Grumpy's Jigsaw Puzzle Review

  Brand:  Ceaco Title:  Untitled. so I'm calling it Donald and Daisy Series:  This was part of a 5-puzzle set by Ceaco, purchased at Goodwill.  The puzzles were all sealed in the original bags so this set has not been assembled before. Artist:  Unknown; I can't read the signature. Number of Pieces:  300 Size:  11" x 15" Poster included:  Yes Quality:  Poor, this was the lowest quality puzzle I have assembled so far.  But it was all there and the fit was acceptable.   - Missing pieces: None   - False Fits:  None   - Sections stay together when moving:  Generally not   - Bent or delaminated pieces:  There were a large number of pieces with the a hanging chad of cardboard blocking one of the holes, probably 5-10% or more of the pieces were like this   - Uncut pieces:  Several   - Finished puzzle can be picked up by edges:  No, the fit is not tight enough   - Image quality:  Very good to excellent   - Puzzle dust:  Didn't notice any What I liked:  This was a fun image

  Brand:  Buffalo Games and Puzzles Title:  Wings Series:  Vivid Collection Number of Pieces: 300 Large pieces Size:  21.25" x 15" Poster included:  Yes Quality:  Good   - Missing pieces:  None   - False Fits:  None   - Sections stay together when moving:  Yes   - Bent or delaminated pieces:  Yes, some tabs are starting to delaminate, but this puzzle was purchased from Goodwill and was not new.   - Uncut pieces:  No   - Finished puzzle can be picked up by edges:  Yes   - Image quality:  Good   - Puzzle dust:  None What I liked:  A very colorful image, fun and easy to put together.  Whoever gave this to Goodwill also put the edge pieces in a bag, which was nice.   What I didn't like:  Nothing.

Brand:  Bits and Pieces Title:  Peacocks Artist:  Oleg Gavrilov Number of Pieces:  500 Size:  18" x 24" Poster included:  No.  The picture on the box was marginally useful in figuring out where a piece went. Quality:  Good; though pieces are not quite as thick as Buffalo (I compared two stacks of 10 pieces).   - Missing pieces:  None   - False Fits:  Yes, some pieces will appear to fit where they don't belong if you are not careful   - Sections stay together when moving:  Yes   - Bent or delaminated pieces:  None   - Uncut pieces:  None   - Finished puzzle can be picked up by edges:  Barely, and only if you are careful   - Image quality:  Good, though the original image is not sharp   - Puzzle dust:  Not that I noticed What I liked:  This is a nice, colorful image.  We found this to be challenging to put together, but finished it in about a day working on and off.  The random cut is interesting, and provides a different puzzling experience. What I didn't like:  Becaus

  Brand:  Buffalo Games and Puzzles Title:  Mont Saint Michel, France Series:  Majestic Castles Number of Pieces: 750 Size:  24" x 18" Poster included:  Yes, although smaller than the posters in the 500 piece puzzles Quality:  Good   - Missing pieces:  None   - False Fits:  Yes, the border took me a bit to get correct on the top.   - Sections stay together when moving:  Yes, but didn't do this often.   - Bent or delaminated pieces:  There was a slightly damaged piece, one of the tabs was rotated a bit which caused a small tear in the image.  It was useable with no problem, but detracts from the image.   - Uncut pieces:  None   - Finished puzzle can be picked up by edges:  Yes   - Image quality:  Good.  The picture is beautiful, except for the moon which looks unrealistic and too large.   - Puzzle dust:  Didn't notice any. What I liked:  Putting together the castle portion was fun.  All the rest was difficult, especially the sky which I saved for last. What I didn'

  Brand:  Buffalo Games and Puzzles Title:  Fireside Companions Artist:  Charles Wysocki Number of Pieces:  300 Large pieces Size:  21.25" x 15" Poster included:  Yes Quality:  Excellent   - Missing pieces:  None   - False Fits:  None   - Sections stay together when moving:  Sometimes, but didn't really need to do that.   - Bent or delaminated pieces:  None   - Uncut pieces:  One pair was not completely cut, so I left them as is.   - Finished puzzle can be picked up by edges:  Yes, if you're careful.   - Image quality:  Excellent   - Puzzle dust:  Didn't notice any. What I liked:  Another nice Charles Wysocki image.  Easy and relaxing fun to assemble. What I didn't like:  Nothing.

