BCD Virtual Jan24 Zoom Talk History of BIG Puzzles Mike NB Magnum Range 2000pc 11
BCD Virtual Meeting Jan24 – Theme Extremes Jigsaws Great & Small
The meeting started on Friday evening with three excellent talks on the theme:
Maria Herold – The World of Small Jigsaw Puzzles
Julia Nenova – Postcard Puzzles
Mike Card – BIG Jigsaws: An Illustrated History
The three talks were recorded and can be viewed on the members area of our website (Archive section).
Mike Card – BIG Jigsaws: An Illustrated History
Mike reprised and updated the information produced for the discussion thread ‘The World’s Largest Puzzle: A History’ (in the flickr group The BIG Jigsaw Puzzle Collection). He also mentioned the BIG List of all commercial jigsaws over 5000pc that the group hosts.
www.flickr.com/groups/2106384@N23/discuss/72157631822435283/
He started with the American scene, covering from 1940 Milton Bradley Big Bens, via the 1963 1500pc York, the Tuco 2000pc Challenge, the MB Magnum & MB Colossus at 2,500pc in the early 1970s. Milton Bradley produced larger & earlier jigsaws for European markets than they did for the USA.
Europe was more advanced in the race with Philmar producing 1200pc pre-1960, Arrow reaching 2750pc in 1965 and the first 3000pc jigsaw in 1971. Tower progressed from 1200pc by 1955 to the Supreme 4000pc c 1972-3. Ravensburger launched two 5000pc titles in 1977. In the 80s more manufacturers, including Falcon, joined those offering 5000-6000pc jigsaws. The 1981fx Schmidt panoramic 7,500 jigsaw was the first to come in two bags, setting puzzlers the quandary – to mix bags or not.
Ravensburger pushed ahead in 1983 with a 12K in 4 bags (Bosch’s Temptation of St Anthony), which went unchallenged for almost 20 years. Educa produced 8K jigsaws rising to 10K in 1996, but Clementoni’s 2002 13,200pc jigsaw Sacred Love & Secular Love finally breached Ravensburger’s lead.
The Race then accelerated between Ravensburger & Educa, passing 18K, then 24K in 2007 with Life which had a social-media aspect with the website wordslargestpuzzle.com for those solving it. The 32K Keith Haring Double Retrospect of 2010 had 8x4K bags, each with repeated cut patterns and solid colour.
Large jigsaws beyond 6K are always multiple pressings of part-images, as the presses have limited-sized beds. There are sometimes alignment or printing mismatches, and the same cut may be repeated in different areas. People can use the cut-repeat pattern and the bagged sections to solve repeated small-jigsaws in a more mechanical way. Mike noted a change in the artwork as the race progressed – with single-image artwork giving way to collage or grid-images, and the art moving away from fine art/photography to commercial tie-ins.
Between 2010 & 2017, the highest piece count moved from 33,600 (Educa - Life), through 40,320 (Ravensburger Disney Memorable Moments) to 42K (Ravensburger Around the World, 7x6K bags). Since then, small enterprises starting with Grafika 48K have produced headline-grabbing new record-breakers using products that are essentially many separate small jigsaws in a big box. The current record is 60k in 60bags. Mike thinks manufacturers have moved from demonstrating market authority, to a marketing gimmick. Less about producing viable enjoyable puzzles towards a status-marker for a very few consumers buying (but not necessarily assembling) the dream.
Mike’s talk attracted several comments and discussion. Mike said his preferred size range for large cardboard jigsaws is now 3-6K, mixed bag, 40-50hr no-reference projects, which fits his puzzle studio set-up.
BCD Virtual Jan24 Zoom Talk History of BIG Puzzles Mike NB Magnum Range 2000pc 11
BCD Virtual Meeting Jan24 – Theme Extremes Jigsaws Great & Small
The meeting started on Friday evening with three excellent talks on the theme:
Maria Herold – The World of Small Jigsaw Puzzles
Julia Nenova – Postcard Puzzles
Mike Card – BIG Jigsaws: An Illustrated History
The three talks were recorded and can be viewed on the members area of our website (Archive section).
Mike Card – BIG Jigsaws: An Illustrated History
Mike reprised and updated the information produced for the discussion thread ‘The World’s Largest Puzzle: A History’ (in the flickr group The BIG Jigsaw Puzzle Collection). He also mentioned the BIG List of all commercial jigsaws over 5000pc that the group hosts.
www.flickr.com/groups/2106384@N23/discuss/72157631822435283/
He started with the American scene, covering from 1940 Milton Bradley Big Bens, via the 1963 1500pc York, the Tuco 2000pc Challenge, the MB Magnum & MB Colossus at 2,500pc in the early 1970s. Milton Bradley produced larger & earlier jigsaws for European markets than they did for the USA.
Europe was more advanced in the race with Philmar producing 1200pc pre-1960, Arrow reaching 2750pc in 1965 and the first 3000pc jigsaw in 1971. Tower progressed from 1200pc by 1955 to the Supreme 4000pc c 1972-3. Ravensburger launched two 5000pc titles in 1977. In the 80s more manufacturers, including Falcon, joined those offering 5000-6000pc jigsaws. The 1981fx Schmidt panoramic 7,500 jigsaw was the first to come in two bags, setting puzzlers the quandary – to mix bags or not.
Ravensburger pushed ahead in 1983 with a 12K in 4 bags (Bosch’s Temptation of St Anthony), which went unchallenged for almost 20 years. Educa produced 8K jigsaws rising to 10K in 1996, but Clementoni’s 2002 13,200pc jigsaw Sacred Love & Secular Love finally breached Ravensburger’s lead.
The Race then accelerated between Ravensburger & Educa, passing 18K, then 24K in 2007 with Life which had a social-media aspect with the website wordslargestpuzzle.com for those solving it. The 32K Keith Haring Double Retrospect of 2010 had 8x4K bags, each with repeated cut patterns and solid colour.
Large jigsaws beyond 6K are always multiple pressings of part-images, as the presses have limited-sized beds. There are sometimes alignment or printing mismatches, and the same cut may be repeated in different areas. People can use the cut-repeat pattern and the bagged sections to solve repeated small-jigsaws in a more mechanical way. Mike noted a change in the artwork as the race progressed – with single-image artwork giving way to collage or grid-images, and the art moving away from fine art/photography to commercial tie-ins.
Between 2010 & 2017, the highest piece count moved from 33,600 (Educa - Life), through 40,320 (Ravensburger Disney Memorable Moments) to 42K (Ravensburger Around the World, 7x6K bags). Since then, small enterprises starting with Grafika 48K have produced headline-grabbing new record-breakers using products that are essentially many separate small jigsaws in a big box. The current record is 60k in 60bags. Mike thinks manufacturers have moved from demonstrating market authority, to a marketing gimmick. Less about producing viable enjoyable puzzles towards a status-marker for a very few consumers buying (but not necessarily assembling) the dream.
Mike’s talk attracted several comments and discussion. Mike said his preferred size range for large cardboard jigsaws is now 3-6K, mixed bag, 40-50hr no-reference projects, which fits his puzzle studio set-up.