Remember the custom puzzle I put out for our 50 State Party? It's a 1000-piece puzzle. Because it has a lot of text, I fully expected that we'd finish it, or at least get close, during the 4+ hour party. Nope! Not even close. Even with multiple people working on it, the puzzle was less than 10% done when the last guests left. It turns out that I accidentally designed a REALLY challenging puzzle.
It took me a good two weeks putting in a few pieces here and there when I had time. To complete the solid black areas, I had to sort by shape and try them one by one until I got a fit. Not my favorite way to puzzle, but it was SO satisfying to finish.
There are quite a few things I could have done to make the puzzle easier. Obviously, a lower piece count would do the trick. Instead of a solid black background, any kind of gradient (even a subtle grey one) would have made a huge difference. Adding a contrasting frame, alternating the colors of the rows of text, or simply putting dashes or dots between each state name, would result in an easier puzzle. But easy isn't always the goal. I got a lot of satisfaction out of completing this challenging puzzle.
As I mentioned in the original post, this came from puzzleYOU. The quality is superb. I absolutely love the thick pieces. They feel great in my hand and interlock beautifully. I'm already thinking about my next puzzleYOU puzzle... I think it's going to be inspired by this!
Thanks for sharing your puzzle with your community. Really challenging but what a nice idea :)
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