Overall Brand History
Based in Montreal since 1987, Eurographics is a major player in the puzzle industry. They offer many types of illustrations, specializing in collages, Fine Art, landscapes, educational and panoramas. Eurographics produces and sells large volumes of puzzles every year, making it one of the most competitive brands regarding its price.
Manufactured either in the USA or China, Eurographics can have differences in the pieces' cut. The only way to know is to look on the side of the box. This puzzle analysis is for a puzzle assembled in the USA.
Eurographics produces their own hand-made cutting tools, in the USA. The images are printed in Canada using vegetable-based inks and assembled in the USA.
Packaging & Box Details
Eurographics will usually frame their images on the box cover, with different colours for different collections or themes. The image quality on the box is very clear. Boxes can either be displayed on their width or on their lenght, as two sides carry the same information and a glance of the image filling 75%.
Depending on the collection, Eurographics usually add a fair amount of information on their boxes. In this case, with the Fine Art Collection, there is a short biography in 4 languages, the museum partner is mentionned. The back of the box features some titles and pictures of the other puzzles in the collection. It can be inspiring to look at.
The puzzle comes in a biodegrable plastic bag, with little to no puzzle dust. Boxes are shrink-wrapped and made of 100% recycled cardboard.
Piece Size
Eurographics puzzles made in the USA have a standard piece size, with between 31mm and 26mm in lenght and a constant 18mm in width.
Piece Thickness
Eurographics uses European blueboard of 1.75mm (0,07 inch), which is close enough to the industry "gold standard" of 2mm. Pieces feel sturdy.
Piece Shape
Surveying the center pieces of this puzzle shows us that 66% of the pieces has two knobs, two holes. 16% has 1 knob, three holes and inversely 16% has 3 knobs, 1 hole. An occasional 1% is all knobs and the remaining 1% is all holes.
Most pieces have a standard look, yet there are some little twists such as a wider knob contour, deeper holes or a rounded corner.
Piece Fit
Pieces fit properly and no two pieces are the same with Eurographics. The puzzle is sturdy enough to move it across a surface, yet will crumble quickly should you want to pick up a whole section. In this picture, I was as delicate as I could be with the puzzle, but you can see the that many pieces are unclipping and starting to crumble.
On a good puzzle surface however, the fit is quite perfect ; neither too tight or too loose. This one was awesome to complete on a wooden table before moving it to the PortaPuzzle Deluxe.
Image and Impression Quality
Eurographics are strong in the impression game. The Fine Art Collection in particular was made to gain official licensing by museums. Therefore, the reproduction is very neat. Notice the quality of the brush strokes in the left image : puzzles like this allow us to be closer to an art piece. The image has a medium glare, which means that different lighting conditions will impact how well you can look at the puzzle. (The glare effect can be noticed in the right image below, on the darkness of the jack pine)
Extras
Although offering a great puzzle altogether, Eurographics rarely offers extras in their products. Some creative collections of 1000 piece are worth mentioning, such as HDR photography, Globetrotters, Panoramic, the City Collection and Colors of the World.
Summary
Eurographics 1000 piece puzzles assembled in the USA are, for their price, one of the best price/quality ratio available on the market. Covering a wide range of themes, this brand shows that a passion-related image is the key to a great puzzle session. Pieces are sturdy and offer a standard quality and key metrics.
The Jack Pine, puzzle analyzed here, has a medium difficulty level as a lot of pieces has a similar colour, yet different hues to keep the task enjoyable. The piece fit, not too tight yet not too loose, helps a quick connection.
Author : François Boudrias
Pictures : © François Boudrias - Restricted for use on RoseWillie.com only
Puzzler and Adviser : Glendy Castro (@glenpuzzles)
