Puzzle Maker: Tenyo (Japan)

Title: (no official title given) Micky Mouse Directing

Pieces: 1000

Cut: Grid cut

Relative difficulty: ***

Overall quality: ****

Link to purchase: Amazon Japan (note: Some of the stained-glass type seem to get imported, but we couldn’t find this one outside Japan)

Review:

Tenyo is one of the biggest puzzle-makers in Japan, sold in department stores such as Aeon. This puzzle is a ‘hologram’ type, and the pieces are very, very shiny. They are so shiny, in fact, that we had to use a dimmer light than usual because the reflection from the pieces washed out all of the color.

The large number of fireworks with similar shape and orientation make this a little trickier than it appears at first, but working from the vignettes allowed for placing almost all of the pieces without resorting to trial-and-error.

The hotels, each with its own unique pattern of windows, and the large ferris wheel suggest that this based on the waterfront in shin-Yokohama, but there aren’t enough details to say for sure.

This is a quality puzzle, but some people might find the reflectivity of the pieces annoying or distracting. Unlike the last Tenyo puzzle that we reviewed, the pieces are made of cardboard (rather than plastic), but it’s good quality stock and we didn’t notice any problems with the picture lifting or being punched down along the edges.