Our copy of Quezzle has literally just arrived and we've not yet had time to assemble all the puzzles and solve the 'quests'. The puzzle game is already in its Kickstarter run and has just a few days to go till the KS campaign finishes, so we've pulled out the stops to feature the game in what, on this occasion, is really more akin to an unboxing than a full review.
But wow! This is an impressive package! Quezzle comprises four wooden boxes each containing a 250-piece wooden jigsaw puzzle and a three-dimensional figurine. Each of the pieces is individually shaped and the idea is that when you assemble each puzzle, you use them to solve 'quests'. In addition to mazes, these are generally akin to Where's Wally? (aka Where's Waldo?) tasks - making Quezzle a colourful cousin to this year's monochrome Spiel des Jahres winner MicroMacro: Crime City (Pegasus Spiele), which we reviewed on Board's Eye View just last week.
The publishers, Unidragon, specialise in making wooden puzzles and their expertise shows through in Quezzle: the production quality of the jigsaws is pretty much the best we've ever seen. The four puzzles work as standalone jigsaws and games, each showing a quadrant of Cappadocia - the setting for the underlying story within Quezzle. However, the four separate parts also fit together to create a 72 x 50cm picture. Unidragon even supply special interlocking pieces to physically hold the four puzzles together.
If you've family members - kids or adults - that enjoy satisfyingly challenging jigsaw puzzles then they'll be in for a treat if you join the Quezzle quest and back the game on Kickstarter. Children will especially enjoy the extra play value in searching the minutiae of the completed puzzles to solve the quests but adults with sharp eyes can also join in the fun.
Quezzle has already created quite a stir on Kickstarter. The publishers set out to raise $5000 but funding has already exceeded $350,000. Click here to check out the KS and to join the campaign.