Tag: 2019

Asko Furniture Factory, 2019-09-25

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Not the most exciting image for a puzzle, but it is kind of interesting. Most promotional puzzles are a lot smaller than 500 pieces, and they’re typically not quality puzzles, but this is a genuine Ravensburger! Which is why I bought it, of course. Makes me think there must have been a puzzler in the marketing department 🙂

I think the puzzle is from the 80s, and the image shows the factory of Finnish furniture manufacturer/chain of furniture stores Asko. It was factory (heh) sealed.  The factory is located in Lahti, and the sliver of dark blue between the sky and the city is lake Vesijärvi, which would have made a much prettier puzzle 🙂

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Asko Furniture Factory, Ravensburger, 500 pieces. Completed on September 25th, 2019.

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I have some furniture from Asko, and they’re good, solid pieces. I don’t know if it’s true, but I once heard a story that Asko wanted to open a store in Spain. Apparently, no one told them that “asco” is “disgust” in Spanish, and somehow, the store never quite caught on…

Hearts of Gold, 2019-09-24

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I loved this, it was great from start to finish! It was also quite easy to pick out the pieces for the different hearts. My favourite is the black and yellow, of course. I’m definitely keeping this to do again later.

I got this from a large flea market in Hämeenlinna, where you can rent a table and put up your stuff, but you don’t have to stand there yourself, they have a  joint cashier where customers pay. This place is huge, so I can’t say for certain that it was exactly the same table, but I’ve picked up quite a few puzzles on different trips in the same area, and I think it’s the same seller. The puzzles are always in good condition, and the pieces are in a ziplock bag in the box. Too bad it’s 100 km from where I live. Then again, on second thought, perhaps it’s just as well 🙂

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Hearts of Gold by Stefanie Steinmayer, Heye, 1000 pieces. Completed on September 24th, 2019.

The Sleep Puzzle, 2019-09-22

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I rarely buy children’s puzzles, but occasionally I get some when someone sells puzzles as a bundle. This puzzle features Tatu and Patu, who are the protagonists in a popular series of children’s books in Finland. In fact, only one of them is present in the actual puzzle, and he seems to be having a restless night.

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The Sleep Puzzle by Aino Havukainen & Sami Toivonen, Peliko, 108 pieces. Completed on September 22nd, 2019.

In the top left-hand corner, you can see both Tatu and Patu. I’ve actually read some of the Tatu and Patu books (to my brother’s children), and they are pretty entertaining.

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He was reading The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler.

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On the other side of the puzzle, there’s “the world’s most boring bedtime story”. I had to use two pieces of cardboard to flip the puzzle and ended up redoing part of it anyway, the fit is definitely not tight. I read the story, it’s about someone called Silverhair, who goes into the woods to pick blueberries and ends up at a house belonging to some bears. He deliberates endlessly whether to eat some of the porridge he finds already served at the table and how much money he should leave for it and so on. Eventually, he makes himself a cheese sandwich instead, leaves two euros for the bears and goes home. The end.

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Life is Sweet, 2019-09-22

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I finally managed to finish this, but I almost gave up. There were 200+ pieces of the background where the image was no help, and unfortunately pieces would also fit where they didn’t belong. It happened several times that I had tried all remaining pieces for a spot, only to find that the only one that would fit was a piece I had already placed elsewhere, and the piece looked fine in the original spot, too. I recently talked with a puzzler who told me she enjoys this, as an extra challenge, but I must say I hate it! Tactic has been a bit hit and miss, and this was probably the worst I’ve done so far.

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Life is Sweet, Tactic, 1000 pieces. Completed on September 22nd, 2019.

The Bizarre Bookshop 1, 2019-09-17

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I finished the Bizarre Bookshop, and it was nice. This was the best Ravensburger quality, none of the tabs had separated, as I’ve unfortunately seen lately in some puzzles. I found myself using the box a bit more than I prefer, but it was still a fun puzzle.

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The Bizarre Bookshop 1 by Colin Thompson, Ravensburger, 1000 pieces. Completed on September 17th, 2019.

Each shelf has a theme, and the titles are familiar. This is the food section.

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I would like to be Lord of the Pies, but often I feel more like Lord of the Files 🙂

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And the Winner Is…, 2019-09-09

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So, despite the poor cut I enjoyed this immensely. Cake and little old ladies! It took a lot longer than it would have with a better quality puzzle, but I got there in the end.

I also liked the dimensions, it’s not exactly a panorama (which I also like), but most 1000 piece puzzles tend to be about 70 x 50 cm, and this was 76×38 cm.

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And the Winner Is… by Susan Brabeau, Sunsout, 1000 pieces. Completed on September 9th, 2019.

I especially enjoyed how these two are surreptitiously eyeing the competition 🙂

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Wasgij? 1: Sunday Drivers, 2019-09-04

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I finally tried a WASGIJ?-puzzle. There are different types, but in this case, the box shows a situation from one perspective and the finished puzzle from another. You can see the finished puzzle by clicking here.

There were hints on the box, but I didn’t really use them. The puzzle was really fun to do, I enjoyed it very much. Also, I really identified with the Sunday driver 🙂

I’ve been avoiding Jumbo puzzles for years because I had problems with pieces fitting where they don’t belong, and that was still an issue. Of course, with an image like this, it’s not much of a problem, but I still wouldn’t want to do a Jumbo with a large area of the same colour.

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Sunday Drivers by Graham Thompson, Jumbo, 500 pieces. Completed on September 4th, 2019.

Foot path to Much Snoring 🙂

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Helsinki City Puzzle, 2019-09-04

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So, I did get the Helsinki version of the City Puzzle series. I did Dortmund earlier. This was much easier than Dortmund, partly because there is quite a lot of water, and also because I know Helsinki much better. I again placed a coin where I live 🙂

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Helsinki City Puzzle, Extra Goods, 500 pieces. Completed on September 4th, 2019.

I enjoyed this a lot, but the fit is so tight it’s a bit difficult to take apart. I don’t think it will hold up well to repeat assembly, the quality is not that stellar.

I’ve rarely seen this much of a size difference in pieces from the same puzzle.

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The Cascade, 2019-08-29

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I bought this because I’ve found I like images with water. And I did enjoy the water, but then, unfortunately, I also had to do the forest 🙂 OK, it wasn’t too bad, but definitely took a lot longer than the average 1000 piece puzzle that I do.

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The Cascade, Castorland,  1000 pieces. Completed on August 29th, 2019.

Idyllic South of France, 2019-08-25

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Thoroughly enjoyable puzzle. It was one of those where there are no difficult areas, the level of difficulty is the same from start to finish. It was one of the easiest 1500-piece puzzles I’ve done.

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Idyllic South of France by Dominic Davison, Ravensburger, 1500 pieces. Completed on August 25th, 2019.

Unfortunately, I’ve noticed that new Ravensburger puzzles (this is from 2017) have more and more pieces where the layers have separated on one tab. These are just two examples, there were many more.

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