I do wooden jigsaw puzzles and take pictures of them.
Fathom, 200 pieces. I snap up new Fathoms when released because I really enjoy the Tormentor style transposed onto a laser-cut puzzle. There are occasional bits that aren't as fun as hand-cut--in particular, uniform connector knobs can cause some trouble--but overall it's a really good way of getting the experience of the subtle effects of small drop-outs. 4/5
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| acrylic insert |
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| assembled cow and closeup on some of the dropouts |
Fathom, 200 pieces. I was a bit hesitant because it's dark, but it's excellent, like every Fathom puzzle I've done. I wonder if Fathom could do the bit of curving on the edges of certain pieces that creates tiny little dropouts on the similar Stave Tormentors. 4/5
Fathom, 500 pieces. First of all, this is a big puzzle--it takes up a lot of table real estate. It is also another impressively line-cut laser-cut puzzle. The colors are nice and the fit practically shocking, with no discernible bleed. 4/5
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| mini bird images turn into whimsies |
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| color line cutting closeup |
Fathom, 200 pieces. A new Fathom design is exciting! Impressive as usual with fun animal whimsies. 4/5
Fathom, 200 pieces. This was a hard puzzle to rate. I settled on 4/5, which is a 5/5 with a 1 point deduction--that is, it was an amazing puzzle that I even considered bumping up to the Stave scale, but with one annoying feature that I think could probably be fixed in the next iteration. Fathom has made incredible advances in laser-cut puzzles that make them close to some of the special things you can get from hand-cut, but at a much lower price point. Here, the feathers in the peacock's tail fit together wonderfully, and although there aren't dropout spaces they're still teaser-like. (There are dropouts in the flower portion, which is part of what makes the puzzle really fun--it's a great combination of techniques.) The annoying problem is that the round connectors are still not quite as personalized as you can get with hand-cut, so there were about ten possible candidates that were just impossible to distinguish from the connectors alone (one or two are livable, but ten was too many for me). I ended up solving from the top of the feathers, not the bottom. I think the issue could have been solved with a little more wraparound on the bottom so you could have distinguished more of the bottoms with other parts than the raw connector shapes. Hopefully the pictures will make a little more sense of this. Anyway I loved it and this review should be considered a very strong endorsement with a very tiny caveat.
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| most of the feathers are two parts, like so |
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| separated |
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| but, unfortunately, many cannot be distinguished from the bottom |
Fathom, 200 pieces. Another extremely fun, challenging puzzle with lots of tricks for the eye--the closest one can get to hand-cut from a laser cutter. 4/5
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| lots of snake parts |
Fathom, 200 pieces. Fathom has mastered what FoxSmartBox is trying--making surprising cuts, including color line and Teaser-like cuts, with a laser. Handcutting still can't be beat, but I can't wait to see what will happen next.
4/5
Fathom, 200 pieces. Laser cutting isn't quite there with the incredible fit possible with hand-cutting, but Fathom is certainly pressing the limits, making for near Teaser-level difficulty of assembly with a relatively low piece count and not too many dropouts. The haptics are noticeably different from hand-cut in terms of how the fit feels, and I'm spoiled enough to prefer the feel of hand-cut, but this was a different kind of challenge--feel rarely told you for sure if you had the fit right. If I had my druthers there wouldn't be star cutout whimsies--I don't like the way a completely enclosed piece tends to fall out when I move things around--but the design is clever including the little curliques on the cloud that complicate assembly. I continue to be impressed and I look forward to the next iterations. 4/5
Fathom Puzzles, 200 pieces. Another really intriguing entry in Fathom's lineup, with the quasi-Teaser structure. I had a conversation with my son about whether one could do a computer-guided jigsaw to get the really tight cuts that make hand-cut so special; he thought it would be cost-prohibitive. But people are still doing interesting things with laser-cut. This doesn't quite have the haptics of a Teaser, but it does have the clever dropout structure. 3/5
Fathom, 200 pieces. Fathom is doing some very interesting things with technique. This puzzle tries and mostly succeeds in being Teaser-like with laser-cutting. I would say it's not a very difficult Teaser--1 sword or 2 at most--but it was pleasantly unusual (along with the 3D tusk elements, which felt 3D printed and not as smooth/nice as the rest). What is really clear is the way that hand-cutting affects the haptic experience of a Teaser--the absolute certainty of a fit was not quite there with the laser-cut version. It was enjoyable and I'd definitely do others of this type--though I don't need 3D elements--but not a replacement for hand-cut, only a different experience. 4/5
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| interacting whimsies and the signature piece |
Fathom Puzzles, 200 pieces. This is an extremely promising puzzle from a new maker. The acrylic pieces didn't quite work for me, although they weren't as bad as I feared when I looked at them. The butterfly pieces were varied in ways that did allow me to inspect for fit rather than just trying every single one and hoping for tiny deviations, but I think I would have preferred all-wood construction to make the process a bit less trial-and-error-ish--the shiny acrylic just wasn't as much fun for me. The internal wood pieces often change color slightly so that color is not super helpful in assembly, making this much harder than its size suggests. Recommended for anyone looking for something a bit different and seriously challenging. 4/5
