MikesAPuzzler, Author at Puzzling For Fun

Treasures Puzzle from We Care

We picked up this Treasures Puzzle from We Care in an antique mall in Kokomo, Indiana. It’s an older puzzle but it had never been opened. The artwork was appealing. From the box we could tell it was originally sold to support a local charity, We Care. The artwork was done by Mike Sears, a prolific artist that started in Kokomo and later ended up in Silver Dollar City. He has done a number of charity pieces, like this one. His story is fascinating and worth the read.

A Challenging Joy

This Treasures Puzzle from We Care was definitely not without its challenges. To begin with, the pieces are thick and fit pretty tightly. That’s not a bad thing, but when you get one wrong, you’re going to work for it. It takes a bit of finagling to get that piece back out. The trees and parts of the grassy areas were definitely more difficult. But, boy, was it great to put in that last piece and enjoy the final result!

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One Kind of Piece

Once you’re past the edges, there’s actually only one shape of piece in this puzzle from LEGO. Each piece has two tabs on the ends, and two sockets (blanks or holes, whatever you like to call them!) in the middle. They are either placed vertically or horizontally. But don’t think that makes it easier. Get that thought out of your head right now. Some of the colors are very similar. It’s a challenge!

The Last Piece

This 1000 piece puzzle did not include a poster, however this puzzle is quite old so it’s not surprising. The assembled puzzle is about 25″ wide and 20″ high. The pieces are thick. And they’re even more stubborn to take apart if you have a piece wrong.

Got questions about puzzling? Are you new to this great hobby? Check out our FAQ and guide to puzzling!

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Cookies and Cocoa Puzzle from Buffalo Games

Sometimes, it seems we can finish a puzzle from artist Aimee Stewart in the blink of an eye. Not that we’re in a hurry mind you. And it’s not that her puzzles are particularly easy. No, it’s more a matter of us getting in the ‘puzzle zone’. That’s when pieces just seem to fall into place. Well, that didn’t happen with this Cookies and Cocoa puzzle from Buffalo Games. Aimee Stewart got us on this one. We were definitely not in the ‘puzzle zone’. There were challenges to be found everywhere. Lots of patterns. Lots of colors. And a lot of little detail. It’s a great challenge and truly an enjoyable one!

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The Fox

We didn’t find out until after we’d completed a few of Aimee Stewart’s puzzles that she often includes a fox in her art. Sometimes the fox is kind of hidden. Sometimes it’s not. Like in this Cookies and Cocoa puzzle from Buffalo games. There’s no missing the fox for sure!

Vintage Cards

There’s a lot of really neat stuff in this puzzle. Great old Christmas cards for starters. Old plates. Mittens too! And sweets and treats that we remember from our childhoods. It’s another wonderful puzzle by one of our favorite artists.

The Last Piece

This 1000 piece puzzle included a poster and is around 27″ wide and 20″ high when assembled. The pieces fit very well and the image quality on the pieces is good. The colors were great and the pieces are cut perfectly. The completed puzzle is a joy to sit back and look at. You’ll find many vintage pictures, recipes and Christmas cards.

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Got questions about puzzling? Are you new to this great hobby? Check out our FAQ and guide to puzzling!

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Terrie’s Fall Festival Puzzle from Bits and Pieces

I can’t pass up a free or just inexpensive puzzle. New or used. Missing one piece or not. Especially if that puzzle contains pumpkins. Lots of pumpkins. Terrie’s Fall Festival puzzle from Bits and Pieces delivers on the pumpkins and fall colors. This was a very fun puzzle to assemble and one to enjoy for long after it was done. It wasn’t a very difficult puzzle, but it was still an enjoyable challenge.

Fun Picture. Fun Pieces.

The pieces in Terri’s Fall Festival puzzle from Bits and Pieces are ‘random cut’. That means most are unique. Not two pieces are cut the same. If you zoom in on the picture you can see some of the great cuts. They make the puzzle a bit more fun, I think.

I couldn’t find this puzzle online. It is an older puzzle for sure. But I did see that Bits and Pieces makes other fall-inspired puzzles, like the one below!

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The Last Piece

This puzzle contains 500 pieces. The final puzzle is about 24″ wide and 18″ high. The pieces are large and thick and fit really well. It’s pretty much impossible to put a piece into the wrong spot with the way the pieces are cut. The image is crisp and bright and the colors are fantastic. Our puzzle did not include a poster, but it was used so perhaps the original did come with one.

