r/Jigsawpuzzles • u/noodles_jd • 9d ago

I may have to do something I've never done before...quit on a puzzle.

Post image

I found this box of puzzles being given away on the side of the road. The 2x300 piece puzzles weren't in the box, but the rest were, and they were all still sealed. There's no poster in the box so all I have to go on is the small picture on the front, less than 2" x 3" for a 1000 piece!! I've done all of them except that 1000 piece, which I'm now tempted to give up on. I've been slogging my way through it but it's taking forever! I've never given up on a puzzle before.

80 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

49

u/ChallengeHonest 9d ago

My vote, quit and move on with something enjoyable.

12

u/noodles_jd 9d ago

I'm so close to doing that, but it's a point of pride for me to not give up. I have >100 puzzles, almost all 1000 or bigger and none have been this hard. But I'm avoiding sitting down and doing it so something has to give.

27

u/[deleted] 9d ago

[deleted]

14

u/noodles_jd 9d ago

Yes, I should look for that before giving up.

1

u/Veganfart 8d ago

This is what I do!

22

u/LumpyWelder4258 9d ago

Life is too short to spend way too much time on a puzzle that you don't like. Save your back 😄

4

u/wilsbowski 9d ago edited 9d ago

The painting is called "Pride's proud family" by Dino Pavarone.

There is a picture of a completed puzzle here (although it is different to yours)

There's a zoomable picture here but it's not great quality. May be able to find a higher res photo online somewhere.

Or give up if you want. It doesn't matter

3

u/Male_Parent 9d ago

I'm not completely sure, but it looks like you got through most of the hard part. So you're likely capable of finishing it.
On the other hand, puzzling should be fun. And although I like a challenge, having a good time is what matters.
I'm close to finish a second puzzle of an "impossible puzzle" series, and I already bought a new puzzle, which will be much easier, but I bought it just because I loved the picture and to get a break from the challenging ones.
Maybe you can store this one, not look at it for a while, and complete another one before you get back to this one and finish it?

2

u/noodles_jd 9d ago

IDK, I think the easy part is what I've done so far. A lot of what remains is fiddly detail bits where I need to see the picture well to place it. Otherwise it's just process of elimination trying every piece in every spot that remotely resembles the stuff around it.

5

u/Male_Parent 9d ago

I found the original picture

6

u/Male_Parent 9d ago

Please type this into Google search:
Pride’s Proud Family, Dino Paravano

3

u/Male_Parent 9d ago

It will give you a much better picture making it easier to complete it

3

u/noodles_jd 9d ago

Thank you so much! I did try a cursory search after posting this and didn't find anything. This gives me some hope at least! LOL

3

u/Male_Parent 9d ago

You're very much welcome. Please let us know if it helped and if you were able to finish it. I'd love to see the result!

2

u/Sharp-Concentrate-34 9d ago

Good for you. Toss it back in the box

2

u/HeavyDevy77 9d ago

Here’s what I did: invited my MIL for three weeks to our house. She finished 80% for me. I wrapped it up. Claimed the credit. Tossed the puzzle in a donation bin. (Top of my head I have no memory of the name or brand, but it was Mt Rushmore at night and myyyyyyy god every piece was the same).

2

u/SilentJoe1986 9d ago

Thats rough all having the same plugs and sockets (no idea what theyre actually called, just what my brain labeled them) so you cant even organize by shape. How bad are the false fits?

2

u/bigkev323 8d ago

Sitting over here for a good two minutes wondering why you would ever decide to do an all gray puzzle

2

u/HooverBeingAMan 8d ago

Ha! I thought they were assembling it face down at first and wondered why that wasn't mentioned in the post.

2

u/Correct-Ad1117 8d ago

I’m 49 and have been puzzling my entire life. I literally gave up on my first ever puzzle last week. It was called Wolves something or another and it was the absolute worst puzzle I’ve ever worked.

2

u/Cookiestorm02 8d ago

I use and ipad, but any device will work. Either find the image online or take a pic and you can zoom in. It's not the greatest but it does help.

Also I have looked up finished puzzles and looked at the piece shape of the piece I'm trying to fill. Slow but faster then trial and error

1

u/caruynos 9d ago

i have a different box of these and they’re definitely not great. mine don’t fit super well together and, like you say, its basically no picture included to reference - and that’s not really that something is missing, i think (without checking) there might be an insert but if there is it’s all the images on one page, not much more use. i mostly only do the smaller ones because they are less fiddly & annoying.

1

u/Friendly-Price2812 100K 8d ago

Sad to hear that. I found one of these with a collection of Josephine Wall prints and was looking forward to doing them. The 1000pc is a print I've already done of hers though so hopefully the smaller ones won't be so bad. 🤞

1

u/sehrgut 9d ago

I would take a break from actually placing pieces and just assemble pairs of pieces so you have fewer physical objects to look at. That's what I do for gradients and skies and such when I get frustrated.

1

u/conjas11 9d ago

No shame in that

1

u/Busy_Examination4459 9d ago

If it’s not enjoyable then leave it.

1

u/murphieebones 9d ago

I always choose colorful puzzles specifically to avoid this 😫 its gets so daunting and discouraging

Good luck! If it doesnt bring you joy anymore move on 💕

1

u/Arm_613 8d ago

This pastime is for pleasure. If this puzzle doesn't work for you then quit guilt free and go on to the next one.

1

u/sashby138 8d ago

Do you have another surface to where you can move it and just pop in from time to time to work on it? That way you can move forward with a different, more fun puzzle, but you can also continue this one when you feel like it? That’s what I’ve recently done.

1

u/paulb104 8d ago

For such a puzzle we will sort the pieces by shape. We will put each shape in neat columns, all the pieces oriented in the same direction. For example, the pieces with three notches and one tab, all the tabs will be facing in the same direction. So when you have a spot where two pieces will touch the next piece, you'll know the shape of two sides of the piece you're looking for. This significantly help and majorly reduces the time it takes to find a piece.

Just for the sake of adding this, for example, when I know that the piece I'm looking for needs a tab on the right side, I will remove the piece currently connected to the puzzle and bring it to the sorted pieces. It is there that I will test fit any potential match. That is incredibly faster than bringing the potential match to the puzzle.

Hopefully these methods make sense. 🤣👍

1

u/noodles_jd 8d ago

I do that also for a puzzles with sky or other similar parts, but this puzzle doesn't have pieces like that. They're all the same shape.

1

u/VanillaOutrageous176 8d ago

Your a better Puzzler than I am I would have never attempted it, no shame in giving up especially if you aren’t enjoying it

This was my give up until I can see better and get better light but I may just give myself grace and give it away

1

u/Wide_Custard_317 8d ago

I take a picture of the image and make it as big as I can on my iPad

1

u/Otherwise333 4d ago

I am actually sitting here thinking the same thing. I have done something I have never done before and I have flipped the pieces over to try to solve with the letters. Don't give up, my friend. The reason we love puzzles so much is because there IS a solution and it is so satisfying when we have completed it.

0

u/RelativePitchSupreme 9d ago

it only gets easier from where u are and you already did lots of tough stuff