Manufacturer:  White Mountain Puzzles

Name:  California:  The Golden State

Series:  None

Artist / Photographer:  Unknown

Piece Count:  1000

Piece Quality:  Excellent

New / Used: New

Fit:  Excellent

Assembly:  I absolutely LOVED this puzzle!  It was one I received years ago from a small company called Games 2 Puzzles.  I did a review of their website on the blog and they sent me two puzzles which  I got to pick out.  Of course, being a native Californian, this one was my first and most obvious choice.  Not only was the spelling fun, but I loved the fact that I had either been to or at least heard of almost all of the cities on the map.  And, it actually helped a lot knowing the geography of the state to understand that Bakersfield would of course be south of Modesto but north of Riverside, etc. when placing pieces.  The landmarks making up the border of the puzzle were also quite fun to assemble.  At the time I worked this puzzle, I did not have a board large enough to assemble it in one piece since it is a vertical puzzle and my big MDF puzzle board had the 24k Life puzzle spread out on it so I worked it on two boards.  Funny story — after showing this puzzle to a fellow puzzling friend, he commented that he found it humorous I had split the state in two as if broken off by a major earthquake.  LOL

Due to the aforementioned features, it was a very quick, easy, and oh so pleasant build.  I ended up giving this one away to my friend whose Mom visits regularly from Puerto Rico and loves to do puzzles.  I kind of wish I had it back now as seeing it again after several years has gotten me wanting to do it all over again.  Ahhh, for now I guess I will have to settle for California Dreamin’. 

Overall Rating:  A++