The Great Wave Off Kanagawa

Difficult

I got this puzzle because I love this particular picture and I like puzzles. This one is a little challenging because there are a lot of the same colors throughout the entire picture - blues and greys. The pieces go together easily and the colors are sharp and in focus. We haven't finished it yet but we are getting there. Note: the box doesn't have the complete picture on the front but there is a paper included that shows the whole thing. This review is for MaxRenard Game 1000 Pieces Jigsaw Puzzle for Adult Fine Art Collection Toy The Great Wave Off Kanagawa Puzzle

Puzzle was missing a few pieces

We’re avid puzzlers, and this one really put our skills to the test! If you’re up for a serious brain workout, this is the challenge you've been looking for.

Good quality puzzle and perfect if you like a little challenge

The motion of large waves and small boats tossing about contrasts with the stately and stable Mt. Fuji in the background. The warm brown of the boats contrasts nicely with the cool greys and blues of the water and land. I’ve seen this artwork before and loved it so building the puzzle was enjoyable. The puzzle pieces have the typical jigsaw shapes, with a little more variation than some puzzles; you can be certain of placement. The cardboard is thin yet sturdy enough for multiple builds; however, we had a couple pieces that were not cut through and the paper tore plus one with a bent tip (we just fix them with a little glue). Otherwise the picture was well-adhered on both front and back. Yes, this puzzle has 6 colored sections on the back. I ignore it but my wife hates it – it’s supposed to be a challenging puzzle. The pieces to the finished puzzle all connect well but while building it they didn’t really click together smoothly. The puzzle includes a decent sized poster to help with the build, and is important since the image on the box is cropped. The artwork is wonderful, the puzzle is average.

If you want a challenging puzzle that isn't just meme-hard, this is a great option. It's a beautiful, classic painting represented very faithfully in puzzle-form, and if you want to do it without any of the optional assistance, it's one that will keep you busy for a good long time. I didn't have any issues with pieces stuck together in the box or layers peeling apart or anything like that, no missing pieces, etc. The pieces are all pretty unique shapes too, although I did have a couple examples where a piece fit in where it shouldn't. The pattern generally gives those away, so I didn't find it to be a big deal, but it's worth mentioning. There are a couple parts of the puzzle with some unique design elements for a good place to start, and some color uniqueness in certain zones that helps piece parts together too, but you'll find a big sea of grey towards the end that needs to be completed, and it gets challenging. There are slight variations in the hue of the grey that can give some parts away, but the grey part alone will probably take you 3x longer than the rest combined, and I could see slow progress getting frustrating. Luckily, on the back, there are little color zones (I think 6 different colors) to help you separate pieces into regions if you are not enjoying it, and they really do help, although I found it to still be possible even without that. Overall, I love this puzzle. I'm torn between putting it back in the box and passing it on to other puzzle lovers or gluing it together and hanging it on the wall since it is such a beautiful print. Highly recommended.

My first Max Reynard puzzle. If this is typical I won't be buying more. Very thin pieces and the color coding paper on the back was detaching in many places. Lots of the pieces weren't even completely separated, apparently stamped out but not all the way through, separating them caused damage to the individual pieces. I've purchased many puzzles and this was, by far, the sorriest one yet Find the puzzle you like by another manufacturer and purchase that one.