In this article we will try to work out what distinguishes ordinary puzzles, usually made in China, from premium puzzles. We don’t want to chase a cheap price. Users of Kartonika products get quality products that develop at the same level as the world’s best manufacturers.
Year by year, the materials used for production are getting better and better. Let us take a look at the cardboard used by various manufacturers.
You know that when the game is assembled, each element must retain a certain hardness and be inserted into each other with a characteristic click. This technology is so popular with many puzzle collectors that it’s been given the name SoftClick.
To achieve the desired effect, the following conditions must be met:
For the production of quality puzzles, a special cardboard with certain properties is used. Its fibres must not crack. The cardboard for the puzzles must be environmentally friendly. It is specially treated so as not to get wet, not to crack, not to break during the assembly process. Such cardboard is produced by only a few companies, and it is much more expensive than the usual binding material used by the manufacturers of cheap games. If the thickness of the cardboard is not enough, the assembled puzzle could crumble in your hands. To produce the simplest Chinese games, manufacturers use thin cardboard with a thickness of 1.6 mm, which isn’t designed for puzzles at all. Kartonika puzzles are produced only from dark blue cardboard that is 1.9 mm thick.
An important difference between premium puzzles and simple, cheap puzzles is that all of the pieces must be individually shaped. In order to achieve this, the cutting element is drawn by hand and ordered from a professional cutting manufacturer who is able to do this. After quality punching, a quality puzzle will look seamless.
And of course the most important thing to look for when buying is the image. For several years, the company Kartonika has been working with selected artists and photographers who delight us with new images every few months. We carefully adjust the images, modify the colours and position the elements on the sheet to achieve the best aesthetic effect. In addition, Kartonika produces limited editions of puzzles, so there is a high probability that you will be one of the limited owners of the product.
A photo cannot capture the difference between a quality puzzle and a cheap knock-off, but when you start assembling it, you’ll feel the difference from the first minute.