I just finished a 500-piece, shaped puzzle — you know, the kind that is cut out according to the outline of the image rather than the traditional rectangle or square? This puzzle’s box advertised an additional challenge in the form of special pieces shaped like flowers and butterflies within the main puzzle. Okay. That would be doable, right? I like a challenge, and it was only five bucks.
It didn’t take me long, however, to realize that something was very, very wrong. The puzzle had duplicate pieces. Extra pieces. You know, like those puzzles that advertise on the box that they have extra pieces — only this wasn’t one of those puzzles. Absolutely nowhere on the box does it say that there are extra pieces! Nowhere! I don’t do puzzles with extra pieces. They’re insane. And here’s one masquerading as an innocent, straightforward, exactly-as-many-pieces-as-you-need puzzle. Diabolical, I tell you. It took me three days to finish it. With a little help from Merkin and BratzBasher.
Here’s what it looks like all put together:
Here are the 46 extra pieces:
Here is the box that does not warn of extra pieces:
I’d also like to point out that nowhere on this box does there appear a picture of the completed puzzle, and the picture on the cover is not an accurate representation in regards to where the special shaped pieces go. It’s just there for pretty.
If you wish to avoid similar frustration, I recommend you do not purchase a puzzle from Paper House Productions. I promised myself I’d send them a nasty email when I was finished, but I decided to simply inform them that they’d lost a very dissatisfied customer.
So…anyone want a slightly used puzzle? I took out all the extra pieces. I have loads already. I get one every year for our New Year’s Eve festivities.
*Please read my follow-up post here.
