Heinz releases a challenging ketchup-themed puzzle that's all red

Heinz have mixed up 570 puzzle pieces, each one in the same matte red color — the result of which might just be one of the most perplexing food puzzles of all time. Not sure I'll be racing to do this one.
Read about it here.

Simon Cowell stocks up on puzzles!

Now we are not really ones for gossip, but hey, loved this -

If you were going to imagine what the contents of Simon Cowell’s shopping basket looked like, you probably wouldn’t expect it to be like this. 

The X Factor judge, 59, stopped off at a toy shop in the Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, with girlfriend Lauren Silverman and their son Eric this week… and the family stocked up on jigsaw puzzles. Simon was spotted piling two jigsaw puzzles – Coco and Toy Story by Ravensburger, FYI – and a Dragon Hawk glider into his basket as the family looked around the store. We never imagined a night at Casa Cowell would involve doing puzzles, but apparently they’re big fans judging by his basket.

Read more here 

Resurgence in jigsaw popularity

Just as there has been a resurgence in vinyl records, traditional board games and colouring books, so jigsaws are making a come back. 

Wrestling the kids and yourself away from screens, devices even the television can seem an impossible task, but is vital to mental and physical health.

Jigsaws improve your memory, relieve stress, help you live longer  and better by avoiding alzheimer's and memory loss. They are family fun or fun alone when you need some quiet time. 

Jigsaws are  good for your mind, body and spirit, so join the retro-revolution, unplug, put your phone on silent  and get lost in a jigsaw!

Jigsaw mashups

Jigsaw fanatic, Tim Klein, from Vancouver, Wash., came up with the concept for his one-of-a-kind works after discovering that many mass-produced 500-piece jigsaw puzzles have the same cut pattern, allowing their subjects to be merged into bizarre mash-ups. Whether it be piglets with the eyes of frogs, cows blended with construction vehicles or toy bears mixed with beer cans, no combination is off-limits for the creative eye of jigsaw fanatic Tim Klein. He said: "For any pair of 500-piece puzzles with the same cut pattern, there are literally trillions of possible ways to intermingle their pieces, so the possibilities are endless."
Read about him, and view some of his mash ups here

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Fantasy Puzzles

Fantasy theme includes mystical creatures like dragons and unicorns and fairytale images like Snow White and the Seven Dwarves or the popular Wizard of Oz!  They are such fun to do, One just gets lost in the imagery.  Check out other fantasy puzzles available on our website
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Mystical Dragon 1000 pieces

Fairytale Fantasia 1000 pieces

Mystical Unicorn 1000 pieces

Ravensburger release the worlds largest jigsaw - 40,320 pieces!

At the New York Toy Fair this year,  Ravensburger released their 40,320 piece “Making Mickey’s Magic” puzzle celebrating 90 years of the world’s most famous mouse. 
Further interesting facts:

• Piece Count: 40,320
• Format: 22.3' x 6.2'
• Area: nearly 140 square feet
• Weight: approx. 44 lbs.
• Estimated Completion Time: About 600 Hours

Find out more about it here.

A Fairytale Fantasy

You'll want to order this one for the family.  Our family put it together over a couple of nights. The picture was lots of fun to do with the family, as we all liked to work on our favorite shelf.

Fairytale Fantasia

It also came with a poster to place on the table, which was an added bonus, instead of always having to look at the box.

Fantastic Christmas puzzles

Have you seen the Christmas puzzles on our website?  The new WASGIJ Christmas 13 Turkey's Delight, is sooo much fun!
t's Christmas Day and Santa's friends and family have gathered for lunch.  Who is cooking?  Why are the guests looking puzzled and the snowman concerned?  Who is not staying for lunch?  What smashing dishes will be served?  Try to imagine you are the snowman at the window.  What he can see is the picture you have to puzzle.  Don't puzzle what you see... puzzle what they see!  Wasgij is the hilarious puzzle concept where the image on the box is simply a clue to the puzzle inside.  Only the puzzle holds the answer!   

World's largest Mickey Mouse puzzle released to celebrate his 90th birthday.

Ravensburger has revealed the world’s largest puzzle of the world’s most famous rodent, Mickey Mouse. The puzzle, Mickey Through The Years, features images of Mickey Mouse over his 90-year career starring in Disney animated features and shorts, dating all the way back to 1928’s Steamboat Willie.

