Featured Company:

The Global Puzzle

Today's shopping tips: "Be wise in purchasing ..... find best value one"

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Manufacturer: Toys
Brand: Reveal Entertainment
List Price: $14.99
Our Price: $8.63
You Save: $ 6.36 ( 42% )
(prices subject to change)

Average Ratings:

A challenging 600-piece puzzle of the world that has individual pieces shaped like the world's 192 countries. A great way to learn geography while having fun.


DESCRIPTION:

Amazon Maximum Age: 14
Manufacturer Maximum Age: 14
Amazon Minimum Age: 108
Binding: Toy
Brand: Reveal Entertainment
EAN: 0851941000433
Feature: Pieces shaped like countries
Is Autographed: 0
Is Memorabilia: 0
Label: Toys
Manufacturer: Toys
Manufacturer Minimum Age: 108
Model: 151
Publisher: Toys
Release Date: 2006-09-08
Studio: Toys


FEATURES:

• Pieces shaped like countries
• 600 Pieces
• Education Geography Tool
• For all ages - Family activity



SIMILAR ITEMS:

• U.S. Map Puzzle
• Great American Puzzle Factory Map Of The Solar System 600 Piece puzzle
• Great American Puzzle Factory Map Of The World 600 Piece puzzle
• GeoPuzzle Asia
• GeoPuzzle Africa


CUSTOMER REVIEWS:

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great and informative puzzle
Comment: A fun and informative puzzle. It will give hours of fun - not just from the making of the puzzle, but having the map as a source of information once put together. My daughter loved it and continues to use it every day.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Cool puzzle, not highest quality pieces
Comment: We are really enjoying this puzzle, and learning a lot. The information written on the oceans makes the puzzle more interesting and manageable.

The pieces are necessarily very small to match the size of the countries. The bigger problem is that they curl up just a bit, so the pieces don't lie flat as you make the puzzle. This is frustrating, and you don't get that satisfying feeling as you put a piece in, as you have to press it down a few times and it still doesn't quite flatten down. I'm trying covering the finished puzzle with heavy books, but I suspect it's just a problem of cheap glue.

Still, I give it four stars since a good world puzzle is very hard to find, and the content is good.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Putting the World Back Together Again
Comment: If you've ever felt like the world has fallen apart and you're the only one with the sense to put it back together, this puzzle is a good first stop. It's a lot of fun, and very educational. It's hard to learn geography, mostly because of all the memorization entailed. But this puzzle will help you learn where all the countries are and other geographic facts.

The country pieces don't interlock, so it's challenging. Most of the country pieces are shaped like their actual borders, but some really tiny and very large countries are not. The small pieces (some are VERY small) are easily lost, so be careful. All countries are featured, and all capitals. The oceans tiles (most of the planet is water) would be really hard to piece together, so they put some basic demographic facts about all the countries in the ocean space--listed alphabetically to aid in assembly. This is a nice touch, but also my main reservation.

My two complaints: there isn't enough oceanic geography and there isn't enough topographic data. The puzzle is purely geopolitical (good in its own right), but lacking in mountain ranges, rivers, and water-based features. Sure, the major oceans and seas are named and so are the more basic features like the Gulf of Mexico. But smaller features are not labeled, like Straits, etc. You can see the Nile, but it's not named. Niether are ANY mountain ranges or topographical features (although, it would not be practical anyway... but it's still a trade off: better country data for poorer data elsewhere).

Regardless, this is a great product. One just has to realize that it is geopolitically centered. I would really love if the made additional map-puzzles in this line for terrain features. IE pieces shaped like rivers, pennisulas, mountain ranges, etc. And with topographical, rather than political, data. That would be an excellent compannion piece if they would add it to their line.

Buy this for kids failing geography, puzzle-lovers and nerds of all ages.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Not quite what we expected
Comment: Great puzzle but not all the country pieces are shaped like the country. This upset my 5 year old son. Many of the pieces are quite small and since the country pieces don't interlock some of it was difficult to put together.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Addictive!
Comment: I'm not a "puzzle person," but the Global Puzzle was a surprising treat! I wanted to learn about world geography in a fun way, and this puzzle did not disappoint. The ocean pieces are shaped like ordinary interlocking puzzle pieces, but the countries were shaped as they actually are and do not interlock. This made it difficult to keep everything together (they kept sliding apart). But if you follow the suggestion on the box and fit all the ocean pieces first, it's much easier to fill in the countries. Overall, I would say this puzzle is unique and quite fun. But be careful--it's addictive! Once you start, you won't want to stop until it's finished.

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