I first came in contact with Parkside Puzzles (Previously: Four Point Puzzles) in 2019, when they asked me to review their first ever product: an incredible 2000 piece circular Moon puzzle celebrating the 50th anniversary of the lunar landing.
We put some serious work into finishing it (making the first lockdown a bit more fun for us) and ended up framing the finished puzzle as a reminder of this unique time.
Loving the quality of their puzzles so much, of course I had to say yes again when they asked me to also review their 2000 piece solar system puzzle featuring The Planets!
QUICK LINKS
THE PLANETS PUZZLE
- THE PLANETS PUZZLE
MEET PARKSIDE PUZZLES
Parkside Puzzles is a Canadian jigsaw puzzle company with a focus on contemporary art and design. Like I said, they launched in 2019 with the Moon puzzle, but have since expanded their line of products to several works created by contemporary artists from around the world.
You can find anything from bold, graphic designs to fine art in their collection that is ever growing.
Parkside Puzzles founder Lindsay Stead has a background in furniture and textile design and this, as well as her love of contemporary art, built the foundation for the brand.
Her small team is based out of a design studio in Westdale Village in Hamilton, Ontario, where they also have a front-of-studio retail space. Here you can sit down and try the puzzles, while peeking into the studio to see what it takes to bring the concept of their puzzles to life.
In the coming years, Parkside Puzzles is keen to grow their offering to include a lot more art and a bit of science. They also express their ongoing commitment to their puzzle community to offer unique puzzles that are always well made and thoughtfully designed.
Apart from Canada, you can find Parkside Puzzles at hundreds of art galleries, museums and independent retailers around the world such as the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), the Conran Shop (London) and the MoMA Design Store (New York City).
LEARN HOW TO BECOME AN ASTRONAUT
MasterClass is an online class where you can take workshops from the world’s greatest thinkers in their own specialties. With this course, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield will teach you what it takes to explore space and what the future holds for those looking to push boundaries.
Learn about the science of space travel, life as an astronaut and how flying in space will forever change the way you think about life on Earth.
THE SOLAR SYSTEM PUZZLE
“The Planets” is a 2000 piece puzzle consisting of all eight planets in our solar system. The images are all captured by NASA over half a century of space exploration, are some of the most detailed images of our solar system to date.
All jigsaw planet puzzle pieces arrive in a big Ziploc bag mixed together, so I spend some time first sorting them all by colour, digging out the outer edge-pieces in the same go.
What was helpful was the box included a large, glossy two-sided poster with pictures and fun facts about each planet.
The eight puzzles all vary in size, from Mercury being just under 18cm (7″) wide and Jupiter just under half a meter (19.5″). Fun was also Saturn, whose rings span a width of almost a meter! (39″).
See this puzzle in our shop >>
PARKSIDE PUZZLES REVIEW – THE FACTS
Name Puzzle: The Planets
Difficulty : 3.5 / 5
Pieces: 2000
Size: 7″ / 17.8 cm – 19.5″ / 49.5 cm diameter (Saturn’s rings span 39″ / 99 cm)
Price: $58.00 USD
Buy here: parksidepuzzles.com
THE VERDICT
Because this puzzle consists of eight smaller puzzles, it definitely felt like this was easier to finish than the Moon puzzle we’ve created before. Especially sorting everything by colour helped us.
And perhaps also Nick spending a good few hours trying to get all the different shades of blue in the right order to create Neptune and then Jupiter, the two hardest of them all, haha!
Besides developing a LOT of patience trying to complete the puzzles, we also found how great it is to get such a detailed look at all of the different planets from our solar system. You can touch every crater, dark spot and rings of the planets en discover many details that you probably haven’t even noticed before.
The quality of Parkside Puzzles is outstanding and you can tell they are made by true crafts people that love their work.
I would highly recommending trying one of the (solar system) puzzles of Parkside Puzzles – and with Christmas around the corner, make sure to pick up another for a friend or someone in your family. They will love them as a gift!
