Missing a Piece in Jigsaw Puzzle - What to do?
Hello everyone! I hope you have been enjoying my posts on Instagram and Facebook! I am having lots of fun sharing my puzzle photos and little games with everyone. Please follow and share.
I also have a few very cool blogs lined up this month so please keep reading!
A few months ago, I posted about puzzle pet peeves. This piece by Mandy is about my biggest annoyance – missing pieces! I just received a brand new, plastic wrapped Ravensburger. I realized early on that it was missing two edge pieces. Disappointing! I didn’t even want to continue. But again, I was curious. Do people do puzzles if they are incomplete? Do they mind? Will they buy it if they know in advance that it is missing pieces?
I asked the question, and the answers were mixed. It comes down to whether you do a puzzle for the journey, or the result. Is it the picture, or the challenge?
Some of you might disagree with me, but I am very picky about the puzzles I choose. I don’t need the practice and I have so many that I really don’t like to do them if I know there are pieces missing. I am all about the result and the image that I create.
When I asked online and read the comments, 25 people said they would do it anyway. 25 people said they wouldn’t.
How is that for an even split?
A lot of people will continue just in case it turns up. They assume anything could be missing until the end. But my question was specifically – if you know in advance that it is missing pieces, would you do them? Some people have a magic number. If it’s more than 3 pieces, or 9 pieces, they won’t do it. Some people don’t mind if it’s an edge piece. Some create pieces to fill the gaps.
On the other hand, there are puzzlers like me who don’t feel they completed it if there are pieces missing. Some of these people frame them and need them to have all the pieces.
On both sides, the image is still key. If it is an image that someone really loves, they don’t necessarily mind, but if they are just so-so, they will pass.
The one thing that was consistent was the request for people to let others know if there are missing pieces on used puzzles. Honesty is best so you know what you are working on.
As I said at the start of my blog experience, there are no wrong answers. We all do our puzzles differently and all enjoy different parts of the process. What do you think? Are you okay with missing pieces? Is it about the end or the journey to get there?