When I tell you how many times Joe has laughed at me for owning this puzzle, and the red one, and the blue one! Three puzzles stored in full size paint cans, he can’t get enough. I will say that it was especially hilarious when we were moving, I did move them on a separate run in a car rather than try to pack them in a box for the movers.
But, my friends, these are rare and coveted puzzles. So, when I found the green and the blue paint cans at the thrift store together one day, well… I had to bring them home with me. Luckily, I found the red one a couple of months later at another thrift store. Now, my set is complete….. almost!
There is a yellow one too, but, I believe it was released earlier, maybe in the 90’s and it’s in a box, not a paint can.
The manufacturer is Springbok, naturally. They’re not actually all that old, they were made in 2000, but there’s something about these puzzles that people go wild for. If you look online, there are people trying to sell them anywhere between $16-$125! Can you believe that? I did not spend quite that much on mine, though there was always a chance that it could’ve been missing pieces.
I am happy to report that this is a complete copy, all 400 pieces have been accounted for. This is one of their family puzzles. The kind of puzzle with large, medium and small pieces. The idea being different skill levels can all work on the puzzle together. I think that can work but I will say for this type of image, just a bunch of small objects in a big pile, maybe wasn’t the most successful piece layout? Basically, this is a type of image that I would be hunting more for different textures, like the grass skirt on the hula doll, or the scaled alligator toy. Meaning, I didn’t really find myself working from one side to the other, but I ended up having little puzzle piece islands and connecting them thoughout the puzzle.
So, I personally didn’t use the piece shapes or sizes as a clue, I relied mostly on image only.
I did like that this particular family puzzle cut had all the large pieces on the outer edges of the puzzle, and they got smaller toward the centre. Normally, you’ll see the large pieces all on one side of the puzzle and the smaller on the opposite side. For some more family puzzles see A Looney Tunes Christmas, and Lustigt from Ikea!
Another fun aspect to this puzzle is there was a seek and find checklist for the puzzlers to find the objects listed once the puzzle was complete. This puzzle has it all, seek and find, multi-ability pieces, and a sturdy paint can storage. What more could I want?!
thepuzzlesivedone 