete dud, but I had to pass by a Goodwill Store on the way home, and I decided to stop by. Surprisingly, there were more puzzles on the toy shelf that morning than I've ever seen in that store at one time, and I grabbed the four that appealed to me, including the one shown above.

"Roving Rascals," I am guessing is from the 1980s, that period during which Springbok and Hallmark Cards were working together to produce some interesting images and puzzles. This one was marked at $1.99, but with my Saturday Senior Discount it rang up at only $1.39. I have a theory about how this Goodwill Store prices its puzzles...more later on that.

"Beautiful Vista," Ravensburger, 500 pieces, 27 x 20 inches

I'm not particularly fond of puzzles like this one that show some anonymous mountain range and lake, but I can seldom convince myself to leave behind a Ravensburger puzzle priced as low as this one - $2.09 with discount. It's of the larger-piece variety and its finished size of 27 x 20 inches is standard for the larger-count 1000-piece puzzles  used by so many puzzle companies.

"Americana," Springbok, 500 pieces, 18 x 24 inches

This 2014 puzzle was another of the $1.39 values, and I almost left it behind because the color tone is a little too warm and reddish to be attractive to my eye.  But I enjoy this kind of image enough that when someone else started sniffing around the puzzles, I went back and grabbed it before it was too late. Suddenly, it looked pretty good to me.

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

I haven't had much experience with Cobble Hill puzzles yet, so why not grab something as nice as this puzzle for $2.09 while I could? It will probably sit around until the next Christmas season or two, but should be fun to work on during that time of the year. Too, the box says that this is a "random cut" puzzle, and that's my favorite puzzle cut style.

Now, my theory on how Goodwill prices jigsaw puzzles: sorters are highly influenced by two things - piece count and quality of the puzzle box. Box condition and quality may even be the most important factor, as I've seen 500-piece Ravensburger and Cobble Hill puzzles valued at one-third to one-half more than what the Goodwill store charges for 1000-piece puzzles of equal quality housed in cheaper-looking boxes. 

And the search goes on...sometimes I think I enjoy the search as much as I enjoy actually building a puzzle, and that strikes me as a bit weird when I think about it.