Paul Lamond Find It Dinosaur Puzzle Review

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The Dinosaurs Find It puzzle by Paul Lamond consists of a see-through tube that holds within it hundreds of tiny different coloured pellets and hidden figurines in it. The figurines come in the form of dinosaurs and other dinosaur-related items like a fossil or a volcano of which there are 40 items in total. The puzzle is an educational one as well as a fun toy as you can learn about what the different types of dinosaurs looked like and other dinosaur-related items that may inspire you to take a keen interest in these extinct creatures.

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The aim of this brain teaser is to find the dinosaur figurines and other dinosaur-related pieces in the hundreds of pellets that camouflage them in the tube with some being easier to spot than others as for example there is a feather that is fairly easy to spot compared to some of the small plastic dinosaurs that really do blend in. The hidden toys are not super detailed but detailed enough so that they are recognisable for what they are so triceratops looks like the classic triceratops that most people will recognise. The hidden objects have been assigned points on a scale of 1 to 8 so some objects are worth more than others although if you discover the penny it is worth 20 points and you win the game a bit like capturing the golden snitch in quidditch from Harry Potter. The puzzle additionally has 27 double-sided cards that give you more activities and specific tasks to do so that you can get extra out of the toy rather than just simply finding all the 40 figures as you spot them. A list of the items you need to find are on the bottom or base of the puzzle and you can use this as a checklist to keep track of what you have found and still need to find. The stickers on the tube can obscure your view and hide some of the objects out of your sight so you will have to shake the puzzle further to bring them into view.

The skills you can gain from this puzzle are patience as you will need to be able to have the mental fortitude to stick to the task at hand until you have completed it and found all the items and the other skill is the ability to spot differences or details that will reveal the hidden objects as it can be a very small detail or variation of colour or pattern that reveals the item you are looking for.

The puzzle tube, the dinosaur-related objects and the multicoloured plastic pellets are the three main elements of the game and they all seem robust enough to withstand the way toy is used. However, if you apply excessive force when playing with it or use it in a way that it is not meant to be used then you could risk damaging it. An accident happening like standing on it or dropping it would be another way the game could be broken and this may lead to the tube breaking open and not being able to hold all the pellets and objects within the tube anymore. One of the objects that you will have to find is a feather and this may be a part of the game that might possibly become damaged over time when shaken about with all the other pieces. The cards will definitely need taking care of as they could be damaged with frequent use, bending them and not storing them away properly when finished with. The game though overall is quite durable so should withstand repeated use over a number of years without falling apart and remain playable if it is played sensibly, stored away correctly and used how it should be.

The puzzle can be handled by everybody except the very youngest and you can shake it by getting a firm grip of the puzzle, which involves grabbing both ends of it that are octagonally shaped, without there really being any danger of the ends coming off or it falling apart no matter how vigorously you shake it.

The puzzle is aesthetically pleasing with it being very colourful and there being many interesting objects to view so there is no need to store it away in a cupboard when you have finished playing with it as you could put it on a shelf to be displayed so it is more readily at hand to play with and it is not so big as to take up a lot of room. Another positive is it will be easy to clean if displayed as the surface it has is smooth with no real awkward bits to get to hinder the cleaning process.

As the toy is light to hold as it can be held up and played with for hours without tiring or being too strenuous for your arms although you can place it on a flat surface area if you like and use it that way. You will need both hands to operate it to ensure you can give it a good shake in order to give you a new challenge or reveal more hidden objects.

The puzzle could make a good travellers toys as it is light in weight to carry and just small enough that you could cram it in a rucksack or suitcase to take it with you and all the pieces are securely contained within the tube so you don't need to keep track of them as there is no chance of them escaping the sealed tube.

The toy is suitable for single-player or multiplayer use as doing it with more than one person can mean you can compete against each other to see who can find all the objects first or who can find the most when up against the clock or you can help each other to complete the challenges.

The replayability of the puzzle is one of its biggest assets as it can be shaken up and gives the user a new challenge every time with the pieces you must find being in new locations every time you shake and you can set yourself challenges to do it quicker or in a personal best time or complete the challenge within a certain time limit.

The puzzle is very straightforward to use and understand with the level of difficulty depending somewhat on where the pieces end up when you shake the tube as they could be buried deep within the pellets or in plain view and the ability of the user of the toy. Also, the challenge becomes more difficult if you set yourself against the clock but overall this is a toy you get for the fun of using it rather than for a difficult challenge as the main challenge is fairly easy with only 40 objects to find that shouldn't really take more than an hour to find them all.

The drawbacks to the puzzle are the pieces can be very easy to spot against the pellets with some easier to spot than others and the puzzle would have been better if all the pieces within the tube had been dinosaurs or dinosaur-related objects as it would have been a real challenge to find some of the pieces then. Another drawback is that it seems with new research and discoveries that a lot of the dinosaurs had feathers and so the dinosaurs that you will find in the puzzle are out of date so this a puzzle that could need updating a lot in the future to portray the dinosaurs accurately.

In conclusion, this is ideal for a parent who is looking for an activity to challenge their child visually and mentally and will be an especially absorbing experience if the child of the parent has an interest in dinosaurs with it also being educational about these extinct monsters as well. It is both a toy and a puzzle so can be both used just to fiddle about with or a challenge that can stimulate the brain and with its replayability it should take a while to get bored of it.