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When is a jigsaw not just a jigsaw? When it is also a game, of course! And the folk at Big Potato Games must have realised that there can be more to jigsaws than meets the eye. Welcome to Night at the Movies, a 1,000 piece puzzle that will have you scratching your head in more ways than one.
Piece By Piece
First and foremost, Night at the Movies is 100% jigsawing action. You will be slotting those pieces together, box on hand should you need a little hint (or ten!). But, the fun doesn’t stop there. For, once the back-bending work of the puzzle is complete, you then have 101 riddles to solve!
Oh yes, I said it. 101!
And, as the title suggests, these all relate to movies. Within those cardboard borders hide 101 different film titles. Without giving everything away, some are hit-you-in-the face obvious; a “ram” holding a “bow” can only really be one sweaty, eighties action hero, now can’t it.
But others will have you tapping the table in pleasurable frustration! And, without doubt, there is a real mix of well-known and not so blockbuster level hits in the drive-in movie theatre setting.
To help you keep track of your mini-wins, there is a handy chart inside the box for you to complete. Not only does it help identify the specific pieces forming each of the 101 titles, but it also has the complete picture printed on the reverse. I am not going to lie, though. It also acts as a not-so-subtle reminder of how many you still have to solve!
Planet-Friendly Puzzling
Just like escape room type games, I can’t really tell you how to play Night at the Movies or give you any clues. That would be spoiler central! But I can tell you that this is top-notch quality from Big Potato Games.
I can, however, shout out loud about the commendable and distinct lack of plastic packaging. This is a refreshing and welcome change. For anybody who puzzles regularly, the first step when starting a new one is usually to pop the cellophane on the box. Then comes the big release as the inner bag is emptied of all its contents. But here, there is a real focus on reducing non-recyclables as much as possible. Paper bag? Yes, please! And that definitely gets a thumbs up from me.
Quality Components
As well as the art-wrapped box, the pieces themselves are also nice and thick, with a glossy finish. This does mean that reflections from lights can sometimes obscure the picture. But a little bit of table or bottom relocation fixed that whenever it became a problem.
Speaking of the pieces, it is also nice to see some unusual shapes – not your common or garden connectors. Yes, the corners and edges still have straight sides. But others include ones I hadn’t seen before, and they seem to complement the artwork.
Colour me Crazy?
I think the thing that surprises me the most about Night at the Movies is the colour palette. I was expecting a zany, hyper-colour explosion across the tableau. But, in actual fact, the colours are quite muted. There is a softness to the design that I wasn’t expecting. Particularly from a publisher who has brought us the hue-tastic Snakesss and Colour Brain (to name but a few!). In a way, however, this makes Night at the Movies feel more grown-up. More of an artwork, independent of the puzzle and cryptic riddles, in fact.
But, at times, the gentle shades also make some of the characters and elements of the illustration a little tricky to see. A number of times, I struggled a little to work out what was on the pieces I had just slotted together. The black and white chart definitely helped to identify shapes, however, and the full-colour picture is definitely sharper on detail.
Social Solving!
Whilst I was happy to puzzle my way through the 101 titles alone, this is a very sociable experience. What started off as my husband and mother in law looking over my shoulder, soon became a shared after-dinner activity. Over a series of evenings, we sat, chatted and solved our way through Night at the Movies. And, as such, it really did feel like more of a game than just a puzzle. I can’t say that we got all of the titles ourselves. There were a few that stumped us. There were also several that we thought of but then convinced ourselves otherwise. Handy for us (and you), however, there is a QR code on the chart which takes you to the list of solutions. This caused a number of facepalms and groans so loud, that we are surprised the neighbours didn’t knock to check everything was ok!
Blockbuster!
Overall, we really enjoyed puzzling out Night at the Movies. I am not sure if we made life harder or easier for ourselves, but we built a first riddled second. The box suggests you solve as you go, but we are bigger picture type people, so that wouldn’t have worked for us! If you like jigsaws and you love puzzles, then you should definitely check out Night at the Movies (together with the second in the series, Day at the Festival).
This blog was originally published on Oct 4th, 2021. Updated on April 6th, 2022 to improve the information available.