Rant Review: Wild & Wacky USA 500 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle (True South, art by Ligia Teodosiu)

It's high time to tackle another of the True South puzzles I came across at a garage sale earlier this year, so here we go! This US map focuses on funky and fascinating landmarks and roadside attractions, which mixes things up quite a bit from the usual sorts of iconography used to represent each state. It's refreshing to see Mississippi represented by something other than a magnolia or riverboat for once! I've been to a whopping two of these, and not even the one in my state. The box has some text on the back and sides that mentions some of these attractions, but it would have been quite nice if they'd included a poster that identified each attraction and gave a line or two to tell us what it is. Some are iconic and immediately recognizable, but frankly, I have no idea what in the hell some of these things are. Apparently there's a big gold pine cone in southern California, maybe? There's some sort of doomsday contraption sitting atop a pair of suitcases in northern Alabama, or maybe it's a banjo with the neck missing? Washington state seems to have a melting statue of the Elephant Man, but those search terms didn't give me any answers. I enjoyed the puzzle all the same, and trying to figure out what some of this stuff was helped kept things interesting. This is one I put together from the inside out, and the edge was the last thing I completed.

The pieces are pretty much standard cardboard puzzle pieces with a slightly glossy finish and plenty of dust, but the cut is good, and they fit well together. The funky piece shapes helped avoid false fits in the few areas where they might be possible. Apparently newer TS puzzles are of higher quality, but I can't attest to that personally. The quality here is perfectly fine, though, especially for what I paid! Interestingly, this puzzle had a single piece that had been chewed on by a cat or small dog, like the first I did from this batch. Did the previous owners toss their furry friend a pity piece to keep them occupied while they worked on the rest? It'll be interesting to see if the other four have a gnawed-on piece, too.