As some of you may have noticed, I’ve haven’t posted in a few weeks. The reason for that is that my father died unexpectedly while I was in Dortmund. I came back to Helsinki early, and I’ve not really had the time or inclination to post about my puzzling. I have been puzzling a bit, though, and I had already finished some puzzles before all this. Here’s the first one of those.
This is a collage of posters for imaginary space-themed horror movies, similar to the imaginary space travel posters. I loved everything about it!
Galaxy of Horrors, New York Puzzle Complany, 1000 pieces. Completed on May 16, 2022.
Polish brand Trefl is mostly known for traditional cardboard puzzles, but they’ve now decided to get in on the growing wooden puzzle boom. As far as I know, producers of wooden puzzles are usually separate firms, and I’m not aware of another producer that does both. The overall quality was very similar to the two Unidragon puzzles I’ve done, which is to say good, but the pieces are quite thin, and also very small.
Colorful Cocktails by Aimee Stewart, 501 pieces, Trefl. Completed on May 14, 2022.
One thing that is different from Unidragon is that the whimsies have nothing to do with the image, there are all kind of whimsies, and I think they will probably be the same in many puzzles. Here are some examples (I was too lazy to pull out them all):
On the reverse side the pieces have a floral pattern. I suppose you could do the other side as a separate, really difficult puzzle, but I don’t feel like it.
I absolutely love the image of this puzzle (not the floral pattern), and I would be happy to do it again as a cardboard puzzle in any piece count. In fact, while it’s nice to do a wooden puzzle every now and again, I’ve come to realize, I actually prefer (interlocking) cardboard puzzles. The whimsies are fun, and I enjoy finding funnily shaped pieces, but in the end, it also means you have to place the pieces more carefully, and it can’t be 100 % interlocking, and that’s what I really prefer.
Another Lautapelit.fi puzzle, this one much easier than the stamps, but the quality wasn’t as good. This is more like what I’ve come to expect from Lautapelit.fi, which is OK quality, but you have to pay attention in order not to place pieces wrong. I wouldn’t get a puzzle of theirs with large areas of the same colour, but this was very enjoyable and it came together fast.
Board Game Shelfie, Lautapelit.fi, 1000 pieces. Completed on May 2, 2022.
I’ve hardly played any board games in the past 25 or so years, so it’s hardly surprising that the only games I know I’ve played are Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly (or in this case, the Finnish version Monopoli). There are two more games that I’ve played as computer games, Civilization and Port Royale, but clearly, I’m not much of a board game enthusiast. I guess I prefer the puzzles, and I wish they’d make a similar image with puzzles instead of board games 🙂
I was sort of dreading this collage of Finnish stamps, but it turned out to be very enjoyable. The fact that there were so many small images made it difficult, of course, but I found the stamps so interesting that I didn’t mind. I was also afraid that the same stamps would recur many times, as happened with the Finnish Matchboxes puzzle, but there were only a few doubles. The quality was excellent, the best I’ve seen from Lautapelit.fi (a board game store that also has its own line of puzzles).
Finnish Stamps, Lautapelit.fi, 1000 pieces. Completed on April 29, 2022.
On the left, president Urho Kekkonen (in office from 1956 to 1983; presidents now only get a maximum of two terms of six years) and the ice hockey world championship 1974, on the right, a stamp celebrating the 400 year anniversary of Helsinki in 1950.
There were a lot of nature-themed stamps, here some mushrooms and a bluethroat. Most stamps have a set value, and if the postage becomes more expensive, you have to add more stamps, but the bluebird is a stamp for a first class letter, and it’s valid forever. This seemed like a really good deal in the 90s, when we still kept in touch with our friends with actual letters, so of course I bought a lot of them. I still have some of these stamps, because, of course, letters are now mostly a thing of the past.
This puzzles is part of the Trefl Golden Cities series. I bought it used, but apparently, when new, these puzzles include some gold paint and a brush that you can use to put some finishing touches on the puzzle. This has not been painted on, the text “Rome” and the helmet doodle are part of the original puzzle, but there was no paint or brush. Fine by me, I only want the puzzle anyway 🙂 It was a nice and very enjoyable puzzle, even though the image is very traditional.
Golden Cities: Rome, Trefl, 1000 pieces. Completed on April 26, 2022.
This was fun, and some serious 80’s nostalgia. While this seems to be an arcade version, Pac-Man was also available for home computers (probably the Commodore 64), and while I didn’t play much (that was more my brother’s thing), I can certainly remember the infuriating music (if that’s the right word) that accompanied the game. I’m sure you can find the sound online, but I don’t recommend you go looking for it. I definitely won’t 🙂
Pac-Man, Ravensburger, 500 pieces. Completed on April 23, 2022.
I’m back in Helsinki, and I finished the puzzle that I started before my Easter break. Another Kaj Stenvall duck image, but this one wasn’t as much fun as the previous one. The cut is extremely boring, with only the basic piece shape with two tabs opposite, and I also managed to place some pieces wrong. I really hate it when I have to go back and take apart pieces that I already placed. Anyway, this should be the last of my Stenvalls with this boring cut. I’ve actually seen a photo of this puzzle, completed, with a different cut and some variety in piece shapes. I must say, I’m at least glad it was this puzzle, and not the white one that had the bad cut 🙂
Kaj Stenvall Collection: Staged Happiness by Kaj Stenvall, Tactic, 1000 pieces. Completed on April 22, 2022.
While the quality was, of course, great, I somehow found this just moderately entertaining, but I’m not exactly sure why. I definitely found the “pixie dust” annoying 🙂 I take my hat off to everyone who completed the 4000-piece version in the 40 000-piece disney collage, that must have been difficult!
Cinderella, Ravenburger, 1000 pieces. Completed on April 19, 2022.
I’ve seen paintings by Canadian artist Franklin Carmichael as puzzles, but always decided they were too difficult. Well, a collage makes things a lot easier, and this was a lovely puzzle. Love the colours!
Canadian Artist Series: Carmichael Collection, Cobble Hill, 1000 pieces. Completed on April 18, 2022.
Puzzler1909 