Circus Train of Crazy Tricks Puzzle Set Part 4 of 8: Seaquarium Review

Puzzle	Seaquarium
Artist	Candy Thun
Pieces	44
Type	Trick
Catalog Picture

Seaquarium is the fourth puzzle I would recommend purchasing if you are interested in acquiring the entire Circus Train of Crazy Tricks Puzzle Series of 8 puzzles as I am reviewing these puzzles in order of difficulty. Dancing Dolphins is the first to purchase as it is the easiest to solve so go back and read my blog posts in order starting with Part 1 of 8. The entire series is a great introduction to Stave Trick puzzles and I recommend everyone starting with this series first before trying any other Stave Trick puzzles as they can be quite frustrating if you dive in too quickly and order something like Palace of Pranks or Treasure Trove as your first Trick puzzle. This entire series is quite affordable and you can purchase all 8 puzzles for less than you can purchase Palace of Pranks! Talk about a great bang for your buck!

The nice thing about this series is you can order them one at a time at your leisure and they will all fit together quite nicely to form one very long (and beautiful) Circus Train. (If you are a seasoned Trick puzzler I would recommend ordering them all at once and asking Stave to ship them in one big box for an even greater challenge!) The puzzles in this series include:

Circus Engine

Elephant Show

Dancing Dolphins

Lion Show

Roo Romp

Seaquarium

Amazing Seal

Circus Train Caboose

When you first put this puzzle together you will end up with the picture above. Two little fish just won't float within the holes the way the other three do and end up residing outside of the puzzle leaving you with two empty holes in the puzzle. With only 44 pieces in my puzzle (since these are hand cut the exact amount will vary by a piece or two with each puzzle based on the cutter - just flip your Stave Clown piece over to find out who cut your puzzle as every Stave Clown piece is signed on the back by the Stave employee who cut your puzzle; mine was cut by MM who just happens to be Meg!) this first step shouldn't take you long at all.

Alas this is clearly the wrong solution for you probably also noticed a tile in the bottom of your box. The tile that accompanies Seaquarium reads "These five little fish don't quite fit. Can you reflow the water pieces so all the fish are in it?" You will also see that this is a Three Lightning Bolt puzzle (though I feel it should be a 2 1/2 as it is not nearly as hard as the next puzzle I will review which is a Three Bolt puzzle for certain, Circus Engine and a wee little bit harder than the last puzzle I reviewed which is Lion Show) and will read at the bottom of the tile "This is a Stave Trick Puzzle. It has 2-Way Tricks: some pieces will fit into two places. Note: Solutions will have no empty interlocks and no wood side up."

There are quite a number of pieces that fit in more than one place and when properly arranged you CAN get the five little fish to reside quite nicely in the aquarium. The trick with Trick puzzles is to not look at the pattern painted on top of the pieces but to look at how the pieces fit together. Once you can grasp this concept and not be frustrated by two pieces of different colors and patterns fitting together side by side you are on your way to solving Trick puzzles! I really liked this puzzle and found it to be well worth the price and one I have enjoyed putting together again and again. The artwork is beautiful and the Trick is challenging but not frustrating and introduces you to a new kind of Trick puzzle you would not have encountered if you are in fact purchasing these puzzles and assembling them by order of increasing difficulty. It is a great introduction to trick puzzles and is quite the challenge for the beginner while remaining a lot of fun for a seasoned Stave puzzler. I found this puzzle to be very Teaser like and would make for a great first Trick puzzle for the Teaser lover! I would call it a Teaser with a Twist! I highly doubt any Teaser lover would be frustrated with this puzzle. I say that because every time I have put this puzzle together I have put it together with all five pieces fitting into the aquarium on the first try! I actually find it more of a challenge to get the puzzle to look like the picture above! Kind of has become a reverse challenge for me!

As I have mentioned in my prior Review Blogs on this series of Stave puzzles I will not provide the time it took for me to complete this puzzle but I will say I would be surprised if anyone would need to work on this puzzle overnight. A lot of times I like to work on a puzzle after dinner and have it completed before I go to bed; this puzzle certainly falls into that category. I do recommend keeping it together and on display in your puzzle area once it is complete until you have completed the remaining 7 puzzles in the series as the entire train fits together and is a sight to behold when fully complete and assembled!