  Brand:  Buffalo Games and Puzzles Title:  World Map Circa 1630 Series:  Going Places Artist:  This map was created by Hendrik Hondius I, a Dutch cartographer, in 1630.  This map shows two hemispheres of the known world along with illustrations of Julius Caesar, Claudius Ptolemaeus, Gerardus Mercator, and Hondius. It also features illustrations of the Four Elements: Fire (Ignis), Water (Aqua), Air (Aer), and Earth (Terra).  This was one of the first maps to show part of the coast of Australia. Poster included:  Yes, though it is smaller than the Buffalo posters in the 300 and 500 piece puzzles.  It was big enough to use, but I would have liked a bigger one. Quality:  Excellent   - Missing pieces:  None   - False Fits:  None   - Sections stay together when moving:  Yes.   - Bent or delaminated pieces:  One piece has a tab starting to delaminate slightly.   - Uncut pieces:  There were two sets of two pieces not cut completely, I left them together rather than separate them.   - Finished

  Brand:  Buffalo Games and Puzzles Title:  Lilac Point Glen Artist:  Charles Wysocki Number of Pieces:  300 Large Pieces Size:  21.25" x 15" Poster included:  Yes Quality:  Good   - Missing pieces:  None   - False Fits:  None   - Sections stay together when moving:  More or less, depending on the individual pieces.    - Bent or delaminated pieces:  One very slightly bent tab   - Uncut pieces:   None   - Finished puzzle can be picked up by edges:  If you are very careful, you can do it.     - Image quality:  Excellent   - Puzzle dust:  None I noticed What I liked:  Another fun Charles Wysocki image, plenty to search and find and not difficult to complete.   Assembling this was a nice break after the hellacious Butterfly Spectrum and it's missing pieces. What I didn't like:  Nothing The fit of this puzzle was not as good as previous Buffalo Games puzzles, though probably better than the Butterfly Spectrum we finished yesterday.

  Brand:  Buffalo Games and Puzzles Title:  Butterfly Spectrum Series:  Amazing Nature Artist:  Don't know Number of Pieces:  500  Size:  21.25" x 15" Poster included:  Yes Quality:  Fair   - Missing pieces:  Two missing pieces in this one; this is a first for a Buffalo Games puzzle for me.  I know I did not lose them, the pieces went straight from the box into sorting trays into the puzzle.   - False Fits:  Yes, there were a number of false fits that made finishing more aggravating than it needed to be, especially near the bottom where all the pieces essentially look the same as they are very dark.   - Sections stay together when moving:  Mostly no.  I did not move sections much (if at all) because we had to put this together row by row for the most part.   - Bent or delaminated pieces:  None   - Uncut pieces:  None   - Finished puzzle can be picked up by edges:  Surprisingly for a Buffalo puzzle, I could not pick this up by the edges without pieces coming apart.    - Im

  Brand:  Buffalo Games and Puzzles  Title:  Olde Buck's County Artist:  Charles Wysocki Number of Pieces:  300 Large Pieces Size:  21.25" x 15" Poster included:  Yes Quality:  Excellent   - Missing pieces:  None   - False Fits:  None   - Sections stay together when moving:  Yes, if larger enough (4 or more pieces generally).  Sometimes 2 piece sections can be moved, other times not depending on the shape of the join between pieces.   - Bent or delaminated pieces:  None   - Uncut pieces:  None   - Finished puzzle can be picked up by edges:  Yes, carefully   - Image quality:  Excellent   - Puzzle dust:  I didn't notice any. What I liked:  Another wonderful Charles Wysocki image, with lots of different things to look at.  This was easy to put together. What I didn't like:  Nothing.

  Brand:  Buffalo Games and Puzzles Title:  Morning Magic Series:  Americana Artist:  Darrell Bush Number of Pieces:  500 (actually 513) Size:  21.25" x 15" Poster included:  Yes Quality:  Excellent   - Missing pieces:  None   - False Fits:  None   - Sections stay together when moving:  Almost always, unless there are only 2 pieces   - Bent or delaminated pieces:  None   - Uncut pieces:  None   - Finished puzzle can be picked up by edges:  Yes, I picked it up by both edges.   - Image quality:  Excellent   - Puzzle dust:  None that I noticed What I liked:  An interesting, colorful image.  Not too difficult but fun, we did this in less than a day. What I didn't like:  Nothing

  Brand:  Buffalo Games and Puzzles Title:  Drops of Color Series:  Color Explosion Artist:  Aimee Stewart Number of Pieces: 300 Large Pieces Size:  21.25" x 15" Poster included:  Yes Quality:  Excellent   - Missing pieces:  None   - False Fits:  None   - Sections stay together when moving:  Yes, though I didn't really do that much.   - Bent or delaminated pieces:   Two or three pieces showed signs of beginning to slightly delaminate (part of the tip of a tab) when I was taking the puzzle apart.  The fit was very tight.   - Uncut pieces:  None   - Finished puzzle can be picked up by edges:  Yes, the pieces fit on this puzzle was extremely tight.  I picked it up and waved it around by one edge and it stayed together.   - Image quality:  Excellent   - Puzzle dust:  Didn't notice any What I liked:  This was our first gradient puzzle and we enjoyed putting it together.  It was a little easier than I anticipated.  Once you get the border done, you can narrow down the numbe

