''Puzz 3D'' is the brand name of three-dimensional

jigsaw puzzles A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often irregularly shaped interlocking and mosaiced pieces, each of which typically has a portion of a picture. When assembled, the puzzle pieces produce a complete picture. In t ...

, manufactured by Hasbro and formerly by Wrebbit, Inc. Unlike traditional puzzles which are composed of series of flat pieces that when put together, create a single unified image, the ''Puzz 3D'' series of

puzzles A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzle ...

are composed on

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

foam Foams are materials formed by trapping pockets of gas in a liquid or solid. A bath sponge and the head on a glass of beer are examples of foams. In most foams, the volume of gas is large, with thin films of liquid or solid separating the reg ...

, with part of an image graphed on a stiff paper facade glued to the underlying foam piece and cut to match the piece's dimensions. When the pieces are put together, they create a standing structure.

History

Puzz 3D puzzles, invented by

Paul Gallant Paul-Émile Gallant (July 17, 1944 – September 13, 2011) was a Canadian entrepreneur who developed Puzz-3D three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles. He is also credited with inventing both the Wrebbit Puzzle Machine, which is now known as the Puzzle Sh ...

, were first made in 1991 under the Quebec-based company

Wrebbit Wrebbit, Inc was a puzzle-making company best known for its ''Puzz-3D'' puzzles. The company was founded in Montreal, Quebec, by Paul Gallant, and marketed itself as "The Puzzle Innovators". Its namesake appears to stem from the fact that the compan ...

. Throughout the 1990s, three-dimensional puzzles were made, leading to a rapid growth in the company. In 1993,

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...

's Milton Bradley Company bought Wrebbit's Puzz 3D Line, and in 2005 Hasbro themselves completely bought Wrebbit, in 2006, moved the manufacture of Wrebbit's puzzles to its

East Longmeadow, Massachusetts East Longmeadow is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States situated in the Pioneer Valley region of Western Massachusetts. It had a population of 16,430 at the 2020 census. East Longmeadow is southeast of downtown Springfield, pa ...

facility. The last series made under Hasbro was ''Towers Made to Scale''. The series consisted of 13 skyscrapers from around the world. All of the structures were made to be at 1:585 scale, and all of the towers glowed in the dark. By 2006, all of the Puzz 3D puzzles had been discontinued, but in 2011, the Puzz 3D line was revitalized by Winning Solutions, Inc. Winning Solutions first released the Eiffel Tower and Empire State Building, and released a model of

Anif Palace Anif Palace (german: Schloss Anif), also known as the Water Palace Anif, is located beside an artificial pond in Anif on the southern edge of Salzburg, Austria. The palace was once the seat of the bishops of Chiemsee, and then later was used as ...

in 2012. As of 2014, Hasbro has brought some of the old Puzz 3D line back into production (made in China) in the same boxes. A separate company Wrebbit3D, making new products along with some of the old line, has been created by some of the old Wrebbit staff.

Puzzles

Typically, the structures released were famous

landmarks A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...

, including the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

Big Ben Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England, and the name is frequently extended to refer also to the clock and the clock tower. The officia ...

CN Tower The CN Tower (french: Tour CN) is a concrete communications and observation tower in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Built on the former Railway Lands, it was completed in 1976. Its name "CN" referred to Canadian National, the railway c ...

, and the

Neuschwanstein castle Neuschwanstein Castle (german: Schloss Neuschwanstein, , Southern Bavarian: ''Schloss Neischwanstoa'') is a 19th-century historicist palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The pa ...

. In addition to this, ''Puzz 3D'' has also released science-fiction themed puzzles, such as the ''

Millennium Falcon The ''Millennium Falcon'' is a fictional starship in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Designed by Joe Johnston for the movie ''Star Wars'' (1977), it has subsequently appeared in '' The Star Wars Holiday Special'' (1978), ''The Empire Strikes Back ...

'' spacecraft from the ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'' franchise, and structures from legends such as

King Arthur King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...

Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

Camelot Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as the ...

. Puzz 3D also released buildings of notable time periods, including a

Victorian Mansion Victorian architecture is a series of Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the st ...

. In addition to these structures, they have also produced

classic car A classic car is an older car, typically 25 years or older, though definitions vary.While other languages, such as German and Dutch, may refer to classic cars as "oldtimers", this usage is unknown in English, where "old-timer" refers to an elder ...

s, such as the 1956

Ford Thunderbird The Ford Thunderbird (colloquially called the T-Bird) is a personal luxury car produced by Ford from model years 1955 until 1997 and 2002 until 2005 across 11 distinct generations. Introduced as a two-seat convertible, the Thunderbird was pro ...

. Puzz 3D also released a puzzle based on

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

, which allows for putting the puzzle together and then playing the game. The puzzles released also include a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

puzzle, which includes the area around the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

and the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...

. This New York puzzle is set before the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

so the Twin Towers are included. This puzzle is Hasbro's largest, at 3141 pieces.

Games

''Puzz 3D'' games were also made for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

and

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...

computers. Users first build the puzzle, which is a digital version of an existing 3D puzzle, by clicking and dragging the pieces. When completed, a fictional mystery must be solved taking place in that landmark. Four games were made for Windows and Mac. These are Puzz 3D: Neuschwanstein Bavarian Castle, Puzz 3D:

Notre Dame Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to the ...

, Puzz 3D: The

Orient Express The ''Orient Express'' was a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883 by the Belgian company ''Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits'' (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train traveled the length of continental Europe and int ...

, and Puzz 3D:

. A fifth game was also made of The Lamplight Manor featuring a 3D tour when completed.

References

External links

{{Portal, 1990s
Winning Solutions website
Hasbro products Tiling puzzles Jigsaw puzzle manufacturers Products introduced in 1991