SNAP Review – Micro Macro Jigsaw Funfair

You know Anitra, we cover a lot of things at The Family Gamers.

That’s true. Our focus is to get you out there playing games with the kids in your lives. But also, we’ve talked about how there are all sorts of things you can do with your families, not just play games.

Of course, games ARE our first love. So when we find something that blends games, especially well-known ones, with something else, you know we’re going to want to talk about it.

And, let’s face it, jigsaw puzzles have been a classic activity with the family for decades.

This is a SNAP review for Micro Macro Jigsaw Funfair.

Game

Micro Macro Jigsaw Funfair (that’s a mouthful!) is a jigsaw puzzle with a set of search and find tasks. It was developed by Hard Boiled Games, the same studio behind the other Micro Macro games, and it’s distributed in the US by Hachette.

Since this is a jigsaw puzzle, there’s really no specific recommendation for the number of players or the ages of the players who play the game.

Art

So Anitra, let’s talk about the art in the puzzle.

Everything you expect from Micro Macro is here in this puzzle. Monochromatic, goofy looking line drawn characters, absolutely packed scenes, and all sorts of silly activities going on.

Thankfully, for all you puzzle people out there, there are some non-standard pieces, and everything fits together just perfectly, so you aren’t trying to fit together 500 of the exact same piece to make the scene.

Mechanics

So Anitra, let’s talk about the mechanics. First, dump the puzzle pieces on the table. Then, you’re going to want to flip them all face-up, so you can see the pictures on all…

Andrew. Andrew! It’s a jigsaw puzzle. People know how to put together a jigsaw puzzle.

Right… Well, like Anitra said, the mechanics are about as straightforward as you can get: it’s a 500 piece puzzle. Dump it out and start puzzling.

I did notice the team is shooting for as little plastic as possible – there are stickers holding the box closed, and a paper bag for the pieces.

There’s a large sheet here that has the whole picture, to help you figure out what goes where.

But then there’s a great extra feature to this puzzle. Once you’ve put it all together, there’s more on the back of that large sheet – 53 questions directing you to find specific characters and find out what they’re doing!

Expectations

Well Anitra, that was pretty straightforward. What did we expect from the Micro Macro jigsaw?

Well, it’s a jigsaw puzzle. So I expected we’d put it together and then have the same sort of seek-and-find that we’ve come to appreciate in the MicroMacro series.

For me, it’s pretty much the same. The sheet with the puzzle picture on one side and the challenges on the back are a really great way to blend the simple seek-and-find that you would expect from a Where’s Waldo or something like that, with the narrative discovery you’re used to from the Micro Macro series.

Surprises

But there were some surprises too. So what surprised you?

This puzzle was a LOT harder to put together than we expected. It’s a 500 piece puzzle, so we didn’t expect it to be super easy, but it took us over three hours to do – with, like six people at the table! We were expecting more like an hour or so.

I actually like the fact that this was such a hard puzzle. When we DO do puzzles as a family, we tend to find people will pick a section and just work on that. There’s a lot of visual cues like color that allow people to kind of build one section on their own, and then add it to the whole. It’s LIKE puzzling together, but almost like that “together, but separate” thing, like when you and me play video games or something.

Here, that is NOT the case. There’s just too much similarity to really sequester yourself and work on one thing. You can’t look across the table and say “Hey can you give me that red piece, over there?”

Yeah, there’s no color or shading cues for what fits together! You have to get really close to these pieces to make out the details.

Everyone had to work together to find pieces that fit a certain part of the map, because everything is so similar. So I actually really liked that, even if it did ratchet up the difficulty.

And made my back hurt.

Recommended?

So, do we recommend Micro Macro Jigsaw Funfair?

Sure! Why not? The puzzle is available on the Hachette website for $25, and considering you get a puzzle AND some MicroMacro-style stories to explore, it’s a great deal.

I don’t know if it’s breaking new ground, necessarily, but these are tried-and-true family experiences that work well for any age.

Just plan on being able to leave it set up for a few days, to have time to finish the puzzle and find the characters.

We’re going to give it 3½ puzzle pieces out of 5.

And that’s Micro Macro Jigsaw Funfair – in a SNAP!

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The Family Gamers received a copy of Micro Macro Jigsaw Funfair from Hachette for this review.

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SNAP review music is Avalanche, provided courtesy of You Bred Raptors?