  Brand:  Buffalo Games and Puzzles Title:  Bang, Boom, Bam & Pow Series:  Americana Artist:  Charles Wysocki Number of Pieces:  500 (actually 513) Size:  21.25" x 15" Poster included:  Yes Quality:   - Missing pieces:  None   - False Fits:  One or two on the edge, due to inattention   - Sections stay together when moving:  Yes, more or less.  Fit was generally good.   - Bent or delaminated pieces:  None   - Uncut pieces:  None   - Finished puzzle can be picked up by edges:  Yes, in either direction   - Image quality:  Excellent   - Puzzle dust:  None that I noticed during unboxing and construction What I liked:  A fun image with lots of little details to search for, and not a huge amount of repetitive texture to slog through.  More fun than the 300 piece Wysocki puzzles, though I like them too.  We easily finished this in less than 5 hours working on and off. What I didn't like:  Nothing

  Brand:  Buffalo Games and Puzzles Title:  Eugene's Gas and Grocery Series:  Americana Artist:  Geno Peoples Number of Pieces: 500 (Actually 513, puzzle is 27 x 19 pieces) Size:   21.25" x 15" Poster included:  Yes! Quality:   - Missing pieces:  None   - False Fits:  Yes, there were one or two which slowed us down.  They could have been avoided with more attention.   - Sections stay together when moving:  Yes   - Bent or delaminated pieces:  Yes and no.  I found a small piece of picture (about the size of a tab) in the box, and thought I would find a delaminated piece but I didn't; all the pieces of this puzzle were fine.  So it came from someone another puzzle.   - Uncut pieces:  None   - Finished puzzle can be picked up by edges:  Yes, carefully   - Image quality:  Very good to excellent   - Puzzle dust:  Didn't notice any in the box or while putting it together. What I liked:  A fun image for search and find.  A good balance between easy parts (the building) a

  Brand:  Buffalo Games and Puzzles Title:  Old Martha's Vineyard Series:  N/A Artist:  Charles Wysocki Number of Pieces:  300 Size:  21.25" x 15" Poster included: Yes Quality:   - Missing pieces:  None.  This is my 11th Buffalo Games puzzle, with only 1 having a piece missing.   - False Fits:  None   - Sections stay together when moving:  Yes   - Bent or delaminated pieces:  None   - Uncut pieces:  None   - Finished puzzle can be picked up by edges:  Yes   - Image quality:  Excellent   - Puzzle dust:  Not noticeable What I liked:  This was a typical Buffalo Games quality puzzle, which is very good to excellent.  This was a fun puzzle to do; it was a littler harder than the typical 300 piece puzzle, but we still finished easily in one morning.  The tree was more difficult than I expected.  I tried to do it first after completing the edge, which was not very smart.  I'm still learning the best strategy to tackle a specific puzzle. What I didn't like:  Nothing.

  Brand:  Buffalo Games and Puzzles Title:  Tiger and Crocodile Series:  Amazing Nature Artist:  Unknown Number of Pieces:  500  (Actually 513, 27 x 19) Size:  15" x 21.25" Poster included:  Yes Quality:   - Missing pieces:  None   - Sections stay together when moving:  Sometimes.  I managed to pick up and move a section of 20 pieces.  Some pieces fit better than others, but generally the fit is excellent.   - Bent or delaminated pieces:  None   - Uncut pieces:  None   - Finished puzzle can be picked up by edges:  Yes, if you're careful it can be done.   - Image Quality:  Excellent What I liked:  Excellent quality and a fun image to work on.  It took about a day with help from the wife. What I didn't like:  The image is a little dark in spots.  I'm not a fan of working on portrait style aspect ratios, it's harder on my back to bend over to the top of the puzzle. There were a number of times I was positive that the piece I was looking for was not there, but it

  Brand: Buffalo Games and Puzzles Title:  Hawkriver Hollow Artist:  Charles Wysocki Pieces:  300 Large pieces Size:  21.25" x 15" Poster:  Yes! What I liked:  I really like Charles Wysocki art.  Pieces fit well and I could easily pick up the final puzzle in one piece holding the edges.  Very easy to assemble, took less than 2 hours probably.  A bargain on sale at $4.95.  A nice, small Buffalo box. What I didn't like:  A few pieces were not cut completely, or had chads of carboard hanging off the back ripped off another piece.  I don't like the way Buffalo glues their boxes closed, but I have figured out how to deal with it. After doing the Elephant Family I decided to do something a lot easier, so I chose this from my recently delivered pile of puzzles from Buffalo Games and Puzzles.

