Let's Try Some Mini Puzzles!
When most people think about puzzles, they probably think about a puzzle that's around 25" × 19", but did you know there is a whole world of mini puzzles? In all my years of puzzling, I've only assembled a couple of mini puzzles, so I'd say this is a new world for me. I was surprised to see the variety of mini puzzles available. It was difficult to do, but I narrowed it down to eight puzzles to tell you about. I tried to select puzzles for all skill levels, and as you can see there is a lot of variation in the piece sizes.
Mini puzzles don't take up a lot of space, but they can take some time to complete.
I thought the best place to start was with "World's Smallest - Rainbow Candy". I mean if I'm going to go to the small side, why not start with the World's Smallest? This 1000 piece puzzle by MasterPieces comes packaged in a neat tin. It's a rainbow of candy and has one piece shape.
There is an included reference picture that's almost as big as the puzzle itself, that's helpful when you're working with small details. The small 0.5" × 0.7" pieces and one piece shape made for a far more challenging puzzle than I'd anticipated. It took me 11 hours and 12 minutes to finish. The completed size of the puzzle is 11.7" × 16.5". My difficulty rating: 5/5. MasterPieces seems to agree, as their site says: "...will push the most experienced puzzler to the brink of their skills."
The next mini puzzle I tried was from Educa. It's called "Collage Gaudi", another 1000 piece puzzle with one piece shape. The pieces are roughly the same size as the "Rainbow Candy" puzzle, but it was a little easier. It took me 9 hours and 14 minutes to complete. The artwork is beautifully colorful and of course the sky was the most difficult part.
The completed puzzle size is 11.8" × 18" and I'd rate the difficulty of this one a 4/5.
After these two challenging puzzles, I was ready for something easier, something a little more Zen. "Waves" by Chronicle Books fit the bill. This is a 500 piece puzzle that comes packaged in a lovely canvas pouch. They also include a small reference picture with the puzzle.
This was a very relaxing and enjoyable puzzle. The pieces are average size, so it was easier to handle them than the pieces of the first two puzzles. I was finished with this puzzle in 3 hours and 45 minutes. The completed size is 19" × 14". I would rate the difficulty of this puzzle as average, a 3/5.
I'm a sucker for dogs in puzzles, so when I saw "Pups in Cups" from RoseArt, I had to give it a try. This puzzle is very different from all the other mini puzzles I tried. It is a 500 pieces divided over 13 puzzles. All the pieces are in one bag, but the backs are different colors to make sorting the individual puzzles easier. What I did was flip all the pieces right side up and sort for more of a challenge.
This would be a great puzzle to do with others, each person can do their own puzzle and Roseart includes a glue packet if you want to save the assembled puzzles. This was a fun one to puzzle and the pups are adorable. Even though these puzzles are shaped and have random cut pieces, I finished assembling all 13 pups in 1 hour and 49 minutes. I'd rate the difficulty a 2/5.
After those relaxing, fun puzzles, I was ready for a challenge. So I cracked open another puzzle that claims to be The World's Smallest Jigsaw Puzzle. The puzzle is called "We Didn't Do It" by TDC, and it has 234 pieces. This puzzle comes in a tiny box and has the smallest pieces of all the minis I tried. It even comes with tiny tweezers to help you pick up the pieces.
Wow, this was a difficult puzzle. The combination of dark sections, fur, and one piece shape make this one quite a challenge. The pieces are super tiny, but when all together they make an adorable 4" × 6" puzzle. It took me 2 hours and 48 minutes to complete and I would rate it a 5/5 for difficulty.
I chose to do this 140 piece "The Starry Night" puzzle by Pigment & Hue because I absolutely love the Starry Night painting. This puzzle comes packaged in a plastic case similar in size to a deck of cards.
Like most of the other minis, the pieces fit a little loose, but it's beautiful when complete. This 5" × 7" puzzle would look adorable framed. It only took me 53 minutes to finish and I'd rate the difficulty level a 2/5.
The reason I ordered this next mini puzzle is mostly because I was intrigued with the packaging. It is a 128 piece puzzle from Galison called "Courageous Matchbox Puzzle" and it comes packaged in a matchbox style box. There is a space on the back to write either a note if you're gifting it or to keep a log of who's done the puzzle.
The puzzle is slightly different from the picture on the front of the box, but there is a small reference picture on the back. I love the gold foil on the pieces, it looks amazing against the black background. The piece size is right in the middle of the pack, so this would be a good puzzle for anyone. This is a very cool puzzle, it took me 35 minutes to assemble and was very fun. The completed size is 5.75" × 8.825" and I would rate it a 1/5 for difficulty.
The last puzzle I did had large pieces, but it's a mini puzzle. It's called "Sky Dance - Friendly Skies" by Indigenous Art. The 72 pieces come packaged in a small tin.
This would be an excellent puzzle snack or a good one for kids, the artwork is amazing. The completed size is 8.3" × 11.2" and it took me 13 minutes to complete. For difficulty I would rate it a 1/5.
I hope my journey with these mini puzzles inspires you to try one out. Puzzle Warehouse has such a great selection!
Until next month, happy puzzling!
- Angel @endless.puzzles
