Customer Reviews

Buffalo Games 3D Spherical Puzzle - Antique Globe

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

This was a bit of a challenge to put together, but when finished is very cool. I think the only way to put these together is to follow the nunbers on the back. The instructions say to build a row of pieces, then attach the row, but I found it easier to put one piece at a time. Every few rows glue it on the inside as you go with watered down Elmers, let dry, then continue. Do 50-100 pieces per day and you'll have a nice sturdy, cool looking globe. I hung mine from the ceiling.

Pieces do not attach to each other easily; pieces which go next to each other sometimes do not have a continuing line, color or drawing, therefore it's impossible to match them, unless you see the numbers on their back, but that is not my idea of making a puzzle. The assembly is a nightmare.

Having completed other spherical jigsaws, I was greatly looking forward to this one. However, upon first opening the package, I noticed that all the pieces were flat, meaning they won't fit together exactly. Annoying, but acceptable to me, at least. However, after I put together the first row using the numbers on the back of the pieces, I turned it over to find that the images printed on the pieces didn't even align with other pieces. A map where the edges of the continents don't align, and the print can't be deciphered? This puzzle can only be completed by the numbers printed on the back, and the completed product leaves room for improvement.

For those who don't mind spending the extra money, I recommend Ravensburger's 540 pc Historical Globe, another spherical puzzle with an old-fashioned world map. Ravensburger Puzzleballs are made from slightly rounded plastic pieces. Not only is the finished product more durable, but I found it to be a much easier assembly process. The pieces fit together exactly, and the image is clear enough that the numbered backs don't need to be used.

The instruction says that you assemble the pieces from piece numbered 1 and sequentially from there. It is really not a puzzle. It does say that you can do it without following the sequence,but it is next to impossible. The pieces next to each other do not color-match and lines don't always match either. It looks like it was printed on flat pieces and then pieces were cut from them. When you wrap a flat string into a ring the end pieces don't connect, in color or in picture.

This was not quite what I expected but it was fun and end product was good. The pieces didn't fit well together but with puzzle glue it stayed together. Over all it was fun and made a nice decoration in my room.

I bought this to put the finished puzzle ball on display in my office, so I deliberately intended to "cheat," i.e., to put it together using the numbers on the pieces. I really like the old-world map design. The colors are all a little lighter than what shows on the box, and there is a good variation of color between the printed words, the different countries, and the background, so the overall effect looks very nice from further away as well as close-up. I highly recommend that a person buy this puzzle to assemble via using the number sequence, with the goal of having a nice-looking completed product, rather than for the experience of actually putting it together.

Lining up the pieces in numerical order and then putting it all together took about 2 hours. Every few rows, I covered the inside with a water and Elmer's glue mixture and let it dry before continuing. This made the finished product pretty strong. Without gluing it, the finished sphere is *extremely* fragile, too fragile to handle, really. But of course gluing it together means the puzzle can never be done again. Also, because the puzzle uses real cardboard pieces that fit tightly but not seamlessly, the puzzle is not perfectly round or perfectly smooth. On the other hand, it really *looks* like a puzzle, even from far away. This is different from the Ravensburger puzzleballs, which look just like regular globes until you examine them closely. I have both the Buffalo sphere and Ravensburger puzzles, and it's really a question of which asthetic you prefer. If you're going for the final effect, and want a really unusual looking puzzle that is a real conversation piece, I highly recommend the sphere.

On the other hand, if you are looking for a challenging puzzle to complete for fun, then this is not the best choice. Because of it's construction, the Buffalo sphere is clearly meant to be put together only once (maybe twice). Fitting the extra-thick pieces together and removing them can cause the ends to fray, just like a regular cardboard puzzle piece, but even more so because of the many layers of paper required to get that thickness. As noted by other reviewers, many of the pieces appear to fit together in multiple places, and if you are trying to complete the puzzle just going by the design, the pieces could become pretty dog-eared as a result of moving them around from one configuration to another before finding the right spot.

The numbers on the backsides of each piece make the puzzle easy to put together, but not very challenging. It took me about half an hour to put together, which is not very long considering the amount of pieces that it has. The sides fall in a lot and it is hard to hold without part of the sphere caving in. The puzzle does go together well and is fun for a short time.

This globe puzzle is terrible. I could never finish it because it kept falling apart.