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Review: “Christmas Traditions” by Pinkerton Road & Lena Pigareva, White Mountain 9.5/10

Publisher: White Mountain (US), published 2017 Title:  “Christmas Traditions” by Pinkerton Road & Lena Pigareva, 1000 pieces pieces Finished size: 24″ x 30″ (1000 pieces) OUR RATING: 9.5/10 It’s that time of year, time for a Christmas puzzle glut. I was super excited to get my hands on this brand new Christmas puzzle from White Mountain. Let’s take a look! Box Quality:  (9/10) The box front is shown above. The front shows the image, the puzzle title, and the piece count. The box size is roughlyRead more
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Review: “Santa’s List” by Randy Wollenmann, Vermont Christmas Company 8.75/10

Publisher: Vermont Christmas Company (US), published 2014 Title:  “Santa’s List” by Randy Wollenmann, 1000 pieces Finished size: 30″ x 24″ OUR RATING: 8.75/10 You say it’s not even Thanksgiving? Psah! I was in the mood for a Christmas puzzle this week, so why not? I decided to do a Randy Wollenmann from Vermont Christmas Company. I’ve become a big fan of Randy Wollenmann puzzles and it’s astonishing how many great ones he has out now with VCC. See the end of thisRead more
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Review: “Christmas Chaos” by Francois Ruyer, Piatnik – 9/10

“Christmas Chaos” by Francois Ruyer is a fun but moderately challenging Christmas cartoon puzzle. The artwork is beautifully executed with tons of color and detail. The repeating elements of similar-looking elves and gift boxes scattered throughout the image are tricky, but there are some anchoring elements such as the windows, fireplace, toys, and Christmas tree, which help fill in much of the design. I found myself referring to the box lid often to figure out which piece of elf went where. The Piatnik quality is very good with thick, sturdy pieces, a grid cut, a fairly tight fit, and a nice matte finish. If you like a little more challenge, Christmas puzzles, or cartoon puzzles, this is highly recommended.Read more
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Review: “Santa’s Factory” by JVH Studios, Jumbo — 9/10

  Publisher: Jumbo (Netherlands), published 2015 Title:  “Santa’s Factory” by Jan Van Haasteren Studios, Jumbo, 1000 pieces  OUR RATING: 9/10 This puzzle comes in a boxed set of two along with “New Year Party”. Box Quality:  (9/10) You can see the box above. The Jumbo JVH boxes all have a similar blue background, which makes for a nice cohesive set when shelved together as a collection. The boxes are very sturdy and well-made. The back is a standard Jan Van Haasteren back inRead more
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Review: “Spot the Differences #2” by Otter House 9/10

Publisher: Otter House (UK), published 2015 Title:  “Spot the Differences No 2”, 1000 pieces  OUR RATING: 9/10 Box Quality: The Otter House boxes are quite thick and sturdy with a nice high res cover. The back of the box is blank white. The sides have the name of the puzzle and image, which is nice for shelving. They are also ‘space saving’ (not super huge), which is nice too. Inside: Inside the box is a bag with the puzzle pieces (inRead more

Waddington’s Christmas Puzzle 2015

I’ve been watching Amazon UK for the appearance of the 2015 limited edition Christmas puzzle from Waddington’s. It still hasn’t appeared there, but a Google search brought this up. Title is “The Christmas Snowman” and it’s not for sale yet. What do you think of this year’s image?  I like it!   JaneRead more
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4 New Wasgij

I’m starting to see some new puzzles coming out. Watch for our feature on the new House Of Puzzles line-up coming JULY 19 including 12 new 1000 pieces puzzles, 8 new BIG 500, and the 2015 Christmas puzzles. Other Christmas puzzles typically announce in July too. I’ll post them as I see them. Here are the new Wasgij! Wasgij Original #23: Bake Off!  1000 pieces (There’s a 250 piece extension sold separately) Wasgij Christmas #11:  Shows a holiday office party Wasgij “Back to” #1 (thisRead more
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Review: “Merry Christmas To All!”, White Mountain: 8/10

Publisher: White Mountain (US), 2011, 1000 pieces Title:  “Merry Christmas To All!”, Artist: R.J. McDonald OUR RATING: 8/10 It’s Dec 26th and this will be my last Christmas puzzle review for a while. On to new projects! 🙂 I really like multi-scene puzzles. And, of course, Christmas puzzles. So I decided to give this White Mountain puzzle a try. My initial review of White Mountain was sort of a mixed bag. But I must say, this puzzle was of far better quality. Possibly theirRead more
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Review: “Santa’s Workshop”, Waddington’s 2014: 7/10

Publisher: Waddington’s (UK), 2014, 1000 pieces Title:  “Santa’s Workshop”, Limited Edition Christmas puzzle 2014,  Artist: uncredited OUR RATING: 7/10 I love the annual limited edition Christmas puzzles, and Waddington’s is the grandaddy of them all.  (See our list of all of these puzzles here.) The puzzles are now produced by Winning Moves (a game company) and are manufactured in Ireland. Here’s a review of the 2014 offering — number 19 in the series!Read more