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Where Our Story Begins
Jigsaw puzzles are something that I have always enjoyed doing. I enjoy the cathartic slow nature of building up a picture piece by piece. I have very fond memories of sitting around the table as a family and spending a few hours doing puzzles whilst on holiday. Ordinarily we would take the full holiday to complete the 1000 piece puzzle. I also enjoyed doing puzzles during the pandemic lockdowns when the world was too scary and I had watched far too many hours of TV. That is where Mayhem in the Library comes in.
Gameplay
This is a quiz and a puzzle in one. This is the third in the series from Big Potato Games following Night at the Movies and Day at the Festival. As you build up the picture then you will see clues pointing you to 101 different books. These vary from the typical children’s stories to the classics. Some are far easier to guess than others, but before you can do any of this, you need to put the puzzle together. I decided to challenge myself and complete this in one sitting, a noble task which I did achieve after 5 hours but that was a big effort.
Components
The components here consist of the puzzle pieces, the picture itself and also the quiz sheet where you write your answers. So first up, the puzzle pieces. These are relatively chunky cardboard with lovely clean edges. The most important thing in a jigsaw to my mind is how easy they are to put together. This gets an A* from me, there were no accidental placements and it was relatively easy to distinguish the shape you were looking for.
The most important thing in Mayhem in the Library is the image. This offers you all the clues you need to work out what the hidden 101 books are. Wow, are some of these really inventive. I want to share just one of these with you. I promise this is not going to spoil your enjoyment of the rest of the jigsaw but it will give you a taste of what is to come. This is a picture of a donkey wearing a red saddle bearing the letters OTE on it. Do you get it? Donkey-OTE, Don Quixote! It is brilliant!
The final thing I look for in a jigsaw is the ease of completing it. Are there vast expanses of like colours that make it a war of attrition to finish or are the puzzle so easy that there is no challenge. For me this sits in the sweet spot. There are a lot of book shelves in thai - it is a library after all. But with an analytical mind you can use the angles of the book stacks in order to work out which of the millions of books can be in which location. So there is a challenge, but not in a crazy hard flip the table kind of way.
Replayability
I think the main thing that sets this puzzle apart from others is the quiz game aspect of looking at the clues and finding all the books. That part isn’t really particularly replayable, unless you have a terrible memory. But I really enjoyed doing this jigsaw and I think I’d enjoy it again, although I have a few book-worm pals who will absolutely love to get themselves knee deep in this one, so I will pass on the love.
Round Up
If you are looking for a jigsaw that is also a game and you like books then please treat yourself to this one. I have had an absolute blast with Mayhem in the Library, and I think that you will too.
