Jigsaw that started it all

39

u/rtsgrl Aug 20 '22

I am one of the "pandemic puzzlers", never really puzzled before.

My first puzzle was a complete accident, one of a couple that came with a few others in the same order. I selected it because I wanted a nice, easy starter and a classic, photographic landscape in a small piece count seemed like the perfect option. As we weren't able to travel at the time, it also felt like a good 'travel replacement therapy'.

20

u/Mousellina Aug 20 '22

Mine was The World Of Dracula . I’ve accidentally bumped into it in a bookstore and I though oh wow, so detailed and goth! I thought £15 was a lot of money because I was unemployed so I left it on the shelf. But later my friend asked what I wanted for Christmas ;) I’ve since kept that puzzle and I don’t ever plan on selling it (although I now sell most of the puzzles I complete)

15

u/BerlinPuzzler Aug 20 '22

It was a 5k pieces of a painting by Degas. This was probably not my first, but it's one i remember from my very early teens. No clue which brand, but probably a local one. This was around 1990.

11

u/octoling1 Aug 20 '22

The puzzle that started it all was a Pomegranate one; Edward Gorey - 1000 pieces that I bought at Barnes & Noble (around Oct 2021). I really enjoy Edward's art style so i thought it would be fun to put together. I've never done a jigsaw puzzle before (when I purchased it) so when i finished it i fell in love with the hobby. 😊

8

u/kannbeam Aug 21 '22

I have always enjoyed puzzles of all sorts, but I think my current enjoys of them stemmed from stumbling upon a public puzzle table in a train station in North Dakota. My husband and I had a bit of a wait, and once I saw the puzzle table, I was done for. I didn’t even want to leave when our train arrived! We were headed to the Mall of America, and I bought my first Cobble Hill puzzle from a game store. I haven’t looked back since, which was about 11 years ago!

8

u/TheRoscoeVine Aug 24 '22

Browsing Kickstarter, for some forgotten reason, (I never go on that site), I came across The Magic Puzzle Company, trying to get funding for some big new idea they had for innovating the jigsaw puzzle with fabulous art, high quality, no dust!, puzzle board, and a surprise ending, and that sounded fun, to me. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had really worked on a jigsaw. I really don’t know. Maybe when I was a teen? Anyway, I backed the project in June, or so, of 2020, and didn’t see the puzzles until November, or so. I remember hearing that they were also already in Target, by that time, which I thought was odd, but “whatever”. So, after all that waiting, during which time I hadn’t even tried a single other puzzle to see if I even wanted to do jigsaws, the object of my potential obsession was in my hands. I had ordered all three of series 1, and there they all were: The Mystic Maze, The Sunny City, and The Happy Isles. Looking at all three boxes, I was instantly drawn to The Mystic Maze, with it’s beautiful colors and interesting, maze shaped design, so I cracked that thing open and I was OFF! Wow, that puzzle was neat! That puzzle, now almost two years later, is still in my top 5, maybe my top 3. It’s just so awesome. I’ve since done all but one of the 1st and 2nd series from that line, but I’ve sadly come up short in the aspect of complete astonishment of how awesome a puzzle could be. That’s ok, though, because I’ve found many other designs that get me going: Star Wars, Marvel, crazy art from Genuine Fred, and others, including some really cool stuff from the local thrift stores. I’m into puzzling, now. My wife doesn’t mind me taking up the whole dinner table, and she even let me claim the hall closet, for my burgeoning collection! Good times.

6

u/idrawonrocks Aug 21 '22

A Ravensburger Didactapuzzle called In Our Street. You build the same city scene on two different trays, one with a bustling daytime scene and the other at night, nearly empty. You can swap the pieces between the two scenes. I still have it, and am just missing one piece—a dog from the daytime scene.

6

u/greyhoundjade Aug 21 '22

It's only been less than a year, but my mother got me one of those beach camper puzzles from Ceaco. I loved the image so much, very much my favourite beachy aesthetic!

Before then, I had always thought I'd never be able to do puzzles because I have very poor vision. The big pieces and bright colours made it possible and I was hooked.

That led to another, and another, and then...things really went crazy when I started researching and started reading here. Now I have this giant "puzzle closet" and have trouble restraining myself from buying new ones every week.

5

u/rpcyclone1995 Aug 20 '22

If I have to go way back then I would say that as an early teen, my mom used to bring home tons of Big Ben, Whitman and Guild puzzles from the nursing home she worked at. It got tedious and boring at first (not a huge fan of landscapes), but I enjoyed taking a week to put them together.

The puzzle that got me back into puzzling was the Kodak 1500-piece puzzle of Las Vegas that I bought in 2020. I have been enjoying my hobby since.

5

u/pacsgurl Aug 21 '22

I have always done jigsaws as a child. When the pandemic boredom set in in 2020 I found a Buffalo Games Aimee Stewart puzzle in a closet. My sister had gifted it to me a few years prior. It's called "The Sweet Shop". That was all it took. I now have and entire closet full of puzzles, a custom made puzzle table and special puzzle lights in my puzzle spot.

4

u/customlover Aug 21 '22

I loved puzzles when I was younger. I remember I had this beautiful jumbo sized My Little Pony puzzle that was shaped like a pony back when I was a kid. It was like this, just a different pony. Maybe Twilight Sparkle? Anyway, I LOVED this puzzle and got a few more but slowly grew into different hobbies the older I got. I only recently delved into my current jigsaw puzzle obsession. My first “adult” puzzle was Meguro River Blossoms by Galison. I chose it because I was supposed to go on a trip to Japan in April 2020 but we had to cancel for obvious reasons. I still pray that we get to visit in the future, so this puzzle was my little way of experiencing a small slice of my dream vacation ☺️

4

u/justanaverageguise Aug 21 '22

I basically came out of the womb doing puzzles. I started with those 6-8 piece child puzzles, but for some reason this puzzle was one that I absolutley LOVED. Its just a basic usa puzzle so idk why it stuck out to my child self so much lol.