The puzzle is absolutely gigantic, measuring in at 22 feet long and six feet tall. The whole thing weighs a mind-boggling 50 pounds. A puzzle that large requires a massive number of pieces, and Mickey Through The Years has 40,320 of them. Don’t lose one! It’s estimated the puzzle requires around 600 hours to complete.

To make things simpler, Ravensburger has divided the puzzle into 10 frames, and each has its own box. This puzzle is basically a mash-up of the 10 smaller puzzles.

Although this puzzle has not yet come to New Zealand just watch this space....

11 year old distributes jigsaws to dementia patients

Here is a most inspirational story!  This 11 year old has distributed 30,000 puzzles to people with dementia. 

5 reasons for doing jigsaws

Anne Roderique-Jones, a freelance writer and editor,  gave up TV watching to do jigsaws with her husband and in this article she outlines 5 surprising things that happened as a result  -  
They started to practice patience
They started to eat at the dining room table again
They had meaningful conversation.
It saved them money.
They worked together as a team.

Sound like pretty good reasons for starting a jigsaw to me!!

Jigsaws are fun for the whole family

Jigsaw Puzzles are great for multiple people to play because no one can lose! The objective is for everyone to search for the proper puzzle pieces and put them together to form the main image of the puzzle.

To make it challenging for everyone in the family, find a puzzle which has 500 or even 1000 pieces in it. There are also 3D puzzles, which when put together form a 3-dimensional object.  There are also shaped puzzles, lenticular puzzles and augmented reality puzzles.  The choice is endless!

If there are kids in the family, they will have great excitement as they watch the image come to life.  Check out our website here.

A puzzle competition for serious puzzle enthusiasts!

Calling all puzzle enthusiasts – Mainland Cheese have asked us to spread the word - have they got something for you! Tell them who you’d recruit to help you finish this masterpiece, and you’re in the draw to win a Mainland 2,000-piece voucher. It’s simple; finish the puzzle, redeem the voucher – and an incredible prize will be yours. Like our site, and then visit their Facebook site to enter.

Does doing puzzles really make people happy?

It certainly does! Assembling a puzzle can truly bring happiness. Searching, finding and assembling and ultimately seeing the puzzle come together is what most people find fascinating.
Our recommendations:

Abundant Blooms

Bottlecap Hills

Irrfan Khan's Plan To Kickstart 2018 Will Leave You 'Puzzle-D'

Irrfan Khan's next Hollywood project 'Puzzle' to be a part of Sundance film festival's world premiere.

The movie centres on a forty something suburban mother whose world is consumed with caring for the men in her family. When she discovers she has a gift for assembling puzzles, her world begins to open and her entire family is forced to adjust and grow as well.

Read about it here

Now, this is the perfect job for a puzzle enthusiast!!

If you're the kind of person who's working on a puzzle at all times (not just on rainy days when you're stuck at home), the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York is looking to hire a full time  "Puzzle Cataloger" for six months. 

The museum has a collection of 7,500 puzzles from as late as the 1700s — and some of them have missing pieces. The person who gets hired wouldn't complete every puzzle, but rather would do as much of the puzzle as possible to identify the historic image in order to catalog it properly.

Such Fun!  Read more about it here.

WASGIJ Christmas 12 The Great Turn On

This new WASGIJ puzzle is now available. The Christmas market goers are ready for the festive lights to be turned on, but they appear to have frozen in their tracks from something further down the street – but what could it be?

WASGIJ Christmas 12 The Great Turn On

3D puzzles are the best!!

These puzzles feature a large variety of landmarks and are bound to be a hit with kids and adults alike. These 500 piece puzzles are easy to assemble, with a guide on the cover to help younger kids and cool 3D effects for the older generation. Everyone will just love them!

London 500 pieces

New York  500 pieces

Puzzle Power - How jigsaws help make sense of our life.

Jigsaw puzzles are hardly anything new, having been around since the 1700s and evolving from hand-cut, wooden educational tools to a sprawling industry that targets children and adults alike, and contrary to popular belief, this simple toy can have lasting benefits on our health and well-being. Read the rest of this fascinating article from the Daily Sabah  here  

Test your brain with jigsaw puzzles

Solving jigsaw puzzles can give you a sense of accomplishment like no other. It is a fun and rewarding hobby to pursue and it helps you in so many ways - helps pass time, aids logical and creative thinking, for relaxation, a memory booster - to name a few. Give it a go today.  www.pathwaypuzzles.co.nz

Kansas USA 1000 pieces

African Elephants 500 pieces