YEAR SUMMARY:
2020'S PUZZLE STATS
2020'S PUZZLE STATS
January 5, 2021
Author: Jimena G.
To start 2021 we wanted to share with you a summary of the year and our puzzle activity. In 2020, we have made 113 puzzles with a total of 101,515 pieces. For 3 years we have been keeping track of our puzzles and we can tell you that this has been the year that we have reached the most pieces and puzzles, it has also been the first time that we have exceeded 100,000 pieces.
Starting with the trends per month, with the beginning of the confinement we assembled more puzzles than in the rest of the months. April was the month with the highest number of puzzles done, 17; and in March and April 14.
Many of you know that I work in healthcare and we did not have the opportunity to comply with the confinement due to work, but the puzzles helped me more than ever to release the stress of that moment and still do. I always do the puzzles at the end of the day, to disconnect from work, release stress, and go to bed relaxed. This year I had thought about the many benefits of this hobby, so much so that I have collected many of them in this article.
Many of you have asked me at some point what is the puzzle size that I do most of the time and without hesitation, I would answer that they are those of a thousand pieces, followed by 500 pieces. Well, here I bring you a chart where you can look at it. This year I have made 66 puzzles of 1000 pieces, 20 of 500, 5 of 1500 pieces, and 3 of 2000 and 300.
In the end, what I am looking for is a puzzle that I can solve in 1-3 puzzle sessions. Honestly, I think it's because of the feeling when I finish a puzzle… between satisfaction, joy, improvement, and gratitude. Making a large puzzle certainly gives more satisfaction, but it takes longer and takes more effort, time, and space. Next year I will have a bigger puzzle room and we'll see if it affects this result.
The top brands I used have been Ravensburger (18 puzzles), followed by Educa (14) and Clementoni (11 puzzles); without a doubt, because they are also the most common brands in our collection. The fourth brand is Jumbo, with which we had a peak in August and September while practicing for the 12 hours of Puzzle of Belgium that took place online.
The fifth brand is Cloudberries and the sixth, eeBoo; two brands that have become great favorites in our house. Excellent quality, impeccable aesthetics, and surprising novelties have made that since we know them, we always have them in our mind when choosing a puzzle.
Throughout this year we have tried puzzles by 32 brands, of which 11 of them were new to us. With the number of new brands that have emerged during confinement, we hope to exceed this number and be able to bring you information about them.
The 32 puzzle brands that we use this year have been, in alphabetical order:
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- Art & Fable
- Blue Kazoo
- Castorland
- Clementoni
- Cloudberries
- Cobble Hill
- Educa
- eeBoo
- Eurographics
- Falcon
- Gibsons
- Grafika
- Hema
- Heye
- Innovakids GmbH
- Jumbo
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I have to say that during 2020 we've tried very special puzzle brands, round like Blue Kazoo's, with types of grids that add difficulty like Sulo Puzzle, the highly anticipated Gibsons Advent Calendar, iridescent like Wave Puzzle, and even with a velvet touch like Art & Fable.
Of these 32 brands, the ones we tested for the first time were, alphabetically:
- Art & Fable (This week we will have the review available)
- Blue Kazoo
- Gibsons
- Grafika
- Hema
- Kindertraume GmbH
- Nathan
- Puzzelman
- Sulo Puzzles
- Tiger
- Waves Puzzle
* If you click on the ones with a different color you can see a review of the puzzle and in our blog, you can see several reviews of different brands.
If we had to pick our 10 favorite brands for this year, they would be:
- eeBoo: it is an American brand that is known for highlighting female empowerment, designed by women and that has images with a beautiful aesthetic and with a very glossy finish that makes them special.
- Cloudberries: Every year they surprise us with innovative and different designs without losing that delicate touch that makes us want to frame them and display them on our walls.
- Eurographics: If you like the random cut in your puzzles, you will love these. In addition to having an extensive puzzle catalog, in recent years they have very fun and beautiful collections such as Save the Planet and Lucia Heffernan's.
- Art & Fable: This year it has arrived in Spain and we have tried it. The velvet touch of these puzzles is amazing, plus they come with several extras, such as the box support, the resealable bag, and a card with the image of the puzzle.
- Gibsons: They are an English classic and have one of the thickest cardboards on the market. They range from classic puzzles to new colorful and modern collections. To highlight its Advent Puzzle Calendar and their puzzle board.
- Michele Wilson: these are wooden puzzles that are still handmade, creating shapes of pieces that enhance the image of the puzzle. An experience worth trying.
- Cobble Hill: I declare myself a fan of the Shelley Davies collection, she makes incredible collages, and that every year more puzzles are created with her images. They have random cut and we tend to alternate it with ribbon cut puzzles, so neither of them becomes monotonous.
- Pintoo: the peculiarity of these puzzles is that they are made with plastic and the piece fit is so good that you don't need to glue them! In addition, there are made in many types; from a keychain, notebook, to a vase, etc.
- Sulo: It is a new French brand that we discovered this year. They have very striking designs, but what we liked the most is that the cut, despite being ribbon cut, some rows have a slight offset (it is intentional) thus giving it a touch of difficulty and taking you out of your comfort zone.
- Trefl: The latest collections that they have released are very fun, including the "Crazy Shapes" collection where all the pieces have very random shapes. Also in large puzzles, the piece size decreases and makes it more entertaining to assemble.
In addition to using the Puzzle Inventory to avoid buying repeated puzzles, we also use it to keep track of how many we have done and what percentage they have. At the beginning of this year, it was about 36% of puzzles done, but we have managed to advance and at the end of last year it had risen to 43.73%. My goal for 2021 is for it to exceed 50%.
As expected we have a significant space problem, but we hope to move this month and this problem improves (at least for now… haha). Yes, there will be a new puzzle room and we will probably change the shelves too. We start 2021 with new projects!
I hope you liked this synopsis of our 2020. What is your puzzle goal for this year?
One Comment on “Year Summary: 2020’s Puzzle Stats”
There is a new artist with interesting pictures for puzzles Radiy Bohem. I really like his images. They are modern and unusual. Here etsy.com/shop/CreativeArtLab?section_id=29587459