Joy Waves | Mintyfizz Puzzles 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle Review

August 29, 2024

This is “Joy Waves,” a colorful 1,000-piece puzzle by Mintyfizz Puzzles. Aptly named, this image is truly a joy to look at. With its bright waves of color swirling and mixing together, it’s hard not to love this design. @lost_in_geek_reviews started this puzzle as a traveling puzzle a couple of months ago, and I was lucky enough to be selected to receive it after @gottajustpuzzle had it last month. I was really excited to be chosen because I’ve been wanting to try a Mintyfizz Puzzle for a while now.

Full disclosure: I consider myself to be friends with Kelly, the founder of Mintyfizz. Though we’ve never met personally, she was one of the first people that I connected with on Instagram and is such a warm, friendly person and is my favorite person to geek out about our shared love of vintage puzzles. Additionally, I am an Amazon Associate so some of the links in this review will earn me a commission if you purchase something after clicking them.

@lost_in_geek_reviews specifically chose “Joy Waves” because it felt like one of the more challenging designs, and it definitely lived up to that! It took me probably twice as long to complete as some of the other 1,000-piece puzzles I’ve done lately. One reason it took longer was that I started it the week my husband left town on a business trip—he usually joins me in puzzling when he’s home. Still, I really enjoyed working on this puzzle. I put on some Gilmore Girls and chipped away at it each day. It was a very zen way to spend my time.

One thing that made this puzzle especially enjoyable was the quality of the puzzle itself. The box is quite sturdy, and I love how the image wraps around the sides of the box, showcasing the gorgeous artwork. The puzzle comes with a small, full-color print of the image for reference. The pieces are made from a really sturdy, recycled cardboard material, which I absolutely love. Even though it’s thinner than some other cardboard-based brands (like Soonness and Art & Fable), it feels sturdier and much less likely to peel apart than its thicker counterparts. The finish is smooth and mostly matte, with just the slightest glare during the brightest part of the day, but nothing too distracting. Since this puzzle had been assembled several times before I got it, I can’t comment on the dust level, but by the time I received it, there was none. The only thing I wish were different is that the fit was a little tighter. I did love the varied ribbon cut, which felt essential given the textured nature of the image.

To start, I sorted the pieces by color and then worked through each section, beginning with the blues and greens. I managed to complete a good portion of the puzzle—greens, blues, oranges, and yellows—but the reds, pinks, and purples were the hardest section for me. After working on several color-based puzzles, I’ve realized that I struggle with warm color tones. I have no problem distinguishing subtle color shifts in cool-toned colors, but I find warm colorways much more challenging.

Beyond sorting by color, I also sorted the pieces by shape. Sometimes, I went a step further and sorted each shape group by color again, from darker to lighter. Since the pink/red section was particularly large, I ended up resorting the pieces by shape multiple times. One thing that helped was the uniform proportions of the pieces—they were all shorter in height than in width. This consistency made it easier to visualize the correct orientation, effectively cutting down the number of potential placement options by about 50%.

I was about three-quarters of the way through the puzzle when my husband returned from his trip. He looked at it and said, “You know you’ve got that upside down.” Sure enough, when I checked the box, I realized he was right. 🤦‍♀️ Whoops! I decided to just leave it as it was while recording the time-lapse, and in the end, I embraced it. So, all of my photos ended up being of the puzzle upside down too. 😂 That’s one of the perks of working on an abstract puzzle image!

When it comes to assembling this puzzle, it was definitely on the spicy side. I still really enjoyed myself, even though it took me over twice as long as usual to complete compared to similar-sized puzzles. I think this puzzle would be a great fit for people who enjoy the slower aspects of puzzling. If you’re looking to invest in a reasonably priced puzzle with nice quality and an image that will take some time to complete, this would be a great option! This puzzle is an excellent choice for a rainy day when you want to just sit inside and zone out with a good puzzle.