Visit our shop to see all the solar system puzzles of Parkside Puzzles >>
TRAIN YOUR ASTRONAUT SKILLS
Did you think that the skills astronauts have are just applicable in space? Think again!
You might not realise it, but we can all benefit from the skills astronauts have trained so long and hard to develop – to use them in our lives on earth every single day. Wondering how? Click to read more about all the different skills all astronauts (and regular humans) should develop.
THE PLANET EARTH PUZZLE
This Earth jigsaw puzzle might seem easy as it’s small and colourful with some distinctive areas, but I found it quite tricky!
Definitely a good challenge completing this part of the Planetary set!
TIP: The is also a separate, 1000-piece Earth puzzle available at Parkside Puzzles. Check it out in our shop >>
THE MERCURY PUZZLE
The Mercury puzzle was the first one I did, because it was just so small and cute.
A good motivator to get started on the bigger planets!
THE NEPTUNE PUZZLE
I feel like this was one of the hardest puzzles to complete, because there aren’t many recognizable features on this blue planet, just a lot of different shades of blue and black.
It took Nick a while to finish, but he did it!
THE VENUS PUZZLE
While this puzzle isn’t too large, it was still a little challenging to complete due to the hazy clouds on this planet blending all colours together…
…and also because the colours resemble those of parts of Jupiter and we had them in the wrong pile for a while, haha.
THE URANUS PUZZLE
Another planet with lots of similar colours, but all just in a different shade. It was quite large too, so a nice challenge for us:
DISCOVER SPACE FROM EARTH
From mars and lunar landscapes to visiting space centers, observatories and science museums around the world – there is an incredible amount about space to be found right here on earth.
The Space Tester shows you the best destinations for space lovers where you can experience the Space Lifestyle yourself.
THE MARS PUZZLE
I think this is (on of the) first planets I completed, because the colours really stood out and the planet is nice a small in this set.
How cute does it look?!
TIP: The is also a separate, 1000-piece Mars puzzle available at Parkside Puzzles. Check it out in our shop >>
THE JUPITER PUZZLE
The final showdown came between Jupiter (which I worked on) and Saturn (which Nick worked on). It took me a while to complete as the puzzle is massive and the colours quite similar as you can see below:
THE SATURN PUZZLE
I started off this puzzle and then Nick completed it, because, well… he just has more patience than I do, haha. We started with the rings and it took us a little while to understand how the pieces fit together, but then it clicked. Literally!
Nick ended with the green pieces at the bottom and the more yellow pieces at the top of the planet. Love the end result, this puzzle is massive and it will be interesting trying to find a frame for this one:
TOP 100 SPACE EXPERIENCES
I’ve set myself the goal to find – and complete – 100 of the world’s top space experiences.
Ranging from activities that help train your astronaut skills, to visiting amazing space centers, observatories and planetariums, but also discovering moon landscapes and visiting the best archaeo-astronomical and stargazing sites and events.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Name: Parkside Puzzles
Website: parksidepuzzles.com
Instagram: @parksidepuzzles
Facebook: @parksidepuzzles
Visits: 1032 King Street West, Hamilton, L8S 1L5 Ontario, Canada
Opening Hours: Monday to Friday from 11:00 to 17:00 (make sure to email them to confirm times as they might be closed on certain days)
Phone: 905-777-0250
OTHER SPACE PUZZLES
There are many more solar system puzzles available at Parkside Puzzles. How about:
The Earth Puzzle
This 1000 piece, 26.5″ (67cm) circular puzzle features a portion of the Western Hemisphere and the Pacific Ocean in incredible detail. The image, courtesy of NASA, is one of the clearest images of the Earth to date, from their iconic Blue Marble series and shows our planet in stunning clarity.