  Brand: Ravensburger Title:  Elephant Family Artist: Unknown Pieces:  500 Size:  19 1/3" x 14 1/4" Poster:  No What I liked:  High quality and no missing pieces.  The puzzle has more of a matte finish than the Buffalo Games puzzles I have done recently so there is less glare.  I was also pleased that the box this puzzle came in was considerably smaller than the 300 piece Ravensburger puzzle I did a few weeks ago.  The box is still bigger than the Buffalo Games boxes.  This is probably a good thing, because the only photo of the puzzle is the one on the box. What I didn't like:  This was difficult for me, I worked on it on and off for almost 2 days.  The main thing I disliked was the photo on the box lid is not larger enough to be very useful.  There are a lot of details that cannot be seen well in the photo, and part of the photo is covered up with a picture of a blue puzzle piece.  The lack of a good reference photo made this more difficult than it needed to be.  Elepha

  Brand:  Buffalo Games and Puzzles      Title:  Running With the Pack Series:  Amazing Nature Artist:  Unknown Pieces:  500 Size:  21.25" x 15" Poster:  Full color poster included What I liked:  Good quality.  Fun and challenging to assemble but not too hard.  I bought this puzzle directly from Buffalo while it was on sale so it was a good value at $4.95. What I didn't like:  A few pieces were not completely cut and had to be carefully separated.  I had two instances of false fits that slowed me down until I figured out where I messed up.  Putting the wolves together was the hardest part.  The snow was much easier than I expected. I thought there was a piece missing but found it on the floor.  I think it stuck to my arm while I was leaning over the puzzle and fell off.  I have to remember not to lean on the puzzle while I am working on it.

  Brand:  Buffalo Games and Puzzles Series:  Art of Play Title:  Amalfi Coast Artist:  Unknown Pieces:  300 Large Pieces (actually 324)  Size:  18" x 18" Poster:  Included (only slightly larger than photo on box but big enough, it's a different size than the Buffalo Games posters I am used to.) What I liked:  Beautiful image and fun to assemble with no missing pieces. What I didn't like:  Nothing.

Brand:  Buffalo Games and Puzzles Series:  Amazing Nature Title:  Jungle Discovery Pieces:  500 (actually 513) Size:  21.25" x 15" Poster:  Included This puzzle is from the Buffalo Games and Puzzles Amazing Nature Series. Another good quality puzzle from Buffalo, which I have come to expect.  No missing pieces. This puzzle was a little more challenging after I finished the flowers and other easy parts; I kept finding monkeys, and the tigers were more difficult than I expected (probably because there are 3 of them). I'm continuing to develop my strategy for sorting pieces, and I think I am improving slowly.

  Brand:  Buffalo Games and Puzzles Series:  Americana Collection Artist:  Geno Peoples Title:  Eugene's Hunting and Fishing Pieces:  500 (actually 513) Size:  21.25" x 15" Another quality puzzle from Buffalo with no missing pieces. I look forward to more doing more puzzles from this series.

Brand:  Buffalo Games and Puzzles Title:  Evening Rendezvous Pieces:  500 (actually 513) Size:  21.25" x 15" This was my first puzzle with artwork by Terry Redlin.  This is another good quality puzzle from Buffalo Games and Puzzles.  I found putting the trees together to be the most challenging part (other than the false fits, which I talk about below).  I look forward to getting more puzzles by this artist. This was the first puzzle where I have encountered a problem with false fits.  Because this puzzle is quite dark, it is easier to put a piece where it doesn't belong. I hit a dead end on putting the edge together and had to get my wife to figure out where I had screwed up. Then when I put the sky together, I got down to a point where there were only 3 or 4 pieces left, and none of them fit into one of the holes.  I knew where one of the other pieces went, and discovered it would not fit because one of the adjacent pieces was the wrong piece even though it fit perfectl

Brand:  Buffalo Games and Puzzles Series:  Amazing Nature Title:  Jungle Discovery Artist:  Charles Wysocki Pieces:  300 Large pieces Size:  21.25" x 15" We are back from our trip, and arrived home to find 15 more puzzles ordered from my new account at Buffalo Games and Puzzles to put in the to-do pile.  I took advantage of their most recent sale and ordered enough puzzles to get free shipping.   This one is left over from my last Amazon purchase and is another 300 piece Charles Wysocki "puzzle snack" from Buffalo Games and Puzzles. This is the first puzzle I have done since I started this hobby anew to have a missing piece.  I was annoyed because I found it missing early on since it was on the edge.  I sent in their missing piece form and selected a puzzle from their offered list; we'll see if it arrives.  I have mixed feelings about doing this, though I am certain I did not lose the piece.  Regardless I enjoyed this puzzle, and I will continue to order from B