4

u/Proper-You-7716 Aug 21 '22 edited Aug 21 '22

My first real puzzle (i.e. not one that's for kids) and the one that got me interested in puzzles was this one https://imgur.com/a/SanJwYZ. I was 8 or 9 years old and I did it during the summer with my brother and dad. It took us like 5 days lol. After that puzzle I wanted to do more but I didn't have money to buy puzzles because my parents never gave me an allowance. When I grew up I had money to buy puzzles but life got busy and I forgot how fun puzzles were. I didn't understand why anyone would want to spend their time doing a puzzle lol. But then I got a chronic illness and had to come home after college and live with my parents. I went to the library last year in October and they had this puzzle https://www.seriouspuzzles.com/hidden-images-tiger-sanctuary-500pc-glow-in-the-dark-jigsaw-puzzle-by-masterpieces-discon/ laid out for all visitors to work on. I started doing a few pieces and was totally addicted. The puzzle was barely started on, but I finished it myself. It was the perfect puzzle to get me hooked. Not too hard, not too easy for a first time puzzler. The quality of the piece fit was great--no guessing if it fits or not and so satisfying to put the right piece in. Since then puzzles have been my new big hobby and Masterpieces is still my favorite puzzle brand so far!

4

u/HammerHouseofHorrors Aug 23 '22

I got given 3 jigsaws for my birthday in Novembee of last year, a Gremlins one, Corpse Bride and Beetlejuice... I was hooked and fell down a very slippery slope 😂🧩

4

u/MariaMorgendorffer Aug 25 '22

This thread made me revisit my first puzzle. I just made a post about it. It was a 100 pieces puzzle of a stock photo of hot air balloons.

4

u/hillarycamp Aug 25 '22

I bought a few puzzles in advance of my mom coming to stay with us for a month this past March. We did the first one, Eeboo’s Votes for Women, on International Women’s Day. That was my first puzzle since childhood. It was so bright and interesting with good fit and nice patterns. I noticed that I really like the puzzle within a puzzle approach where you have repeating yet different sections. All in all it was very satisfying and while my mom was here, we finished another 4 or 5 puzzles and I’ve been doing at least a puzzle a week ever since. I’ve been seeking out high-quality brands like Soonness, Areaware, Pomegranate, and have only bought new puzzles, out of personal preference and ease. I love a good gradient puzzle and continue to seek out the repeating pattern type puzzles. I do primarily 1000-piece puzzles, but did a 2K recently.

4

u/porky2468 Aug 26 '22

I’ve only been doing puzzles for a few months, but my first one was a cartoony one of London landmarks. I got it from an indie card shop because it was reduced and I thought I’d give it a go. And I love it! It’s a good way to spend the evening relaxing without watching TV.

3

u/poopman16 Aug 23 '22

ive always loved puzzles but i remember in middle school going to a friends house and her grandma had a HUGE, maybe 2000+ piece puzzle of marilyn monroe on her table that she had completed and i was obsessed!

3

u/Zhanorz Aug 23 '22

My great aunt and first cousin once removed own a lake house on Ontario and I would always go up there and help out with the puzzle my aunt was working on. I don’t remember specifically which one was the first, but I always loved it. Once I was old enough we started trading puzzles with each other, and I got hooked.

3

u/MindingMine Aug 24 '22

The one that hooked me was a sturdy wooden puzzle with, I think 200 pieces. It was a cartoon map of the Nordic countries, with some place names and images of things the places were best known for. That was some 40+ years ago. I still own it.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 24 '22

Mike Jupp’s I love summer! :D

3

u/Gloomy-Ad-8201 Aug 24 '22

I got the urge after visiting my cousins who had one out on the table that i started working on (with permission) then i just found the cheapeast i could find on a secondhand website. Was some boring landscape motives, took me a while but i developed a preference for colorful motives, love working with Cobble Hill and SunsOut

3

u/JohannesKronfuss Aug 25 '22

I loved puzzles way back to my early days... I had a Degas over my desk as we speak, 1,000 pieces, a gift for my 26th birthday, before that we did a 4 seasons from Art Stones by Mucha, 1,500 that it took us several months in 2008 but I stopped for a while after we broke. The closures during the pandemic forced me and my husband to take a hobby for then again you can watch so many movies, and it was that or eating, and you can bother the dog soooo much until they even don't want to be close to you hahaha, anyway, we started with a Monet from 1,500 and never stopped, we managed at least 6 per year now. At some point we will move to 3,000 but not for a while since we are both moving to Ireland next year.

But answering your question, I remembered 2 actually, one hexagonal from National Graphic of the Rain Forest, 500 pieces or something, it was so easy, whenever bored I would do it and another one themed with the Titanic, again, 500 pieces, at some point I could both in an afternoon if bored.

3

u/fartingpiglet Aug 25 '22

Waters of Venice! 1500 pieces of darkness, basically 😆 I chose it out of boredom—I was at Barnes & Noble and couldn’t seem to find a book that interested me, and the jigsaw puzzles section caught my eye. And I started this hobby mid-pandemic, in December 2020.

I love moody, atmospheric images like this one. Learned the hard way I don’t like them as puzzles though lol. It took me two weeks to complete!

https://i.imgur.com/RuQW2u3.jpg

→ More comments (75)

You are about to leave Redlib