Monopoly: Australian Community Relief Edition

Brand: Winning Moves

Pieces: 1000
Size: 53cm x 53cm
Product Code:  WM01148-EN3

The Monopoly board game has such a, well, monopoly I guess, over the gaming world. There are so many different versions- covering music, pop culture, and even cities.

Now they have a few variations in jigsaw puzzle format. 

I have the original Monopoly jigsaw puzzle, which I plan on doing soon but I also have the above one, which was released as a fundraiser for struggling Australian communities. In it, the towns names have been changed to some of those affected and in need of aid (although I'm not sure if it was because of fires, floods or some other disaster which has befallen the towns- I really should read what it says on the box!)

This puzzle was quite different, in that the piece shapes followed a certain format. They were longer and narrow, and followed a pattern as you assembled the pattern. That said, it was quite quick to complete, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Australia

Brand: Hinkler Puzzlebilities
Pieces: 500
Size: 73.6cm x 58.4cm
Product Code:  HB22-FEB16-08

On Thursday (January 26) it was Australia Day- our national celebration day. It's a public holiday usually dedicated to barbecued sausages, lots of drinking, listening to Triple J's Hottest 100, and celebrating what makes Australia great.

In recent years, however, there has been growing controversy over the suitability of the day, particularly for some Indigenous Australians. They, and many others who agree with them, have renamed the day Invasion Day, and are striving to change the date so that they too can celebrate their home country without thinking about the genocide that was involved in Australia's 'discovery'. A date suggestion has been May 8 ('Maaaattttttee') as 'mate' is a well-known Aussie colloquialism. 

Personally, I'm not fussed if they change the date or not, as long as we still have the chance to celebrate this amazing country. Of course, it would be better if more people felt comfortable with the date, but, as usual, there will always be someone who wants to complain...

Okay, enough social commentary...

If you haven't already figured it out from what I have written, there is a reason I have posted up this puzzle- Australia Day! 

This puzzle actually took longer for me to do than I expected. The pieces are huge, yet some of them feature very small text (town names, rivers, etc), in order to fit it all on. If the pieces had been any smaller, the puzzle would have been impossible to do! I also realised through doing this puzzle that my knowledge of Australian geography is not as great as I thought it was. I had to Google search a few town names just to work out which state they were in! That said, this would make a great educational tool for people wanting to learn about Australian geography. The map features topographical information as well as a handy key. It also covers a little bit of neighbouring countries Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. The quality of the pieces isn't terribly great- thin cardboard- but that's to be expected from a relatively low-budget puzzle. 

This is a good, cheap puzzle that has strong educational values. 

A handy key at the bottom of the map provides plenty of information

The puzzle pieces are quite large