Puzzle: Verticalville

Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 69.85cm x 54.61cm
Producer: Hallmark, 1977
Notes:
Verticalville

There’s a town west of someplace and south of some other,
That isn’t like anyplace else anywhere.
It didn’t grow outward like all other cities;
It rose like a mountain straight up in the air.

The blocks of most towns lie beside one another,
And to get “there” from “here” you just go across town,
But this is a place where the blocks stack like pancakes,
Where uptown is up, and where downtown is down!

It has its own railroad that spirals up through it,
A Penny Arcade where the kids test their skill,
A bank for high finance, a pool for high diving,
They’re tops with the people in Verticalville.

The mayor, Mr. Height’s, running for re-election,
On a platform that calls for more vertical blocks,
Continued high spirits and low unemployment,
And a new baseball park for the Vertical Sox!

There’s a plane flying ’round saying, “Don’t eat at Joe’s,”
Which was rented, of course, by the owner of Bill’s.
And Bruce the Balloonist is ready to lift off
To give all the people some vertical thrills.

If you come to this town, you don’t need a compass;
It takes an altimeter to fill the bill.
But spirits are high and the living is lofty.
The folks live it up, up in Verticalville.

[Puzzle box]

Puzzle: Pisa in Motion by Robert J. Crisp

Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 48.26cm x 68.58cm
Producer: Heye, #29121
Artist:
Robert J. Crisp
Notes: Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower (the bell tower of the city’s cathedral), the city … contains more than 20 other historic churches, several palaces and various bridges across the River Arno. [Wiki]

The Leaning Tower of Pisa (Italian: Torre pendente di Pisa) … is situated behind the Cathedral and is the third oldest structure in Pisa’s Cathedral Square (Piazza del Duomo) after the Cathedral and the Baptistry.

The height of the tower is 55.86 m from the ground on the low side and 56.70 m on the high side. The width of the walls at the base is 4.09 m and at the top 2.48 m. Its weight is estimated at 14,500 metric tons. The tower has 296 or 294 steps; the seventh floor has two fewer steps on the north-facing staircase. Prior to restoration work performed between 1990 and 2001, the tower leaned at an angle of 5.5 degrees, but the tower now leans at about 3.99 degrees. This means that the top of the tower is displaced horizontally 3.9 metres from where it would be if the structure were perfectly vertical. [Wiki]

Puzzle: Black or White by Marino Degano


Size
: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 68cm x 48cm
Producer: Heye
Artist:
Marino Degano (born 22 June 1960 in Udine in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Italy ) is an author, cartoonist and illustrator in Italy.

He is the creator of the comic strip La Cucaracha, published monthly in Science et Vie Junior. He is the author of drawings for the European press as well as numerous published by Heye puzzles in Munich.

Born in Italy, Marino Degano arrived in Germany at the age of two years. He grew up in Baden Baden in southern Germany, and studied at the School of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg. He published his first book “Focus on dragons” in 1986 by Glénat. He works as a freelance illustrator since 1985. [Wiki translation]
Notes: Degano has produced a very interesting chess game. The Statue of Liberty, a Trojan horse, a few machine guns and Knights that have some problems staying horsed. [Southwest Puzzles site]

Puzzle: Computers: The Inside Story


Size
: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 60.96 cm x 76.2 cm
Producer: Springbok
Notes: Computers: The Inside Story

Don’t let a little ol’ computer scare you —
The way it works is simple as can be,
With byte-by-byte instructions to prepare you,
You’ll have its number quick as one-two-three!
Of course, you’ve got to get the problem stated
In just the proper language, so to speak,
Make sure that all your data are updated,
And use the latest technical technique,
Be perfectly precise in your instructions,
Look sharp at all your logs and loops and loads,
Keep everything conductive to conductions
And always mind your matrices and modes,
Now don’t forget to digitize your digits
And binarize your binaries to boot,
(‘Cause if you don’t, computers get the fidgets
Resulting in a failure to compute).
Be certain your parameters are noted,
And nothing in your system’s out of sync,
Take care your reads (that’s -in and -out) are toted —
You’re getting with the program now, I think!
In fact, if factors all are synergetic,
And you just follow these few basic tips,
You’ll find in any matter cybernetic
You’re guaranteed of staying in the chips!
— Karen Ravn [Puzzle box]

Puzzle: That’s Life! Part I – The Labyrinth by Marino Degano


Size
: 2000 pieces
Dimensions: 68cm x 96cm
Producer: Heye
Artist:
Marino Degano – The cartoon artist Marino Degano is at home in many cultures.  He was born in Italy, grew up in Germany and currently lives in France, and so is well acquainted with the little idiosyncrasies, corners and edges of European citizens, and does not shy away in the slightest from using this as the core of his charming ironic masterpieces. [Southwest Puzzles site]
Notes: This covers all the vices available to people.  Envy, greed,vanity, wrath, sloth, gluttony and lust.  Degano hasn’t missed much about life and covers some of it in graphic detail. [Southwest Puzzles site]