Zen Puzzles – Great Horned Owl [Review]

A jigsaw puzzle with a strange puzzley twist.

Location:  at home

Date Played: January 8, 2019

Team size: we recommend 1-4

Piece Count: 297 pieces

Price: $95 (prices vary based on size)

Publisher: Zen Art & Design

REA Reaction

Zen Puzzles’ Great Horned Owl was a beast of a ~300 piece puzzle. With an almost monochromatic aesthetic, a clever but cruel puzzle within the puzzle, and many similar looking pieces that fit together, but didn’t go together… this was far more challenging than I was prepared for when I opened the box on a whim.

The assembled puzzle with a fierce looking owl face.

I’m glad that I gave it a shot. It offered something unique. Once I realized what the puzzle was and adjusted my mindset, I came to enjoy the experience.

This is a pricey puzzle that would make for a great gift for the serious jigsaw puzzler in your life. It was small, but it put up a fight.

Who is this for?

  • Jigsaw puzzlers who want to see something strange

Why play?

  • Challenging
  • Cruel but clever twist

Story

This laser cut wooden puzzle featured a great horned owl. It included whimsy pieces in the shape of owls and critters that owls eat.

Closeup of an owl whimsy piece set within the assembled puzzle.

Gameplay

At first glance, Zen Puzzles’ Great Horned Owl seemed like a fairly typical jigsaw puzzle. It quickly revealed a couple of layers of complexity.

Analysis

➕ Zen Puzzles added a crazy dynamic to the Great Horned Owl puzzle that I’ve never seen before. I was a bit bewildered for a few minutes while solving this puzzle. That’s a feeling that I cannot recall a jigsaw puzzle inspiring in me before.

Spoiler - The Surprise Twist

Closeup of an image showing the presence of internal edge and corner pieces.
This thing has multiple internal edge and corner pieces.
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➖ There wasn’t enough shape variation among the pieces. Entirely too many bits with similar patterns fit snugly together.

Closeup of of a piece that fits but is incorrect.

➕ The whimsy pieces were funny and helpful. If they hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have enjoyed solving this puzzle.

➖ Great Horned Owl wasn’t a visually exciting puzzle, even though the image itself was quite nice when complete.

Tips For Player

  • Space requirements: a small table
  • Be careful when assembling pieces; many incorrect pieces kind of fit together
  • This puzzle was deceptively challenging and will likely take longer than most ~300 piece puzzles.

Buy your copy of Zen Art & Design’s Great Horned Owl, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Thank you Amanda Harris & Drew Nelson for loaning us this puzzle.

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