This puzzle is from the National Geographic ‘Super 3D’ series. It was quite challenging. I was determined to get it done, but don’t know if I’ll ever do another one. It literally gave me headaches, just a few minutes into each puzzling session. So they were short (except for the last one, I just kept going). And I could only do one sitting a day, because of the headaches. Probably because it’s a lenticular puzzle, made to have stereoscopic 3D effects. Though all the images look flat that I photographed (since the camera only has one eye). But wow, it was kind of maddening to look at. The image constantly shifts as you scan your eye over the pieces, and they’re not all orientated the same way scattered on the table, so they flicker even more. Sometimes walking past the puzzle table, the 3D effect was so strong that out of the corner of my eye I thought some pieces had got jumbled and were sitting on top of each other, so I’d stop to straighten them out, but then realize I didn’t need to.
This was actually an odd bonus at times, because I knew a piece was in the wrong place if the amount of image shift didn’t match to where I was holding it. There were no false fits, but at the same time the pieces while they fit snug when placed correctly, didn’t all quite lay flat so the puzzle surface ended up with a kind of ripple effect. I’m not sure if this is because it came to me used, so through rough handling some of the pieces don’t quite align anymore? Also a few of them seemed to have been damaged, like the surface got pushed too hard, or something wet or hot laid on it, because they had flat smears with no lenticular effect. And one missing at the end, right in the middle. Dang.
As for the other features- this is a very straight ribbon cut, squarish tidily aligned pieces. They are nice and thick, with a highly reflective surface that feels plasticky, and a smooth white matte underside (not your usual puzzle cardboard). It did hurt my fingers constantly, so I wore gloves for this one.
Finished size 24 x 18″.
