A new wooden puzzle maker from Hoefnagle: JNG (Joyful Nook Gallery) Puzzles, with “Thankful”, a round, highly polished, autumnal / Thanksgiving-themed puzzle with large pieces.
It was a quick and easy assemblage, although there were some non-unique pieces with close color matches that meant you did have to pay attention. (The whole puzzle is radially symmetric, but I don’t know if the piece shapes are mostly similar or mostly identical and interchangeable.) The pieces were a mix of larger pieces, with curves and circular bobs, sometimes symmetrical; small pieces designed to fit into the nooks and crannies; and medium-sized (for this puzzle) s-shaped pieces. The piece design sometimes led to surprising angles for particular pieces, which was pleasant — you’re sort of toying with a piece, thinking it connects to another chunk, somehow, somehow, and then voilà, you’re right, it does connect — but from a completely surprising orientation you hadn’t been suspecting.
The most notable aspect of this puzzle to me was the highly finished pieces — they felt like commercial game pieces, almost like a resin / artificial ivory kind of feel. It was a kind of pleasant smoothness, but really quite distinct from any other wooden puzzle I’ve done.
The art is a graphic style that is not my favorite, but it was bright and colorful and pleasant to put together at the end of a long and stressful day. The graphic simplicity was actually a nice match for the puzzle cut simplicity and polish, too, if I’m thinking about it.
One whimsy — an adorable turkey — in the middle.
13” Diameter
153 PiecesThis round, wooden, kaleidoscope-like puzzle will have you hypnotized for hours. The puzzle pieces are a swirly pattern of curls and turns that twist together perfectly, featuring a cute turkey center puzzle piece.
JNG