Difficulty: 3.5 / 5
The Moon Puzzle
This 1000 piece, 26.5″ (67cm) circular puzzle features the near side of the Moon in incredible detail. The image, courtesy of NASA, is the clearest image of the Moon to date and shows even the tiniest of craters in stunning clarity.
Difficulty: 4.5 / 5
Mars Puzzle
This 1000 piece, 26.5″ (67cm) circular puzzle shows Mars’ surface in stunning clarity. The image, courtesy of NASA, is one of the clearest images of Mars to date and includes some of Mars’ most notable features like the Valles Marineris trench stretching across the red planet.
Difficulty: 4 / 5
The COMPLETE Planetary Puzzle Set – The Moon, The Earth and Mars
This three-puzzle set contains the complete planetary collection: The Moon, The Earth and Mars – featuring images from NASA.
The Moon, the most challenging of the three puzzles, shows the near side of the Moon in stunning clarity. Even the tiniest of craters are visible with incredible detail. The Earth shows a portion of the Western Hemisphere including the deserts and grasslands of the United States to the the jungles of Panama in rich, bright colour. Mars features one of the clearest images of the red planet to date and includes some of Mars’ most notable features like the Valles Marineris trench stretching across its surface.
Difficulty: 4.5 / 5 (The Moon), 3.5 / 5 (Earth) 4 / 5 (Mars)
SHOP AT PARKSIDE PUZZLES
They ship internationally to roughly 60 countries worldwide.
TIP: Replacement pieces are available by mailing hello@parksidepuzzles.com.
PAY ATTENTION: Parkside Puzzles are ONLY available in their own online store, storefront in Hamilton and authorized retailers. Their puzzles are NOT available on Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Wish, Alibaba, AliExpress, Taobao, or Tmall. Any listings on these sites are selling counterfeit puzzles of bad quality!
For our Dutch, Belgian and British readers, you can find Parkside Puzzles at:
THE NETHERLANDS
- “Famous” (Weteringschans 83, Amsterdam)
- “Alice & Jo” in Nijmegen (online only).
BELGIUM
- “Artecetera” (St.-Jozefstraat 30, Tielrode)
- “Miki’s World” in Drongen (online only)
UNITED KINGDOM
- “Two Persimmons” in Brighton (online only)
- “Tate Shop” (Tate Britain, London)
- “The Conran Shop” (81 Fulham Road, London)
- “The Conran Shop at Selfridges” (400 Oxford Street, London)
- “The Conran Shop” (55 Marylebone High Street, London)
WORLD’S BEST SPACE-THEMED HOTELS
- Outer Space Room – Gold Coast Hotel, Hong Kong
- Galaxy Pod Hostel – Reykjavík, Iceland
- Grande Centre Point Space Pattaya – Muang Pattaya, Thailand
- Hotel Barceló Sants – Barcelona, Spain
- Space-Themed Room – Kameha Grand Zurich, Glattbrugg, Switzerland
- Space Night Capsule Hostel – Berlin, Germany
- Hotel Puerta America – Madrid, Spain
- Space Theme Room – Fantasy Land Hotel, Edmonton, Canada
- Star Trek – Uss Enterprise Room – Itty Bitty Inn, North Bend, USA
- Treehotel – Harads, Sweden
- Space Themed Family Suite – Shangri-La, Singapore
- the LAB Capsule Hotel Luzern – Lucerne, Switzerland
FREE DOWNLOAD!
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BOOKMARK ON PINTEREST:
DISCOVER UNIQUE SPACE GIFTS
Shopping for your geek friends or family members can be hard if you don’t know much about space, science or tech yourself. That is why The Space Tester has compiled the ultimate list of gift ideas for you.
Expect everything about space travel, astronomy, NASA/ESA/SpaceX, our solar system and other space-themed gifts, toys, clothing, costumes, gadgets, home decor, posters, jewelry, books, magazines and apps.
Disclaimer: This puzzle set was gifted to us for review purposes. All opinions and photos are our own.
