A journey through the world of jigsaw puzzles. More than just reviews.

I would like you to put yourself in my shoes for a moment. How would you feel if you were offered a chance to write a series of jigsaw puzzle reviews? An excitement? Yes, definitely! But unfortunately also a lot of doubts just after…

A reviewer’s dilemma

Let me explain this by writing a few words about myself. I’ve been publishing reviews for almost 10 years. You can find my podcasts, YouTube videos and written reviews published on Przystanek Planszówka website (www.przystanekplanszowka.pl). I usually review board games, online games and card games but I have also written quite a few jigsaw puzzle texts. And from my experience there are different approaches to reviewing and also different expectations from the readers. Some of them want nothing else but facts, others prefer to read about a reviewer’s feelings. And there is also a publisher who has its own target audience to consider. Why is it so difficult to include all this aspects in jigsaw puzzles reviews?

I think it is impossible to state a good quality of a certain jigsaw puzzle. What makes it a good quality? Thickness of the pieces ? The picture? Cutting?

Let’s talk Heye’s. I love their humorous pictures and find them very enjoyable and easy to assemble because two elements can be joined effortlessly. What seems to be an advantage about Heye’s to me can be a disadvantage to somebody else. I have heard many times that the cutting is too loose and the elements don’t fit tight which makes them impossible to move from one place to another. Since we all share the same arguments and different opinions at the same time, who is right?

Well, the answer is simple because good jigsaw puzzles are the ones you simply enjoy.

The journey begins

Let’s do this. Let’s set out on a long journey through the world of jigsaw puzzles. I would love to be ‘a traveller’ who writes down his experiences and compares without forcing his opinion. A traveller who is open-minded and creative. And I am aware that this journey would not be possible without the ship – PuzzleMania, and the destination – which is to compare jigsaw puzzles of different manufacturers.

The route

First, let’s focus on the 1,000 pieces jigsaw puzzles as they are already challenging, and not yet overwhelming. They allow to assess the advantages and disadvantages of a given brand. We will take a closer look at news, series of puzzles and amount of pieces they contain.

Then, we will focus on some sort of a scheme which will help us to compare different brands in the future. The scheme includes:

1. the first impression of the box: its quality, colours, any additional information about the author, or whether we can see a complete picture on top.
2. the quality of puzzle pieces: thickness, dustiness, the quality of a picture, any defects such as uncut elements
3. overall pleasure
4. product mix of a given manufacturer
5. a summary

More than just a review

Jigsaw puzzles manufacturers offer a variety of types of their products. It would be very unfair to rate the whole brand on the base of one box of jigsaw puzzles. Keep in mind that there are as many opinions as there are people. I would rather you drew conclusion and built your own point of view about a product based on my experience.

So welcome to The Journey through the world that keeps expanding. Let’s travel together and enjoy every moment.