Who is doing reviews?

[Patty Smith]

Does Stave have people who review all their puzzles? I'm looking to get Molly Delaney's puzzle "Flamingo Fandango" for a friend, because it is adorable and my friend lives is Florida. However after reading some of the comments of how people are completing a puzzle in fifteen minutes I'm not sure, Erik and Bryan report a lot on reviews, have either of you reviewed this puzzle?

[Erik]

1) I'm not paid/compensated/encouraged/discouraged/anything by Stave to post reviews. Ditto for anyone else here. We're doing it cause we're 'nuts.

BUT, Stave does have testers that comment on their puzzles and help with the ratings. Those people are as far as I know NOT posting here/sharing.

2) Flamingo Fandango is new, so I'm not sure who all has it/has done it to post a review

3) Don't read too much into people's times for a puzzle. Bryan and I are old hands at some of these and I can go all "fugue" like and finish a puzzle PDQ.

So some questions for you, has your friend done a Stave teaser puzzle before? If not, they are likely to find a 50 piece teaser and no picture on the box to be challenging.

Additionally, looking at the catalog image of Flamingo Fandango, it appears to be a mostly borderless teaser. I'm gonna say that's going to make it harder than the rating suggests since you cannot do the frame-first strategy. My experience with frameless teasers is that that they are quite a bit harder.

Lastly, Stave has a money back guarantee. If your friends aren't satisfied for any reason, call Stave and talk to them and they'll make them happy.

[Erik]

PS: I'm sure SOME times Stave/Steve might want to discourage me but who knows. For example I was worried that my detailed off site description of Palace of Pranks might annoy Steve; however, I got a kind email from him about it since he seemed to appreciate how intensely I puzzled it since it was so hard for him to design.

[Bryan]

Hi Patty! Flamingo Fandango would be a great puzzle to give as a gift! I wouldn't worry about the difficulty of this puzzle versus some of the recent reviews you have read regarding the Circus Train Series as this puzzles will pose quite a challenge for anyone! I will say there have been quite a few Stave Traditional Puzzle collectors who have not been able to even complete one of the Teaser puzzles at all as they found them far too difficult and frustrating. Just because there are a few of us that can complete a puzzle in a relatively short time does not mean your friend will be able to complete it in fifteen minutes. I would venture to guess this puzzle should take your friend about as long to complete as a 500 piece Springbok puzzle. I should also point out that the first few puzzles in the Circus Train series are exceptionally easy for a Puzzle Nut but make for a great introduction to the beginner puzzler which have been the reviews you have read most recently.

As Erik pointed out Stave goes out of their way to make certain each and every customer is happy. I enjoy ALL Stave puzzles no matter how quickly or how long they take to complete as I find the artwork to be extraordinary compared to any other puzzle company. In fact I enjoy Stave puzzles so much I no longer have any other brands of Jigsaw Puzzles in my puzzle collection and own nothing but Stave puzzles now. I will also tell you there are quite a few puzzles I have worked on every single night for over 6 months and still haven't completed! (Little House Of Horrors and What A Catch are two examples).

Go ahead and place your order with confidence and tell your friend to log in to the Puzzle Nut site and provide feedback...I suspect your friend will be filled with lots of anquish and frustration in trying to solve the Flamingo Fandango puzzle as it is one of the borderless Teaser puzzles which are quite difficult to start and complete. Hope this helps!

Bryan

[June Herold]

Hi. I have yet to do the Flamingo teaser. It looks fun. The completion times that you've seen some of us talk about for puzzles we've done should only be applied if you or the recipient of the puzzle is, well, NUTS. With the teasers, once I start one that's has fewer than 100 pieces, I typically go into a "zone" and don't come out for air until it's done. Depending on the time of day, level of difficulty, number of espressos and need to get my mind off of other things, a teaser of this size can take at most 2.5 hours. I've witnessed friends do this size of a puzzle over a few days, spending 15 - 30 mins on them a day. If the recipient of your gift is likely to do a little at a time, the pleasure will stretch out beyond an hour or two. A trick puzzle of this size can take from 2 hours to several days, depending on level of difficulty. The more difficult puzzles can also take several days, even a few weeks depending on the amount of concentration put into them. Fan Flair, for example, was on my dining room table for weeks. The new double trouble puzzles are among the hardest Staves, they collectively took me more than 15 hours --- a marathon more or less over a foul-weathered weekend. Time shouldn't be the only criteria to judge these puzzles. Increasingly, I care more about whether the puzzle will continue to delight when done repeatedly with friends and family.

[Patty Smith]

Thank you Erik,Bryan and June

[Erik]

You're most welcome Patty, do post back about you end up doing and how the lucky recipient enjoys the puzzle. Since none of us have done this one, we'll all be interested to hear.

BTW, you can see which ones I've done/own erik's list and I'm happy to write up info about them. The # sequence is the order I collected the puzzle in, more or less. And the pictures are thumbnails from stave's website, so there are no "spoilers"