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Got questions about puzzling? Are you new to this great hobby? Check out our FAQ and guide to puzzling!

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Confection Street Puzzle from Buffalo Games

We can always count on a Charles Wysocki puzzle to cheer us up and provide us with hours of fun. And to challenge us, too. The Confection Street puzzle from Buffalo Games was another real joy to assemble. The storefronts, the wagons, the people and balloons were great fun. And really fairly easy to put together. Then came the trees and the sky. I think if this had been a 500 piece puzzle the trees wouldn’t have posed such a challenge. But at 1000 pieces, the details are smaller and it took a bit of time to complete them. That’s okay. We’re not in a race here.

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Thoughts On Used Puzzles

We got this Confection Street puzzle from Buffalo Games at an antique mall south of Indianapolis for $1. It had definitely been assembled before. The box was worn and the folds in the poster showed age. We’ve had great ‘luck’ buying used puzzles. So far I think we’ve only run into one that had a missing piece where it wasn’t indicated on the box that it was gone. One thing that we always look for is that the pieces be in a sealed bag. Hopefully, that means it’s less likely that someone opened the box and a piece fell out only to not be replaced. It also means someone spent the time (and money) getting a bag out, taking the puzzle apart, and putting the pieces into a bag and sealing it. I wouldn’t think you’d go through all that trouble normally for a puzzle if it was missing pieces. At least I hope you wouldn’t!

The Last Piece

This is a 1000 piece puzzle. It includes a very colorful poster that is nice and large. The assembled puzzle is about 27″ wide and 20″ high. The pieces are fairly thick and fit fairly well. The image quality on the pieces is very good. The colors were great and bright. This puzzle was fun to assemble and even more fun to sit back and enjoy.

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The Crab Shack Puzzle from White Mountain

We’ve assembled our share of busy puzzles. The ones where there are objects everywhere. Some more obvious than others. The Crab Shack puzzle from White Mountain has to be one of the best. The seaside setting is littered (in a nice way) with all sorts of great, interesting objects. Lots of them. It’s a whimsically fun place full of color. We often say we are ‘working on a puzzle’, but putting this one together was definitely not ‘work’!

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A Work of Art

The imagery in The Crab Shack by White Mountain is really well done. It’s one of the best quality puzzles we’ve done. Sometimes you find things that don’t look quite right in a puzzle. Maybe an object that doesn’t quite fit. Or maybe it’s not the right size. Something about it. Not in this puzzle. Everything is drawn perfectly. It is a puzzle worthy of framing.

There are some very challenging spots in this puzzle. Not just one or two. Quite a few in fact. This puzzle brought hours of challenging enjoyment and the final result was something to relish.

The Last Piece

This puzzle contains 1000 pieces. The final puzzle is about 24″ high and 30″ wide. The pieces are nice and large and thick and fit really well. The image is crisp and bright and the colors are absolutely fantastic. A poster is included that is clear and easy to work from. This is a great challenging puzzle!

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Birdwatching Fun Puzzle from Buffalo Games

We have assembled a number of puzzles from one our favorite artists, Aimee Stewart. This time, this Birdwatching Fun puzzle from Buffalo Games is from Lars Stewart, Aimee’s husband. What a talented pair, they are! We really loved this puzzle a lot. The great imagery. The wonderful colors. This was fun to put together and fun to enjoy when completed. For us, this is what drew us to puzzling. A good relaxing time when a wonderful result.

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Nothing But Fun

There weren’t any really super-challenging spots in this Birdwatching Fun puzzle from Buffalo Games. We didn’t have any overly-frustrating areas, though that’s not to say we were done with it in 15 minutes either. We concentrated on the birds and window frame first. The rest of it kind of fell into place after that.

This puzzle is one of those that you keep. We often trade or donate our puzzles, but this one goes into the ‘keep’ pile for sure.

The Last Piece

This 1000 piece puzzle included a poster. The assembled puzzle is about 27″ wide and 20″ high. The pieces fit very well and the image quality on the pieces is very, very good. The colors were great and bright.

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Breakfast Table Puzzle from White Mountain

We have a love/hate relationship with this Breakfast Table puzzle from White Mountain. We love the vintage kitchen. The pots, the stove, the fridge, the radio… everything. Except one thing. The toy truck on the floor just isn’t right. It looks like an after-thought. Like it was pasted in at the last minute because someone had some leftover clipart. We feel the puzzle would’ve been great without it. But, fortunately, it’s small enough that it really didn’t detract from us enjoying the final result.

