Category: Puzzles

That Pintoo Advent Calendar

Because it was so astonishingly good, here’s a followup as to what was in the Pintoo advent calendar I blogged about a while back.

You already saw the first day (a ‘postcard’ puzzle). There was also four tiny puzzles with a ‘swole Santa’ theme like the example above.

There were two slightly larger puzzles that came with frames. The art on these was reminiscent of the game Cuphead. They are bright and colorful and were easy to assemble.

Look at this luggage tag! Because these are plastic puzzles and go together well I think there’s even a chance this could survive a trip without breaking apart.

There were two spherical Christmas decoration puzzlea. These are about 2 inches in diameter and were a bit tricky to assemble due to the small size.

There were four magnet puzzles that utilized a clever frame to add the magnet to the back of the puzzle. I liked these a lot!

Perhaps most impressive was this piece of wall art. It was assembled in a t-shape and then the edges were folded 90 degrees and connected together to make a 3D framed piece that now hangs on our wall (it’s about 15 cm per side). I’d love for them to make larger puzzles using this clever frame technology!

This 360 piece puzzle was distributed between 6 of the boxes and assembled in parts. It has ‘secret’ elements only visible when it is held up to the light. This was a bit tricky to assemble due to the dark colours.

And last but certainly not least was another (larger) spherical puzzle that came with a lit base! This would make for a nice centerpiece for a Christmas table.

So all in all, a phenomenal advent calendar that I got for an insanely low price ($20!) and that I hope they do again in 2024.

Also I know it’s only December 19 and some of you are possibly thinking I’m a rogue for having opened all the days already but we’re heading to Japan tomorrow and I wanted to finish the calendar before we leave πŸ™‚

Advent

Advent is upon us (well… in two days it is) and you know what that means: Advent Calendars! This year, somehow, we have five.

This is perhaps the most mundane: 24 days of various skincare products. KLS bought this one for herself and started opening it about 5 days ago so she will finish it before we travel. It’s mostly small or sample-sized cosmetics.

She also got this super-fancy (and expensive) Florasis calendar, which shipped from China. It’s a sturdy box with a magnetic clasp and though it’s not visible in the photo has a lustrous coating that sparkles in the light.

Inside each of the 12 doors is a high-quality cosmetic item. As you can see door 1 was opened this morning, and contained a bottle of ‘Botanical Hydra-Sooth Balancing Cleansing Oil‘.

Since cats are well-known for their love of ceremony, naturally we got them an advent calendar as well!

It’s another fancy affair: well constructed with a meal behind each of the 24 doors.

Zoffy approved of day 1, which was a chicken pate πŸ™‚

And look at this: a second advent calendar for our kitties. This was a gift from JK and is a dry treat version. I’m pretty sure Loppi will be a big fan since she love treats. We’ll open the first door when KLS gets home later.

Lastly there is this guy: ‘The Star Chaser‘. This is a jigsaw puzzle advent calendar!

It’s got 24 doors but only 19 puzzles since some doors contain portions of a larger puzzle. It seems each day is part of a story and the goal is to ‘find’ a magical Christmas star.

The box warns me not to open more than one box a day lest I interfere with the magic. Maybe I’ll break that oath since I want to finish it before we travel πŸ™‚

The day 1 puzzle was a big surprise since it’s not only a postcard but also double-sided. Since this is a plastic Pintoo puzzle, the quality is sky-high and it was fun to put together. The calendar includes no instructions or images (you can get them online) but I didn’t earn my nickname of The Prodigy of Puzzles without reason and I knocked this one together in only a moment.

Did you get any advent calendars this year? If so, which ones? And will you be good and open only one door a day?

Picross For Bastards!!

Remember that insane Picross book I blogged about last year. I finished the Bastard!! puzzle. Here it is:

The accompanying contest required the entrant to identify the character in the puzzle from the three choices of Dark Schneider, Kall-Su or Tia Noto. Can you see which one it’s supposed to be:

Yep of course it’s Dark Schneider! That would be like making a Star Wars picross and having someone like Sio Bibble instead of a leading character!

The puzzle took me many hours over the last seven months, although to be honest I gave up on it at the end of last year before returning to it today for a five hour bender that has ruined my eyes. Alas I’m 7 months too late to win the Dyson vacuum cleaner, but I’ll forever have the self-satisfaction that I beat it.

Now about the >100 other puzzles in the book, not to mention the second book I bought since that last post…