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Puzzling The Day Away

This Breakfast Table puzzle from White Mountain is just one of those puzzles you can work on all thru the day without realizing the time has passed. It was fun to do and fun to look at when completed. That’s not to say that there weren’t challenges. The cabinets are similar throughout, making the green pieces a bit tough to place. Same with the flooring and wall paper. Most of the rest of the puzzle was fairly easy but still quite fun.

The Last Piece

This 1000 piece puzzle included a poster. The assembled puzzle is about 30″ wide and 24″ high. The pieces fit fairly well and the image quality on the pieces is good. The pieces are cut into really interesting sizes and angles, making them rather fun to put together. And it’s almost impossible to put a piece into the wrong place. The colors were great and bright.

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American Diner Puzzle from White Mountain

What a fun puzzle the American Diner puzzle from White Mountain was! We really enjoyed it, from the moment we opened the box and saw the large, thick, quality pieces to the moment we stepped back and enjoyed the assembled work. There are so many great nostalgic elements in the picture. Classic diner food. Great styles. Cool cars. And blast-from-the-past signage. This was a fun one!

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Let’s Do The Twist!

You can almost hear the tabletop jukebox blaring out classic tunes while you’re assembling this American Diner puzzle from White Mountain. It took us a while to put this one together. We had plenty of time to listen to plenty of music that’s for sure! There are very few simple spots in this one. Challenges can be found everywhere. But, we hardly noticed how tough it was since it was so much fun to do!

The Last Piece

This is a 1000 piece puzzle. It includes a very colorful poster. The assembled puzzle is about 30″ wide and 24″ high. The pieces are thick, fit well and the image quality on the pieces is good. The colors were great and bright. This puzzle was fun to assemble and even more fun to sit back and enjoy.

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Got questions about puzzling? Are you new to this great hobby? Check out our FAQ and guide to puzzling!

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Virginia’s Nest Puzzle from Buffalo Games

It’s not that the Virginia’s Nest puzzle from Buffalo Games was super-easy. Not at all. But it was a whole heck of a lot easier than the puzzle we’d just completed. We needed a little break, a little peaceful puzzling time. Less stress. The artwork on this puzzle is by Charles Wysocki, who has quickly become one of our favorites. This is a very enjoyable puzzle, like all of the others we’ve done from this artist.

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Contains a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle
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It’s Not All Happy Chickens

Now, as much as the Virginia’s Nest puzzle from Buffalo Games is great to sit back and enjoy, there were a few difficult spots in this puzzle. Many of the buildings were the same colors. There’s plenty of similarly-colored grass around to challenge you a bit. Along with the water. But the buildings were the most challenging, and in a good way.

There are also many great images in the puzzle, from the dog in its house to the people and horses to the fun chickens everywhere!

The Last Piece

This puzzle contains 1000 pieces. The final puzzle is about 20″ high and 27″ wide. The pieces are large and thick and fit really well. The image is crisp and bright and the colors are fantastic. There is a poster included that is clear and easy to work from. This is a great, quality puzzle!

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Got questions about puzzling? Are you new to this great hobby? Check out our FAQ and guide to puzzling!

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Farmer’s Market Sale on the Square Puzzle from MasterPieces

Busy! Busy! Busy! The Farmer’s Market Sale on the Square puzzle from MasterPieces is one busy place! All sorts of things are for sale. Pies. Fresh product. Flowers. Lots of colorful things. This is a fun puzzle to put together and an equally fun one to sit back and enjoy when completed.

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Missing Pieces

We’re actually ok buying a used puzzle with missing pieces. If we know it upfront that is. Put a note on the box. Circle where the piece is missing. Something. Anything so we know. We might change my mind about buying it, but just tell us. This Farmer’s Market Sale on the Square Puzzle from MasterPieces (an antique mall find) was missing two pieces. Turns out that didn’t really bother us. But, there was no indication on the (tapped shut) box. Instead, there was a note on the poster inside! So we had to buy it to find out that it was clearly missing pieces! Argh!

Still in the end we enjoyed this puzzle. But knowing ahead that there were two missing pieces would’ve saved us going back thru all the pieces twice looking for the missing edge (we do the edges first).

The Last Piece

This 750 piece puzzle did not include a poster. We did buy it used, so perhaps a newly purchased puzzle includes one. The assembled puzzle is about 24″ wide and 18″ high. The pieces fit pretty well and the image quality on the pieces is good. The colors were great and bright.

Bestseller No. 1